All NFL season, CBS analyst Tony Romo insisted on referencing Taylor Swift as the “wife” of Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, despite no ring or wedding to speak of.
As recently as the AFC Championship game, everyone from Swifties to the average NFL viewer wondered why Romo continued dropping the phrase despite no indication the two would wed. And on Thursday in a virtual press conference in the lead-up to CBS broadcasting Super Bowl LVIII next weekend, Romo acknowledged the quips were nothing more than a joke.
“It’s a joke. I know sometimes people don’t think so … sometimes the humor doesn’t go over as well,” Romo told reporters on the call. “But I think people take to it … people come up to me all the time and they say, ‘what do you know? Do you think they’re going to be (married)?’ And everything.”
So according to Romo, he is merely winking at the viewer by continuing to allude to nuptials between the tight end and the pop star. It’s his way of getting on the energy around Swift that followed the Chiefs all season.
“People love it. And they go crazy for it. And it’s Taylor, she’s just as big a personality as anybody in the world right now,” Romo added. “And I think that’s a great thing that she’s at the football games, and it adds value, and our team does it the right way … it just comes across organically.”
Still, that doesn’t fully explain why Romo insisted on making the same joke all season. At a certain point, it made viewers wonder whether he realized the two had only been dating a few months and were not married.
Romo came across like the goofball uncle who doesn’t always know how to read the room.
“To me, it’s just more fun to joke with people sometimes,” he said Thursday.
Now that he’s been asked about it, maybe Romo will finally drop the shtick in time for the big game on Feb. 11.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.