If you didn’t catch that Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was inserting Taylor Swift lyrics into his press conferences during an entire NBA season, can you really call yourself a Swiftie?
ESPN’s Wright Thompson released a profile on the prolific Warriors coach on Thursday. The piece is centered around Kerr, who had reportedly been considering retiring from coaching and joining the media ranks, and why he eventually decided to return to Golden State for his 13th season at the helm.
Amongst many anecdotes about the four-time NBA championship-winning coach’s decision-making is one about how, three seasons ago, he worked Taylor Swift lyrics into his post-game press conferences.
According to Thompson, the 60-year-old Kerr did it “to entertain himself”, working phrases from “All Too Well” into his interview answers. He did it so well that, as far as anyone was aware, no one picked up on it.
“For instance, to get the first line of the song, he took the podium after beating the Rockets in March of 2023 and said, ‘I walked through the door of the locker room at halftime.’ Over a long season, he got most of the lyrics done, crossing them off as he went. His son Matthew later edited them into a video for their family group chat, so that Kerr appeared to have recited the whole song,” wrote Thompson.
According to Kerr, Swift herself became aware of the video and even asked if she could post it on social media. However, he asked her people to keep it private.
Something tells us the video might finally see the light of day now that it’s public knowledge.
“He is both the most accessible coach in the league and the most unknowable,” Thompson wrote of Kerr. “Joe Lacob, the Warriors’ owner, said he knows Kerr’s tendencies after 12 years but not his interior monologue. Steve’s public reputation (and his own self-image) comes with an expectation that he comment regularly . . . on his team, his players and the league . . . on politics, gun violence prevention, immigration policy, the Middle East and President Donald Trump. But he also lives below the surface, only occasionally letting stories that matter to him slip.”
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.