The first thing Eli Waterman thought about was his father. In the moments after the Chiefs’ stunning loss to the Titans in last year’s playoffs, Waterman cried in the Arrowhead Stadium stands. “Bawled like a baby,” as he describes it.
Back home, his 63-year-old father had watched the Chiefs for the last time, nearing the final days of a battle with lung cancer. Waterman knew the end was close, and he considered staying home with the man who helped sprout his affection for the Chiefs. But he thought there would be one more game.
“Being a Chiefs fan, you’d think I’d know better than to be shocked, right?