Tony Gonzalez has previously made it clear he intends to retire and enter the Hall of Fame as a Chief, and he’s just here to win a ring. Chiefs fans and Falcons fans alike have no problem with this arrangement.
Friday night he faces the team he was a member of for his first 10 Pro Bowls. Unless he sticks around until 2012, when the Falcons and Chiefs will play in the regular season, this will be the only time he ever plays against Kansas City. Or, well, they could meet in a Super Bowl. I guess.
"Any time you step on the field, you’ve got to bring it," Gonzalez said Wednesday. "I know they’re not going to slow down for me just because I want to sit back and enjoy myself because I’m playing my old team. I’ve got to go out there and try to get better and try to help this team get better."
“It’s going to be weird,” Gonzalez told Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star in a phone interview.
“I’ve been getting that question this week, and not just from reporters, but from my family and friends, and yeah, nostalgia is going to pop up. The relationships, all the hard work that you put in, the bad times that you went through with the organization …
“And it’s not just about football. It’s about time spent in the city, the relationships I made with the fans. I’m sure some of them will travel, because the fans are unbelievable.”