In what has become a Super Bowl tradition at Chiefs Wire, managing editor Charles Goldman caught up with award-winning Fox News anchor, NYT best-selling author and noted Chiefs fan, Harris Faulkner, ahead of the big game.
In our earliest conversation, Faulkner revealed how her time covering the Chiefs at WDAF-TV influenced her rise with Fox News. Ahead of Super Bowl LV, we spoke about representation and women in the NFL among other topics. This time around, our conversation is centered around her book, “Faith Still Moves Mountains.” We also spoke about Generald Wilson, the AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs’ 2022 NFL season and what she’s most looking forward to about Super Bowl LVII.
You can find some of our conversation below or listen to it on the Super Bowl edition of the Chiefs Wire podcast debuting Thursday morning.
Chiefs Wire: First off, it has been a while since we last spoke. Want to go ahead and update our fans on what’s new in the world of Harris Faulkner?
Harris Faulkner: Well, I have spent at least 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list with my number-one placement on that list, debut, “Faith Still Moves Mountains.” And that was just an amazing event in my life, something that I could never have really looked upon and said, ‘Oh, yeah, this is going to happen.’ I mean, I wrote that book in 90 days. And it’s part of our new Fox News books in print, along with Harper Collins. So, they’re kind of breaking out and doing their own thing. Fox News is. And so, I think I’ve been one of the first four or five of those books, and the longest to sit in those positions that I listed do, and it’s just been amazing. And it’s a divine assignment in my life. You know, I’ve never been one to prophesize. That’s not the role that the Lord has asked of me. But I’ve also been really honest, ever since my time, especially in Kansas City, when people would ask me to visit their mega-churches and talk with them. And I’ve never been shy about foundationally, the role of prayer and faith in my life. I was stalked in Kansas City, I wrote a book called “Breaking News, God Has A Plan.” And it was at a really, really rough time in my life. And I was really questioning God and pulling away leaning out. And this book is based on my journalism, and being a witness to people’s high and low points. And telling the story, honestly, from somebody who understands how to ask the questions about what happens when you decide to lean back into the Lord, and what he does to lean into you. So it’s just been amazing. It’s not about me, it’s about other people and their faith blocks. And I think that’s what the reading public needed. Because books are arriving in my office now for me to autograph I have done book signings. I’ve done this, I’ve gone everywhere. I haven’t come to Kansas City yet. And I want to do that if they want me. I would love to do that. But at the same time, I realized that people are still buying this book and giving it as a gift and wanting the stories that are in it. And the glossy and sort of original prayers that I wrote on seven or eight topics to get people started again. Your words don’t have to be perfect. And I think it was just the message that was meant to be and the divine assignment on my life was to go get it done. Be the witness to tell the stories. And some of them are ripped from the headlines, things that I’ve covered, some are more historical, and others were completely new to me. So the journey has been amazing and continues to be, so that’s really the biggest thing.
I now have teenagers. Since we last spoke, I have two teenagers. When you and I last talked, I had a preteen. And my older daughter had just turned into teenage hood. But now I have an eighth grader and a 10th grader and they are doing amazing things. Both of them and my husband and I are just professional Uber drivers now. That’s what we do. We drive them around.
Chiefs Wire: Doubling back to your book, we saw the entire NFL world unified in prayer for Bills S Damar Hamlin, I’m just curious about your reaction seeing all of that unfold and how that fits in with some these stories you helped tell?
Harris Faulkner: Well, I wasn’t surprised by it. I had just before that happened interview, Tim Kennedy, who was a football coach whose case went all the way to the US Supreme Court late last year, trying to fight to keep his job as a football coach who also prayed with his players. And it took several years to go through all the courts to reach the US Supreme Court, and they ruled in his favor. And that sent spiritual shockwaves through the system, because what Damar Hamlin reminded us of how dangerous that sport is. And if you think it’s dangerous in the NFL, where you got millions of dollars for players’ worth of gear, imagine how it is for younger kids, and high schoolers, where you don’t have all of that? Where you don’t have life-saving doctors on the field. And parents pray all the time. And there are instances — I have a young gymnast, that girl can fly, she just won her first solid gold medal, because usually at the younger ages, they just give you something that’s painted gold. But at 13, she got a 9.7 on the ball, like she can ball. And she’s doing this and she was eight, and I’m so proud of her. But my prayer is not about winning. It’s always about her being happy in her sport, doing it for as long as she can do it, and being healthy while at it. And I think a lot of parents feel that way. And I was not shocked that NFLers and professional athletes across the board, were willing this time not to fall on a knee out of politics. But to get down on a need to pray. Because anybody connected with risky sports, and many of them are any parent would understand that those moments are so critical to pray for your children. And I think we’re ready as a nation to concede after a pandemic and all the crime in our streets, the things that have gone wrong, but some things that have gone right too. That Damar Hamlin story was prayers answered, it was beautiful, to see people come together and a reminder that when we do, the Lord leans into us. And for that occasion, it was all about Damar.
