Sports Column: Fooled Again

Last weekend, when the Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the 0-4 Indianapolis Colts, I was hoping that we would lose. They might as well just make it easy on me. I didn’t want them to drag me along, only to break my heart in the end. Why couldn’t they just lose?All season I’ve been cursing quarterback Matt Cassel for his pitiful performances, chocked full of picks. To hell with Haley; I wanted him gone after week one, when the Buffalo Bills took my team and whooped them 41-7. Seriously, the Bills? They are like the NY Jets and NY Giants lowly little brother. And the worst part is, the chiefs ex-Offensive Coordinator, Chan Gailey, who Haley personally fired in favor of himself, orchestrated the slaughtering as the Bills head coach.

What sucks is that I actually believed in this team. I bought into Haley and Pioli and all of the “New” Arrowhead ads, saying that now was the Chiefs time. I actually thought my hometown team had finally turned the corner; that Cassel was the answer to our poor passing game, that running back Jamaal Charles could compete for MVP with his record-shattering rushing numbers, that this team wasn’t too far from sneaking their way into the Super Bowl.

How could I be so stupid? I should have known it was too good to be true.

I should have known that the team would be hit with the curse of the torn ACL. They lost their second-best receiver in Tony Moeaki, the league’s top rusher in Charles, and arguably their best defensive player in Eric Berry in about five quarters on the field, all to the same injury. Was it Haley’s oddball pre-season style,where he went against the norm of the NFL and refused to play starters through the first two games, only to play them full time in the other two? I can’t say. I’m not a doctor. But I’d say having your TE out, your quarterback hobbling, and having countless players groaning and lying on the turf in pain is a pretty bad sign.

And what about that hobbling quarterback? That guy that I thought was ready to follow in his mentor, the god of football, Tom Bardy’s footsteps, after a stellar season of last year. Well, it turns out Matt Cassel is just as inconsistent as ever. Any given Sunday, I could be in love with the guy, the next week I could screaming “Suck for Luck” and a few other “stronger” words as he makes another costly mistake. Example A: Throwing right between the numbers of San Diego’s Eric Weddle, with a minute left, as the Chiefs were making a march to win the game. But, hey, on the bright side, at least that game was close.

But the Chiefs didn’t lose last weekend. In fact they have won two games in a row. Cassel has been on fire, ringing up four touchdowns and no picks in their last game. Unknown running back Jackie Battle ran for over 100 yards. The Chiefs look to be on the rise, after a more than bumbling start.

But, I won’t buy it. I can’t buy it. This is what the Chiefs always do to me. They draw me in, just to let me down.