Chiefs Go To The Movies-Update
From St. Joseph, Missouri
On one of the most pleasant mornings in the Chiefs stay here at Missouri Western State University, the players made their way down the hill from the locker room and onto the practice fields and began going through their normal pre-practice routines.
That’s when Todd Haley threw the bone.
Haley called the players together and told them to walk back up the hill, change back into their street clothes and head out to the buses in the parking lot. They were going to take part in a team building moment. The morning practice was over.
After a 15-minute bus ride, the team arrived at Hollywood Theaters in the Shoppes of North Village on Belt Highway. From there, the players had about a half-dozen movies to pick from, with the head coach picking up the tab at the concession stand. “But I reminded them that we have weigh in,” Haley said.
The head coach watched The Other Guys, comedy featuring Will Farrell and as Haley said showing his age “Marky Mark” otherwise known today as Mark Wahlberg. So how did he like it? “I couldn’t hear most of it because Shaun Smith was sitting behind me and he was snoring,” Haley said. “I’ve never heard a human snore that loud.”
P Dustin Colquitt watched Dinner With The Schmucks and gave it 3.5 stars out of four. “It’s a funny movie,” he said.
The most attended showing was the action flick The Expendables. That’s where DE Glenn Dorsey went. “It was good, a lot of action,” said Dorsey. “We had a lot of guys in there.”
The goal for Haley was simply to give his team a break from the monotony of camp and have them still do something together.
“It appeared to me that guys enjoyed it and were grateful,” Haley said of the reaction to the morning off. “They got a little rest, we’ll have a meeting and then we’lll get back at it this afternoon.”
These kind of so-called team building moments are pretty common in training camp. Sometimes it’s a bowling alley, where the team is paired up in teams for competition. Marty Schottenheimer used to hold a home run derby up at River Falls. Other coaches have had chipping contests, volleyball and softball games. A couple years ago New Orleans coach Sean Payton took his team to a water park. That’s where former Chiefs LB Scott Fujita injured himself on the water slide and missed the next two weeks of the pre-season.
Nobody was injured at the Hollywood Theaters, not that the Chiefs would report an injury if it did. They will be outside this afternoon and practice is set to start at 4:30 p.m.
I have to wonder whether a 4-12 team should have mornings off… I get not working them too hard; that makes sense. But even Gunther knew that physically “fun” competition strengthened a team. I know plenty of armchair quarterbacks who could pull movie duty, but not too many undrafted rookies that are going to make a roster spot by laughing at Paul Rudd.
I think it was a great idea to give them a break. It shows the players that Haley is human after all and not some tyrant.
A small thing like this does bring team unity and lets the team come together in a venue besides the football field.
I think it was a good idea.. Further the team spirit, can’t be bad.. It’s not like they haven’t been working you know..
” not that the Chiefs would report an injury if it did.”
Haha stop moaning like a girl Bob.
I agree with most. Sometime you can get physical overload as well as information overload. Having them do something together as a team that required nothing but kickin back and laughing is probably a good thing – especially with young minds full of mush. Let’s not forget, that with only several exceptions, these are actually children trying to figure a bunch of stuff out. LARGE children, but children none the less.
In my world anybody under 26 falls into that childen category until they prove me diferent. Go ahead and puff up — you’ll just make my point.
I like the move. These guys have been busting their tail for the last few weeks. What’s the harm with taking some time off?
If Jim can call a 26 year old a “kid” then that makes a 40 year old an “old man.”
I’d be worried if any players chose to go see Eat Pray Love. That Colquitt picked Dinner for Schmucks is borderline; but I’ll give him a pass since he is a kicker.
My wife conned me into taking her to see Eat Pray Love last night. The theme seemed to be men are a sorry lot and husbands are the worst of the bunch!