Kansas City or Philly? 12 writers debate which city wins the Super Bowl of culture | Opinion

Editor’s note: Welcome to The Kansas City Star and The Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion Departments’ Super Bowl showdown. In this feature, we asked six Opinion writers from each squad to weigh in on the culture and football prowess of their cities. Here’s what our columnists, editorial writers, contributors and Opinion editors are thinking about this Super Bowl Sunday.

What does your football team mean to you personally?

Joel Mathis: It means I’m torn. I grew up a Chiefs fan. (Steve DeBerg’s mastery of the play-action pass remains a fond memory from the 1980s. Yes, I’m weird.) But also: I lived and worked eight years in Philadelphia, including at Philly Weekly and Philly Mag. I have in fact uttered the words “Go Birds.” And I still get defensive when anybody mentions Santa Claus and the snowballs.

But: I also love, love, love being around the joy all my red-wearing neighbors have experienced during the Patrick Mahomes era. No matter what happens on Sunday, I’ll have a lot of happy friends and a lot of sad friends. But I’m rooting for the team that’s A) chasing history and B) still has Donna Kelce in its corner. How often do you get that chance?

Daniel Pearson: The Eagles define Philadelphia. And I love Philadelphia. When the team is struggling, the mood in the city can turn pretty sour. When the team is winning, just saying “Go Birds” can elicit a smile from a total stranger. Every devastating defeat (if you want to upset a real Eagles fan, just mention the name Joe Jurevicius) and every shocking victory takes up valuable real estate in my memory banks. When the Eagles play, nearly everyone I know, no matter how busy their life has become, is going to be tuned in. Even if the team stinks. Even if the game barely matters.

David Mastio: My home, Omaha, has always been a suburb of Kansas City when it comes to sports. I grew up watching the Omaha Royals in baseball’s minor league, so naturally I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan, too. In my new neighborhood, Sunday afternoon means strolling through my streets watching the men cluster around garage TVs fresh from yardwork with beer in hand and the volume up loud. It is always the Chiefs that are on. I’d never seen this phenomenon in D.C., where I spent most of my life, but now it is a part of my life.

Solomon Jones: I grew up as an Eagles fan, watching with my father as Roman Gabriel was sacked on nearly every offensive play. That experience taught me to deal with disappointment. When the team improved under Dick Vermeil and went to the Super Bowl in 1980, I bet a dollar and lost. Back then, a single dollar could buy a day’s worth of candy for a 13-year-old. That experience taught me not to gamble.

When my son was born, the first piece of clothing I bought for him was an Eagles onesie. That experience taught me the value of fatherhood. When I realized that our team had more Black quarterbacks than any other team, my fandom grew. That experience taught me loyalty. When I had to wait until 2017 for the Eagles to win their first Super Bowl, the experience taught me patience. The Eagles have taught me some of my most valuable life lessons, and they’ve done it in a cycle of joy and heartbreak that makes each lesson impossible to forget.

Yvette Walker: The Kansas City Chiefs long have felt like neighbors to me. You see, I’ve lived in KC twice, and the first time — in the early 2000s — I could walk to the stadium on a nice day from my modest ranch on Sni-A-Bar Road.

I’ve always felt that living on Kansas City’s East Side was a statement. Intentional, even. Those neighborhoods weren’t showy but were quiet and hidden away. You knew your neighbors, and lot sizes were more than generous. The fact that the Chiefs played football in my backyard made me feel good even if I wasn’t the most dedicated fan.

That’s why, 20 years later, talk of the Chiefs possibly leaving GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium gives me a sour feeling in my stomach. The Chiefs will always be East Siders to me.

Devi Lockwood: I am new to Philly and new to football fandom, but Saquon Barkley’s runs are electric, Jalen Hurts has enough confidence to fill the Linc, and football in the snow is something to behold. Seeing the city lit up green at night is stunningly beautiful. I’m rooting for this team to win so that I can wave my rainbow Eagles flag up and down Broad Street, and see the joy of the city reflected back at me.

