WEIR: CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Sep 13, 2005, 3:14:44 AM by Eileen Weir - FAQ

The catch phrase of this year’s Chiefs season is “cautious optimism.”

As Will Shields contemplated his NFL future, the coaches and media were “cautiously optimistic” that he would return to the huddle to exhibit once again his Pro Bowl ability and professionalism. Injuries to major and minor role players were analyzed with “cautious optimism” that full recoveries would ensue. A look at the 2005-2006 home and road schedule caused many to predict a winning season with “cautious optimism.” If this is optimism, I’d hate to see gloom.

Pessimism, indeed, is what prevails as suspicion about the team’s readiness and the strength of schedule is scrutinized. With days remaining before Kansas City’s coming out party at Arrowhead on September 11th, the opener has already been qualified as a “must win” by some local media covering the Chiefs beat.

Traditionally the “must win” moniker was reserved for games that determined elimination from the post-season. The only “must win” game was the one that decided whether a team would survive to play another week or go home. In recent years the hyperbolic term has crept into the sports vernacular earlier and earlier, but never before a team’s first play from scrimmage. I believe we’ve set a new record for premature panic.

“Must win” is a term used almost exclusively by fans, sportswriters and broadcasters. I cannot recall a time when a coach or player has coined a regular season game as a “must win.” The reality of a sixteen game schedule is that every game is of equal value. More so than any other professional sport NFL games carry enormous consequences. Games played in week one are evenly as meaningful as games played in week sixteen. In some sense, every game is a “must win,” but none more so than another. That is what makes football the most popular sport in America. We have short attention spans and the season is just short enough to keep us fully engaged.

The “must win” dramatics are indicative of the increased atmosphere of intensity that envelopes today’s professional sports. Sophisticated fans, and the augmented availability of information on every aspect of team dynamics, have exposed the business side of sport. We no longer view pro sports as a game but as an enterprise. As stakeholders in our hometown teams, we demand seriousness from the administration, coaching staff, and players.

Witness the top tier NFL coaches. Jon Gruden’s sneer, Bill Parcells’ demeanor of contempt, and Bill Belichick’s dour deportment are not only the norm, but the expected ethic of team leadership. We demand coaches with the delicacy of Patton. Success, we divine, is based on a man’s display of emotion and passion. Screaming and yelling on the sidelines and at press conferences please. A kinder, gentler Gunther Cunningham is unsettling for die-hard Chiefs boosters. To quote: This is football, not Johnny-Come-#@!%-Around.

Relaxed and fun-loving is not what we like to see in those entrusted with our emotional and psychological well-being. Young Royals pitcher Zack Greinke was lambasted by fans this summer for yukking it up in the dugout after being pulled for another lousy performance. Projection is a great defense mechanism, useful in shielding the human spirit from pain, and we want to observe our sports teams displaying the humiliation and distress we feel as fans. They ought to feel bad for losing. We sure do.

Fun is forbidden. Sport at the highest level isn’t supposed to be fun, we maintain, it’s supposed to be solemn and unsmiling. You can laugh when you win the Championship is the unstated attitude. Momentary celebrations of individual accomplishment and hard-fought victories are permitted, but Monday morning it better be back to the salt mines.

Like every Chiefs observer, each year I mentally calculate how many games I expect the team to win and if it will be enough to make the playoffs. I automatically give the nod to the Chiefs for all home games, putting my faith in the Arrowhead advantage. Realizing it’s unlikely the team will go undefeated, I concede a few road upsets. I never expect a losing season. Unrealistic, maybe, but why suffer future pain?

This idea of “cautious optimism” presumes that the Chiefs will be as good, or maybe a little worse, than last year and every other team they face will be as good or better. That’s not realistic, and definitely not optimistic. I recently heard a radio interview with Dante Hall in which he remarked that too much focus is placed on the other team. The other team has to play the Chiefs, and we ain’t too bad. Well said. No team is rolling into Arrowhead Stadium on a Sunday afternoon expecting to breeze through to victory. The only people who seem to think that is us.

From August to January, our happiness in intricately intertwined with the success of the Chiefs, and losses diminish that feeling. Let us stop giving away our joy to caution and latch on to optimism.

The opinions offered in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Kansas City Chiefs.

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A native of Binghamton, NY, with a B.A. in English Literature, Eileen Weir once served as manager of public information and media services for the Chiefs from 1992-2000. She currently is a society columnist for The Examiner.