Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce is turning into a cautionary tale for American men everywhere.
Many men know the story already. In life, one second you’re cooking with gas, firing on all cylinders, hitting career milestones, and then sometimes, but not always, a woman enters your life. A woman who’s not right for you but who enchants and ensnares you nonetheless. Before long, the thing that made you attractive in the first place, in this case, Kelce’s successful NFL career and his pure electricity on the gridiron, begins to slip away, as you seek to please the new woman more and more. You begin to mold your life into hers, and embrace a lifestyle that’s not right for you.
So far this season, Kelce has not looked the same. He’s slower, underwhelming, and even looked a bit morose on the bench in the Chief’s victory over the Falcons on Sunday. He almost looked like a shell of the man he once was. Something is changing within him, and it’s not going to end well.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 08: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are seen at the Men’s Final between Fritz and Sinner at the 2024 US Open Tennis Championships on September 08, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 08: Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and Brittany Mahomes attend the Men’s Singles Final match between Taylor Fritz of the United States and Jannik Sinner of Italy on Day Fourteen of the 2024 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 08, 2024 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Is Taylor Swift to blame? Perhaps, but I don’t think it’s simply her. Rather, it’s the jet-setting, corporate PR life that Kelce has appeared to embrace off the field since he started dating the pop singer that might be doing serious harm to his game. Kelce is extremely commercialized now, and is even launching an acting career. He has developed a taste for the celebrity high life as football takes a back seat to U.S. Open appearances. The Gucci bucket hat has replaced the Chiefs helmet. It’s a sad tale, but one as old as time.
It would be one thing if Kelce looked himself in the mirror, came to terms with his limits as a football player in his 12th season with the Chiefs, and decided to hang up his cleats to marry Swift and start a family. Yet, I have a funny feeling this won’t be happening anytime soon.
