This time my column becomes a very personal travel diary!
After the NFL live games in London, in the heart of the English metropolis, the Ransport team is now on their next assignment abroad. In Kansas City and Boston. As part of our NFL broadcasts, we have to comment on these two games (Chiefs vs. Packers and Patriots vs. Browns) on-site.
And so it was time to pack your suitcase and go to the first stop on the journey to the “Chiefs Kingdom”.
The Chiefs are proud of this: The loudest fans worldwide were measured at Arrowhead StadiumPhoto: private
After what felt like an eternity, I reached KC via Frankfurt and Chicago. And after the first night with a lot of fighting against jet lag, the next day the shooting schedule was packed full. And it was fine like that. Because the Chiefs made it possible for us to tour the stadium. And that was four and a half hours that burned into me as a fan forever and now give goose bumps while writing.
Mike Davidson, who moved from the Browns to the Chiefs with the then head coach Marty Schottenheimer at the end of the eighties, welcomed me and the camera team in the empty XXL parking lot in front of the stadium – and from the first few sentences I hung on his lips.
Every word he spoke was love and enthusiasm for his team. He told us the story of the Chiefs from the moment Mister Hunt had the idea of a franchise including its own league. And when at some point you stand in front of the framed piece of paper on which this idea was written during a flight to his hometown of Dallas at the time, you know that history is lived here.
Alone in front of the wall that Hunt had adorned with memories handpicked by him until shortly before his death in 2006, I lingered for an eternity and Mr. Davidson realized that he wasn’t looking at a commentator who would shoot a report for German television, but a football fan who couldn’t understand the honor he was being given.
And what was to be found on this wall …
A wall full of Chiefs memoriesPhoto: private
My first encounter with the Chiefs was in 1990 in Berlin at the American Bowl, with my two favorite players of the time. Derrick Thomas and Christian Okoye. Both of you may not say anything to the younger fans among you. And if so, please take the time and take a look at the highlights of these two times.
An example? Veterans Day 1990. The Chiefs had to take on the Seahawks. And their quarterback went down seven times through Derrick Thomas’ pass rush. I will never forget that I was allowed to talk to a man here who was allowed to speak personally to the player who brought me to football, whose poster I had on my wall.
This is where tyrant Mathieu, one of the best defense players in the NFL, sitsPhoto: private
He talked and talked – and at some point my eyes fell on another photo on the wall. The nice gentleman, who spoke so selflessly and with so much passion about the exploits of others, hangs himself on this wall. And rightly so, after all that he’s done for the Chiefs. But the tour had only just begun, and for the next few hours it went through corridors, tunnels and paths and with every step there were things to discover.
And to be honest, I don’t know what impressed me more. The museum that you can’t get enough of? Where the real rubber ball “SuperBall” lies, which was the decisive factor back then, to christen the Super Bowl as it is now called. Or the original letter in which Lamar Hunt suggested naming the cup of the final after legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Or the opportunity to stand in the chiefs’ locker room. Every moment of this tour was not only impressive but breathtaking.
A look inside the Kansas City Chiefs’ cabinPhoto: private
To be allowed to take a seat where Chris Jones and tyrant Mathieu change clothes before the game and prepare for the game. Soak in the impressions on the real bench on the sidelines. Every moment of it was very special. And for that I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the Chiefs and especially Mike.
But with the tour to the highest seat in the stadium, our work was not done here. A whole studio had to be set up, an outside broadcast van “armed” and of course the sequence of an entire program to be planned. A monster task that everyone on the Ran team took on. Everyone helped, even if it wasn’t actually their area. And so it happened on Saturday. Everything was prepared and we could rehearse from our studio. I will sit high above the stadium with the former 49ers player Mark Nzeocha and guide you through the game.
The Ran crew for the technology and broadcast: Philipp Kubiessa and Dennis MüllerPhoto: private
A breathtaking view of the game and the stadium, where a world record was set with 142 decibels of volume. And the viewer at Prosieben MAXX will also get a look that is rarely seen on German television. Because the two guys who are responsible for Ran for the show, Phillip and Dennis, have published a goal for tonight. The audience will feel like they’re in the stadium. We’ll show everything that happens before the game up to the kick-off at Arrowhead. And according to the plan, that’s a lot.
Camera use in the loudest stadium in the worldPhoto: private
And there will be a lot to see even after the game has kicked off. In this game, which incidentally is the rematch of the first final, the Chiefs have to score a win, no matter what the cost. And even if the Packers’ playmaker, Aaron Rodgers, won’t play due to Corona, it won’t be a walk in the park for the Chiefs.
Because Jordan Love will take over at the Packers. And he showed at college that he is more than a master of his craft. And even if at first glance it seems like a jump in deep water for him to lead the Packers to Arrowhead Stadium, he experienced and trained all the preparation through Rodgers’ “strike” before the season as let him be the starting quarterback.
A selfie with Ran “Netman” Christoph “Icke” Dommisch in front of the Kansas City skylinePhoto: private
So it is guaranteed to be an exciting game!
And when the game is over and you go to bed in Germany, it is far from over here. Because after the game we will have to take everything down and pack up and prepare for the next stop on our US tour. Because on Monday it’s going from here to the east coast. We are guests of the Patriots, who have to face the Browns next Sunday.
And what will happen for Icke, the team and me by then, I’ll tell you next Sunday – here again.