Football and pop music don’t fascinate her, but this captivating relationship does

Usually here I discuss relatable life experiences, like biting into a severely undercooked hamburger, or unwittingly sitting on a rude stranger’s discarded gum. But now I have a compulsion to discuss two colliding worlds in which I have no expertise. Nonetheless, what a great opportunity to spew my usual armchair sociology.

It’s about the football hero and the mega pop star.

The only hook I have with this is I live in the Kansas City suburbs, so all of the Kelce/Swift frenzy naturally caught my attention. Geographic osmosis is strong. It appears to be the same for most people who know how to navigate I-435. (Come on, admit it.)

What’s more, I was shocked to see articles about this budding relationship in the snooty New Yorker magazine, The New York Times and NPR. Even on an aimless unrelated X doom scroll, I saw a newspaper in Switzerland splashing the sweet story on a front-page print edition. At this point there’s probably a Kelce/Swift article in Progressive Farmer.

Demographically, as an advanced middle-aged woman who does not have daughters, I missed the whole Taylor Swift concert phenomenon. Except, this year I’ve caught myself singing, “It’s me, I, I’m the problem it’s me.” Catchy and cathartic, somehow.

But also, there was that time about a dozen years ago I was required to write about Swift to sell auction concert tickets for a charity catalog. I’m embarrassed to say I had to look up some basic stuff. My life was busy then raising two teenage boys who had other music radars. But I thought, what a talented young lady. I was glad she inspired her generation.

Also demographically speaking, intense sports spectating has never fully crashed into my Venn diagram of strong passions. To ink out a picture of how clueless I am sometimes, I’ll share this recent fizzled home office printer story. As I was mulling replacement options, I called my husband from Costco.

I was staring at marketing displays by the stacks of printer boxes. I said, “I think we should go with the brand that sports figure guy advertises. You know, what’s his name?” (Please note I actually said “sports figure.”) My husband answered after a long pause and maybe an exasperated sigh before he said, “Shaq.” Sometimes you can even hear eyes roll from across town.

Transferring to pigskin, I’m not exactly football-y. But my husband and sons are fans. I naturally root for the home team. Happy metro, happy life. I have attended games at Arrowhead. More importantly, I actually sciatica-hobbled to the sub-freezing Super Bowl victory parade of February 2020. For hours I shivered before Union Station while people were falling out of trees.

I remember seeing Kelce up on that stage, “gently discussing” one’s right to party. I laughed and thought, this guy is electric. My sciatica flare-up momentarily disappeared. It was refreshing for our city to have a fun and talented character like that being himself and making us crack up in the red sea/tundra. Then there was his SNL hosting gig, which he nailed. American Girl Doll Superfan, ha ha! Admiration sealed.

We need people like Swift and Kelce who can give us mental breaks from daily stressors like raising teenagers or navigating through cold winter days with back pain. On a larger scale, it’s been a rough and bizarre go for most of us over recent years. As Nietzsche said, “We have art and football so we shall not die of reality.” (I added the football part.)

Whatever happens in the future, Swift and Kelce have clearly bulldozed their individual superhighways into our consciences. I like how they are both true to themselves, how they create joy, how they believe in fairness and inclusivity, and how their hard work leaves so many of us in awe. The merging of their lives, if it last two weeks or 200 years (I’m betting on the latter), will be amazing to watch from around the buzzing glow of I-435.

Reach Denise Snodell at stripmalltree@gmail.com