The Super Bowl brings out some friendly wagers among rival cities and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, WUSF is putting some skin in the game.
Your NPR station is having some fun with KCUR in Kansas City and WUSF's Julio Ochoa volunteered to take off his journalist hat to defend the home team. Representing Kansas City is KCUR host Steve Kraske.
So Steven, let's start off by talking about what's on the line here. And I'm not talking about on the football field, I mean, the wager between KCUR and WUSF. If Kansas City somehow pulls off a win, we will be giving you a stack of Cuban sandwiches. Tell us what you're planning to send WUSF for a Bucs win?
Well, in the unlikely event that that occurs, you're going to be coming out of this thing in just incredible shape with a couple of cases of Gates's barbecue sauce. It's the finest sauce in the world, comes in different varieties. You're going to go crazy, because what you've got down there when it comes to barbecue is really sort of D- league amateur status stuff.
Okay, alright. So now that we know what the stakes are, let's get down to it. What makes you think that the Chiefs can come onto the Bucs' stadium and beat Tampa Bay and Tom Brady, the greatest of all time?
Well, let me just offer you two words: Patrick Mahomes -- the finest and the greatest quarterback today in the NFL. We have all the respect and admiration in the world for Tom Brady up here. But you'll be wheeling him onto the field probably in a wheelchair, given his advancing age. And folks up here, we're really not too worried about this game. We're looking at this as a legacy game. We're hoping for two or three more Super Bowls on top of this one.
So it seems to me, you should maybe be a little bit worried that Kansas City, who comes in as you said, the reigning Super Bowl champions, they might be a little bit overconfident, don't you think?
That might be the only thing, Julio, that's gonna wind up defeating us, I think. What makes you think that the Bucs can take on the mighty defending champion Chiefs?
Well, Steven, I'm glad you asked. They say that games are won in the trenches. And for public radio listeners who don't know that term, it refers to the four massive bodies on the offense that line up against the four massive bodies on the defense, right where the ball is hiked. So, whoever wins that battle up front, can usually control much of the game. And many are predicting that's where this game will be decided. And that might not be good news for Kansas City because they're missing some key players up front on the offensive line. Isn't that right, Steven?
You know, Julio, you've got a point. And if there's one thing that does make me a little bit nervous about this game -- and I'll acknowledge this much -- is the fact that we've got two sort of star offensive tackles — our left tackle and our right tackle — they're both injured for this game. Not expected to play. Point well taken.
So I've heard a little bit about this Kansas City fan called Bad Luck Chuck. Can you tell us Buc fans down here a little bit more about him?
Yeah, interesting guy. He showed up at a playoff game last year out at Arrowhead Stadium, our stadium here in Kansas City. And the team fell behind to the Houston Texans like, 21-to-nothing and Bad Luck Chuck said "This isn't good. I'm getting out of here." For some reason he believed he was bringing bad karma to the game and to the team. So he split and as soon as he split, the team roared back from this huge deficit and won the game fairly easily. So Bad Luck Chuck stays away from all playoff games now and he has the last couple.
I see. So you're saying all we got to do is find a ticket for Bad Luck Chuck and this game is in the bag?
Yes, I think people up here would agree with that. But Bad Luck Chuck isn't going to take your ticket. He's learned his lesson. He's going to stay away because none of his buddies will let him anywhere near a Chiefs' playoff game.
Well, hopefully there's some donors out there who are listening.
Good luck finding them.
Steve Kraske from KCUR, you may want to fire up the barbecue pit.
We'll think about it, Julio.
Seriously though, good luck and may the best team win.
That sounds good to me.