Luis Carrasco: Being from far West Texas, I can’t say I had much of a rooting interest in a football team growing up. I mean, geographically the Dallas Cowboys were almost as far away as the Denver Broncos or even the San Diego Chargers. As an adult, I’ve had a chance to be a fan of the Titans, Cardinals, Texans and Seahawks, but none of them quite took. Perhaps it’s that while those cities have sports fans, it is Philadelphia that’s a sports city. I’ve been in Philly for less than two years and have already had more conversations with neighbors and strangers about the Eagles than anywhere else for any other team. So to me, the Eagles represent community.

Toriano Porter: I don’t have a team that I call my own, or a favorite. I am what you could describe as a football nomad. I have a love-hate relationship with the NFL. Because I was born and raised in St. Louis, I am jaded with the league. In my lifetime, the two teams I rooted for the most — the St. Louis football Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams — moved to Arizona and Los Angeles, respectively, and left me and a legion of others standing at the altar. As a result, I refuse to cheer for the Arizona Cardinals or the Los Angeles Rams. Living in Kansas City for the last 18 years, it would be easy for me to jump on the Chiefs bandwagon but I am no front-runner. I would be naive not to acknowledge what I have witnessed over the last few years — greatness in quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a historic run by a budding dynasty. And for that, I am appreciative of the Chiefs.

Why is your city’s quarterback ready to win?

Lisa Gutierrez: Here’s why I hope Patrick Mahomes makes history with a third consecutive Super Bowl ring.

As a pop culture writer, I am in awe of how this 29-year-old has captained his team to several winning seasons through nasty, viral social media storms involving his family, and him.

Fans have hated on his wife. Fans have hated on his brother. Fans mock Mahomes’ voice. “He sounds like Kermit the Frog!” (Did you see the Kermit doll, wearing a Mahomes jersey and a curly wig, that Bills fans hung from a pole?)

He stays focused on the game and, can I just say, he stays classy. I like to think his young family keeps him grounded. He dotes on his three kids — toddlers Sterling and Bronze have a new baby sister, Golden Raye. We’ve seen the family photos. Portraits with Santa. At the zoo. At the pumpkin patch. Snuggled on the sofa reading books. On the golf course together. The MVP QB trick-or-treating in a zoo keeper’s uniform. A normal daddy doing normal daddy things.

So I can answer this question: Does Patrick Mahomes, MVP human being, “deserve” to win an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl? Absolutely.

Daniel Pearson: Jalen Hurts has been one of the most consistently underrated players in the NFL since his last trip to the Super Bowl. Winning it all against an all-time great like Mahomes will make his doubters look foolish. Both QBs are talented and driven, but only one of them can squat 600 pounds. Hurts is a man who operates without his friends and family creating distractions, who elevates strong women, and who serves as a role model on and off the field. He deserves to be known for more than just the tush push.

Toriano Porter: I am a fan of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. I liked his game back in college when he played for Alabama and later Oklahoma. He is a leader and possesses some unique talent and qualities at the game’s most important position.

Alas, he is not Superman — errrr, Patrick Mahomes, the game’s equivalent of a modern-day Michael Jordan. I often tell my Kansas City friends who are nervous wrecks during games to never fret when No. 15 is back there under center. Folks, we are witnessing greatness in real time, and there is little doubt in my mind that Mahomes is equipped to lead his team to a three-peat in New Orleans. The only thing that would prevent this is a masterful performance from Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. It is Barkley who scares me most, not Hurts.

Solomon Jones: Jalen Hurts is much like Philadelphia: He’s underestimated, undervalued and underappreciated. Yet, somehow, against all odds, he still wins. His game isn’t always pretty. He makes mistakes that are hard to explain, but along the way he often accomplishes the impossible in the face of tremendous odds. Jalen Hurts is ready to win because like Philadelphia, he relishes proving his critics wrong. Having played the Chiefs on the biggest stage and lost, he is better prepared than most for this moment. That alone gives him the edge in this contest, but the unspoken desire to make fools of his critics will ultimately win him the day.

Devi Lockwood: Hurts is locked in.

Joel Mathis: He’s Patrick Mahomes. Duh.

How would you describe your city’s identity, and why is it richer than the opponent’s?

