Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs lost Superbowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles, which surprised me. Last year, I was rooting for the Eagles to win. This year, I was expecting the Chiefs to win with the way they managed to win so many of the games this season: the game would look like it wasn’t going the Chief’s way, only for them to recover and then win.
Honestly, when we got to the fourth quarter of Superbowl LIX last night, I was so surprised with how far behind they were. Luckily, they were able to pull the score up, so it didn’t look like the Eagles completely wiped the field with them if you only looked at the score at the end. If you were watching though, people could safely turn off their TVs and know that the Eagles won. Even the Eagles knew it as they were preemptively spilling Gatorade all over themselves during the fourth quarter to celebrate.
This game honestly made me think of last year’s Superbowl, when I was actually in Kansas City when the Chiefs won Superbowl LVII against the San Francisco 49ers. So that is what I wanted to write about for today’s blog post.
Why I Was In Kansas City
It seems like such a random place to be, Kansas City, Missouri. But I was there because AWP was being hosted in Kansas City, and right at the time that the Superbowl was taking place. Who planned that, I’m grateful for the experience. I don’t know if I fell in love with the city (you already know that I love the BBQ though), but I definitely fell in love with all that was going on in the city that weekend. In addition to being full of the community I love and having delicious food, there was nothing like the atmosphere once the new got out that the Chiefs won. I will say that they treated the event like it was a holiday–most of the businesses in town closed by 6 PM! I had a hard time finding a late dinner, and was grateful that I had a fridge with leftovers.
During the Game
I’m sure the city was alive–I could see it all lit up from the hotel I was staying at. However, I was a graduate student with homework due that night, and most of my friends had flown out earlier in the day. So I was by myself, and decided to watch the game in the community room of the hotel. My Superbowl that year basically consisted of homework and the company of the hotel clerk.
It kind of became a game at that time–I had finished the assigned reading, so really I was just doing the discussion boards. While the game was on, I would write my responses and challenge myself to finish the response before the ad break. Then I would sit and watch the ads until the process started over again. And again and again until I was done (my professor had made us respond to everyone that night since we missed class to go to this conference).
At some point after Usher’s halftime show, my laptop threatened a low battery, so I ran back to my room to charge it, allowing me to focus on the game for a little bit. Then I was back in the lobby by the time fourth quarter started.
I finished the homework assignment with five minutes of the game to spare, but if I remember correctly, that game went into overtime because it was so close. I got to close my laptop, and I actually ended up watching an ad for the TV show Tracker over and over again because that was what was playing (I think this ad might have been different based on where you were geographically). And then, the Chiefs won.
When They Won
And the first thing I heard outside my hotel was a car racing down the road. This happened several times, some of the cars honking, and others just screeching their wheels. And even though it was about an hour before midnight, the city came alive–I could hear the music from downtown, which was blocks away.
Truly, that win seemed to make the town come alive again, in the middle of the night with all the lights. Immediately the desk clerk said to expect a parade through the streets the next day, but I could already see a build-up of cars outside the building in the middle of the night. I even saw a few men run in the streets shirtless, cheering, even though it was still cold. They must have been so happy and proud that it kept them warm.
It makes me wonder what the streets of Philadelphia were like after that win yesterday. And I think about how I once had a math teacher who was a fan, and that his one dream was to see the Eagles at the Superbowl. As I teach at the same school now, I wonder if he is celebrating here or in Philadelphia.
Did you feel like Superbowl LIX was anticlimatic, or is that just a feeling I have? Is this Eagles win a long time coming? Were the Superbowl LIX commercials a little worse than usual? I would love to know if you agree with these thoughts that I had down in the comments below!
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, please let me know by liking this post, commenting your thoughts, and sharing it with your friends. And of course, you can always make my day by subscribing to the blog, which means you’ll get an update every time I share a post like this one.
Love Always,
Kristi My
Kristi My Dao 