Come on, give me a break! You think this whole football star meets the biggest singing sensation in the world thing started last year in a luxury box in Kansas City? Not even close! We’ve seen this movie before, folks, and it is a classic American romance!

Rewind it all the way back to 1963. You’ve got the absolute Queen of the Blues, Dinah Washington. She’s got a voice that can melt iron, she’s a massive star, and she is a total force of nature. Who does she fall for? Dick Night Train Lane! The meanest, toughest, most feared defensive back to ever put on a pair of leather cleats! This guy was an undrafted rookie who revolutionized the game with pure, unadulterated physical presence. On the field? A total assassin. But off the field? He’s crazy about Dinah. He is sitting front row at her concerts, watching her completely command the room. It’s a beautiful, high-energy, mid-century love story.

Now, fast forward the tape to right now! Look at the screen! You’ve got Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. It’s the exact same script, just upgraded for the 21st century! You’ve got the elite, high-octane, superstar tight end, and he is absolutely head-over-heels for a billionaire pop juggernaut who sells out stadiums worldwide. He’s traveling across continents just to watch her perform, standing in the crowd cheering his heart out. It’s romance at the highest possible level, two people at the absolute top of their games who just click.

But wait a minute! Look at the difference in how these guys play the game. Today’s NFL? They protect the offensive stars. You can’t hit a defenseless receiver, you can’t hit high, you can’t even look at the quarterback wrong! Travis Kelce is 6’5″, 250 pounds of pure muscle, but he plays in a beautifully protected, highly regulated ecosystem.

Now, look back at Night Train Lane. This guy was famous for a tackle that was so incredibly powerful, the league literally had to write a rule to ban it. They called it the Night Train Necktie.  He would literally grab a guy right around the throat in the open field and whip him straight into the turf! Boom! Boom! Boom!

So I gotta ask you, even with the power of love on his side,  could Travis Kelce take a vintage, throat-crushing Night Train necktie hit, get back up off the grass, and run the next route? What do you think? Yes! No! Maybe So!