During the first half of the Super Bowl that featured the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs were not playing very well. To make matters worse, they had just fumbled the ball. So, an irate player for the Chiefs, Travis Kelce (a.k.a. Taylor Swift’s boyfriend) approaches head coach, Andy Reid on the sideline. Kelce grabs Reid by the arm, bumps him to the point that he loses his balance, and from about two inches from his face, he vehemently yells something to his coach.

Since then, everybody in the world has expressed an opinion about this 10-second incident. Every sports talk show and news show has debated this altercation. Dedicated fans and casual observers alike have expressed definite opinions on this. The interesting part is how differently two people can interpret the same 10-second exchange between a player and a coach. It’s amazing to just watch and listen, as have I, to the multitude of opinions. So, let’s dissect this one more time and then you will be asked to offer your opinion.

Pro Argument – Passion & Relationships: This is what passion looks like. Football is a game that should be played with great emotion. Travis Kelce obviously does. When he saw his teammate fumble the ball, his first instinct was to tell his coach that his best player should not be sitting on the bench in that important situation. He was basically saying, “Put me in coach. I can get this done for you.” He got a little overly excited when he did this though. To the naked eye or the casual observer, the optics of this looks bad. However, the coach and the player have a long-term relationship based on respect. It is because of this relationship that allows for just such a “fiery, on-field display of emotions.” In fact, after the game was over, Coach Reid commented on this incident by saying, “He was really coming over to say, ‘put me in coach,’ I love that.” As an outsider, it is easy to judge such a momentary exchange, but the two individuals who were involved thought nothing of it. It’s just this type of passion that led Kansas City to their second Super Bowl victory in the last two years. Don’t criticize it, learn from it.

Con Argument – Crossing the Line & Poor Role Modeling: The bottom line is if this happened in high school, the player would be kicked out of the game and probably suspended for the rest of the season. A player cannot touch a coach. A player cannot even yell at a coach like that. It’s wrong. It crosses the line. And, to do it in such a high-profile game while the world is watching… well, it just gives millions of high school athletes permission to act the same way. I can hear the kids now, saying, “Travis Kelce did the same thing during the Super Bowl and he didn’t get punished, why are you punishing me?” We also seem to be excusing Travis’s behavior because they ultimately won the game. The ends justify the means kinda thing. But, it does not. What Travis did was wrong regardless of the outcome. During an interview, Travis’s brother (also in the NFL), said, “You crossed the line.” Travis responded, “I did. I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping coaches.” Pro athletes in the Super Bowl should be held to the same standard, and we should not give Travis ‘a pass’ on this one. What he did was wrong.

Joe’s Perspective: I tend to think it is a little bit of both. Football (like most sports) requires passion, and I want to see that passion on the field. I want to see a player who desperately wants to compete and win. And, sometimes during the heat of battle, players cross the line or certainly blur that line. And, if the coach does have a healthy relationship with a player, it should just be looked at in the entirety of that relationship. However, players should never touch, bump, grab or push their coaches in anger. Composure and focus are also important components of sports, and in this moment, Travis did fail. He crossed that line, and he did so with the world watching. This does set a poor precedent for young athletes who watched this happen. His behavior normalizes this behavior and it gives other athletes permission to do the same. I would like to hear Travis acknowledge this and apologize in a public setting. c

Your Turn: What are your thoughts on this situation?