Some tailgate crews bring the heat to Arrowhead Stadium

By Kyle Schmidt

It’s not the start of football season unless the parking lot is full of cars and Chiefs fans are grilling outside of Arrowhead Stadium.

One group of tailgaters who go by “22+2” pride themselves on a clean and fun tailgate.

“People drink alcohol, some don’t, but it never gets out of control and that’s not allowed to happen,” said Randy Widener, creator of 22+2. “We serve quite a few people and it is for the experience … We may not have the biggest tailgate at Arrowhead, but it is the one you will definitely remember.”

The 22+2 name, which was created in 2010, covers several of Widener’s passions, including spicy food challenges, softball and the Chiefs. Each of Widener’s tailgates at Arrowhead has a unique aspect to it. Widener said people can experience line dances, good music, food and costumes.

But one aspect that makes a 22+2 tailgate particularly stand out is the Mother Of All Beef Jerky, also known as MOABJ. This is the “hottest beef jerky in the world with flavor.”

Widener makes sure all rookie tailgaters take a bite.

“We have the Mother of all at every tailgate,” Widener said. “We have a bunch of new fans and everybody that comes knows that any new person that shows up at a tailgate has to try the Mother Of All Beef Jerky.”

The spice journey started back in 1992 when Widener found “Da Bomb” hot sauce at a Kansas City mall. He was later in a pepper-eating contest and tried his first ghost pepper.

“I ended up third in that competition, that was the first time I ever ate a ghost pepper,” Widener said. “That was very interesting where I couldn’t breathe for about 30 seconds.”

Now, Widener has hundreds of spices and sauces to create any concoction, including the MOABJ. The experienced tailgater and the 22+2 following are set up for this upcoming season. The preparation for each tailgate takes about four days.

Through the experience over the years, Widener goes into each tailgate and game with the same mindset.

“I came to the realization a long time ago, when you tailgate, you make it the best event you can make it, but you have to go into the game as a fan,” Widener said. “You can’t get high or low. That is hard to do … You get nervous, you take it with a grain of salt and you can’t get mad.”