Welcome to Chiefs Chronicles
Your home for random Chiefs musings and other stuff
About Me & What’s With All The Guys Named Steve?
Well, here it is. My own Substack about the Chiefs. I will admit, it’s a little intimidating committing myself to writing something that is “due” every week. Or two weeks. Maybe a month. Let’s figure that one out as we go. By the way: if you’re reading this for free, be satisfied with what you get and how often you get it. I’m not saying you’re a moocher, but I’m not not saying it either.
I digress.
A little about me. I was raised a Seattle Seahawks fan but lost interest in the team in 1989 when my favorite player, Steve Largent, retired. If you have no idea who Steve Largent is and how he played the game, watch this. He wasn’t the fastest WR in the league but he ran crisp routes, had amazing hands, and played with passion- he had that dog in him (or is it dawg?), as the kids like to say. The Chiefs could really use someone like him right now. More on that in another post.
Ok. Now back to my, admittedly, less interesting story. I was 15, the ‘90s were just over the horizon (bringing Seinfeld, alternative music, and the Furby to the masses), and I was trying to find a team to root for. Two years earlier, through a convoluted chain of step-parents, cousins, and secret adoptions, I discovered that I was “related” to QB Steve DeBerg (BTW, my brother-in-law is also named Steve- this is getting kind of weird). He was playing for Tampa Bay and, even though it was cool that he was my “cousin,” there was no way I was going to adopt them as my team. They stunk and had terrible uniforms. I’m sorry, I just don’t love orange jerseys.
When DeBerg (who IMO had the best play-action move in NFL history) moved to the Chiefs in ‘88 I got a little interested. In ‘89 they hired Marty Schottenheimer and drafted Derrick Thomas. During the Chiefs magical 1990 season (magical, that is, until the playoffs) DeBerg had the best statistical season of his career, #58 was destroying opposing QBs, and Marty had turned the Chiefs into one of the best teams in the NFL. Once Largent retired I focused my fandom on the Chiefs (starting with that amazing ‘90 season) and I was forever hooked- even though no one at school believed I had any connection to Steve DeBerg. If I was going to lie, I would have told them my cousin was Joe Montana, not Steve DeBerg. I’m just saying.
Why Now? What’s My Angle? Is This A Scam?
Those are all fair questions, but let’s start with the last one. No, this isn’t a scam. I promise. I give you my word as a Chiefs fan.
Now, on to the why of Chiefs Chronicles and what my angle is. This crazy “be a writer” scheme (not scam, I swear) just popped back into my head a few nights ago and I decided to run with it. I love writing and I love the Chiefs, so this seemed like the perfect way to scratch both of those itches at the same time.
As a young man, someone I know discouraged me from focusing on writing (you know who you are) because I “couldn’t ever make a living doing it.” That made sense, in a depressing sort of way, so I pushed writing into the background and worked regular jobs. I would write once in awhile and then I’d stop, going back to being mostly responsible. No Sean Connery mentoring me and nurturing what small talent I had. Just a whole lot of the real world.
Now, I’m starting to get old-ish and for some time all of my creativity has been poured into increasingly long, funny (I think they’re funny), and sometimes (always) bizarre texts to my friends and family. Since I’m doing this now, all of my crazy can be directed towards you (I’m pointing at my monitor), and my friends and family can relax. As long as they become subscribers. And ignore texts from me.
The Chiefs Chronicles Community (Triple C!)
This community (Substack assures me I’m creating a Community) will be a space for Chiefs-related thoughts, stories, and memories- which are like stories but fuzzier in my mind. I also like to talk and write about food, tv shows, movies, books, and other. So there will be plenty of that mixed in.
If you like this intro page then you’ll probably like my future posts. If you don’t like it, try reading it again with an open mind. Nothing? Did you at least see all the links I added? Weren’t those funny and/or cool? If you still don’t like it, maybe pass it on to your weird Chiefs fan friend. You know the one- they’re full of pop culture references and are the only person you know who actually reads books for fun. The person who complains that most online articles nowadays are too short. Usually followed by a muttered, “Dagnabbit.”
On a serious note, I would love to hear what you think about anything I write (as long as you’re nice and don’t criticize me in any way) and, if you ever have a suggestion for a post, let me know. I’ll take it under advisement.
How Often Will I Be Posting?
Chiefs Chronicles should be posted weekly to bi-weekly during football season. Life has a way of throwing up unexpected obstacles, but that will probably be doable. Offseason posts should be bi-weekly to monthly. There isn’t really much of an NFL offseason anymore, so that will most likely only be for a few months.
As far as what people get free as opposed to what subscribers get, I’m still working that out. Going to try and go free for everyone until I build up a decent subscriber list. If you would like to donate to the Chiefs Chronicles Cause (loving those Triple Cs!) while it is free, I’ll see if I can add some sort of button for that. Really new at this whole thing.
Time To Subscribe
Time to buckle up that chinstrap and do the three things that only someone who made it to the end of this post would do:
Very nice introduction! Excellent writing, I love the random videos and slightly chaotic humor. BTW, I expect plenty of Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift romance updates. Also, I really don't believe you're related to THE Steve DeBerg, c'mon! Keep writing and I'll keep reading!