Daniel Pearson: America was founded right here in a building I can see from my desk. We hosted the country’s first volunteer fire company, the first library, the first Marines and first zoo. This city offers something for everyone, from Gamble and Huff’s Sound of Philadelphia to our world-renowned orchestra, the Rocky statue to the works of Monet, Matisse, Eakins and Tanner housed in the museums next door, from cheesesteak and halal carts to Zahav’s elevated fine dining. From the strip malls of northeast Philadelphia to America’s best downtown in Center City. Love us or hate us, people tend to know something about Philadelphia. Ben Franklin alone provides more identity and personality than most cities, let alone one named after an entirely different state.

Dave Helling: Kansas City can’t match Philadelphia’s history. Few cities could: There’s that cracked bell, Billy Penn on top of City Hall, Sylvester Stallone in boxing shorts. You can almost hear Ben Franklin whispering.

What we lack in East Coast tradition, though, is more than redeemed by our scrappy Midwestern independence. Kansas City, after all, was built by men and women who hacked roads out of stony bluffs to build a community.

No men in powdered wigs and waistcoats for us: Our early trading posts and saloons served grimy cattlemen and coal-covered railroad workers. Irish and Italian and German immigrants found futures here. Later, southern Black migrants brought an intoxicating stew of jazz and dancing and baseball to Kansas City.

The edges were smoothed over the years — water fountains, leafy parks, arts centers — and we invented the two-stadium concept for pro sports. But Kansas City remains mostly gritty and practical, which, come to think of it, perfectly describes our football team.

We’re more Main Street than Main Line. And “Kansas City” (the song) beats “Philadelphia Freedom” with a mallet.

Solomon Jones: Philadelphia is an old industrial city where the remnants of long-shuttered factories exist in every facet of who we are. That gritty atmosphere, formed from centuries old dust, is what makes the Philadelphia fan the toughest, most loyal fan in the world.

We can’t exist in a pristine, friendly place like Kansas City. That’s too soft for us. We need the grime that took centuries to accumulate. It reminds us of where we’ve been. We need the broken windows of abandoned houses. They remind us of what we’ve lost. We need the checkered history of this team. It reminds us of ourselves.

We remember when the Eagles were among the worst teams in the league. We lived through the pain of watching the losses mount, while cheering for a team that we knew was destined to lose. The fervor that you see now is from decades of pent-up frustration, from hopes that were often dashed, and from the knowledge that the grit of our city is what makes our team and our fans so tough.

Eagles fans are the greatest in the world because we know what it is to lose, and that collective heartbreak makes winning unbelievably sweet.

Jenice Armstrong: I have lived and worked as a reporter in both Kansas City and Philadelphia. Both are great all-American cities. But trust me when I say that there’s really no comparison between the two. None. That’s not to throw shade on Kansas City, which is a wonderful place to live and raise children. But it’s a midsize city in the Midwest.

Located between New York City and Washington, D.C., Philly is one of the top cities in the United States. Think about it. Hallmark is headquartered in Kansas City, but Philly is home to Comcast. Kansas City’s top attraction is its National World War I Museum and Memorial. Philadelphia has the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Chiefs fans love their team, but nothing compares to Eagles fans who bleed green. Outsiders can hate on Philly all they want. As the song lyrics go, we know that “no one likes us, but we don’t care.”

Food: Which city does it better? Why?

Dave Helling: This hardly seems a serious question. You can travel for 10 minutes in any direction in Kansas City and bump into world-famous slow-cooked ribs, burnt ends and brisket sandwiches.

Barbecue smoke wafts over the city, an aroma that puts a smile on every face. Eagles fans should walk the Arrowhead parking lot before a game sometime to understand this reaction.

But it isn’t just world-class barbecue. Some people think we make the best tacos in the country. They could be right. Savor great steaks at the Majestic downtown, or the Golden Ox in the West Bottoms, or Jess and Jim’s to the south.

Talented chefs pepper Midtown and the suburbs. Struggling with Valentine’s Day? Try Christopher Elbow chocolates — they’ll ship you a box of deliciousness. It’s actually hard to find something that doesn’t taste good here.

Sorry, Philly. You’re offering us melted cheese and shredded meat on a hoagie roll? No thanks.

