Ready For More

Tony Gonzalez’s left foot is talking to him.

It’s been talking to him for the past three years or so, and lately, it’s been saying, “Ouch. My bones aren’t as strong as they used to be. When are you going to let up?”

The days of letting up are quickly approaching.

The All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and Huntington Beach’s hometown hero is playing his 11th season in the NFL this year, and he knows he’s getting old, at least in football years.

Gonzalez, 31, is moving toward the end of his career. He’s signed on with the Chiefs through 2011 for $15.25 million, according to the NFL Players’ Assn. website. He’ll make $1 million in salary this season.

While he’s happy to play and believes he has plenty of miles left on his body, Gonzalez has started to reflect on his legacy. He wants to win a Super Bowl before he retires, and at this point, he’s signed on to do it with the Chiefs. If Gonzalez wanted to change teams to seek a championship, his best bet would have been last season when his contract was up. He elected to sign a five-year extension with the Chiefs in January.

“There’s no choice for me but to get it done here,” Gonzalez said in a recent phone interview. He spoke from a medical facility in Kansas City’s trendy Westport neighborhood, where he was preparing for a magnetic resonance imaging scan on the arthritic left foot that’s bugged him since he sustained a stress fracture three years ago. “It’s with the Chiefs or bust.”

At this point, Gonzalez said he may come back for the fourth year, but that’s still up in the air.

When the eight-time Pro Bowl selection spoke with uncertainty about the Chiefs’ offense was still palpable because Herm Edwards hadn’t selected a starting quarterback yet. The job was dangling between Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard.

Huard was named the starter Saturday and he will likely be the man who throws a record-breaking touchdown.

Gonzalez needs just two more touchdown receptions to break the all-time record for touchdowns by a tight end, currently held by Shannon Sharpe (62).

The born-and-bred California boy enjoys superstar celebrity status in Kansas City. Teammate Larry Johnson told The Pitch, Kansas City’s independent newspaper, that Gonzalez is the only member of the Chiefs who can get into any nightspot he wants wearing anything he wants.

“That just means I’m old, and I’ve been here a long time and everybody knows me,” Gonzalez said, laughing. “When I was younger, I used to have the reputation of going out a lot, so everybody knows me. Now I’m just resting on my laurels.”

Since he left Huntington Beach High to play at UC Berkeley and then professionally for the Chiefs, Gonzalez has become the all-time leading pass catcher in Chiefs history with 721 receptions, the second-highest total by a tight end in the league, second only to Sharpe (815).

His 8,710 career receiving yards are also the highest total in Chiefs annals, yet he still trails Sharpe (10,060) for the top spot in history among tight ends.

Gonzalez earned All-CIF status in basketball and football while at Huntington Beach High, then played both sports at Berkeley. Gonzalez was part of the Golden Bears’ squad that advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 1997 NCAA Tournament.

Gonzalez played 33 football games in three seasons and became the second tight end in Cal history to earn first-team All-American status.

Currently, Gonzalez can be seen on the HBO show Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Kansas City Chiefs, which documents the trials, tribulations, and practical jokes of training camp.

After the cameramen started to fade into the background of River Falls, Wis., Gonzalez said he was all for the show. It’s “real reality television,” he said, because it’s “not scripted.”

“Why not do it,” he said. “It gives the fans a chance to see us outside of our football mode. They can see what a guy is all about, what type of personality he has.”

It was on the show that Gonzalez revealed his desire for a Super Bowl ring, and his awareness that retirement is indeed approaching, even if it’s not for a few more years. But Gonzalez said he’d be able to walk away without knowing the euphoria of a championship and still be fulfilled by his career.

“It has been a beautiful, beautiful ride for me,” Gonzalez said. “If it ended today, I would be happy with it. The friendships I’ve made last way beyond football. I’ve given this game everything I’ve had, and then some. It would never be a disappointment, ever.”