WITH SWIFTIES RUNNING THE NFL, WILL TAYLOR HELP OR HURT THE CHIEFS?
Travis Kelce hasn’t thought about it, nor has Andy Reid or Patrick Mahomes, but if Swift keeps hanging around Kansas City this year, how will the team handle her presence as it pursues a third title?
It isn’t my concern whether Joe Alwyn has a tight end, as an English actor of some degree. But when Taylor Swift dumps him and appears to exploit a friendly opportunity with a real NFL pass-catcher, Travis Kelce, it opens an entirely new framework in the oddball relationship between entertainers and athletes.
Is she finally falling in love at 33? Is she simply looking for another “Travis” song title in a failed connection? Or is she veering into a mutual image enhancement, which Swift doesn’t seem to need as the most popular singer of her time — if not all time — but does give her an audience of men, women and children on Sundays when she otherwise pauses in her Eras Tour extravaganza?
All I know is, until one or the other speaks up, Swift’s appearance in Kelce’s private suite last Sunday is the league’s biggest story. They actually have nothing in common, unless she suddenly likes a doofus who once had a romantic interlude with 50 participants on E! Entertainment. She is a passionate songwriter who lures in Swifties at every stadium on the planet. Is this a distorted version of a Taylor tune, “Anti-Hero,” which goes: “Sometimes, I feel like everybody is a sexy baby. And I’m a monster on the hill.” Why she even was at Arrowhead Stadium, beside his mother and curious people, evokes a bigger question about what she wants in life — or whether she likes jacking around guys such as Kelce or Matty Healy, singer of the pop-rock band The 1975. Her courtship with Healy lasted months or weeks or days, with a source saying, “She had fun with him, but it was always casual. They were never boyfriend-girlfriend or exclusive and were always just having fun.”
Is Kelce just another amusing spiel? If so, I should ask how this might impact the dynasty ambitions of the Kansas City Chiefs. Within a day, Kelce’s jersey sales at Fanatics had jumped by more than 400 percent. Two days after her visit, she left the Midwestern flyover city while covered on the private jetway with several black umbrellas. Black? He is suddenly, by far, the hottest player not only on his team, including face-of-the-league quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but much larger than injured Aaron Rodgers, the wounded Sean Payton and the offensive explosions of the Miami Dolphins. Generally, we’d be advising Germans to dump their Oktoberfest steins to prepare for a Chiefs-Dolphins blockbuster on Nov. 5 in Frankfurt. Instead, we’re wondering how Kelce will deal with Swift running off to Argentina for her next tour stop. During his weekly podcast with brother Jason, Travis said this week: "Shoutout to Taylor for pulling up — that was pretty ballsy. I just thought it was awesome how everybody in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her. She looked amazing. Everybody was talking about her in a great light. … I know I brought all this attention to me. What's real is that, you know, it is my personal life. I want to respect both of our lives."
He was the one who begged her to watch a game after she failed to talk with him at her Missouri concert. “I told her that, ‘I’ve seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead. You might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead, and see which one’s a little more lit,’ ’’ Kelce said. She arrived in the suite, causing such a scene that Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews was told to inquire with Kelce before the game. When he confirmed, she looked at the booth and saw Swift in a Chiefs-conducive outfit and said, “Cause I saw the red lips and I was just like a 15-year-old. It was so exciting.” Andrews was supposed to be alerting us about the passing pitfalls of Justin Fields, the sore loser who plays quarterback in Chicago, but she instead was another Swiftie in the crowd.
Am I envisioning a Kardashian swing here that brings hardship to numerous sports figures? My concern involves Kelce more than Swift. It didn’t take long for one of his old flames, Maya Benberry, to interrupt social media after she won the reality series “Catching Kelce.” She wrote, “Once a cheater, always a cheater. Taylor seems like such a fun girl with a beautiful spirit, so I wish her the best of luck but I wouldn’t be a girls' girl if I didn’t advise her to be smart. I’m sure by now she has mastered the ability to see who is really there for her — and who is just using her.” I’m sure Benberry was given a nice check by DailyMail.com, but these are the issues Kelce isn’t thinking about. Nor is Andy Reid, coach of the Chiefs, who thought he’d seen it all in his craft. What will the Swifties say now?
Before you knew it, Mahomes was throwing a three-yard scoring pass to Kelce. The cheers included monster screams from a glass-enclosed territory where his date was aroused. “Let’s freaking go!” Swift yelled. Said Mahomes: “I heard she was in the house, so I knew I had to get the ball to Travis. … I haven’t gotten to meet her. I guess if she ends up being with Travis, I’ll meet her at some point. On Friday he was like, ‘Yeah, I think she’s coming to the game this weekend,’ and went about his business. And you’re like, I guess that just happens. That’s Travis.”
The NFL community quickly responded. Bill Belichick, who isn’t appreciative of smart-ass questions, said on a radio show, “Travis Kelce’s had a lot of big catches in his career — this would be the biggest.” Micah Parsons posted from Dallas, urging him that Swift “can change your life!!!” These are men paid to lasso Kelce, but at the moment, they’re cheering him on?
Aside from the Kardashians, we’ve also watched Tom Brady win many of his seven Super Bowls while married to a supermodel, Gisele Bundchen. But Brady could handle anything in his world. Kelce can handle being a two-time champion and an eight-time Pro Bowl pick who loves ramping up his media personality, but this is beyond belief, with fans in Kansas City watching their every move as they headed out after a victory and shut down an eatery. Supposedly, per the New York Post, she was “blushing, giggling and covering her face” as she rode in his convertible before having cocktails and dancing with him.
Please. If Kelce turns out to be another Matty Healy, a likely lot in life, he’ll be fine. This only will elevate his place in broadcasting, or whatever he wants to do after his playing career. Before this dalliance, just remember, he had 3.2 million followers on Instagram.
Taylor has 273 million. This will increase the number.
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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.