Having watched the Kansas City Chiefs slay the Buffalo Bills for the fifth time in seven post-season matchups, I couldn’t help but marvel at how this latest NFL dynasty finds ways to win such clutch contests. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have been formidable in wresting control of the championship dominance that defined the historic run of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick over nearly two decades.

Making seven consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances and winning three of four Super Bowls (losing only to Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers) since 2018 is astonishing. On February 9, Mahomes will play in his fifth Super Bowl in the past six years and is one of just five NFL quarterbacks to win three or more Super Bowls as a starter, and he’s now on the precipice of a “threepeat,” which has never been done before in professional football. He’s also off to the best start ever among elite QBs as he edges closer to legitimately being in the GOAT (greatest of all time) conversation.

But like Brady and Belichick before them, Mahomes and Reid have found that most fans have grown tired of their gridiron magic. Americans love to build up and then tear down excellence in professional sports (and all businesses, for that matter). We’re fatigued and bored by repeat winners, preferring underdogs or great comeback stories. We want fresh faces – other great athletes like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow or Jalen Hurts taking turns holding the Vince Lombardi trophy. That’s understandable.

What concerns me is how our culture is changing in ways that reflect a downward spiral across society. The United States is a meritocracy – the envy of the world. People have long risked their lives to cross our border and become American citizens. We’re supposed to celebrate and reward champions. While we may root against them out of boredom if nothing else, too many of us abandon or turn on the champs.

Our professional sports leagues are designed to promote parity in draft picks and salary caps. In recent years, we’ve seen an expansion in wildcard slots being added to the playoff mix in hopes of sustaining fan support beyond the regular season. We’ve also seen far too many teams purposely lose in order to secure higher draft picks, as well as load management (primarily in the NBA) and dainty performances in all-star games to reduce the risk of injury.
Look no further than every kid on their t-ball team receiving a trophy for participation lest we offend them, or God forbid, their parents. This has been brewing for generations. The result is coddled kids and helicopter parents die casting a kinder and gentler culture that apologizes for winning and waters down achievement.

Sports radio and social media are full of folks complaining about Mahomes and Reid making it to yet another Super Bowl. Others collectively roll their eyes at TV cameras panning to Taylor Swift cheering on her beau, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, in a cushy Arrowhead Stadium skybox.

Why can’t more of us marvel at what this team has actually done? Why can’t more of us simply appreciate their hard work, clutch play and historic performances on the biggest stages? Why can’t we just admire and embrace a winning culture that more of us really need to emulate in our own lives and workplaces when you come right down to it?

American sportswriter Grantland Rice once said, “it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers, had a very different take: “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Irrespective of Super Bowl LIX’s outcome, I’m hoping that the real winner is a sea change in the culture that stops apologizing for subpar performance, bending backward to equalize the competition and re-learns how to celebrate greatness. 

I see nothing but sad irony in the senseless fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, one of the nation’s most influential young conservative voices:

·       A proud Christian, he was killed at a university in Utah – home to the Mormon Church of Ladder Day Saints where religious freedom is highly valued.

·       As a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, he’s on record as having said that tolerating some gun deaths is worth the right to bear arms.

·       The conservative Republican position he so passionately espoused on that issue has in effect turned him into a martyr – a heavy price that his supporters, not to mention wife and two children, will now have to pay.

·       Sensible gun laws restricting the sale of high-powered rifles like the one suspected in his shooting from a distant rooftop could have spared his life.

·       Albeit a divisive figure in the eyes of liberal Democrats, Kirk’s greatest asset was calmly inviting an open dialogue with those whom he disagreed. He didn’t shout his views. He spoke to and with people who didn’t share his world view, not at them. He was curious, and he listened. In short, he was hardly a threat to the other side – just someone who imparted information to help change hearts and minds.

Political violence is a symptom of a much larger problem, the unfortunate result of a deeply divided country torched by incendiary rhetoric. Liberals and conservatives have been at war with one another from the very beginning.

The most recent high-profile killing over politics involved the stalking and murder of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the stalking and shooting of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife – all Democrats.

President Donald Trump, who announced Kirk’s death on Truth Social, was himself the target of two assassination attempts on the 2024 presidential campaign trail – defiantly imploring the crowd to fight for their beliefs after being shot in the ear.

The temperature needs to be turned way down when it comes to expressing political differences. Taunting and de-humanizing one another over our beliefs has created the toxic climate we find ourselves in at the moment, and with each day that passes it seems like there’s no turning back to the time of bipartisan mutual respect.

Liberals pride themselves on being tolerant and inclusive of others, as well as empathetic, but they have a long sordid history of shutting down speakers with whom they disagree – the height of hypocrisy.

I can’t help but think about all the times prominent conservatives like Ann Coulter had to cancel speaking engagements at the ultra-liberal University of California Berkeley where my oldest daughter graduated just a few years ago. A liberal friend of mine just today remarked about how he won’t be shedding a tear for Charlie Kirk. Seems like some bleeding-heart progressive liberals would much rather rip the heart out of conservatives than listen to what they say or pursue common-group solutions.

But the far right can be just as culpable – with no shortage of commentators using their bully pulpits to incite division and do their share of demonizing (Tucker Carlson comes to mind). Trump’s MAGA movement has turned George H.W. Bush’s vision of “a kinder and gentler nation” square on its head. The America-first mindset is dripping with anger, resentment and a desire for retribution.

I pride myself on being an objective observer – a registered independent for decades who will cross party lines to vote for someone in the sensible center and journalist who was trained to write balanced stories that tell both sides. I don’t have a dog in this fight and loathed the choice of last year’s presidential election, knowing that existential threats were imminent no matter who would rise to power. I would love to see a third political party challenge Democrats and Republicans, whose parties have become fractured with extreme elements gradually polluting both sides of the political aisle.  

Charlie Kirk, of course, played a major role in getting Trump re-elected. Love him or detest him, his approach was always measured, thoughtful and respectful of those who took issue with his views. He let naysayers get to the front of the line to challenge him. He also displayed incredible courage touring high schools and college campuses where critical thinking sadly is in very short supply to offer strong opinions often before hostile crowds.

I didn’t agree with everything he had to say, but I deeply admired him for being one of the few voices of reason when it came to explaining all the nuances of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict and speaking out against antisemitism.
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Whatever your political beliefs, this is a sad day for all Americans when once again we’re witnessing serious fissures in the republic. Forget Russia, China, North Korea and Iran: the U.S. enemy is deeply embedded within our own borders and bloodlines, and unless we re-learn how to work together to improve our lives, we’re doomed to repeat a vicious cycle of discontent that will continue to strip our collective spirits and souls.