Sunday mornings during football season are a high-speed collision of gameday rituals, bold predictions, and pregame jitters. In the offseason, we opt to take it slow and recap the week that was. Plus, some bonus free NBA Finals picks for our readers who have “the itch”.
Charles Robinson @CRob5769
Lead Writer – @ChiefsFocus
Hindsight is a powerful thing, especially when you reach an “adult” age and look back on things that you wish you would have done when you were younger. We’re not going to go as far as to classify these feelings as regret – regrets hold their own place in each individual’s hallways of times passed. The things I’m referring to are generally more innocent, pills that are easier to swallow. For instance – I wish I would have taken ____ more seriously, it could have benefitted me now. Or if I would have done _____, I could have gone _____. Not that your life is in shambles now because you didn’t do those things, there are just some memories, choices, or courses of action that we all wish would have gone 1-2 degrees differently in our lives.
I experienced one of those firsthand this week. I’ve always had straight teeth, but those straight teeth have always had a little room to breathe so to speak. A little spaced out. Some imperfections in my bite, but nothing major. I have jokingly referred to them as dinosaur teeth for much of my life. But when I went to the dentist to clean my dinosaur teeth and fix a minor chip leading up to my wedding, I was told by Dr. Smiley (ironically my dentist’s actual name) that I may need an orthodontic consultation. So, I did. Fast forward 6 weeks and I am now the proud owner of 52 weeks of Invisalign treatment.
Present me now wishes that past me would have insisted that my mom and dad have me get braces when I was younger. All of my friends had them, with the exception of my best friend who is copycatting me and getting his Invisalign trays tomorrow, and all of my cousins had them. Yeah, they said they sucked, but it didn’t seem that bad. You know what is bad? You know what actually sucks? Being a 34 year old notorious snacker who now has to remove trays, eat or drink, brush teeth, floss teeth, and clean trays every time he wants to consume anything. Water gets a hall pass, everything else – see the above process and repeat. So yeah, mom and dad, those braces would have been nice around 20 years ago. My mouth is in shambles.
To tie this into Chiefs football, there are also takes that Chiefs fans, writers, and media personnel have fired off in the past that they inevitably wish they could take back, or will wish they could take back. Many of those have been on display this week regarding Dolphins (and former Chiefs) wide receiver Tyreek Hill. There was an interesting little clip that dropped this week as a teaser to Tyreek’s new “It Needed To Be Said” podcast that will drop it’s first episode this Friday. In the clip you see a shitty quality facetime feed of Hill’s agent and decades long noted scumbag Drew Rosenhaus saying that Tyreek wanted to stay in Kansas City. Tyreek agreed. Rosenhaus said they reached out to the Chiefs and wanted to make a deal. Tyreek agreed and reiterated.
Then (co-host?) Atty Collins chimes in and insinuates that Tyreek wasn’t asking for a crazy amount of money and asks if Tyreek thinks that the Chiefs were trying to suppress his stats and utilization to in turn reduce his market value in an attempted contractual coup to keep Hill a Chief for cheap. And people in the Kingdom are losing their shit over this. Here’s the deal – Tyreek didn’t say anything that we didn’t already know. We knew he wanted to stay in KC. We knew the Chiefs wanted to keep him. We also know that the free agent/trade market deals that other receivers like Christian Kirk and Davante Adams got before the Chiefs were able to ink Hill reset the floor and the ceiling on a market for a player like Tyreek.
Things changed. Both parties pivoted. And now Tyreek is a Dolphin and the Chiefs have Trent McDuffie and Skyy Moore as a direct result, and everyone should be ready to move on. Except we’re not, because there’s an insatiable desire for everyone with a twitter account or blogging platform to create a story out of something that certainly isn’t one (yet). We didn’t even see Tyreek’s response to the question. Now, if the episode drops on Friday and Hill agrees and dumps gas on this “stat suppression” fire then there’s a different conversation to be had. My guess – he’s going to say no, and he’s going to reiterate that there is nothing but love between him and his former teammates, coaches, and front office personnel in Kansas City.
