There’s Taylor Swift Has there ever been a more popular, more powerful, whiter Beyoncé than she is now? She’s in the middle of an era-defining tour that’s literally called the Eras Tour. The concert film version of the show is about to hit theaters across the country—she broke the news a few weeks ago, and within hours, Hollywood studios were scrambling to get their films out of its way. Bracelets are everywhere. And now, to her vast domain, she’s added countless millions of football-loving (mostly) men, thanks to her escalating flirtation with sexy Kansas City Chiefs dork Travis Kelce.
Sneak peek: In the July 26 episode of his popular podcast. New Heights— which he co-hosts with his brother, a star offensive lineman for the Philadelphia Eagles — Kelce lamented that he went to Swift’s concert at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City and hoped to hand over a bracelet with his number on it. , but she pushed him away. (It’s unclear at this time whether she pushed him away or simply had no idea who he was.) Either way, he admitted that he was “hurt” by the rejection. But he didn’t give up. This month’s episode The Pat McAfee Show On ESPN, Kelce revealed that he invited Swift to the Chiefs’ upcoming home game against the Chicago Bears. (“I told her I saw her perform on stage at Arrowhead and she might have to come see me perform on stage at Arrowhead,” he said.) This time she agreed.
Swift took the game out of Kelsey’s family box, wore a red Chiefs jacket and chatted with his mom Donna about it until Kelsey caught the game-tying pass in the third quarter. That’s when Swift became enraged, as did everyone else in the box. Although we couldn’t hear her voice through the glass, we could all read her lips as she screamed:Come on, damn it!” in such a pure and primal manner that it seemed as if she had done this before. She did it like a real football fan.
At this point, mind you, it was still unclear whether they had ever been alone in a room together or even met in person. Whatever. The game has begun. The hashtag #Swelce has already been used. They either reunited or finally met while leaving the stadium on their way to the postgame party. He was dressed like a fashionable man painter. At one point, she was photographed hugging him. The next day, sales of his T-shirt increased by 400 percent.
Maybe they’ll fall in love. Perhaps they will have children and co-hosts. Saturday Night Life and grow old together.
No, this will end badly. Sorry I ruined the party. But it’s not about Travis and Taylor. We’re talking about a sports media cycle that simply can’t coexist with the gossip industry – two unruly crowds pitted against each other like 300-pound linesmen. This is more than any budding romance can handle, especially one that is still emerging.
Anyone who watches sports knows that the sports talk industry is a 24-hour savagery, broadcast at deafening volume on 10 TV screens simultaneously in every bar across the country. McAfee, a former NFL player turned YouTube live streamer who just moved his show to ESPN for $85 million and who speaks to nearly 2 million people a day for three hours, has done segments on Kelsey and Swift each time. day this week. On Wednesday — the third day of the whole saga — he posted a segment on YouTube titled “Taylor Swift Fans Have Turned Already, Hate Travis Kelce?! Pat McAfee’s reaction.
The real variable here isn’t necessarily Kelsey or Swift. It’s the Chiefs, who have looked a little shaky this season despite their 41-10 win over the terrible Bears. An NFL team hasn’t won back-to-back Super Bowls in nearly two decades, and there’s a reason for it: Football is brutal, tiring and unpredictable. Guys get injured, key players move on to other teams, and everyone who stays is a year older and 20 percent less hungry. That includes Kelsey, now 33, a two-time Super Bowl winner and future first-ballot Hall of Famer who is running out of prizes to compete for. The Chiefs will struggle at times this season, and when they do, illogically or not, fans will blame it on a new variable – in this case, a pop star. This story is as old as Yoko Ono.
Abstraction will be the talk of the town in Kansas City and throughout the NFL all season long. Is Travis Kelce focused enough on football? Are his teammates tired of the media circus surrounding the team? Is Taylor Swift going to take down the juggernaut? Listen closely and you can already hear Stephen A. Smith clearing his throat. It’ll be hard for Kelsey to claim he’s not distracted when his brother asks him about his new girlfriend every week on their podcast. And when asked if his teammates will get tired of answering questions about Travis and Taylor: Yes, yes, they will. Especially after losses.
And God forbid Kelsey gets hurt – Swift will never get rid of this curse. The NFL is brutal in this regard. If recent history is any guide, the Chiefs have no confidence that they will make the playoffs and there is a strong bet that they will be eliminated early. If this happens, their fans will demand human sacrifices. Just because there’s a love fest in Arrowhead right now doesn’t mean Chiefs fans won’t be booing her face on the Jumbotron in December if they get trampled by the Buffalo Bills. Let’s never underestimate the powerful combination of crazy fandom and basic sexism. Judging by the wary rumors on social media about Kelsey’s past infidelities, some Swifties are already wary.
Apparently, Swift doesn’t like her business airing publicly. Meanwhile, Kelsey once starred in a reality dating show on the channel AND! called Capturing Kelsey. He loves to talk. Several times a week there are reporters with microphones in front of him. His office is a locker room. A relationship with Kelsey would be very different from the six years Swift spent with Joe Alwyn, a soft-spoken actor who starred in things you’ve never seen before.
For every irrational reaction, there’s an equally irrational counter-reaction, so when Kelsey’s fans get mad at Swift for some stupid reason, her fans obediently get mad at him back. Soon the culture will split into warring factions #TeamTrav and #TeamTay. If it seems like a stretch to suggest that romantic melodrama could derail the football season, look at Tom Brady’s exhausted face at the end of the preseason last summer following his split from Gisele Bündchen. (“I’m 45 years old, man,” he said after reporters asked him if he was okay. “There’s a lot of crap going on.”) Bucs fans on social media reacted to the sad news with all manner of civility. you expect. Most of them were harmlessly thick-headed. Part of it was vicious. The former teammate, known for his erratic outbursts, even shared a poorly edited nude photo of Bündchen on social media.
This is probably not where we are going. But you should prepare yourself for a stream of rude jokes and stubborn monologues. Swift’s camp says she’ll be in attendance at the Chiefs’ game in the Meadowlands against the New York Jets today, guaranteeing at least another week of full coverage on ESPN and TikTok. The Chiefs are the clear favorites in the game… but what if the Jets somehow win with Taylor at home? Look at the camera shots: the cuts on her face in the luxurious box, the cuts in her body language towards Donna.
At some point, Swift will miss a Chiefs game—you know, she has work to do; she’s far more famous than Travis Kelce, and baseless speculation as to why will take another week. This is what we do. We devour. And human relationships that begin with content are not entirely planted on fertile soil. Soon enough, the #Swelce era will likely become a bittersweet memory, nothing more than a faded Chiefs jersey collecting dust in a drawer.