Many may
know that yesterday the Kansas City Chiefs played the Denver Broncos. This is not the topic I expected to be
writing about this morning but it strangely had quit an impact on me yesterday.
I spent much of the day wondering which team to cheer for. I know this may
sound silly but I had more than just a football game on my mind. You may have
read before in my post Family Time talking about our household K-State family.
I have no trouble cheering for Kansas State and wear my purple proudly it was
my school my alma mater. But the Chiefs
were a different story; they were the rival, my KU when I was growing up. As I mentioned before my first football team
was the Denver Broncos. It has been a going joke in our family to tease me
about liking the Broncos. My husband and boys are Chiefs fans. My oldest
daughter a Bronco fan mostly just to annoy her brothers and Dad, and the
younger girls cheer for whoever is doing better at the moment.
In the past I had no hesitation cheering
for the Broncos with my daughter. The boys knew there was a good chance the
Chiefs would lose since last year at this time they were 1-9 not 9-1. This game for some reason was hard. With the Chiefs on the edge of their undefeated record they
had a good shot to win. This game meant so much for the Chiefs and more
importantly MY BOYS. They so badly wanted them to win especially my oldest. He
has been a diehard fan regardless of the season. Every year he’d say this is
going to be the year the Chiefs go to the Super bowl. I knew if they lost he would be so
disappointed. So how could I cheer against his team, he cared much more about
the outcome of the game than I did. The hard part came when I wondered does
that mean I was considering cheering against the Broncos? I have been routing
for the Chiefs along with my boys, they have grown on me a little since I have
lived in Kansas now for 15 years. I do not have a Chiefs shirt or anything but
it is good to see them do well. But I have yet to cheer for them against the Broncos.
How was I even considering this?
Now you may be thinking how silly, it’s a football game. As I was
pondering my options it felt like so much more. If I cheered against the
Broncos it felt like I was letting go of a part of me. I was a Bronco fan, I am
from Colorado, that is my home and they are my home team. If any of you live
away from where you grew up you likely understand. Especially if your family is
still there. It’s an internal battle of allowing yourself to settle in and
embracing your new location and feeling like that means you are giving up where
you came from as your “home”. That is what cheering against the Broncos felt
like. I already worry of the day I will have lived in Kansas longer than in
Colorado. I am quickly approaching that time. I lived in Colorado 16 years, in
Kansas/Colorado for 5, and now in Kansas for 15. When I hit 17 what did that mean?
So what did I do? I cheated. I
only half watched the game and actually dozed off at half time. I tried to not
to care either way. I didn’t want my son
to be disappointed but I didn’t want to not cheer for my home team. I even
threatened to turn off the game if they kept not so nicely teasing each other.
I know my
Broncos are not the same team after all it is hard for me to imagine Peyton Manning as a Bronco? Elway and the 3 amigos are the players of my
day and they are long gone. I hardly knew any of the players by name it wasn’t
the same football team. Things change just like the players
on the team. That doesn’t mean I am not me. Though I am living in a different
state and I am the only one in my house that wasn’t born in Kansas I feel at
home in our town with my family. My home town and my parent’s house have
changed. But I still feel at home when I walk into the house and get excited to
see the welcome to Greeley sign when drive into town. Do I have to cheer for
either team? Can’t I just be neutral and have 2 homes? After all home is where the heart is and my
heart has room for both places.
So though a tie
would have been perfect, my younger son informed me that wasn’t an option. The
Broncos came out ahead, and my daughter wore her Peyton Manning shirt to school
proudly this morning. My boys were disappointed but already talking about how
the Chiefs will win when they play in KC and went to school smiling this
morning too. The world went on and I was still me when I woke up this morning. So as it turns out it was just a football
game and I made it through without giving up my past and still embracing the
present. For now it is over and I have a few weeks break before I have to
decide who to cheer for again. This weekend we can just embrace our purple and white and cheer together for the Wildcats!