Answer: When it's Chiefs-Raiders

Raiders vs. Chiefs, originally uploaded by fogtown.

Question: When do you get excited about seeing two of the worst teams in the NFL play each other?

Mary was able to score us free tickets to the Chiefs-Raiders game next Sunday. Both teams are doing pretty bad this year, but I am still tremendously excited.

1) Chiefs-Raiders is intense. Here are some quotes from the Wikipedia entry on the rivalry:

• "Those were my favorite games...I always likened them to a heavyweight fight. You knew you were going to get beat up, but it was fun. We needed the Chiefs. We wouldn't have been as good without them." — Ben Davidson, former Raiders defensive end.
• "It's something special. It's not just media hype...You can sense it with coaches and players. Then you get out into the community, and you realize what a huge game this is for both cities." — Will Shields, former Chiefs offensive guard.
• "In Oakland...the games you always really wanted to come see were the Niners and the Chiefs. You grew up hating red...It goes deep. It's not just the teams. It's the organizations, you know, which organization is better? These are two teams that played in the old AFL against each other. Most of the history goes back to it. They've been AFC West rivals for a very, very long time. It's always been the must-win game." — Kirk Morrison, current Raiders linebacker.^[23]
• "It's a dark game. I characterize it as a lot of darkness." When asked whether "dark" was meant as 'a good vs. evil dark'—"You can read between the lines." — Gunther Cunningham, former Raiders defensive co-ordinator and former Chiefs Head coach, currently working as the Chiefs defensive co-ordinator.^[7]
• "Only one word. Blood."--Harvey Williams (who was with Oakland that season after four years in Kansas City) in a 1995 NBC interview for the team's first meeting in Oakland since 1981.
• We knew we had to go through Oakland to win the championship, and they knew they had to go through Kansas City...That made it a very bitter rivalry. ~Hank Stram, former Texans/Chiefs head coach

2) I haven't been following the NFL much this year. (I am suffering in a post Cubs sports hiatus) But, Thanksgiving and football - that's a cultural must-have.

3) He is having an incredibly rough season (OK he could be a candidate for worst QB in the NFL this year) - but I get to watch (if he's starting) LSU's JaMarcus Russell.

I like the Chiefs. And one of my best football memories is when I went with Eric, Pablo and Herb to Arrowhead, but I will be in full Silver and Black with not a trace of red. I do like to root for the home team when given the chance. And, I care deeply about my life and the lives of my loved ones...