The video of giant 13-year-old Andy Reid, explained

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid will try to win his first-ever Super Bowl when his team takes on the San Francisco 49ers. In fact, it’ll be the Chiefs’ first shot at a Super Bowl win in 50 years.

Reid, 61, was asked if he remembered watching Kansas City’s last appearance, which was a 23-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

“50 years ago? I was watching the game. I was doing punt, pass, and kick,” he answered. “I’ve got video evidence of that ... that they’ve worn out.”

Reid was joking, so it’s no surprise his timeline is a little off: the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win came on Jan. 11, 1970. Reid’s famous punt, pass, and kick moment happened on Dec. 13, 1971.

Not sure what he’s talking about here? Let me explain. You see, back during a 2010 Eagles-Colts game when Reid was Philadelphia’s coach, CBS aired this absolutely glorious clip of 13-year-old Reid at the NFL’s Punt, Pass, and Kick competition, with him positively towered over his fellow competitors:

I need you all to look at this image once more, because it is just so damn good:

Not only does he literally looks like No. 22’s dad, but notice how Reid’s last name is misspelled on the graphic. This photo is so fantastic it needs to be hung in a museum, if I do say so myself.

OK, but let’s back up a bit. What the heck was the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition?

It was a youth football competition run by the NFL from 1961-2017. Held in various cities throughout the United States, players ages 5-16 were welcome to participate. The contestants got one punt, pass, and kick attempt, and then received scores for each based on distance and accuracy. The three were then combined for the player’s overall score.

Reid, a native of Los Angeles, won his regional competition in 1971. From there, he moved on to the next round, hosted at halftime of a Monday Night Football game between the Rams and Washington at the LA Coliseum.

The pass portion of the competition was aired on national TV at halftime. Reid was so large that he had to borrow an adult-sized Rams jersey from one of the players. No really! Via Sports illustrated:

But when Reid arrived, organizers had to scramble to find him a jersey — none of the youth sizes came close to fitting. They ended up going into the Rams locker room and grabbing a jersey from Les Josephson, the Rams’ starting running back who was listed at 6’1, 207 pounds.

As for the tiny dude behind Reid, he was only 8 years old. When now-Raiders coach Jon Gruden was still with ESPN, he sat down with Reid to talk about the video:

Jon Gruden: WHO IS THIS?! Tell me this video — look at Andrew Reid, that can’t be you.

Andy Reid: That’s me. That’s Monday Night Football right there.

Gruden: How old are you?

Reid: Yeah, 12 or 13.

Gruden: That’s unbelievable! Did someone check IDs here? You’ve got a beard!

Reid: No. they had to go into the Ram locker room and pull that jersey out, seriously.

Gruden: Look at the kid behind you!

Reid: No, he was 8 — that kid’s 8 right there.

Reid said at Super Bowl 54 media availability that he didn’t actually win the competition, but one of his childhood friends thinks he did. “I’m pretty sure he won, because he got a really nice trophy,” Bobby Volkel said via SI.

13-year-old Reid lives on to this day

There have been Halloween costumes:

And most recently, Dallas radio host Dan McDowell attended Super Bowl LIV’s Opening Night dressed up as the 13-year-old “Ried”:

As SB Nation’s own Jeanna Thomas said, “It was disconcerting to see Hawaiian shirt-clad Andy Reid at the podium while 13-year-old Andy Ried was wandering around Opening Night.”

“They could get rid of that thing in a heartbeat, and I’d be okay with it,” Reid told Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson about the video of him on a pregame segment before Sunday’s game.

Judging by how much the younger Reid still delights NFL fans, it should be no surprise there’s even a prop bet about whether Fox will show the Punt, Pass, and Kick clip during the Super Bowl 54 broadcast. My Bookie has the odds at -400 that it won’t make the air.

Even it doesn’t, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing video of this during another future Chiefs game. No matter how old Reid gets, 13-year-old Andy “Ried” will live forever.