Philly kid arrives in KC to root against his hometown team
By Betsy Webster
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KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — The Chiefs take on the Eagles at Arrowhead on Monday, and 11-year-old Jaxson Kwasniewski came all the way from Bucks County, Pennsylvania to see the Eagles lose.
His family landed at KCI with throngs of people coming home for Thanksgiving. It’s his first visit to Kansas City, but he’s been a Chiefs fan for a while.
“It was a bandwagon move,” the young son of an Eagles fan said. “But I was only like six years old at that time. It was when they won the Super Bowl against the 49ers.”
His dad was wearing a Phillies hat and 76ers shirt. He knew better than to wear Eagles gear, because his wife, Jaxson’s mom, has also become a Chiefs fan.
“I love Mahomes,” Jodi Kwasniewski said. “It brings me back to the days when it was like Emmitt Smith and Dan Marino and Joe Montana. They played the game because they loved it. And that’s what I see in Mahomes. I see that he plays this game because he loves it.”
She’s also an Isiah Pacheco fan. One of their neighbors played for Rutgers University at the same time as the Chiefs running back, and her husband is a Rutgers alum.
Jaxson brought a book with sleeves for dollar bills — ones, fives, tens, 20s and even a $50 bill. He plans to use his savings to get a Pacheco jersey. He already has a Mahomes jersey.
Jodi told KCTV5 about his bizarre good luck charm, and Jaxson described wearing his Chiefs hoodie at his Pennsylvania school nearly every day for the past year.
His Chiefs fandom has now trickled down to the entire city. He’s now a Royals fan as well, mostly because he doesn’t want to split loyalties. In his eyes, you root for KC football and support a baseball team somewhere else.
“Kansas City’s not that good — the Royals — but I like them because if I was a Phillies fan, everybody would say, it’s mixed teams and it’s all kind of weird, so I like the Kansas City Royals,” Jaxson explained.
The family has a Kauffman Stadium tour on their tourist list. He checked out the Made in KC store as soon as the family landed at KCI. If he has money left over after his jersey purchase, he has a Charlie Hustle KC heart shirt in mind already.
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