Oct 13th 2008 8:26AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Chiefs
If you’re wondering why Tony Gonzalez, who has spent his entire 12-year NFL career with the Chiefs and always talked about how much he loved playing in Kansas City, is suddenly open to being traded, consider the encounter he had with Barack Obama.

Gonzalez — who is apparently buddies with Obama — tells Joe Posnanski that Obama told him he should read by Pat Conroy. When a person like Obama is giving you subtle hints that you’re going to have to learn how to get through a bad year, that’s a stark reminder that the Chiefs are going to be lucky to win five games this season.

, for the record, is Conroy’s memoir of his senior year in college at The Citadel, when he was the point guard of a bad basketball team. This is not one of those sports stories that has a happy ending, with the main character leading his team to victory in the big game.

But the good news for Gonzalez is that with a little over 24 hours left before the NFL trade deadline, it’s still possible that he could end his career with a contender. Maybe some day Gonzalez will write .