Downtown Kansas City was a sea of crimson Wednesday for Valentine’s Day as Chiefs followers rejoice their third Super Bowl title in 5 seasons with a parade.
“We are stacking up trophies,” linebacker Drue Tranquill mentioned as he hopped of the bus and grabbed a reporter’s mic throughout Wednesday’s festivities to mark the Chiefs’ come-from-behind, 25-22 time beyond regulation win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Confetti canons exploded from double-decker buses as gamers rolled by the gang, DJs and drummers heralding their arrival. Throngs lined the route, with followers climbing timber and standing on rooftops for a greater view. Owner Clark Hunt was on a kind of buses, holding the Lombardi Trophy. Former “Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet was a part of the mob.
Key on the minds of many followers is whether or not pop famous person Taylor Swift would be a part of her boyfriend Travis Kelce for the parade and victory speeches. Swift has not commented. She has a present in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday night time, the primary of three scheduled live shows on her Eras Tour.
She was nowhere to be seen early within the parade. Instead, Kelce was joined by his mother, Donna Kelce, the famous person of NFL mothers (her oldest son, Jason Kelce, is a middle for the Philadelphia Eagles).
Unseasonably heat temperatures within the 60s Fahrenheit (15-20 Celsius) had gamers stripping off shirts. The climate additionally helped generate a crowd that metropolis officers estimate might prime 1 million.
“I missed last year. I said, ‘I’m not missing this year,’” mentioned longtime fan Charles Smith Sr., who flew from his residence in Sicklerville, New Jersey, for the parade.
Known by associates as Kansas City Smitty, the 52-yr-outdated first turned a Chiefs fan when Christian Okoye performed fullback for the workforce beginning within the late Nineteen Eighties.
“I got a history with this team,” he mentioned, including that he ran out of his residence with an enormous flag, screaming “Kansas City,” when the Chiefs clinched the victory in time beyond regulation.
The metropolis and the workforce every chipped in round $1 million for the occasion commemorating Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs changing into the primary workforce since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 20 years in the past to defend their title.
Some followers camped in a single day and others started to stake out spots earlier than daybreak to catch prime viewing spots. Bailey McDermott, 17, and Gracie Gilby, 16, of Lebanon, Missouri, acquired up at 3 a.m. to make the three-hour drive to the parade. They had a celebration to observe the sport, confetti poppers erupting when the Chiefs gained.
“Kind of freaking out at the end,” mentioned Gilby, who wore a sequined Chiefs jerseys with Kelce’s No. 87 on it. McDermott additionally had a sequined jersey, hers bearing Mahomes’ No. 15.
Many of the biggest faculty districts within the space canceled courses, and companies alongside the parade path are turning the day right into a viewing celebration for his or her employees. At least 600 Kansas City cops might be stationed alongside the the two-mile (3.22-kilometer) route, police Chief Stacey Graves mentioned.
Teens and youthful children had been in all places, some tossing footballs, others watching replays of recreation highlights on large TV screens.
Among them was Elysseah Buford and her pal, Devaun Burns, who watched the sport in between taking orders at McDonald’s. “We’re losing. We’re losing,” Buford recalled saying. But Burns scolded her, at the same time as a supervisor declared that the sport was a misplaced trigger: “I said, ’Don’t speak it. Believe it.”
The 18-yr-outdated highschool seniors from Raymore joined the festivities with one other pal, 17-yr-outdated Mekiyzeion Williams. who dared to ask what would have occurred if Mecole Hardman missed the ultimate landing catch. “Shut up,” Burns mentioned.
After many years with out a championship, town is gaining expertise with victory parades. Five seasons in the past, the Chiefs defeated the 49ers for the workforce’s first Super Bowl championship in 50 years. That adopted the Kansas City Royals successful the World Series in 2015, town’s first baseball championship in 30 years. That yr, followers deserted their vehicles on the facet of the freeway so they might stroll to the celebration.
Then, final yr, the Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 and prophetically vowed they’d be again for extra.
One huge change this yr is that the parade is getting began one hour earlier at 11 a.m. so the gang will dissipate earlier than the Valentine’s Day dinner crowd reveals up.
After the huge cleanup, the workforce will get able to strive it once more.
“It never gets old,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on X, previously referred to as Twitter, earlier than becoming a member of the celebration.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