Daniel Pearson: Philadelphia is one of the best cities for dining in the country. We have James Beard award winning chefs, iconic local favorites, Reading Terminal Market and Passyunk Avenue. You can dine on cuisine from Ethiopia to Indonesia and everywhere in between. Kansas City has great barbecue, but this is like comparing the Phillies and the Omaha Stormchasers. I am of course willing to be corrected if The KC Star feels fit to send me on a food tour of their fair city.

Yvette Walker: I need only say one thing: Eight Kansas City area restaurants and bars are James Beard Award semifinalists this year.

But I’ll say more. We have four best chef nominees for the Midwest region. Philadelphia has a great list of finalists as well, but though we can compete among the best, let’s talk plainly. KC barbecue can best a Philly cheesesteak any day of the week.

I’ve written about the ribs, oh the ribs, at LC’s Bar-B-Q on the East Side (not far from my old house and Arrowhead Stadium), but I’ve sampled ‘cue all around the metro. Unlike some states (cough, Texas) KC isn’t known for just one kind of barbecue. You want sweet? No problem. You want spicy? Sure! You want savory and mouth-watering? We’re known for a little something called burnt ends. Even our beans can compete from sweet to savory.

And while most people seem to love the pork and beef, barbecued and smoked fowl is a great offering at most of our eateries. A variety? Yes, and so delicious.

Jenice Armstrong: Kansas City just doesn’t have the swag that Philly does. Their residents boast about their barbecue, which is really good, but their overall food scene just can’t compete with Philadelphia’s offerings.

Toriano Porter: Forgive me Philly fans, but I cannot recall which cheesesteak place I went to when I visited the City of Brotherly Love back in 2019.

I ate a Whiz with onions from either Pat’s King of Steaks or Geno’s Steaks. At that point, it was perhaps the greatest cheesesteak I’d had. I was in town for the Roots Picnic, the annual music festival hosted by the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop collective. The first thing I did when the plane landed from Kansas City was hail a ride to south Philly for a sammich. I was not disappointed.

More than five years later, my life changed when I tried a cheesesteak from Tay’s Cheesesteak in North Kansas City. My lord, the steak sandwiches from Philly cannot compare. Tay’s menu features grass-fed steak and hand-cut fries. My usual order is an 8-inch Cheesy Tay’s with onion, American cheese and Cheese Whiz, and a small fry. In a city known for its barbecue, Tay’s is the best in town when it comes to authentic Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks. And this place would give one of Philly’s most iconic eateries a run for its money.

Devi Lockwood: I’ve never had a bad meal in Philly.

Joel Mathis: Kansas City does burnt ends better than anybody else. But I still desperately miss some Philadelphia options: the tomato bisque at Cafe Lutécia, the cheesesteaks from the late and lamented original Joe’s Steaks + Soda Shop, the chicken-and-rice combos from Center City halal food carts and — well, the list goes on.

Let’s, uh, call this a draw before I get in trouble.

Tell us stories that show why your city’s fans are superior.

Lisa Gutierrez: I belong to a private Facebook group with more than 58,000 members called Chiefs Chicks. The members are women Chiefs fans. These women know football. They know and discuss the rules, players, coaches, stats.

They have also created a happy place where women feel free to not only share hype videos, memes and GIFs, but also pictures of their elaborate Chiefs-inspired nail art, their “chick caves” and cute kids wearing Chiefs gear.

They warn each other about ticket scams, share helpful advice to out-of-town fans, such as parking fees at Arrowhead Stadium and how to dress for winter games.

This week some members are in New Orleans and posting photos from pre-Super Bowl fan activities.

Here at home they’re party planning and, no kidding, painting Chiefs motifs on rocks.

I would guess this is not the only female-centric NFL fan page around, because women have been football fans for generations. I’m happy to have found such a kind, warm community.

Will Bunch: Hey, we’re from Philly, nobody likes us — and all of that good stuff. I’m proud to have adopted a city where the fans threw some snowballs at a subpar Santa Claus (OK, maybe the J.D. Drew batteries thing was a bit much) because crude intimidation is just our civic way of showing that we care. That said, I feel weird writing a “diss track” toward Kansas City Chiefs fans, and it’s not just because of my deep family DNA roots on the cattle farms of western Missouri, before we migrated back east. OK, here’s the big problem I have with you red-garbed tomahawkers of the Midwest.

