And to think many fans didn’t think the KC Chiefs could embarrass the city any more than they have with a league-worst 1-10 record.
But after the team’s latest loss to the Denver Broncos at least one player made things even worse by waiting outside the locker room to get Peyton Manning’s autograph. Running back Jamaal Charles acted like a little kid getting Manning’s autograph (he says for his mother!).
Chiefs’ lackluster wide receiver Dwayne Bowe waited to have his picture taken with the future Hall of Fame quarterback outside the stadium.
KCTV’s veteran sports reporter Neal Jones seemed stunned that the Chiefs’ players acted like star-struck fans. At the very least one would have expected them to fawn over Manning in private away from the fans and cameras.
Former Chiefs’ player Rich Baldinger concluded the piece by noting he never asked an opposing player for an autograph.
DISGUSTING
Disgusting!
BART STARR’S AUTOGRAPH?
When you apparently idolize the opposing team’s QB it’s difficult to get real excited about the idea of turning in a great performance on the field in an effort to beat him. The Chiefs of the mid- to late 1960s would’ve never stood in line to get Bart Starr’s autograph.
FAWNING LIKE CHEERLEADERS
Don’t recall Neil Smith or Derrick Thomas fawning like a high school cheerleader over John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, etc. The Chiefs should have done it in private. Face it, these guys packed it in long ago. No discipline, no fundamental skills. Guys like Bowe will pad their numbers to improve their financial situation. The remainder will take a dive as soon as they can.
CHIEFS WANT QB
Chiefs players way of making a statement that they want a good NFL caliber QB and that’s where they believe the teams problem is at.
PLAYER FRATERNIZATION COMMON
Sorry but this isn’t news. Players have fraternized after games for decades in all sports. Gordie Howe was the most feared man in hockey for 20 years. But after the game he’d fraternize with the opposition, often with Bobby Hull. Heck, players then traveled on the same train. They couldn’t help but mingle.
Lee Iacocca like to fraternize with people who worked at competiting car companies. His worry was the justice department who took a dim view of that, thinking they were meeting in collusion against whoever.
Typical government intervention which has been proven to have no life.
Player jobs are on the field.
It’s no different than people in non-sports related sectors. I fraternized in KC with Micheal Mahoney, Kris Ketz, Martin Augustine, Chris Lester, Mark Morris, the late Jerry Heaster and a few politicians I covered. Here in St. Louis, I fraternized with people from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Globe Democrat and various TV stations.
When I was off the clock, that time was mine. And anyone who knows me well will tell you when the clock was on, I was a killer winner-take-all.
Yeah, the Chiefs are having a lousy season. That’s about organizational structure and team make up. Max is right. Discipline starts in the organization and fundamentals with the coaches. It has nothing to do with who players hang out with after games.
Rick Nichols, the Chiefs of the 1960′s did hang with players from other teams after games. Several told me so. Fred Arbanas and I used to love to talk about off the field stories more than on the field stuff. They might not have hung out with Ben Davidson but there were plenty of others they did connect with after games. Many of them had relationships and friendships dating back to when they were journeymen players in the NFL prior to the AFL. They also were connected as player of a league trying to establish itself. They had fraternal feelings and friendships.
Funny, but we never hear a winning player or team say they triumphed because the other guys (or gals) were too nice. But we sure hear about it when news is made when a newspaper quote is posted on the locker room bulletin board from an opposing player who made critical or demeanining comments!
Don’t believe me? Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry had dinner together the night before games. Gene Stallings and Tom Landry, Joe Gibbs, Jim Hanifan and the late Don Coryell too. And no one ever accused Landry of being too nice when his teams lost because he was a nice guy with personnel from the opposing team. Ok, Landry, Lombardi and Stallings. they weren’t players but they controlled the fates of their teams and games. Stallings wasn’t a hit as an NFL head coach because he was a nice guy who fraternized with opposing coaches. His St. Louis Cardinals teams resembled the 2012 Chiefs.
When the clock hits zero and the shower is done, the player’s time is theirs. I’m not going to apologize for the length of this because I’m copying this to be a blog article. This story gets my attention because any thoughts that there is a so-called “code of conduct” regarding players and opponent before or after a game is a myth.
CAN PLAYERS BE FANS?
I’m not in their shoes. While I probably wouldn’t seek out an autograph from a competitor in my business, there are certainly rivals I respect and would like to meet sometime.
And there’s this from Arian Foster’s Twitter feed, coming to the defense of the players:
Arian Foster @ArianFoster
I got @jcharles25′s autograph at the pro bowl 2010. We can’t be fans? I switch jerseys with players damn near every game. Y’all trippin’.
FRATERNIZING DIFFERENT THAN ASKING FOR AUTOGRAPH
I’m calling BS on your article, Scott.
Fraternizing is different than asking for an autograph or picture. Nobody begrudges the guys shaking hands or chatting on the field after the game. Waiting outside the stadium to ask for an autograph or picture is quite a different matter.
In the past, a player would ask an opposing team player for an autograph only for a relative, usually a child.
Times change. With cameras and reporters everywhere, players need to be more circumspect.
The idea that players have no code of conduct when they are on their time is a joke! It’s no different from radio and tv personalities, all of whom have a code of conduct. A player can’t give a copy of the playbook to the other side, even if he pays to copy it and delivers it to the other side on his own time. A player can’t sky-dive on his own time (at least not while he’s under contract). Players get suspended by the team and by the NFL for arrests which occur on their own time.
THEY LOVE ‘PATTON’
That was terrible , of course they love Patton , he just f’d them no song no dance . Get the hell out of town if you want to fawn for Patton Manning , anybody save for John Elway would be acceptable maybe…..no hell no you are suppose to be taking laps around the field after a loss not waiting in line for autographs from the guy whos gonna be doing the same shit in your face in 3 weeks again and move on to playoffs while the Chiefs celebrate Christmas.
Gut this Team send a few to Denver to play with Manning , Let the 50th year of this franchize that Lamar built along with a new League , scar into the front office of this failed experiment in football that, fans endure not GMs or players when we suck for this long . When sales take a dive in its own market then maybe we the fans will see a turn back to winning attitude , Drain the lake and restock the pond s fellas
ONLY GOOD PLAYERS GET AUTOGRAPHS
The reason Baldy didn’t get people’s autographs after games is because he was a terrible player. Who gives a flip what these guys do after the game. KCTV5 is a crappy sports station anyway.
GET OVER IT PEOPLE.
AUTOGRAPHS FOR OPPOSING PLAYERS
I believe major league baseball players routinely sign balls, bats and other memorabilia for opposing players on other teams. It doesn’t happen in full view of the media and fans outside the stadium on the way to the bus — a fact that makes the Charles and Bowe requests look silly — but it happens.
Given the control that GM Scott Pioli supposedly exercises over everything that happens out at Arrowhead, I’m more surprised he hasn’t invoked a dress code for players attending home games.