While fans have the option to choose whether or not they are going to Saturday’s Chiefs game, players and coaches have no option but to show up to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and stay outside nearly the entire time.
Former Chiefs player, Danan Hughes experienced firsthand the bone-chilling cold in his career.
“It was freezing out there,” Hughes said. “But it’s one of those things where it’s mind over matter.”
Hughes was a receiver and special teams player for the Chiefs in one of the coldest games to date in January 1996 in an upset loss to the Colts. The 11-degree game is known as the “Lin Elliott Game,” named after the Chiefs kicker who missed three field goals in the game.
“It’s all about playing up here, and that’s what I remember about the toughness that was necessary to play in these circumstances,” Hughes said as he pointed to his head.
The Gardner Edgerton Trailblazers figured out that game-winning formula in a snowy state football state championship game.
“It was snowing, which kind of made it epic, you know,” said Jesse Owen, Gardner Edgerton High School head football coach. “It was like a Hallmark movie, the way everything unfolded.”
And like in a Hallmark movie, he says, good character matters.
“[They’re] just great kids,” Owen said. “You win with people. We have really good players.”
When it snowed during their championship game, he said focus was a key component to clenching the victory.
“The other team has to play in it too,” Owen said. “So, whoever can focus on their job, their assignment, is going to have the upper hand.”
As far as playing in the snow goes, even Dolphins super fans can handle it.
KSHB 41’s Rachel Henderson caught up with fans playing tackle football Friday afternoon on the Country Club Plaza.
“You know what, you guys act like this is bad, this is nothing,” said Chris Worden, who traveled to Kansas City from Miami with his family.
But cold or not, Saturday’s game matters, and Owen says a prime way to beat the cold is to stay focused.
“Remember who you are and what it took to get here,” he said. “Let’s just be the best we’ve been all year.”