You’re too nice.

I have some history here. On Oct. 2, 2005, at the peak of the Donovan McNabb-T.O. era, my then-10-year-old son and I experienced the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to us: We won a charity raffle prize of a weekend trip to watch the Birds play the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, flying on an Eagles chartered plane. We got to stay in the Birds’ KC hotel and consume an incredible slab of beef at a swank restaurant, and then found ourselves in the upper deck at Arrowhead, two tiny green dots in a sea of red. Would they really go after my 10-year-old in his newly purchased McNabb jersey? That’s what Eagles fans would do, after all. After a few anxious minutes, Chiefs fans started engaging us: “Are you really from Philadelphia — how are you enjoying our city?” “Did you try any of our great barbecue?”

We were under assault — by Missouri Nice! Why weren’t you throwing pieces of brisket at us? Where were the ugly chants, the angry mob? Because Philly fans are like Ike and Tina Turner: We never, ever do nothing nice and easy. Kansas City fans, it turns out, are impossible to hate, and so we hate you for that. On Sunday, I will be gleefully rooting for the destruction of your smug State Farm pitchmen like Mahomes and (the wrong) Kelce who think they own this country, hopefully by 40 or 50 points. Because we’re from Philly, and nobody likes us — for a reason.

Joel Mathis: Just a personal opinion: Chiefs fans are happier? More chill? Less entitled? They’re certainly less cranky than Eagles fans are in the seasons they don’t win a Super Bowl. Philly fans need to be pandered to a bit. (See: everything about Bryce Harper.) Chiefs fans are mostly glad to be along for a winning ride.

But everything is scrambled right now. The weirdest thing about this particular game is that the sporting public appears to have grown so tired of the Chiefs dynasty — and its much-debunked advantage with the refs — that much of America appears to actually be rooting for Philadelphia this week. It’s the Chiefs who are embracing the villain role! That never happens! The world is upside-down!

Which team has a better underdog story?

Dave Helling: It isn’t easy to think of the Chiefs as the underdog on Sunday. The team is going for its third straight NFL championship, which has never been accomplished in the Super Bowl era. The team lost only twice this season, once when it mattered, and once when the regulars were getting some rest.

Yet underdogs we are, and here’s why: Kansas City football non-fans across the nation are pulling for someone, anyone, to beat the champs.

Sadly, it’s the price of success. It also leads to lots of whining: After an inevitable loss, Chiefs opponents grump about field conditions or blocked field goals or officiating (Admit it, Philadelphia: That was holding two years ago) and insist they coulda, shoulda won.

Yes, Chiefs fans will concede a certain nervousness this season. Most games have been too close for comfort, which is why the team is an underdog. We would like to spend the fourth quarter munching on ribs and fries, not swearing at the TV.

But we also expect victory, and we almost always get it. Thank you, Philadelphia, for giving us Andy Reid. That’s worked out pretty well.

Luis Carrasco: Is this a trick question? The Chiefs have played in four Super Bowls since 2020 and are going for their third consecutive win. The team could have Daniel LaRusso as quarterback, Rudy Ruettiger as a wide receiver, and the Jamaican bobsled team playing defense and they still wouldn’t be considered underdogs. With apologies to Andy Reid (and Christopher Nolan), but you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the New England Patriots.

Joel Mathis: Both teams spent decades in the Super Bowl wilderness. Both fandoms spent much of that time feeling cursed. (Weirdly, Philly fans also thought that Andy Reid was cursed. Or at least so bad at clock management that he might as well have been cursed. So much for that theory.) So it was a joy when Philly won the Super Bowl in 2018, and did it against Tom Brady no less. And it was astonishing when the Chiefs won their first of three — maybe four! — championships in 2020.

The funny thing? After the Eagles won their Super Bowl, they pretty quickly went back to being underdogs again. They fired their coach. The quarterback immortalized in a sculpture outside the stadium? Gone. They had to rebuild again. The Chiefs? They just kept being excellent. And Reid keeps winning. Who has the better underdog story? Obviously not the Kansas City team.

