“Burrowhead my ass!” — Travis Kelce for the win in smack talk with Cincinnati’s mayor | Opinion

Remember that time that Travis Kelce owned the mayor of Cincinnati?

You should, it was last night.

Sunday’s AFC championship game was one for the ages.

Tied at 20-20 with seconds left, it was settled when Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who’d been hobbling on a high ankle sprain throughout the game, took off running, sort of, and was hit out of bounds by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai. The resulting 15-yard penalty set up a Harrison Butker field goal that won the game in the final seconds.

And that was the third-most entertaining thing that happened during the football broadcast.

Enter Travis Kelce.

In the post-game show, as Mahomes was doing the standard and cliche “I just want to thank God” interview on the sidelines, Kelce jumped the shot, laughing like a madman and shouting: “AAGGGHHHH! OOOOHHHHH! BURROWHEAD MY ASS! WWWHHHOOOOOOO! IT’S MAHOMES’ HOUSE!!!”

With that one proclamation, Kelce cemented his post-football future.

There’s always room for photogenic superstar tight ends saying and doing goofy things on TV, a space now occupied almost entirely by Rob Gronkowski, of New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fame. (Will USAA ever let him buy an insurance policy?)

But Kelce didn’t stop there. A few minutes later, during the trophy presentation, he shouted “Hey, I got some wise words for that Cincinnati mayor: KNOW YOUR ROLE AND SHUT YO’ MOUTH, YOU JABRONI.”

The meaning of “jabroni” was pretty evident from context, but here’s the dictionary definition: noun INFORMAL•US — a foolish or contemptible person. (Sample sentence) “Get it together, you jabronis.”

The term has bounced around for years, possibly centuries, and its origin is unknown.

It got added to dictionaries two years ago from the world of “professional” wrestling, thanks largely to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s use of it. Its sports origin appears to date back to an Iranian wrestler known as “The Iron Sheik,” who from the 1970s to the early 2000s made a career out of facilitating American wrestling fans booing the Iranian flag and national anthem.

After Sunday’s game, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval pretty much had it coming.

Whenever there’s a big game coming up, mayors from the competing cities always want to get a piece of it, so they can be seen rooting for the old home team in front of the voters.

Usually, that manifests as a silly bet involving some element of local cuisine.

The last time KC was in a Super Bowl, in 2021, the bet was Arthur Bryant’s barbecue versus Tampa cigars and craft beer. Here’s hoping KCMO’s mayor, Quinton Lucas, shared the beer and cigars around the office.

And after last year’s Super Bowl, Pureval had to wear a Ram’s jersey to a public event after the Bengals lost to the Rams.

But this time around, Pureval got a little bit out over his snowshoes. In a mayoral proclamation, he talked some serious smack.

He pointed out that Mahomes was 0-3 against Cincy quarterback Joe Burrow. He referred to Arrowhead Stadium as “Burrowhead Stadium” and said Kansas City “is named after its neighboring state, which is you know, just kind of weird.”

But that really wasn’t the weird part.

Pureval’s proclamation also suggested that the quarterbacks should take a paternity test to confirm whether or not Burrow is Mahomes’ father, which would be unlikely as Mahomes is a year older. That was kind of over the top.

So thank you Travis Kelce, for saying what needed to be said.

And on a personal note, thanks for catching that pass in the end zone for the first recorded touchdown in the game, after the Chiefs had two scores called back by the refs on a dropped ball and a holding penalty. I had five bucks on you to make the first touchdown, at seven to one odds.

Good luck in the Super Bowl, big fella.