Winners and Losers Announced for TMJ Armchair Quarterbacks
Rick Langenberg
It finally became the game that matched the hype, with patrons of local establishments and sports bars getting their money’s worth for Super Bowl LVIII, even if it took three quarters for that reality to transpire.
The most watched sporting event of the year cemented Kansas City’s rise to the newest football dynasty, along with furthering the legend of Patrick Mahomes. In fact, area sports columnist Mark Kiszla, called Patrick Mahomes the greatest quarterback in the history of mankind. Easy, there Mark, let’s not get too carried away here in the post-Super Bowl hysteria; or maybe you have listened to one-to-many Taylor Swift songs.
King Patrick was great, especially in the final drive in overtime to give the Chiefs the 25-22 win. That Fourth and One, do or die play, when he dashed for a first down has to go down as one of greatest responses to pressure in a frantic moment. However, Patrick, similar to the antics of every pro-football team member this year, had his flawed game times.
On the upside, no reports surfaced of overly bad behavior locally on Super Bowl Sunday. Those antics were reserved for the Phoenix Open golf tournament earlier in the day in our neighboring state. Hard to believe golf now rules the land for crazy fan displays, forcing event organizers to ban alcohol sales. If you don’t like PGA tour event, you got LIV golf, where they play terrible rap music to accompany the links activity. So much for revering an honorable tradition.
The pundits had this Super Bowl as a death match, a duel almost too close to call in the year of parity in the NFL. Yes, no team really emerged as a dominant power, with every NFL squad displaying some semblances of internal weakness.
As a result, the game drew much tension at local watering spots (at least on my watch), but a decent amount of respect for both teams was exhibited. Nope, the drama has never quite returned to this spectacle, ever since the Denver Broncos were banned from the competition for lousy play when they emerged as Super Bowl champs in the winter of 2016. (Can the good days ever return; probably not in my lifetime.)
But we had definite drama on Super Bowl Sunday, and grief counselors were practically called in at the Blue Moose Tavern in Green Mountain Falls to help ease the pain for several KC Chief fans, who feared this game may slip away in the final moments. At one point, it seemed ambulances were going to have to be summoned.
After two quarter of dullsville, especially if you were a KC Chiefs fan, the game finally lived up to its billing at end. The early highlights were capped by Taylor Swift chugging down a few drinks and her boyfriend Travis Kelce practically mauling head coach Andy Reid.
But what a final quarter and overtime period it became
I could go on, but don’t want to sound too much like our friend Mark Kiszla in turning a KC quarterback into America’s favorite hero.
More importantly, here are the real wizard experts, the top and worst football predictors, based on pre-game picks. None of our Monday-morning Armchair Quarterbacks got this one on the money. But a couple of our mini, experts came close. Many did predict a KC victory, with the main reason cited dealing with their playoff experience. And yes, that turned out to be a definite winning factor.
So, here we go with the drumbeats, and sure hope we have better post-event music than they do on the LIV golf tour.
Winners
Charlie Chambers, Teller’s acclaimed actor, film producer and TMJ’s Undisputed Outdoor Guru
Charlie had the Chiefs winning by 24 to 21. Not bad, and here is what Charlier earlier said, “Even though I’ve been a Chiefs fan all of my life, this one won’t be a walk in the park for the Chiefs. With a powerful offense and a more than capable defense, the 49ers will look to avenge the Super Bowl loss from 2019. However, with the way Mahomes has played this post-season, the Chiefs will be tough to beat.” Pretty close to the real deal; but of course, Chambers benefited from inside information from former football great Joe Theismann, the acclaimed hurler for the Washington Redskins (not going to use the stupid name they have come up with now), whom Charlie played with during his time in semi-pro ball in Canada. (No, I am not making this up; in fact, Charlie had a 30-minute-plus chat with Joe last week.)
Mike Perini, Public Relations and Promotions Guru.
Mike also had it pretty close to the actual numbers, predicting a Chiefs win by 27 to 24. “Their secret play call catch for this game: Tayor Swift.” Not sure about that comment, but Tayor may find herself having to calm Kelce down in his interaction with Coach Andy Reid.
Derek Gray, Annoying Chiefs Fan
Derek tabbed the final score at Chiefs 24, 4ers 20. As he noted earlier, “Both have great defenses and offenses. But Mahomes has much more post-season experience than (Brock) Purdy (the quarterback for the 49ers.” Pretty good Derek
Jeff and Jen Musgrave, Best Dressed Chief Fans and Local Emotional Supporters of KC Team
Thought grief counselors were going to have to be summoned for this personable Divide couple, who wore their emotions on their sleeves in their incredible support for the Chiefs at a Super Bowl outing at the Blue Moose. Jeff Musgrave almost displayed the same intensity as Andy Reid in the final minutes of the game.
Losers
Trevor Phipps, Writer and TMJ Bail Bondsman
Trevor had the 49ers on top by a score of 45-10. “The 49ers have a better quarterback now with Brock Purdy. He is another key player that wasn’t on the team the last time the Niners faced the Chiefs in the big game four years ago…I am hoping that my Niners wipe the field with the Chiefs to shut up my large number of Kansas City fan friends whom I question why they live in Colorado every day.” Ouch, and that’s just a few excerpts from a rambling barrage of misguided predictions. But Trevor is a sports writer, and in following the traditions of most Pikes Peak area scribes, they are great at analyzing local and state sports happenings, but pretty lousy at picks. He follows the tradition of Ralph Routon and Bob Volpe. Whoever those scribes picked, you wanted to bet on the other team immediately.
Sheriff Jason Mikesell
Our fine sheriff had the 49ers trouncing the Chiefs by a score of 38-17. “I’m going with San Francisco because I like underdog.” Our sheriff should probably stick to law enforcement and not football championship picks. King Patrick pretty much trashed this theory in the post-game ceremony when he made it clear to never bet or root against the Chiefs, or else, ”You will look like an absolute fool.” Of course, fret not Jason, most of our area politicians got this game completely wrong, including Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone and Cripple Creek Councilwoman Melissa Trenary.
Worse Singing Moment: Travis Kelce’s Version of Viva Las Vegas on national television following the game. Travis may have ended up on the cover of People magazine, along with Taylor Swift, under the headline “On Top of the World,” but that episode had to go down as the absolute crucifying of a popular party song. There have been horrendous karaoke moments in Teller, but nothing that atrocious. Stick to football Travis. Or, maybe send that song version over to Greg Norman, CEO of LIV golf.