And I’m, I’m so proud to be on a team of spiritual warriors across the board who are not shy, who are not apologetic at all, for being in the public eye and strong in our faith. And so I look at that, as a reminder for us, but also for me, it’s just more testimony in the faith walk. Miracles happen around us all the time, every day, we just don’t see them necessarily covered. And we don’t talk about them. I take the gossip and the negative stuff. That’s what we tend to be, you know, through social media, and so on and so forth. That’s what we tend to be inundated with. But can you imagine a social media page all about miracles, and that’s all they ever did? Set up like Twitter? Well, I think it would be bigger than Twitter. I mean, if we, if you just want to look at my page alone, how many people have had miracles and are now talking about it? It’s an everyday thing. It’s an every-hour thing. It’s a beautiful thing. And I just am grateful to be a witness to it. And as far as where we go next, and all of this, let’s not wait until a guy has been hit so hard that his heart stops. Let’s pray before the storm. Let’s remind each other that we are mighty without an impenetrable spiritual weapon of prayer. We are mighty with that. Let’s pray for each other. And look, politics are going to come apart. I understand that people are going to you know, whatever they do, but I was really proud of this nation and proud of the NFL that when they played and those last season games before the playoffs, the national anthem, everybody was standing. We stand for the flag. We kneel when we pray. And I’m not sure that there are a lot of people who look like me who would be angry that I say it. But I am unapologetic with who I am.
Chiefs Wire: I know we spoke about you singing the National Anthem at a Chiefs game in 1999. I was just wondering if you’re familiar with United States Navy Veteran Generald Wilson, who sang the National Anthem at the AFC title game. There was an image of Chiefs DT Chris Jones crying during the anthem. Have you ever heard a rendition so evocative?
Harris Faulkner: Whitney Houston.Yeah, yeah. When she sang it, I don’t know where that came from. I think it came all the way from Newark, New Jersey, and that church where she used to sing gospel. I mean, yeah, definitely.
Generald (Wilson) is an amazing, amazing person. A beautiful family man, a leader, former military. I met him in the green room, outside the studio, where my shows are every day, the Faulkner Focus and Outnumbered. And he had just come on Fox and Friends. And we met — this was before the pandemic, I think. And we kept in touch for a little while, mainly through Instagram, because we, you know, I support him. I see, he goes all over the place. But what a guy, I mean, just loves this country. He reminds me a lot of the premise, the attitude of my father and those black men he served with, who at a time in the mid-60s and 70s, during the Vietnam War when — and even before that a bit when this country was really, really struggling in civil rights. And my dad would be asked, I don’t remember this, because I was a tiny baby. But it’s been told to me by my parents and other family members through the years because they just couldn’t believe he would say it, but he said it. America has the most potential of any country on the planet. We are struggling, but we’re struggling together. And in the end, we’ll come out in a different place with progress. Will it be perfect? No, it never will be. But we’re living in some of those days of progress and will an ebb and flow. Yeah, we’re human beings. But we’re not where we used to be. And I believe as he did, we lost him on Christmas of 2020. I believe if he did that, and men like Generald always remind us of this too, when they sing the national anthem. That love of country is something that we shouldn’t take lightly. There are people who are trying to escape their countries, a lot of them. Ours is worth fighting for. And if spiritual warfare is needed, let’s pray for our country. If big, beautiful voices are what’s needed to remind us that we are more alike than we are different. Please let that man sing again and again and again. The timing was perfect. The Lord knew exactly what he was doing.
Chiefs Wire: Having to deal with politicians on the daily, I was curious what you thought about the Cincinnati mayor's trash talk ahead of the AFC title game?
Harris Faulkner: Oh, Mr. bulletin board material?
Chiefs fans, nobody in that locker room. Nobody would ever give the opposition that much ammunition on the field. That’s my hope going into the Super Bowl. Yeah, we’ve been there before. Yeah, we won. It took us 50-some years to get back there and win, but we should be nothing but humble. And I have all the faith in Kansas Citians and we’re, you know, we’re a little bit different as fans we know better than that. So you want to talk about some bulletin board material. I mean, it was like straight out of Hollywood casting. They found this guy, like, thrown in there and the other team. He was right on cue. Wow, somebody’s paying him. It was amazing. I think he should not do politics and go into acting.
I mean, it’s an overreach of epic proportions. The whole “Burrowhead” thing, like if people want to be funny, look, don’t take it personally. But when the mayor says a man is owned by another man. I mean, you just have to question his judgment. I don’t know where he thought he was going. I don’t know if he thought people would think that that was funny, that it was inspiring. But I saw social media tweets. I even saw it on friendly Instagram. Cincinnatians we’re not happy. I mean, I don’t know what they thought was going to happen. But they did not think their mayor was going to say that. He didn’t represent them well. And he said other stuff, too. Because I know they had a rally. He was feeling it, it was a whole vibe with this mayor.
You know what, they have a heck of team. That quarterback and they’re, they’re really a special group of players. And I would hope that that mayor would show some leadership and say, ‘Look, I may have not helped your cause, but I believe in you.’ That’d be classy right?
