After 50 Years of Waiting, Kansas City Ready for Super Bowl
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs fans are ready for a party that has been 50 years in the making. As the team prepares to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, the city has dressed up statues with team jerseys, dyed water in fountains in Chiefs red and bathed the largest buildings in the city's skyline red light at night. Some businesses are planning massive parties while others will close during the game. Fans, meanwhile, are snatching up all types of memorabilia, standing in lines to take pictures with Chiefs displays and anxiously counting the days until the big game. The Chiefs last played in the Super Bowl in 1970. The Chiefs won that match-up, defeating the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in Super Bowl IV. The Vikings had been favored to win by 13 points. Five decades after their last Super Bowl, the Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers Sunday in Miami. Kick-off is set for 5:30 pm.
Kansas AG Sues over Counterfeit Chiefs, Super Bowl Gear
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The top prosecutor in Kansas is suing over counterfeit Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl merchandise. Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced in a news release Friday that two lawsuits were filed Thursday in Shawnee County District Court. The suits allege that a Tennessee man and two people from Alabama were hawking the goods out of multiple tents in Topeka. The business went by the names of Novelties Jr. and Sports Connection Plus. The release says the attorney general’s office is seeking a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation, in addition to reimbursement of the cost of the investigation in both cases.
Column: Lessons Learned Young Propel Patrick Mahomes to Football Greatness
MIAMI (AP) — Patrick Mahomes learned his lessons at a young age and in a perfect place. He hung around major league locker rooms with his father, a journeyman pitcher, and saw what made the greats of the game so great. Columnist Tim Dahlberg writes the young Mahomes hung around superstars like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. He watched how they prepared and saw how they dealt with both success and failure.With the Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the first time in a half century, the quarterback is poised to become the face of the NFL for a long time to come.
Tight Security Promised for Super Bowl 54, as Kansas City Chiefs Face San Francisco 49ers in Miami
MIAMI (AP) — Florida and federal law enforcement agencies preparing for the Super Bowl this Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens say they are ready for anything, including a detonated bomb or massive food poisoning. But they say they haven't identified any threats. Events for the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers kicked off Monday with an interactive Super Bowl Experience in Miami Beach and Super Bowl Live at Miami’s Bayfront Park. It's a lot of mileage to patrol. But officials say they are well prepared. A Homeland Security official says, “It’s all hands on deck.”
Kansas Native Katie Sowers Becomes 1st Woman Coach in the Super Bowl
MIAMI (AP) — Katie Sowers says being the first woman and openly gay coach to work the Super Bowl feels a bit surreal. She also hopes she's blazing a path for more to follow. Sowers says she feels like a broken record but will continue saying that the most important thing is that she not be the last woman or openly gay coach at the Super Bowl. Simply attending a Super Bowl was Sowers' dream growing up in Hesston, Kansas, and playing football in the yard with her twin sister. Sowers is an assistant coach on offense for the San Francisco 49ers but she sports an image of the Kansas City skyline on her arm with the word "Home." ( Learn more in this report from KPR's Greg Echlin.)
KC Fans Under Closer Scrutiny for Chants, "Tomahawk Chops"
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — While other sports teams using Native American nicknames and imagery have faced decades of protests and boycotts, the Kansas City Chiefs have largely slid under the radar. Until now. The Chiefs will appear in their first Super Bowl in 50 years when they play the San Francisco 49ers Sunday. What is traditionally the largest TV audience of the year will watch as Kansas City fans break into the “war chant" and mimic tomahawk chop. Although many defend the display as a fun fan tradition, others view it as offensive and racist to Native Americans.
KU Students Want to Get Out of Classes After the Super Bowl
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas students are urging administrators to call off classes on the day after the Super Bowl and to provide vomit bags on campus if they don't. The Student Senate made the request in a resolution passed Thursday as the Kansas City Chiefs prepared to play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the team's first trip to the Super Bowl since 1970. It said that the chancellor should consider the “health implications of students attending classes and attempting course work less than 12 hours after the culmination of the Super Bowl and any celebrations that follow the game."
49ers' Flexibility Will Prove Vital in Super Bowl vs. Chiefs
MIAMI (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers have won games almost every way possible this season. They've won high-scoring and low-scoring games. They've won with a dominant running game behind Raheem Mostert and an efficient passing game with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. That versatility will prove to be the difference in the Super Bowl when the Niners will have enough to edge Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. That would give San Francisco its record-tying sixth Super Bowl title.
Dee Ford Looks to Stop Chiefs, One Year After Blunder Harmed Them
MIAMI (AP) — Dee Ford's blunder cost Kansas City a trip to the Super Bowl a year ago. Now Ford has another chance to deny the Chiefs a championship when he faces them with the San Francisco 49ers. Ford's five-year tenure in Kansas City came to a disappointing finish last season in the AFC championship game against New England when he lined up in the neutral zone to negate a game-sealing interception. Now he's playing for the Niners and will try to stop Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs as San Francisco's star edge rusher.
