I knew today would be ‘OverReaction Monday’, but I got enough texts and emails today to grind my gears.  So for the vast majority of you who only got a 10 second clip of Arrowhead cheering Cassel’s injury (and the all day talking down to we got from the national media), let me give you some much needed perspective from a lifelong Chiefs fan.

First, the obvious: no it’s not cool or acceptable to cheer for anyone to be injured.  With the ‘sound bite’ context (as well as Eric Winston’s well stated frustration), I can’t deny that it looked really terrible.  But was Arrowhead cheering simply because the team is 1 and 4?  No, not remotely that simple.

Listen, any Chiefs fan who’s halfway paying attention knows Matt Cassel is one of the good guys.  He organized workouts during the NFL lockout, he’s been visibly active in the rebuilding of Joplin, and for the most part his teammates stand up for him.  Nice guy or not though, most Chiefs fans (myself included) felt our team was an elite quarterback away from taking ‘the next step’ (which for us means regular trips to the playoffs). We have Pro Bowlers in our defense, we have one of the league’s best running backs, we have debatably the most winnable division in football.  Again, Matt Cassel seems like a nice enough guy.  But at best, he’s a game manager.  He’s not Peyton Manning, who wouldn’t even give us a sit down this offseason.

Which brings us to…

Who I (and most Chiefs fans) have frustration with most Sundays. Our GM, Scott Pioli, rolled into town hyped up as ‘the brains behind the Patriots dynasty’, and he’s brought in as many of his guys as humanly possible (including Coach Romeo and Cassel).  But the honeymoon period has ended and things are swiftly moving in the wrong direction.  Pioli of course never takes the field, never has to stand on the sideline.  But the guy who most symbolizes his tenure as GM has to go under center.  At least he did until he got his block knocked off…

I can’t tell you the hometown fans will do right by Cassel and give him polite applause whenever he resurfaces.  The man was booed during the MLB Celebrity All Star Game for heaven’s sake.  I’m not even saying it was right to cheer his concussion…

But I understand.