Day 22,050

Evie Day 319

Good morning, and a happy Monday to you all! Today is Kansas Day, 29 January 2024.

It’s also an important day to me for another reason. Today would have been my dad’s 83rd birthday.

My dad was a good man. He was flawed, as all humans are, and he made mistakes, as all humans do. That said, he was a guy worthy of the respect he earned and the friendships he maintained. He did what he could for his family and community, and he was honest, sometimes to a fault. He taught me and my siblings some pretty valuable lessons, and I miss him. I like to think he would be proud of the man I continue to grow into.

What else do I have to think about today? Well… yesterday Sportsfan Bob had a pretty good day, In the AFC championship game, the Chiefs were the underdog, which lasted for about five minutes into the first quarter. The Chiefs found a way to win and were able to win the game in front of the Baltimore Ravens’ fans 17-10. I have said that I didn’t think the Chiefs had the horses this year to go all the way to the Superbowl, and I want to apologize – boy, was I wrong. The Chiefs seem to be a different team in the post-season, and yesterday version 3.0 showed up and frustrated the heck out of the Ravens offense.

Now the Chiefs will be the bad guys, the defending Superbowl champs, taking on their Superbowl LIV opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, and their QB, the new national hero, Brock Purdy, the last guy taken in the draft, and the subject of the future biography that will either be titled, “My Irrelevant” or “Mr. Relevant” – a play on the nickname bestowed annually on the last person taken in the NFL draft.

In 2020, the Chiefs went to the Superbowl, and they had a lot of momentum, as a team that had not been to the Superbowl in 50 years, a lot of folks were pulling for them. The Chiefs won that Superbowl with an incredible second half. The following year, and beat-up Chiefs team fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in what would be Tom Brady’s last Superbowl. The Chiefs lost to the Bengals in the AFC championship game in 2022, and then won the Superbowl again in 2023. Now the Chiefs are the bad guys, and people across the country are a little tired of this little mini-dynasty that has been forged. I love it when the Chiefs win, but I hope, as fans, we can stay humble. We’ve been in the cellar, and we’ll return to the cellar… but I’m ok of that drop to the bottom doesn’t happen anytime soon.

Some of the guys I game with are 49ers fans. This creates another good reason to stay humble. I’ve been on the losing end of one of those big games, and I know how it feels. I’m just going to keep my mouth shut, I think, and hope that both teams are healthy, the players don’t get hurt, and that it’s a good game.

Time to get focused on the day before me. I’m back in my virtual classroom in a couple of hours, a private class for a big customer, teaching cloud administration.

Tonight, I’ll raise a glass and toast my dad.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.