Chiefs Wire: This year was supposed to be a “rebuilding” year for Kansas City – they traded away Tyreek Hill – let some veterans go in free agency – and drafted a bunch of young talent. Are you at all surprised to see them back in the Super Bowl all things considered?
Harris Faulkner: Well, they brought in great players. And as we saw with some quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, was at training camp this summer and really got to know those receivers and those running backs. I won’t name names. But there’s at least one quarterback who decided he didn’t do that.
So, I do think that Tyreek Hill is very, very special. But when you bring in no fewer than eight to 10 other people, they don’t all do the same job. So I kind of always got confused and people would say, ‘Oh, look, you know all these people to replace Tyreek Hill.’ Actually, it didn’t. You can’t replace a talent like that. What you can do is reorder your game. You know, if suddenly they lose Patrick Mahomes. You see Chad Henne went down there and got that 98-yard touchdown drive, right? Yeah. Because dude went out and what do we do now? I think Andy Reid is so gifted. And I think Eric Bieniemy, I think those guys are so gifted. That it is amazing what the defense and offense can do. You need a leader and Patrick Mahomes is special. And he was the first one to congratulate Chad Henne and I’m sure those guys talk all the time about what it’s going to be like if we switch up. And I just feel like Andy Reid has them prepared. Patrick has the leadership and he’s got some people who stayed. I mean, look, Travis Kelce. He’s as much of an important player on that team as Tyreek Hill ever was now, time and grade. And now he’s leading the NFL in all these stats that can’t even keep up with him.
I mean, god bless him. I know I do this for a living, you know, doing the news. Sometimes you talk about all the stats and things because you want to give people a little something extra as they watch whatever they’re watching. And some of the games were decent battles, like not all of them are really high scoring. So you got to talk about something. I mean, their defense is so good now. I thought the first half of the Cincinnati game I wasn’t really sure what’s going to happen there. ‘Is anybody going to score more? What’s going on?’ And it is because Kansas City has worked on the rest of its game.
And as you saw with Joe Burrow, I mean, that’s another guy who’s a great leader. He’s in there with their with his guys. But Kansas City has something special. I mean, nowwithstanding the mayor, put him aside. I mean, just in general, but some of the players that they brought in. First of all, you have a running game now with guys that get yards after catch/carry. You slide that ball in their hands, they’re just spinning and doing whatever they’ve got to do to get more yardage. I mean, it’s impressive. It’s really impressive. I don’t think that one person, like I said, is everything. But now they have Valdez-Scantling. I mean, they think they’ve got some names now. They really, really do. And look, I think in terms of wide receivers, as I just mentioned, you’ve got Valdes-Scantling, you’ve got Kadarius Toney. And Travis Kelce, you’ve got to have somebody else to go to. So that when you do go to him and I love watching that, you sting them. So, do we miss cheetah? Of course we do. But we got a lot going. I mean, I know I didn’t name them all. But we got a lot going on. And and more people now that can do things that will surprise defenses by the way, what was that thing called when they were rolling around like a doughnut. Snowglobe! I mean, Andy Reid, come on. Can you design my life? I want Andy Reid to come up with some ways that I should, when I’m walking, I want to like have a game like that where, ‘Oh, look at Harris she just did like a spin.’
I think one of the big adjustments that Andy Reid has made with Patrick Mahomes is saying, ‘You don’t have to be the savior every time.’ You don’t have to throw interceptions, trying to do something, that’s an occasion you didn’t have to rise to. And I think that’s a really good lesson in life to learn that, you know, sometimes you play within yourself. Which these are all platitudes of sports, you can tell I live with athletes, but you play within yourself so that you complete things. And then when it’s time to do the bomb move, you’ve got it. And I love where Patrick’s game is right now, I think he’s got that down. And, you know, I always look for silver linings. I think that having this downtime, coming back from an injury, he will develop different things. Because you know, he’s brilliant. And Andy Reid will help him. And I think Philly’s defense is going to have a problem, because it’s gonna be hard to read a guy like that. ‘Wait he was hurt two weeks ago. Now, what is he doing?’ So I’m excited! Can you tell, I’m excited?
Chiefs Wire: I hear that you’re going to the game this year, what are you most looking forward to?
Harris Faulkner: I’m going with my daughter, Bella, my 16-year-old, the older one, and we’re gonna do some mommy-daughter time.
I always want it to be something that makes history in terms of maybe, whatever it is, maybe there’s going to be an amazing play that Patrick (Mahomes) and Travis (Kelce) have together or maybe there’s somebody else on the team that he’s going to have it with. Maybe he makes it himself. You know, Patrick is almost so good. He could throw the ball and catch it. I’m a fan girl. But I really ultimately think that it’s Black History Month. And it’s pretty darn special that there are two African American quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. I don’t make a whole lot of that because I know that our country is progressing and going forward. But even with all of our progress, we can recognize it and celebrate that. So I hope they both do well. I hope our guy does better. Is that fair?
