February 01, 2023
The "New Heights" podcast of destiny has arrived, with Jason and Travis Kelce set to compete in Super Bowl LVII — informally dubbed the "Kelce Bowl" — between the Eagles and Chiefs.
The Kelce brothers' podcast has catapulted to the top 5 on the U.S. podcast chart since it debuted in September. They've offered a powerful mix of humor, sharp football insight, star guests and an intriguing look into the family dynamics between two of the NFL's most decorated players.
It's awfully fortuitous that the Kelce brothers wound up facing off in the Super Bowl, becoming the first pair of siblings to do so in NFL history.
"It's not rigged, though — right?" Jason joked in the early going of the new episode. "Listen, if it's being rigged, it's not done by us. So I don't know who wants this to happen, out of all the other podcasts that are out there, but if somebody is rigging it, thank you very much. It's working out in our favor, heavily."
That's right, you can get your very own Kelce Bowl T-Shirt for $36.
The much-anticipated Kelce Bowl episode follows the podcast's usual format, with in-depth discussion of the brothers' conference championship games last Sunday, from DeVonta Smith's sneaky catch against the 49ers to Travis Kelce's terrible lateral against the Bengals.
The Kelces' impressions about meeting in the Super Bowl are saved for the end of the podcast (around the 1:36 mark) when Jason, the Eagles' center, and Travis, the Chiefs' tight end, dig into the "surreal" feelings involved.
"I feel like I've been getting asked this question my entire career," Travis said. "Ever since I've been in the league, (it's been), 'What's the chances, you know, like what do you feel if you play your brother in the Super Bowl?' And the entire time, I mean, that's been the goal — to play my brother in the Super Bowl. Now that it's actually happening, it's like, man, this is kind of sick."
"It's got to be something like a lottery pick, the probability," Jason added after a fumbling attempt to calculate the odds of this happening. "Should we have been playing the lottery? Were we playing the lottery whole time? Did we just win the Mega 8?"
That brothers agreed they're not huge fans of the "Kelce Bowl" moniker and would prefer the game be discussed as an Eagles-Chiefs matchup, first and foremost.
"We're going to get asked about this question nonstop from here until the end of the game, and I'm already over it," Jason said.
Travis pointed out that Donna Kelce, the brothers' allegiance-splitting mom, said her sons have been imagining this moment since they were children — except that they thought they'd be playing together for the Cleveland Browns. They grew up in Cleveland Heights and later played together at the University of Cincinnati.
Who would've thought? 😍@GoBearcatsFB | @tkelce | @jasonkelce pic.twitter.com/xhJfmmjJpc
— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
"It's definitely different," Jason said. "One of us is going to be a loser. The other is going to be a winner."
Jason expressed some concern about Travis lighting the Eagles up on the field.
"Tell Brandon Graham, 'don't talk s*** to me and fire me up,'" Travis said.
"He's going to," Jason said. "He's Brandon Graham."
Jason also joked that the true test of whether the game is scripted will be if his wife, who is 38 weeks pregnant with their second child, gives birth at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
With an extra week to prepare for the Super Bowl on Feb. 12, there will be another "New Heights" episode next week. The brothers hinted at the possibility that their parents might join the podcast. Prepare for the intensity and drama to crank up as the countdown to Super Bowl LVII continues.
