Stop the presses! That’s what all the news media did today to report on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s budding relationship. Because what the world needs now is more Pavlovian coverage of the symbiotic relationship between pop and sports stars. Theirs is a match made in heaven or Hollywood, given its scripted nature.
Travis and Taylor (TNT) are dating
It’s a love story, perhaps, for NFL tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, who was seen in Kelce’s family suite at Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears.
The singer was shown cheering on the Chiefs during the FOX Sports broadcast, dressed in a red and white team jacket. She appeared to be sitting next to Donna Kelce, the player’s mom, chatting and laughing throughout the game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
(CNN, September 25, 2023)
I’m sorry, but how could I not comment? If only to sound a cynical note in all the fawning chorus of comments. I note, for example, that news of their relationship only exploded today thanks to the orchestrated fuse TNT lit last night.
Well, I would say that Travis Kelce’s had a lot of big catches in his career. This would be the biggest.
(CBS Sports, September 25, 2023)
But therein lies the rub.
Taylor cannot be serious
Travis seems genuinely smitten or hopelessly starstruck. But Taylor seems to be toying with him — not that there’s anything wrong with that. Indeed, when it comes to starfu*king, Taylor is a friggin’ alpha dog…
So, the public show she’s making of this relationship indicates that this girl just wants to have fun. Travis would be well-advised to beware of providing fodder for a new breakup song.
It is also noteworthy that Travis’s last girlfriend was a WAGS’s WAG. But Taylor is no more inclined to play this modern-day version of a Stepford Wife than Leo DiCaprio is to play a pussywhipped fool in love.
Kelce’s mother
I’ve seen enough clips to suspect that Kelce’s mother is even less of a Taylor fan than I am. And Taylor did little to endear herself by cheering up in their box seats more enthusiastically than the cheerleaders down on the field.
I’m a proud Mama’s boy. Kelce looks like one, too. But, if I saw images of my Mummy giving my girlfriend the kind of side-eye Kelce’s mother was giving Taylor, that girl would be all she wrote. Just sayin’…
TNT hype’s a jinx
It’s self-evident that every Chiefs game Taylor attends will be all about her. But I fear Taylor and her Swifties will be to Travis’s NFL games what Khloé and the Kardashians were to Lamar’s NBA games, or what Meghan Markle was to Serena Williams’s tennis matches: a terminal jinx!
Even before that, I suspect Kelce’s teammates will begin resenting him. That is, as their games become more about Taylor and celebrity friends in her luxury suite than their play on the ball field.
But Taylor is already having a negative impact. No less a person than Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes admitted as much. After last night’s game, he said he felt pressure to keep throwing to Travis to help him impress Taylor.
That pressure is bound to induce performance anxiety, causing a premature end to the Chiefs’ season. So, I hope Travis doesn’t lose his head. Because, like Lamar, he might begin thinking it’s more important to have his celebrity girlfriend attend his games than for his team to win them.
Stay tuned…