There’s no reason to hate on Tyreek, so don’t throw takes out that you’re going to regret. You’ll end up feeling like Todd Leabo, who asked Andy Reid about the Hill comments just to have Big Red call him a “shock jock” – true – and write his question off as “dumb”. Let’s learn from Leabo – don’t be dumb. Stories will come and stories will go, but this isn’t one…yet. Don’t look back on this point in Chiefs history and regret your dumb Tyreek Hill takes or questions. Future you will thank past me when the time comes.
Brown Jr. hires an agent, looks to re-up with Chiefs
On to more Chiefs news and notes from this week. A press release dropped on Friday that Orlando Brown, Jr. had hired a new agent. For those surprised, I hope the rock you’re sleeping under continues to insulate you from the real world. Of course this was coming. The fact that Brown, Jr has wanted to be a left tackle his entire career, finally got the opportunity in Kansas City, and is now in line to sign a fat extension with the Chiefs, he needs a team around him that will be able to negotiate the best deal with Brett Veach and the Chiefs.
Perhaps Brown stalled contract talks with KC because he sees what’s happening in Baltimore with his former team and quarterback. Lamar Jackson is attempting to figure out his own extension with the Ravens with no agent at all, and that seems to be going poorly for both sides. The fact of the matter is it’s in these players best interest to do their due diligence in their representation just as we all do our due diligence in CPAs, financial advisors, and more common service providers. If you want someone to clean your house, you’re not going to hire someone with a criminal record as long as the vacuum cord. Brown is getting his people right so he can get his contract right, and the Chiefs – who have shown they are building the offense from the front back with their actions in the last two offseasons – seem primed to make something happen with OBJr.
Chenal Signs, Death Row Now Officially A Part of Chiefs Kingdom
Speaking of signing, the Chiefs officially signed second round pick Leo Chenal to his rookie contract on Thursday. Chenal became the eighth of the ten players selected by the Chiefs to sign his rookie deal. Only Skyy Moore and Joshua Williams have yet to sign their rookie deals. Chenal is expected to be one of the key young contributors on a defense that has experienced a massive facelift this offseason. His physical style of play and textbook tackling figure to be a welcome accent to the play of incumbent linebackers Nick Bolton and Willie Gay. A unit that was a massive liability at times last season has the opportunity to be a strength this season. Check back into the blog in the next couple of months for some new Chenal-inspired merch.
Warriors look to bounce back against Celtics in Game 2 of the NBA Finals tonight
Basketball? What do we know about basketball? Well, not as much as we know about football, but we have a little bit of a grasp on the roundball here at Chiefs Focus. The Warriors blew a 12 point lead to start the fourth quarter on Thursday – at home, nonetheless – to surrender a 1-0 series lead to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Boston went absolutely ballistic in the fourth quarter on Thursday, outscoring the Warriors 40-16 in the final frame to run away with Game 1.
Now, there are a couple schools of thought coming off of Game 1 that are shaping the narrative of the remainder of this series.
- Steph Curry went off in the first quarter, ended up with 34, and Jaysom Tatum played terrible – the Warriors are screwed.
- Al Horford and Payton Pritchard were on fire, that won’t last, the Warriors fell victim to an anomaly and will be better off in Games 2-7 (if necessary)
Reality probably lives somewhere in between those two takes, but the fact that Tatum didn’t do much in Game 1 and the Celtics still won bodes well for Boston. But Golden State’s supporting cast also played terrible, and Steph was doing a lot of the heavy lifting on his own. Klay Thompson contributed 15 and Andrew Wiggins 20, but their offense was inconsistent. And what the hell happened to Draymond Green and Jordan Poole? Green had just 4 points and 3 turnovers, and looked like he completely forgot how to shoot a basketball. Poole, meanwhile, only contributed 9 points and the Warriors were -19 when he was on the floor.
The bottom line is both of these game 1 anomalies will reverse themselves over the course of several games for the remainder of this series. As for tonight? Here’s some free picks for you. Feel free to create and account with our friends over at Betway, or hop on over to Gaming Today to find the best way to place bets in your state.
Golden State -4
Game 2 First Half – Under 104
Jayson Tatum – Over 40.5 Points+Rebounds+Assists
Marcus Smart – Over 2.5 3 Pointers Made
Andrew Wiggins – Over 1.5 3 Pointers Made
Klay Thompson – Over 25.5 Points+Rebounds+Assists
