MEET LIVVY DUNNE AND PAUL SKENES, THE NEW TAYLOR AND TRAVIS IN … WHERE?
That would be Pittsburgh, where she is the ultimate influencer and NIL winner while he threatens to throw 100 mph every start, which means baseball has a chance to shriek in a unique Pennsylvania town
She is wearing black leisurewear, doing solo gymnastics bits in a hotel room. Then she grins at a customary camera, with the happiest of faces in her blonde frisk, as we hear a male voice needling her nearby.
“Let’s (bleeping) go,” he says. “Let’s go … I guess.”
Next thing the social-media universe knew, Olivia Dunne was posting another take on TikTok, among sites where she totals 13 million followers. “POV: you both wake up from a nap and find out he’s in the MLB,” she writes. With that, America can welcome itself to another celebrity coupling — not quite the match of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce but not far away in the gaze of twentysomethings. Say hello to Dunne, the princess of your many devices, who reached $3.9 million in NIL value as an LSU gymnast and ranked second among college athletes to Deion Sanders’ son, Shedeur. She is 5 feet 6, 121 pounds, and the scrumptious idol of her non-stop viewers and brand devotees.
And say hello to Paul Skenes. He happens to be 6-6 and 235 pounds and scolded her as he prepared to leave for Pittsburgh. Beginning Saturday at PNC Park, we might be watching the most prized major-league pitcher in at least a decade. Put it this way: He will throw the ball harder, with a 21-year-old’s consistent gumption, than any starter in the sport’s history. In his final minor-league start last weekend, he nailed 101 mph while throwing fastballs, sliders, an infrequent curveball and a splitter-sinker mash. He will wing it with such velocity into the All-Star Game — or if he leads the sadsack Pirates to the playoffs — until a doctor stops him. Injuries always are the concern, having seen the can’t-miss debut of an elbow-wrecked Mark Prior, but for now, we’ll be curious if Skenes becomes baseball’s most precious arm while Livvy trots out her commentary.
Unlike Swift, who has an Eras Tour that never ends, Dunne is in western Pennsylvania and will make road trips. How will this romance work in a town that loves athletes but never has experienced this Internet-blazing vibrancy? She is more famous in a general way. In sports, he could enjoy a career comparable to Gerrit Cole, the last dominant kid pitcher in these parts. Where will they hang out? With the crazies on the South Side? Amid the converted warehouses and chef-propped restaurants of the Strip District? In the college region of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon? Will they live atop Mount Washington, with views of their new hometown?
Or, will he tell her it’s time to (bleeping) go as she mugs for another visual? When they arrived in town Friday, the influencer posted a photo as she and Skenes rode in the back of a car. He headed to a news conference, where he spoke of Dunne’s impact on his life. “I do my best to not see any of it, but it’s unavoidable at the same time,” he said. “You’re going to have to see some of it.” Last year, he said their presence as a rocking twosome was “a pain in the butt sometimes, to be honest, in terms of actually going somewhere.”
It will be fascinating to see how the crowd treats her, when the Pirates play the Cubs in the biggest local baseball story in years. He wants her to have fun, but is it possible? Will Dunne need security guards like Swift in Kansas City and other NFL stadiums? “She does get it. I do wish she could come to a baseball game and just enjoy it,” Skenes said. “It does irk me. I don't have any control over it. She really doesn't either. I'm sure it'll get better, but that's something I want for her.”
She has been out in public, sometimes with good vibes and another instance when a meet in Utah turned “scary and disturbing and cringey,” said a teammate. “Give us Livvy! We want Livvy!” young men shouted. In Pittsburgh, there were female fans who fell in love with hockey players, such as Jaromir Jagr in the day. But Dunne? She’ll have to keep her cool as much as Skenes on the mound.
“He’s pretty level-headed all the time — that’s what I love about him — and I think we’re a really good pair because of that,” Dunne told ESPN. “Because I have such a crazy lifestyle and things get thrown my way all the time. Sometimes, my emotions can sway and he’s very level, and I just think it’s a very good match.”
Much will depend on his performance. Stephen Strasburg struck out 14 batters in his first big-league start, but his career tumbled amid thoracic outlet syndrome. So dearly, the city needs the Pirates to thrive after years of stumbling, inside a beautiful stadium that often goes bland. The organization has signed young players, such as center fielder Bryan Reynolds, pitcher Mitch Keller and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes. What if Skenes becomes the trigger to contention, recalling how he hit 100 mph in 12 of his 19 starts at LSU last year?
“I would definitely say we’re close,” he said. “I think being around the team in spring training and watching the club over the past month or so, we’re close. I think there is a lot to look forward to. I definitely want to take a minute and realize how cool it is.”
Forgive me, but one celebrity alliance in Pittsburgh involved Terry Bradshaw mixing with ice skater JoJo Starbuck, whose marriage ended. The new Steelers quarterback, Russell Wilson, is married to singer Ciara. But Paul Skenes could become a bigger athlete than even Kelce. And Livvy Dunne? Out of college, visiting the big cities and ballparks, who knows how whopping a presence she’ll become online?
“Here we go!” she writes.
The good news is, she won’t scribble about him in any song lyrics. Or so we think.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.