Bold Moves Are the Best Moves

If you know my husband, you know his pet peeve is celebrity stalkers. He thinks it’s disrespectful to gawk and ask for photos. He isn’t as enamored as most of us when he’s near fame.

A well-known country singer has lived on our part of the lake in OK for many years. For the most part, the residents treat him like any other neighbor.  It’s probably why he likes to spend so much time there and will occasionally break into an impromptu performance over drinks after a night of golf. Surprisingly, I did persuade my husband to sit outside his private 60^th birthday party to eavesdrop and watch the fireworks that accompanied it.

The attention drawn by Taylor Swift at Chiefs’ games this season has him particularly annoyed.  We’ve sat in the same seats at Chiefs’ games, passed down from my dad, for over 12 years.  We’ve braved the cold and the parking lot after disheartening losses.  The older we get, the harder it is to tolerate some of the conditions, and Taylor sitting in the suite directly behind our row is one of those.

We have nothing against her.  She’s just trying to enjoy the game like most of us.  It’s the chaos that ensues in our section, and our row, when she attends.  My husband has the aisle seat, so fans are spilling beers and falling into him while trying to get Taylor’s attention with their heart-shaped sign language.  The number of grown men screaming to Mama Kelce is sometimes worse.  

I admit at the Christmas game, it was fun to share our seats with my family to show them just how close we really are to her.  I spent more time swapping seats and convincing her security guard we weren’t causing any problems than watching the game.  It’s hard to stay focused on the field when all eyes are on what is going on behind us.

We sold our seats to the AFC Wild Card game without hesitation. We were warmer, it was cheaper, and we got to see Mahomes’ helmet crack live instead of on ESPN the next day. Most of the fans we’ve grown to like in our section also sold their tickets.  When I saw this pic the next day all over my social media feed, I was a little bummed. I could have been swag surfin’ or high-fivin’ with Taylor. The women who were gifted her scarf were trying to crowd into one seat just a few games ago while we let her be “just another Chiefs’ fan.”  

The truth is, we probably wouldn’t have stayed that long in those temperatures when the Chiefs were clearly dominating. If the Chiefs win on Sunday and the Ravens lose, I just may have another chance, but I will be looking for someone else to go to the game with me – that is if Taylor isn’t already on her way to Japan.