George W. Bush stole the 2000 presidential election. Barack Obama, the child of an American citizen, was born on foreign soil and therefore cannot legally be the president of the United States. Arrowhead Stadium’s field is unfit to play on by two major college teams and therefore is further proof the city will lose the Big 12 Championship.

A bit over the top to link the last declaration with the first two, you say? Well, this is a media column after all. Indeed, while these first two statements carry far more weight and exceedingly far more interest than the third, they are decidedly related.

They are the statements of foolish zealots who want either to find fault with every decision they don’t agree with or want to cast negative aspersions where there aren’t any.

Following tempest in a tea cup posturing by a local talk radio station, bored media throughout the Kansas City metro area were still harping on the condition of the field days after the Kansas-Missouri game played at Arrowhead Stadium even though it played no part in either that game’s outcome or the Big 12 championship which came a week later. The local newspaper could still note a day following the Big 12 that “the grass was at least three different shades of green and two of brown.” (Kansas City Star, December 7, 2008)

There were numerous fourth quarter lead changes in the Kansas vs. Missouri game at Arrowhead and in the Big 12 championship Oklahoma managed to score what recently has been their usual outlay of points: 60 plus. A total of 80-some points were scored in the Big 12 title game alone. So much for field conditions playing any part except to those who were looking to adjust the color on their television sets.

Inquiries to the Chiefs, as far as I can tell, received responses pointing to the seeding process of rye with Bermuda grasses and to the fact that the club regularly re-sods the center and not the entire field this time of year, but much of that seemed to have been lost on the critics who were quick to blame the team for either ignoring the condition or giving up any hope of getting the Big 12 back. No such proof of either case was provided by outside sources and the one coaching critic had never seen the surface in person until the championship game and even then it played no part in his team’s performance. More to the point, the stadium’s management reiterated its intent to continue to be a bidder for the championship game that has proven to be a great draw for the city and to a conference that regularly likes the large crowds – and money – it attracts here.

So what is all this about the condition of grass?

For those of us who have been coming to Arrowhead Stadium since before it went to grass – and let’s forget the people who were screaming for grass all those years when the field was turf and now want it the other way – the field always looks like this in late November and the center strip has always been re-sod. It’s usually painted in spots by December and the games are played and no one pays much attention. It’s nearing winter after all and we’re not located in the sunnier climes.

Having seen plenty of games at old Cleveland Stadium in the glory days of the Browns I can recall the field being dirt in many places by this time of year without any outcries from fans or the media. It sort of added to the decadent romanticism of the rough and tumble days of the early NFL with the old brown uniforms stained with mud, hot breath emanating from behind the scarred face masks. You get the picture. It certainly wasn’t the condition of the field that carried the blame for the outcome of a game, and there wasn’t a sudden interest of some faux fan/agronomist who couldn’t understand why his own grass wouldn’t stay green in the winter much less some football field. Seated in my broken, uncomfortable wooden seat in the rickety old stadium my attention was locked on the players on the field, not looking for the grounds crew. Thinking back on it now, back to the 1989 season and the Chiefs tie with the Browns (November 19, 1989), Nick Lowery missed a couple of winning kicks on the crappy surface and no one cried later that it was the fault of field conditions. Incidentally, that game could have cost the Chiefs a chance for the playoffs that year as it finished 8-7-1. If it had happened today, some radio host would have been asking for a congressional investigation.

So, why so much attention now? Well, if there is anything some in the local media love more than overhyping an anti-Chiefs story, it’s overhyping their own importance in bringing it to you, so when they have a chance to do both at once, it’s no surprise they get a little too excited. Saying something good about the Chiefs is so awkward for them. It’s like asking them to write with their feet. Listen, the Chiefs have had problems this year, but the condition of their field isn’t one of them, and where’s the community spirit anyway? Don’t these people want the Big 12 championship here?

Somerset Maugham once said, “There is only one thing about which I am certain, and that is there is very little about which one can be certain.” There is one certainty, however, at least in our little Chiefs world. That is some local media’s undying commitment to finding fault where there is none.