Stuffed owl who carries memory of late German NFL fan catches game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two years before he died, Tobias Baumann and Frieda met in 2015.

The two lived together in an apartment in Ludwigshafen, Germany, according to a story published last month in The Athletic by Michael-Shawn Dugar.

Baumann was part of the growing legion of NFL fans in Germany. He particularly loved the Seattle Seahawks, but Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that degenerates muscles, prevented him from even leaving the house as it progressed.

That’s where Frieda, a palm-sized stuffed owl with a greenish-blue headband, came in.

Frieda would go all the places Baumann could not, his family told Dugar.

That included meeting Seattle’s vaunted Legion of Boom and world-renowned stars like Michael Schumacher.

Baumann died in 2017, but Frieda helps carry his memory forward. The stuffed owl made it to the Seahawks’ game against Tampa Bay last month in Munich.

Frieda also made it to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes battle Baumann’s beloved Seahawks on Christmas Eve.

It was a frigid day in Kansas City.

But Frieda got to watch the game from the relative comfort of the Arrowhead press box.

Frieda even got to meet some of Kansas City’s beat writers and enjoy some views Baumann surely would have enjoyed.

After the game, a 24-10 win for the Chiefs, Frieda got to visit the field and the winning locker room, where she got to meet several players — including Travis Kelce, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Harrison Butker and James Winchester.

Frieda also sat in on quarterback Patrick Mahomes' postgame interview and met the team's Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt.

Frieda, who heads back to Seattle next week for the New York Jets at Seahawks game on New Year's Day, wrapped up the visit to Arrowhead by posing for a photo on the field.

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