The Kelces' brilliant luck and savvy strategy

From playing against each other in a Super Bowl to Taylor Swift rumors, the NFL brothers are the closest thing we have to a sports movie right now — yet they somehow remain relatable

Thank you so much for reading The Wilder Things. If you’ve enjoyed this newsletter so far, please consider becoming a paid subscriber! $5 a month gets you every single newsletter, the ability to comment, and access to the archives. Also —if you get even just three people to subscribe, you get a discount! So smash that subscribe and share button. I am so grateful for your support.

I appear before you, humbly in your inbox, to write about the brilliant luck of the Kelce family. Like any good dad, mine would remind me as a kid that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. There’s no better example of this than the Kelce brothers. They’re everywhere. I can’t escape them. And I don’t want to! What is it about these guys that keeps so many people coming back to the font of Kelce Kontent?

If you somehow have been able to avoid this ubiquitous football family, let me catch you up. Once upon a time (now) there were (are) two brothers, Jason and Travis Kelce. They play for the Eagles and the Chiefs, respectively, and are both Super Bowl champions. In fact, they played against each other in last year’s Super Bowl, and their mom Donna became a nationwide sensation with her lovely, “aw, shucks” kind of every-womanism and her split jerseys. 

Mom!!!

Donna is now in a commercial with her sons. Travis and Jason host a show together, New Heights, that is regularly at the top of the podcast charts. We’re talkin’ the general charts, not just sports charts (if you work in sports media, you’ll know that breaking through to a general audience is a Big Deal). Jason is the star of the documentary KELCE on Amazon Prime. Travis Kelce was, this week, dating or not dating Taylor Swift.

These guys were, however, beloved long before the recent cameras started rolling. They were both on teams that snapped decades-long championship droughts for passionate NFL cities. They were also both the stars of the drunken parades that followed. Remember Jason’s Mummer outfit? And how he stood at the top of the Rocky steps and told the haters, “fuck ‘em!” in front of the entire city of Philadelphia? Do you recall when Travis yelled, “you’ve gotta fight for your right to party!” to all of Kansas City?

“Fuck ‘em” — Jason Kelce

I’ve never met Jason, but for years before the Chiefs were good, Travis was a staple of Radio Row during Super Bowl week. He had a deal with Old Spice, and the brand would trot him out to the various media outlets set up in the host city’s vast, cavernous convention centers. I worked for various said outlets, and I interviewed Travis several times. We even rode a roller coaster together at the Mall of America (don’t ask, it was a weird week). I also interviewed him in the locker room after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 2020.