Bolek Blog Series - Fans of Out of Market NFL Teams: Kansas City Chiefs

As many of you have seen through my whored out Facebook statuses, I am profiling people who live in the Chicago area and are fans of out of town teams.

Thank you to everyone who has filled out a survey so far. If you're a fan of an out-of-town team and I haven't given you a questionnaire to fill out, please let me know ASAP, as I am looking to profile as many people as possible.

My sixth feature highlights another AFC West fan. My friend Mike Johnson has been a Chiefs fan for a while. He hasn't seen too much success in a while, but if my prediction of his team is right, he'll get to see a playoff team this season.

Here's a list of other blogs in the out-of-town feature series:

1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Tennessee Titans
3. New Orleans Saints 
4. Minnesota Vikings
5. Denver Broncos


Mike Johnson was not all that different than yours truly back in the early 90s.

During that time, Joe Montana was slinging touchdown passes to fellow Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice en route to four Super Bowl titles together. Then, a southpaw named Steve Young came around, and 49ers brass decided that Young would be the future starting QB of the team.

Mike has been a fan of KC for almost 20 years.

So instead of keeping him on the Niners and creating a distraction with Joe as a backup, the 49ers traded Montana to the Chiefs, a very unpopular move at the time in San Francisco. Along with Joe's team, Mike's rooting interest in the Niners was also traded to the Chiefs.

"I was a huge fan of Joe Montana growing up," Mike said. "So I was a 49ers fan and when he left there for Kansas City, I became a Chiefs fan and never looked back after he retired."

Mike has lived in the Chicago area for his entire 3+ decades of life, so he does retain a rooting interest in the Bears, except when they play against the Chiefs. When the Chiefs aren't on to watch (which is a common occurrence), he has no problem watching the Bears.

Fortunately, like many fans of out-of-town teams, technology has been very kind to Mike. His I-phone and I-Pad play a key role in keeping Mike in tune with the latest Chiefs news and updates.

"I wish they were on TV more," he said, "but I'm not a complainer."

His Sunday tradition of watching football over at his Grandma's will no longer be in effect this year due to her passing earlier in the year. He hopes he can adjust to a new routine for the 2012 season.

In the meantime, he retains confidence in the Chiefs, who won the AFC West in 2010 but were ravaged with injuries to start the 2011 season and were never able to get on track. Despite a late season charge, they fell short of repeating as division champs.

Mike believes that the Chiefs are the most complete team in the division and has faith that they will make the playoffs with an 11-5 record, win a Wild Card game but lose in the divisional round. He likes the structure of the team, highlighted by his current favorite player Jamaal Charles.

"He brings excitement to a dull offense," Mike said. "Hope he has a good season back after surgery last year."

He believes that Charles' bounce-back to an elite-level running back depends on how effective Matt Cassel and Dwayne Bowe will be.

"Passing attack should open up the running game," Mike said. "You add (Peyton) Hillis to the run game and it gives Charles a chance to not have to carry the ball all the time."

	Mike Johnson
	(whole life in Chicago)
Favorite team	Chiefs
A fan since…	1993
# of games attended	none
Choice of Team Consumption	I-pad & I-phone
Favorite Player(s) All-Time	Joe Montana & Tony Gonzalez
Favorite Player Currently	Jamaal Charles
2012 Prediction	(11-5, postseason appearance, advance to divisional round)
Vegas Projection for team	8
(as of 8-31-12) 5dimes.eu
Over/under?	Over
Odds to win division - 5dimes.eu	(+330)
Super Bowl odds	58/1 (+5800)
(as of 8-31-12) - 5dimes.eu

Bolek Blog Series - Fans of Out of Market NFL Teams: Denver Broncos

As many of you have seen through my whored out Facebook statuses, I am profiling people who live in the Chicago area and are fans of out of town teams.

Thank you to everyone who has filled out a survey so far. If you're a fan of an out-of-town team and I haven't given you a questionnaire to fill out, please let me know ASAP, as I am looking to profile as many people as possible.

My fifth feature is on the Denver Broncos, the first of two AFC West fans that I found. Randy Whalen is a former work colleague who freelances for the Sun-Times Media Group covering high school sports. He has been a long-time Broncos fan, and I thank him for sharing his thoughts on the Broncos and how he became a fan of them.

Here's a list of other blogs in the out-of-town feature series:

1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Tennessee Titans
3. New Orleans Saints 
4. Minnesota Vikings

Randy has been a fan of the Broncos for 36 years.

For this generation of NFL fans, it seems hard to fathom a point in time where the Raiders were hated AND good. For Randy Whalen, his dislike of the Raiders, who were coming off a Super Bowl win in 1976, is what sparked his interest in the Mile High City.

In 1977, the Broncos were the last team standing in the way of the Raiders advancing to their second consecutive Super Bowl.

"I remember listening to the game on the radio and hoping and maybe even praying that Oakland would lose," Randy said. "The Broncos held on for a 20-17 win and went to the Super Bowl. They captured my imagination because they had never been there before."

Not that he's counting (ok, maybe he is), but Randy has been to a total of 37 Broncos games, which includes preseason, regular season and post-season. Including Denver (where he has attended 25 games), he has attended Broncos games in eight different cities, with Denver sporting a 23-13-1 record in those games.

"The memories would take volumes to go through," Randy said. "The best one was this past January when I was at the Broncos-Steelers Wild Card game where Tebow hit Thomas with the 80-yard TD on the first play of OT - pure joy and euphoria!"

He believes that Peyton Manning (his new favorite player on the Broncos) will make fans forget about Tim Tebow, provided Manning can stay healthy.

When he's not attending a game, Randy watches Broncos games at bars and has no problem following the team in a Chicago market, especially with the Internet and how much coverage the team has been getting this offseason.

Unlike some fans of out-of-town teams, you won't find him rooting against the hometown Bears though.

"I generally hope they win," Randy said, "except when they play one of my favorite teams, usually Denver or Pittsburgh. But I really don't care."

He also doesn't care for B-Bo Knows prediction of a 7-9, out of playoffs prediction for his team. Randy forecasts 11 wins and another AFC West division crown in Denver this season.

He won't say, perhaps out of caution, what the Broncos will do once they make the playoffs.

"The playoffs are wide open," Randy said.

Randy Whalen whole life in Chicago area Favorite team Broncos A fan since… late 1970s # of games attended 36 Choice of Team Consumption Bars Favorite Player(s) All-Time John Elway Favorite Player Currently Peyton Manning 2012 Prediction (11-5, AFC West Champs, No SB prediction) Vegas Projection for team 9 (as of 8-31-12) 5dimes.eu Over/under? Over Odds to win division - 5dimes.eu (+155) Super Bowl odds 17.5/1 (+1750) (as of 8-31-12) - 5dimes.eu