Here we are only in 2014’s second month, and I am ready to nominate Clark Hunt as optimist of the year. The owner and chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs believes Arrowhead Stadium can host a future Super Bowl.
I hope Hunt is right. But I wonder how many complete winters, October through mid-May, he has spent in our fair land?
The benefits of a Super Bowl would be tremendous for Platte County. Hotels near the Kansas City International Airport would be full. The next Super Bowl up for grabs will be in 2019, according to a story and Hunt’s interview on this subject last week in The Kansas City Star. I am confident that no matter the year, the Chiefs are unlikely to be in the game. Therefore fans from other cities and general big-time partiers would roll into town with debit cards and smart phones waving in the air. South of the Missouri River would get all the attention and the TV cutaways. But overflow would keep the cafes and cabs hopping in the Northland, especially along the I-29 and KCI corridor.
Are you saving up for a ticket yet?
Pardon me for a minute, I need to grab a sweater, I’m preparing for this year’s snow storm of the century predicted for this week. Not that snow is unusual this winter. Shoveling the driveway is beginning to seem like a normal weekly chore. I’ve known people who kept cross-country skis in their garage for years dreaming of such a winter.
Some newcomers are mistaking us for Minnesota. I was in the grocery store line on Monday night behind a senior citizen gathering in supplies to ride out the storm.
“I’ve lived in Tennessee most of my life and I always dreaded when it snowed,” she said. “I can’t believe how much it snows up here.”
Well, there’s a reason that the Snow Creek Ski Area north of Weston in the Missouri River hills has snow making machines positioned on the slopes. We could easily be at 55 to 65 degrees as February begins and worrying about trees and flowers budding out too early. I have in a few past years planted early garden vegetable varieties in late February.
Or, we could have a foot of snow on the ground and temperatures hovering near or below zero. And it could have been that way most of the winter, like this winter. Even within the metro the weather varies. Our three- to four-inch snow late last week fell as more than an inch of ice pellets down on the Country Club Plaza.
All this makes Hunt’s pitch for a Super Bowl here eye-opening. Granted he may have just been gracious and accommodating to a Star reporter. And perhaps he was giddy in the super moments preceding game day. Or perhaps New York opened the door. After all, before the kickoff broadcasters were commenting on the 49-degree temperature at kickoff. Video footage was shown of players in earlier warm-ups walking on the field in slippers without socks. What a pigskin paradise Mother Nature provided.
I wish Kansas City would land the Super Bowl just for the pre-game suspense. Can you hear the ESPN analysts breaking down the game factors a week or two out?
“What do you think (insert bubbly-talking ex-star or coach), will the minus-six wind chill changing to freezing rain and snow be a factor for the offenses?”
Ex-star replies, “ah, but my sources say it will be 45 by halftime and sunny with a sudden wind shift from the west; after all, this is Missouri.”
Well, I would rather Mr. Hunt be correct and the wealth be spread around and a Super Bowl in old KC turns out to be a breeze. But I suspect the Missouri River will run north first.
Bill Graham, who lives in the Platte City area with his family, may be reached by e-mail at editor@plattecountycitizen.com.