For football fan Kevin Van Valkenburg, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s headline-making romance has not been a point of frustration — it has instead led to some serious father-daughter bonding.
In a now-viral post on X (formerly Twitter), Van Valkenburg — who formerly covered the NFL for ESPN for over a decade — shared his two cents about select fan thoughts tied to Swift’s attendance 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’s Time Person of the Year cover story (“I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads”).
I actually feel bad for the Brads, Chads and Angry Dads who spent the year complaining about Taylor Swift interrupting their football because I spent the season trading Swift/Kelce memes with my 14-year-old daughter (who previously didn't care about football) and now it's like a… https://t.co/re4UHwvKE2
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) January 17, 2024
Rather than complaining, Van Valkenburg said he “spent the season trading Swift/Kelce memes with my 14-year-old daughter (who previously didn’t care about football) and now it’s like a fun thing we share?”
“Which is freaking awesome?” he finished the post, adding that his daughter also “loves” that he has met Travis’ brother, Jason Kelce.
Van Valkenburg also spoke about his experience as a football fan and “girl dad” to a Swiftie in a new Vogue story about the singer’s “NFL Era.”
In the article, he said that despite his fondness for it, football never clicked with his daughter, Molly, until this season.
“[It] just never resonated until the Taylor stuff,” Van Valkenburg told Vogue.
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Since the pop star, 34, began attending Chiefs games to support Travis, also 34, Van Valkenburg and his daughter have found the perfect intersection to their Venn diagram of interests — inspiring chats like a 20-minute discussion about the “Karma” lyric change Swift dedicated to her tight-end beau.
Molly also made sure to introduce her dad to Swift’s award-winning lyricism, which led to the “unbelievably good” Red track “All Too Well” becoming one of his favorites.
“The details in this song are literary,” he told Vogue.
While dropping the teen off to watch the singer’s Eras Tour concert film, Van Valkenburg remembered “watching her run through the rain in her 1989 outfit and I started tearing up,” he told the magazine. “My girl’s growing up, and this person speaks to her … of course I should listen to this music, because it’s a way for me to understand my own kid better.”
“I like being a girl dad a lot, and I like talking to them about stuff that’s a crossover between our worlds,” he added.
