Thanks, Chiefs. Thanks a lot.

By David Scott, Managing Member at Avid Communications.

Back in 2015 in the wake of the Royals World Series victory, I wrote about explaining to my son that such things are rare. He first started following the Royals in 2014 and, boom, they win the pennant that very year. And just a year later they’re back in the World Series and easily take the crown. 

As a responsible parent, I felt I needed to lower expectations.

I was ten when the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl, and then waited 15 years for the next championship. And then 30 years more for the next one. 

I encouraged him to be patient and keep his expectations in check. He shouldn’t put too much emphasis on our teams winning all the time. I could see that the Royals win streak would soon come to an end. I know one of the most certain ways of having your heart broken is by the performance of your sports teams. 

So you know where this is going.

He locks onto the Chiefs in 2018 and they immediately fall a Dee Ford blunder short of a Super Bowl appearance. And then, much like the Royals in 2014 and 2015, they stage the most spectacular run of insane comeback playoff victories in the history of their sport. 

We are at Arrowhead to see Mahomes erase a 24-0 deficit in the blink of an eye. A week later, we’re back to see them hoist the Lamar Hunt trophy. And then two weeks later, the Chiefs rise like a seemingly dead viper to sink their fangs into the 49ers late in the fourth quarter.

So now he doesn’t take any of my advice.

Thanks to the Chiefs, my parental credibility is totally shot. He thinks this kind of thing is routine. It’s almost as if just winning a game isn’t good enough anymore; it has to be won in some spectacular, unforgettable fashion.

It’s hard enough to parent in this age of social media, but to have your teams keep winning all the time–it’s almost too much to bear. My son doesn’t listen to me, and now that he’s a teenager, that isn’t going to change anytime soon. At this point, the Royals and Chiefs might as well just keep winning. I’d be okay with that.