The Athlete of the year is one of those nebulous awards that usually honor a world improver, an activist athlete, a stereotypical quarterback, a finals MVP, Tiger Woods, The fastest man in the world, an American gymnast or a gold medalist.in the pool during an Olympic year.
I’m more superficial than that.
This year, Travis Kelce has made an unorthodox foray on and off the court.
Who is Kelce’s competition?
Lionel Messi? Inter Miami could miss the MLS Cup playoffs while time is running out for international matches. He has put his head down and focused on football and family, which is commendable, but he is not yet doing anything that justifies The Athlete of the Year. The World Cup was last year. We have evolved.
Deion Sanders is the ideal recruiter for the Nile era. But we’ll see if his Colorado buffaloes can maintain that national interest once the illusory effects of September football wear off. This darling from Oregon humiliated Sanders. Something tells me this Colorado team is at least a year away from making some serious noise in the new Big 12.
After recording just 11 catches for 95 yards in two appearances this season since Kansas City’s missed opener, Kelce’s 12th catch — as Bill Belichick put it so atypically – was the best of them all.
In 2023, Kelce has taken on a new Dimension.
Any time you can ask Belichick to put his stoic mask down in front of the media, you’ve passed a Rubicon. Then again, we know that his affection for TEs is stronger than that of a coach in the League.
Months after shooting a Podcast with his brother, Travis threw it out of the park like Babe Ruth in the ‘32 World Series. I mostly rolled my eyes at the Taylor Swift-Kelce rumor mill because he sounded like Kip’s Cousin, Dynamite, who was constantly hinting at his girlfriend LaFawnduh instead of a tangible possibility. On the other hand, she was also real. However, Kelce is given props to manifest this Vision. He did everything except borrow a page from Deion’s playbook in his postgame presser, look the Chiefs Overcome writers in the face and yell, “Do you believe now?!”
Kelce won a second Super Bowl as Patrick Mahomes’ first Option after Tyreek Hill’s departure to Miami pushed him into Gronkowski’s stratosphere of commercial popularity. The only thing Kelce hasn’t done is press for his comrades-in-arms to be used as Pseudo-slot machine receivers and demand more money. It may be the news trend, but Kelce venturing into this parasocial territory where sports journalists and Twitter passionately share his views on Dating life has taken him beyond Gronk.
