For football fans Kevin Van Valkenburg, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, the headline-making romance wasn’t a point of frustration — instead, it led to some serious father-daughter bonding.
In the now viral publish on X (formerly Twitter), Van Valkenburg — who covered the NFL for ESPN more than a decade ago — shared his two cents on select fan thoughts regarding Swift’s presence at Kansas City Chiefs games.
“I actually feel bad for the Brads, Chads, and Angry Dads who spent the year complaining about Taylor Swift interrupting their football,” he began the post, nodding to a quote from Swift Time Person of the Year cover story (“I have no idea if I’m showing off too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads”).
Timeline of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship
Instead of complaining, Van Valkenburg said he “spent the season trading Swift/Kelce memes with my 14-year-old daughter (who didn’t care about football before) and now it’s like a fun thing we’re sharing?”
“What’s so freaking great?” he ended the post, adding that his daughter also “loves” meeting Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce.
Van Valkenburg also spoke about his experience as a soccer fan and Swiftie’s “dad” in the new Vogue the story of the singer’s “NFL era”.
In the article, he said that despite his penchant for soccer, his daughter Molly had never kicked until this season.
“[It] it just never resonated until the Taylor thing,” Van Valkenburg said Vogue.
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce.
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Since the pop star, 34, started attending Chiefs games to support Travis, also 34, Van Valkenburg and his daughter have found the perfect intersection of their Venn diagram of interests — inspiring conversations like a 20-minute discussion about changing the lyrics to Swift’s “Karma” dedicated to her skinny beau.
Molly also made sure to introduce her dad to Swift’s award-winning lyric, which led to an “unbelievably good” Red the song “All Too Well” becomes one of his favorites.
“The details in this poem are literary,” he said Vogue.
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While taking the teenager to see the singer’s Eras Tour concert film, Van Valkenburg recalled “watching her run through the rain in her in 1989 clothes and I started tearing,” he told the magazine. “My little girl is growing up and this person is talking to her… of course I should listen to this music because it’s a way to better understand my own child.”
“I really like being a father to girls and I like to talk to them about things that are a cross between our worlds,” he added.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education