// November 23rd, 2006 // No Comments » // Thoughts
Mike Shanahan -
“I know people have tried to prepare me but until you actually experience it, you really don’t know how loud it is. It is a fun experience. I remember in that playoff game, that 14-10 (playoff game in 1998) — and this is before the game — I’m talking three or four minutes before the game and I am trying to talk to my son (Kyle). He is standing right next to me, I’m yelling and he can’t hear me. I am yelling at the top of my voice trying to get him to get something and he has no idea what I am saying. That is how loud it was.”
Rod Smith -
The first time I ever went in there it scared the hell out of me — and that was just the national anthem,” Smith remembered. “When they say, ‘The home of the Chiefs’ right there in the national anthem, I thought they were going to attack us. I thought 70,000 people were about to come out of the stands and get us.”
Tedy Bruschi -
“[Arrowhead] is the loudest outdoor stadium in the league. It’s so loud you can’t hear yourself think.”
John Elway-
“I don’t know if you say you can’t wait to play that game because this is going to be a blast. When you went to Kansas City, it was an absolute physical, lay-it-on-the-line game. When you got done, you were going to be totally exhausted and beat up.â€
“The one thing I remember the most is that it was loud. As a quarterback, that’s your worst enemy. And that I heard every little thing in the book that could be said about my mother.â€
Jim Mora -
“It felt different in Kansas City. Kansas City’s crowd is amazing and you felt it. You felt it. It’s like I talk about our Dome…you want it to be a suffocating feeling. You felt that at Kansas City. At Denver yesterday…you just didn’t feel it. You didn’t feel the heat, you didn’t feel the emotion, you didn’t feel the crowd, so we didn’t get worked up. We kind of just kept playing and we felt like our offense was moving the ball and they continued to move the ball, so we felt like we’d get back in it. And we did. But I think, honest to goodness, a lot of it has to do with the crowd. It’s a big difference between Kansas City and Denver. Big difference. Big. Big difference between Kansas City and most places. We want to be talking about Atlanta like I’m talking about Kansas City and I think we’re on our way.
Rodney Harrison –
“It’s not the same as other places,” said the Patriots’ Rodney Harrison, who formerly was with the Chargers. “It’s loud. It’s the loudest I’ve ever played in. The fans are out there four hours before game time, probably tailgating. But it’s a great atmosphere for football.
- Denver Fan
“I have been to many NFL games throughout the past 20 years, and each time I return to Arrowhead, I become even more amazed at how loud their fans are. I am a Denver Broncos fan, but I would have to say that Kansas City’s game day atmosphere is the best in all of the NFL.”
SI article proclaiming Arrowhead the toughest place to play in the NFL:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0604/gallery.toughplaces/content.10.html
When the Chiefs are having a bad season, they’re tough to beat at Arrowhead. When they’re having a good season, they’re unbeatable. With the scent of barbecue in the air and a sea of red in the stands, Kansas City is the best football atmosphere in the country. The Chiefs were a flawed team in 2005 but still managed to win seven of eight home games.
-Texans Fan
“I personally don’t know why this stadium isn’t #1 right now. After talking to a Texans football player, he stated that this IS truly the loudest stadium in the NFL (Arrowhead).”
These are just a few of many quotes I have found from different people across the nation that aren’t even Chiefs fans.
Why I think it is so bad ……. bad is not a good word man. I would say difficult to play in arrowhead? The simple answer is in the architecture, and of course the 78,000 screaming fans. I mean all 78,000 screaming ………. from 6 years olds all the way up to 90 year olds ………. all horse after a game for a day or two. The bowl effect of that stadium is the true gem in the whole scheme. All that screaming is at its loudest point on that field. Truly an architectural piece of sports art.
Bryant Young
“That stadium definitely is one of the loudest stadiums you’ll ever play in…The crowd is like right on top of you. You can’t hear cadence, you can’t make calls. That stadium rocks.”
Damon Haurd-
“This stadium is unbelievable. I mean, it’s really cool. When this place gets rocking, it’s pretty neat.â€
Billy Miller
remembers the first time he thought Arrowhead Stadium was truly special. A rookie tight end on the practice squad of the Denver Broncos, Miller made the trip to Kansas City with the rest of the team for a regular-season game in 1999. The coaching staff wanted the young players to get a feel for “playing in a hostile environment,” and there aren’t many places more intimidating and noisy than the 32-year-old home of the Chiefs.
Most of the details of the game have long since been forgotten. What Miller experienced during pre-game festivities hasn’t. It all began when the team charter bus arrived to find the stadium parking lot resembling a war zone from all the smoke billowing out from tailgaters. Later, as The Star-Spangled Banner was about to end, Miller recalls the nearly 80,000-strong “Sea of Red” screaming in unison, “Chiefs!” Finally, there was a loud roar and shake as a military jet flew over the stadium.
“I got chills,” said Miller, now with the Texans. “It’s one of the best home-field advantages in football.” Nowhere in the NFL is there a noisier crowd than the 79,451 fans who regularly fill Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs had the NFL’s best home record (63-17) from 1990-99. They’re 59-22 at home in the last decade, fourth only to Green Bay, Denver and San Francisco.
“It’ll be electric,” said Chiefs coach Herm Edwards. “These fans are very passionate and they’re excited. This is going to be a fun spot to be.”
Rod Smith has been to an excited Arrowhead many times in his long career. “The first seven minutes in their place is going to be loud. You’re going to hear nothing and you can’t give them a couple of plays here and there, no big returns, none of that,” he said.
Wikipedia:
Though many NFL fans argue, Arrowhead has long been considered to be the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL: the fans often reach sound levels of over 120 decibels, which is as loud as a jet airliner taking off. Because of the “atmosphere” in the stadium, Sports Illustrated gave the Chiefs’ home field, Arrowhead Stadium, the title of being the “Toughest Place to Play” for opposing teams.
Arrowhead Tailgating Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LcO4ZFir7o
