As the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs get ready to embark on a visit to New Jersey. I have been getting myself ready for the game. as the Chiefs will be facing the New York Jets. Not by trying to determine how the Jets defense will attempt to confront quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Not by being concerned about who will be the starting quarterback for the Jets. But by learning about Friendship Bracelets.
My knowledge deficit was realized when it was reported that Travis Kelce, the star tight end for the Chiefs, and the musician Taylor Swift started keeping company with each other. They exchanged Friendship bracelets. While relationships between pop stars and the NFL stars are not new, and most come and go, with them mostly going, this relationship seems a little different. First, I had to get conversant on the subject at hand, and in doing so. I soon realized that it was okay to not be fluent on the subject matter of Friendship bracelets.
Friendship bracelets are a popular tradition among pre-teen and teenage girls. It is used as a way to signify friendship and connection. The tradition of friendship bracelets dating back hundreds of years and traces its origins back to Central and South America. The local crafts people then would weave colorful bracelets out of fabric or thread to make the friendship bracelet. Friendship bracelets more recently became a fashion trend in the 1970s and 1980s among middle school girls here in America.
Friendship bracelets
The basic concept of the bracelet today is that the girl will hand craft a bracelet and give it to a close friend. The friend then wears it until it falls off naturally. The purpose of the bracelet is to symbolize the strength and longevity of the friendship.
While working his way through another camp this recent preseason, Travis Kelce, the 8-time All Pro, publicly voiced his interest in meeting and perhaps dating Taylor Swift. Swift was on tour this summer in the largest and most successful North American tours in recent memory. She has become a mega-pop star cultural phenomena due in part to the overwhelming success of her tour. Kelce, in the meantime dealt with the banality of repetition of another preseason football camp. It has been said that for many professional football players, it is the mindless repetitions of camp that causes many to consider retiring. The 33-year old Kelce worked his way through another camp successfully by focusing on Swift.
So far, all is good. Wish both Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift joy and happiness in their personnel lives as well as their professional lives. It was rumored as late as Friday afternoon that for every fan coming to MetLife Stadium on Sunday wearing a Chiefs jersey, they would get a Friendship bracelet from Swift herself. Not so good, let us draw the line there.
Gifting
Many fan-bases travel and support their team by cheering for them in their opponent’s stadium. The filling of the stadium is the goal of the business focused owners. Even if some of the fans are from the opposition. But to encourage opponent fans to come by gifting them, in this case a Taylor Swift Friendship bracelet is not appropriate. I understand that the New York Jets, led by Zach Wilson, is not as an attractive watch as Aaron Rodgers leading Gang Green. Figuratively and literally, that’s the breaks of the game.
Rober Wood Johnson IV (“Woody”) has since come out with a statement stating that there will not be any gifting prior to or during Sunday’s game. For Johnson, owner of the Jets since 2000, it is one of the strongest statements he has issued during his tenure with the team. In MetLife Stadium there has never been a handout to influence the fan base attendance. And may it remain that way.
Barry Schustermann
Follow me on Twitter @BarrySchust
Follow me on Facebook @ Barry Schustermann
