Sports & Entertainment Beat

This past week a Sports & Entertainment Spotlight unto itself shone bright at Arrowhead Stadium as Taylor Swift cheered on her rumored love connection Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.  In the wake of that game (Kelce scored a touchdown and his team won, by the way) the media has been abuzz about the budding romance, and Kelce has seen his social media following, podcast listeners and jersey sales go through the roof. Is that the Taylor Swift effect? Probably.  But, in fairness to Kelce (a future hall of famer and two-time Super Bowl champion tight end), for that same game, he did shed his goatee in favor of a firefighter-chic mustache—so maybe there is some correlation there...?  We already knew from Swift’s global tour that tickets were hard and expensive to get – but that was when she was performing.  Now with the price of Chiefs tickets ballooning (including for this week’s tilt against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, at which Swift is rumored to be in attendance), you still have to break the bank when she is a spectator. All of this is coming together at the perfect time. The Writers’ Guild of America and Hollywood studios agreed on terms to end the months-long strike. Surely, some writers will be inspired to retell the story on the big screen, while others will be able to write jokes for late night television. Worst comes to worst, Swift will have a memorable breakup song to perform in the future under her stadium spotlight (on the stage—not in a suite).  

• • The Dallas Cowboys’ home stadium pilots an artificial intelligence-powered version of owner Jerry Jones to answer various questions. AI Jerry has been strategically placed near restrooms for convenience of those who inevitably soil themselves in fear.
    
    
  • Goddess of Pop, Cher is alleged to have hired men to kidnap her son amidst a divorce fight between her son and daughter-in-law. A shocking but not surprising revelation for a singer of the song, “I Got You Babe.”
    
    
  • Iowa Pork Producers Association shows their humor chops cutting a squeal deal with Iowa State Cyclones football players Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon  (Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon), and in so doing, temporarily assuaged my beef with humanity. 
    
    
  • League One Volleyball (LOVB) launches with $35 million in Series B funding to be the first season-long professional women’s volleyball league, setting themselves up for a bump and spike in interest in the sport.