KANSAS CITY, Mo. Every so often, the artist comes out in Andy Reid.
It has nothing to do with coaching, instead those times when he puts pen to paper and allows his mind to wander.
One time when we were talking on the phone, and he was telling me how much he remembered about when we were growing up, said his brother, Reg, nine years older than Andy. While we were talking, he sketched a picture of me, then emailed it. Its just a sketch of my head, but its pretty realistic.
Fans of the Kansas City Chiefs have a deep appreciation for Reids creativity. He draws up the offense for one the NFLs hottest teams; finds new ways to harness the spectacular talent of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Even now, in his 20th season as an NFL head coach, Reid remains a pigskin Picasso.
That figures. His dad, Walter, did jaw-dropping work as a scenic artist in Hollywood, creating backgrounds and props for film, television and stage production.
My dad worked on all the Broadway plays that would come to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, said Reid, 60, sitting behind his desk at Chiefs headquarters. They had these huge backdrops theyd lower from the second floor, whether it was Annie Get Your Gun, or The Wiz back in the day. My dad went down and worked on Hair. It was unbelievable. Youd stand up there and look over the edge, and if you took a wrong step, youd go down like a mile.
The Chiefs too have reached toe-tingling heights. Theyre 9-1 heading into Monday nights game against the 9-1 Los Angeles Rams at the Coliseum, moved there by the NFL on Tuesday when field conditions in Mexico City became unsatisfactory. On paper, at least, it would have been the most compelling international game the league has staged. Now it will be the Rams first Monday night home game at the Coliseum since Nov. 19, 1979, when 54,097 watched a 20-14 victory over Atlanta.
Reid has been in plenty of huge games throughout the course of his career, including coaching Green Bays offensive line when the Packers won the Super Bowl in the 1996 season. Reid coached Philadelphia from 1999-2012, led the Eagles to five NFC title games and a Super Bowl, then took over in Kansas City in 2013.
Theres still a lot of Los Angeles in Reid, who grew up on Holly Knoll Drive, just around the corner from John Marshall High, his alma mater, and Walt Disneys first home. Reid still eats Tommys burgers, and not just when hes at his offseason home in Capistrano Beach. He has frozen ones delivered by mail.
I love those things, he said. Its good for your joints the grease. Keeps you lubed up, man.
Comically gruff and unrevealing with the media, Reid is beloved by his players, who refer to him as Big Red, his hair color at an earlier age.
Hes actually more funny than you would think, running back Spencer Ware said. Most people think of him as just serious. I can kind of relate to him because I always kind of have a serious look on my face and people think that I might be mean mugging. Maybe Im joking around. So I can kind of relate to Big Red in that area.
Reid might show his lighter side to his players, but he also gets to the point. They appreciate that.
The biggest thing is he treats us well, treats us with respect, tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. I know hes got a hard training camp and practices are long and all that. But we dont have 20-minute meetings every day with rah-rah speeches. Its just, These are the goals, these are the expectations. Now, its on you to go do them. So he doesnt have to be up there every day trying to get us to work hard.
Reid, a one-time offensive tackle at Glendale College and Brigham Young University, developed his work ethic at an early age. His mother, Elizabeth, was a radiologist, and his father got him occasional work in the entertainment industry. Once, young Andy got a job serving food in the green room of a popular TV talk show, and his rule-following ways clashed with one of Hollywoods biggest stars.
