Neither Taylor Swift nor Travis Kelce — or anyone in their inner circles — has confirmed or denied rumors that the two have been “quietly hanging out,” after anonymous sources alleged that they met up recently in New York. That certainly hasn’t kept people from having fun with the possible new couple news, and that includes the CBS broadcaster who called the Kansas City Chiefs game on Sunday. Ian Eagle came prepared, taking Kelce’s presence on the field as an opportunity to weave in some crafty references to Swift songs during the game.
Sports commentators are always game for some good word play, and Ian Eagle had clearly done his homework before Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 17. It was a quiet day for Kelce, who caught just four passes in the Chiefs’ win, but when the tight end scored a touchdown in the third quarter, Eagle seamlessly name-checked one of Taylor Swift’s song titles, announcing:
Kelce finds a ‘Blank Space’ for the score.
Nicely done. It was a reference that Swifties and those aware of the dating rumors would easily catch, but it wasn’t shoe-horned in to the point of sounding awkward for any football fans not in the know. You can hear the call in the clip below:
Your favorite duo is back at it again 😉@PatrickMahomes x @TKelce pic.twitter.com/7MdgHozbcVSeptember 17, 2023
The broadcaster wasn’t finished though. In discussing Travis Kelce’s knee injury — which kept the Chiefs tight end sidelined for the first game of the NFL regular season — Ian Eagle hit viewers with another clever Taylor Swift reference, saying (per KansasCity.com):
Kelce was injured last week. Able to ‘Shake It Off’ for Week 2.
Would it be safe to assume the announcer is a fan of Ms. Swift’s 1989 album? I’m shocked he didn’t find a way to get “Bad Blood” in there somehow.
What Ian Eagle has done here, in my opinion, is throw down the gauntlet to all broadcasters calling Kansas City Chiefs games this season. I want to hear more calls, possibly like, “’Tis the Damn Season’ for a Travis Kelce touchdown!” or “Travis Kelce is absolutely ‘Fearless’ out there today!” or “That was some real ‘Vigilante Shit,’ right there!” OK, maybe not that last one.
It’s amusing to see celebrity gossip invade the world of professional football, and even Travis’ brother — Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — has had focus pulled away from his work to answer questions about Travis’ love life. In the postgame interviews after the Eagles’ Thursday night victory, Jason was asked about Taylor Swift, and while first saying he couldn’t comment, he followed up by admitting he didn’t know what was going on but that “Travis is having fun.”
Jason Kelce previously spoke to his brother about Taylor Swift on their podcast New Heights, in which Travis Kelce told listeners he had attended the Eras Tour concert in Kansas City and tried to give the artist a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it. His attempts were supposedly unsuccessful, but clearly some people have reason to believe that wasn’t the end of the story.
We’ll just have to wait to see what comes of these two, and in the meantime, I’m excited to see how creative the commentators continue to get during Kansas City Chiefs games.