Travis Kelce’s incident with Andy Reid is not a black, white race issue. It’s about ball | Opinion

There are no less than 25,022 examples of inequality and racism every time you open your eyes, so all of us don’t need to find another when it’s not actually there.

Because when you insist that it’s all about race, you might just find it’s more about sports.

About football.

About you.

During the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend lost his stuff and bumped into his head coach.

After a second quarter fumble by Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco, tight end Travis Kelce was caught on the sidelines screaming into coach Andy Reid’s face and he bumped into him. A bump from Travis Kelce is a Ford truck hitting your living room couch.

This looked like a football player who had crossed the line with his head coach, and had zero control of his emotions. Your amped up meat head who forgot where he was, or didn’t care.

These are both eventual Pro Football Hall of Famers, and it was an ugly look. We teach our kids to “keep your hands to yourself,” and failing to meet this kindergarten-level standard is pathetic.

In the immediate seconds, minutes and hours after this bump, a handful of prominent players, and people, took to their devices to express what they think is a double standard.

“If that was me I would have been kicked outta of the league,” Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown posted on X during the Super Bowl.

No. No he would not have.

To which Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill responded on the same platform, “But we know why though right?”

Former NBA player Etan Thomas, who played in the league from 2001 to 2011, asked on X (formerly Twitter), “Seriously though, if Lamar Jackson, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Rashee Rice, etc etc did what Kelce did to Andy Reid they would’ve been called a thug and a menace and embarrassments to the NFL as a whole and there would be panels on the negative influences on our youth etc etc.”

Nope.

Not on this one.

This is just about stupid.

We don’t have to go too far back to see that incidents such as these aren’t about anything other than ball.

In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys were the only team dumb enough to sign defensive end Greg Hardy, despite his record of domestic violence against his then girlfriend.

After serving a four-game suspension to begin the season, Hardy played against the Giants in New York on Oct. 25, 2015. Because this was his second game with the team, you would think he would be on his best behavior.

After the Giants scored a decisive touchdown on a kickoff return, Hardy was in a heated conversation with special teams coach Rich Bisaccia on the sidelines. Hardy slapped Bisaccia’s clipboard out of his hands, and then shoved the Cowboys coach.

It was far uglier than anything Kelce did, which was beyond stupid.

It was the Cowboys’ fourth straight loss in what would be a lost season.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, who never wanted Hardy to begin with, downplayed the incident. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, of course, defended Hardy.

Then, like now, instant over reaction on social media was available. The only reaction to that moment is that Hardy was an idiot; he was a player whom the Cowboys should never have signed.

There was no mention of anything else. There were no panels. No treatise on the society.

After the Super Bowl, Reid downplayed the incident.

“He caught me off balance,” said Reid in the post game press conference; he inferred the contact was worse than it looked. “I wasn’t watching. He was really coming over (and saying), ‘Just put me in, I’ll score. I’ll score.’ So, that’s really what it was. I love that. It’s not the first time. I appreciate him.”

Kelce said in his press conference, “And he’s helped me a lot with that, with channeling that emotion, with channeling that passion.... And I owe my entire career to that guy and being able to control how emotional I get and I just love him, man.”

Kelce’s behavior here is so wrong, but he got away with it because the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, and he’s a great tight end.

No different than Greg Hardy, whose “very particular set of skills” of sacking quarterbacks allowed him to play football at $3 million a year.

Don’t bother asking if all of this makes sense, because it doesn’t. Wrong is wrong, unless you’re really good at entertainment, or can make a lot of money for someone else.

In instances such as “Kelce v. Reid” or “Bisaccia v. Hardy” it’s about nothing other than sports, where certain unruly behaviors are granted exceptions.

Pro sports has as much in common with the real world as reality television does with reality.

The hard truth for all Americans is that the people who see unequal treatment and reaction stemming from the Kelce/Reid bump have likely already experienced so inequality, and are scarred from it, they’re sure it’s there even when it’s not.

If the person wants to see inequality, no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise.

Just as Hardy was wrong for shoving Bisaccia so too was Kelce bumping his head coach.

That’s black and white.