Throughout my entire life, there have been two things that have remained constant: my love for football and my love for Taylor Swift. 

I’ve been an NFL fan for as long as I can remember, first being forced into the Bears fandom, but eventually shifting to a Packers fan once I was old enough to have an opinion. Sundays have always been spent watching games while checking my fantasy football team around the clock. 

While football holds part of my heart, Taylor Swift holds the other. 

Some of my earliest memories are running around the house singing the “Speak Now” album at the top of my lungs while also begging to listen to You Belong with Me one more time. I feel like I’ve grown up while she’s grown as an artist, which is a very special feeling. 

In the past month, for the first time in my life, these two sides have combined upon news that Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce, an All-Pro tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

While this news hasn’t been officially confirmed or denied, Swift and Kelce have been seen together in multiple public outings, often holding hands and playfully smiling. 

Swift’s loyal followers, “Swifties,” have been all over the relationship, already bashing her former boyfriend for six years, Joe Alwyn. The Swifties are going crazy over every game she goes to, what she’s wearing in the box seats and the fact that Kelce is her 13th boyfriend. 

Most football fans have taken a different side on the matter, getting upset every time Swift is posted on the NFL’s social media account or televised at a Chiefs game. 

As a fan of both sides of this relationship, while I admit it has its pros and cons, I’m all for it. 

It seems as though there has never been an American relationship this big, at least in recent memory. Media outlets are making it seem as though the pair is American royalty and that “Miss Americana has found her heartbreak prince,” to quote Swift’s song on her “Lover” album. 

It’s clear there is a major difference between this relationship and Swift’s past boyfriends. Kelce and Swift have presented themselves to the media far more than in her relationship with Alwyn, but it’s hard not to keep romance a secret when it involves two well-known stars. 

For Kelce, it seems as though Swift’s attendance has affected his performance on the field. In games where his presumed girlfriend is in the box seats, he is averaging 108 receiving yards per game, a remarkable average for a tight end. 

In games where Swift isn’t there, Kelce is averaging only 46.5 receiving yards. It seems to me like this is a direct correlation. After all, stats don’t lie. 

Call it what you want, it seems to me like these two are the perfect pair, especially since they are the same age, used to being in the spotlight and know how to handle fame. 

Even though NFL fans are claiming that Kelce put Swift on the map while Swifties are claiming it’s the other way around, there’s no denying that this internet-breaking affair is impacting fans across the country. 

Hopefully, this relationship ends well for the couple, but no matter what the outcome is, I’m expecting an amazing new album in the coming future. 

Hokanson can be reached at [email protected].