ST. JOSEPH, Mo. ? The time is 11:03 a.m. when the scheming-est chunk of what must be the biggest Wednesday crowd in Chiefs training camp history starts a purposeful chant:
M-V-P!
M-V-P!
M-V-P!
The chant is part appreciation, part lure. Today is the quarterbacks? scheduled time to sign autographs, and Kansas City has not had a more sought-after autograph than Patrick Mahomes since, what, George Brett in 1985? Paul Rudd after Anchorman? Never?
Search ?Mahomes autographed jersey? on eBay and as of Wednesday afternoon the first item is listed for $903 (but with free shipping!). This part of the crowd is a mix of wide-eyed kids, others coached up by their dads (?Get low ? go under arms,? the one in front of me told his young boys), middle-aged men with the familiar tells of dealers, and some of us just here for the scene.
?Hey!? a fan named Mark Morgan yells to his two younger sons. ?You?re stepping into a danger zone now! They?re gonna step all over your little tail!?
Which position groups will sign on which days is posted somewhat subtly on the Chiefs? website, and that?s the only reason anyone around here can see for this type of crowd. Midweek, and practice was delayed by a borderline biblical rain. Most years, this would be a crowd of a thousand at the most. The previous practice, maybe 3,000 or so fans showed up.
Today, more than 6,500.
Mahomes has changed everything except the humidity in Kansas City, and now he?s doing it in St. Joe, too. Before this year, the largest estimated crowd for a non-stadium practice was 6,100. Wednesday was at least the fifth (out of 10) to surpass that.
By 8:30, police were directing traffic to a parking lot rarely if ever used because everything else was stuffed already. I told that story to Karen Cosgrove, who drove up from Lee?s Summit, and she one-upped me ? it took her 45 minutes to get from the exit off Highway 36 to park. On normal days, that should take five minutes. Ten, tops.
Keith and Chanel Gravely brought their kids up from Shawnee, the date chosen specifically because Mahomes would be signing. Eight of the 13 people I asked said the same thing. Far from scientific, but still.
The Gravely boys already have Mahomes? autograph, actually. They came up two years ago ? Mahomes? rookie camp ? and scored Mahomes? and Alex Smith?s signatures on the same ball. I asked how the crowd that day compares to today. Keith laughed.
?Twenty-five percent,? he said. ?At the most.?
