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Travis Kelce Publicly Shot His Shot With Taylor Swift Two Years Ago Today

The rest, as they say, is history.

Patrick Andres

Taylor Swift (left) and Travis Kelce (right) embrace after the AFC championship.
Taylor Swift (left) and Travis Kelce (right) embrace after the AFC championship. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Even the most casual sports fan can recall a time when Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was merely football-famous.

Yes, he appeared in commercials; yes, he hosted Saturday Night Live. But at the end of the day, he was the NFL world's to cherish, and first and foremost the goofy right-hand man of the Chiefs' budding dynasty.

And then came July 26, 2023. In an episode of his and his brother Jason's New Heights podcast published that day, Kelce publicly bemoaned the fact he wasn't able to give musician Taylor Swift a friendship bracelet decorated with his phone number at one of her concerts.

As New Heights tweeted Saturday afternoon... you likely know the rest of the story.

For the uninitiated, Kelce and Swift began dating roughly around that time. Their relationship allowed Kelce's notoriety to achieve escape velocity; he may now be the most famous American football player in the world. Swift, a billionaire on the heels of one of the most celebrated tours of the rock and roll era, hasn't fared badly either.

To think that it all started with a friendship bracelet.

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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .

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