David Mastio: This is an easy question. Only Donald Trump could win two national championships in a row and then tell the world he’s an underdog. Of course, the bedraggled Eagles and their anti-social fans are the underdogs. Come Sunday when Mahomes gets them right where he wants them — in the 4th quarter — the whole world will know why they are underdogs, too.

Let’s talk about Taylor Swift

Editor’s note: Does her love story with Travis Kelce give Kansas City the edge, or will her heart lean toward her roots in the City of Brotherly Love? And just what is TayVoodoo?

Lisa Gutierrez: Dream on, Philadelphia, if you think Pennsylvania native Taylor Swift would cheer for the Eagles now that she is the de facto queen of Kansas City. Even her dad, Scott Swift, a well-known and long-time Eagles fan, wears red Chiefs gear now.

At Super Bowl festivities in New Orleans, Swift’s boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, told reporters that Swift will “be all for the Chiefs this time around, for sure.” Yup. She’s one of us now.

The international spotlight Swift has brought not only to the Chiefs but to Kansas City is immeasurable, invigorating and frankly incomprehensible. When Swift wears clothing and jewelry from Kansas City stores, suddenly everyone wants to shop there.

When she and Kelce dine at a local restaurant, fans want to eat there, too. Swift fans buy tickets to home games just to breathe the same air if she shows up. Kansas City has already won. Call it TayVoodoo. It’s a Swiftie thing. That’s the karma that comes people’s way depending on how they treat Swift.

Like her? You reap good TayVoodoo. Hate her? Bad karma’s gonna punish you.

Daniel Pearson: Swift once claimed to be an Eagles fan, and she is from nearby Berks County. Still, she dons Chiefs gear every Sunday, something that Travis knows true Philly girls like his sister-in-law, Kylie, aren’t willing to do. So I’m a little doubtful that Taylor truly bleeds green. It seems the fairy-tale ending Swift fans have in mind involves Kelce retiring and proposing after a win, a romantic gesture that would be hard for anyone to beat. Unless of course Swift’s plan is a pre-Super Bowl breakup, followed by a killer album and a Grammy win next year. If Travis has a bad game, she’d become one of the most beloved figures in the city, although I’m guessing she would no longer be welcome in western Missouri.

Devi Lockwood: The way I see it, you never forget the place you come from. Taylor Swift was an Eagles fan first. No love interest can change the past.

Yvette Walker: To be honest, I never knew Taylor Swift even had Philly roots until speaking to Devi Lockwood of The Inquirer. What does that say about me? That I think Swift’s a KC girl through and through? Of course it gives Kansas City the edge! And despite the haters who say they are tired of her and Travis Kelce’s relationship, I know she is savvy enough to understand when to go hard on KC and when to pull it back. Notice the camera doesn’t seem to cut to the booth as much as before? Taylor Swift knows a lot about celebrity and she certainly gets the concept of star fatigue. From her amazing KC-inspired gear to her closeness with Mama Kelce, Swift is repping our city well. As far as Tay Voodoo … depends on whether you think it ‘s good or bad luck. In my opinion, the only voodoo at the Super Bowl will be on Bourbon Street.

David Mastio: I don’t know much about Taylor Swift, but I do know she is more the world’s princess than Lady Diana ever was in my youth. If she can reshape economies with her tour, style with her clothes and feelings with her voice, who says she can’t reshape the narrative of a Super Bowl with her love story? Kelce and Swift’s romance makes the outcome of this game all the more sure. In a dark political time, we need a happy ending and what could be better than a three-peat wedding?

Luis Carrasco: C’mon, America is already divided enough to start thinking about pitting Swifties against one another. As far as I’m concerned, Swift can stand by her man (that’s one of her songs, right?) and keep her Philly bona fides. As far as TayVoodoo, if Swift’s magic were real — voodoo or otherwise — the Eagles would be receiving their post-Super Bowl White House invite from President Kamala Harris instead of getting the cold shoulder from the Oval Office’s current occupant.

This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Kansas City or Philly? 12 writers debate which city wins the Super Bowl of culture | Opinion."