It’s hard to believe, right? That this show, this weekly series, this rom-com, isn’t scripted?! Look at what we’ve seen over the last few months, and how it’s played out over the last few weeks especially. How is it possible that this is an unscripted production?! And I’m not saying this because I’m trying to conspiracy theory that TNT isn’t real – it’s totally real, I believe it! Which is why it’s such a mindf-ck that this is all unfolding without predetermination. That the rest of the story isn’t password protected and behind 800 firewalls or locked in a vault guarded by 24 hour security. This, surely, is one of the reasons why the Romance of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has been such a monocultural event, right? And now… the final episode of the first season of TNT really is going to be at the Super Bowl?! If this was a movie you’d scoff and say AS IF! 

 

So the AFC Conference Championship yesterday and the result is what every gossip was hoping for: Kansas City defeated Baltimore for the right to defend their Super Bowl title in two weeks. Let’s just get a bit of the sports talk out of the way first because not everyone is happy about this, and certainly not the people of Baltimore, particularly with the officiating. I’m not a sports analyst, so I’m not weighing in on that, but the reason I raise this is because in every sport there are conspiracy theories. I hear this all the time since I’m married to someone who is constantly bitching about how, for example, the NHL isn’t calling certain penalties or whatever because they want one team to advance to the playoffs or the finals ahead of another – for ratings, for a bigger spectacle, for business. And in TNT terms, I mean it’s not hard to see why the NFL would be interested in Travis Kelce and KC returning to the Super Bowl. Her name is Taylor Swift. 

 

According to Front Office Sports, the NFL since Taylor has enjoyed its “highest regular-season viewership among women since it began tracking in 2000”. This is MONEY. 

So of course it would be advantageous for the league if Taylor’s boyfriend and his team made it to the Super Bowl. Because otherwise SHE wouldn’t be there. And as I’ve been saying since these two started dating publicly and she started showing up the games and making the NFL her bitch, it would appear that, indeed, she is bigger than the biggest professional sports league in North America. 

 

Now that we’re done talking business, though, we can jump right into the squeals. If TNT is a series and this was the first season, we haven’t had a kiss like this since mid-season, when Travis flew to Argentina to see Taylor perform and she flew across the stage and into his arms after the show. That was the sister kiss to what we saw yesterday – Taylor joining Travis on the field in celebration. 

 

Kathleen has watched this from every angle, LOL. And I have to get to other posts today so I don’t have time to find all of them but here’s a side-view. 

And another:

The reason I’m referring to these as sister kisses is because it’s important in how they’re related. The kiss in Argentina was at her job, on her stage, for her triumph. The kiss yesterday was at his work, on his field, for his victory. These are two winners celebrating their respective successes – she, of course, is the bigger star by far, but she is experiencing the joy of being able to cheer for someone out in the open who wants to be cheered on this publicly, because that’s, clearly, how she prefers it for herself. She wants to love and be loved out in the open. And she’s in love with someone who wants that too. TNT will shout out their love, they will be hand-heart their love, and also… they will wear their love!

 

You’ve seen the friendship bracelet, right? There’s also a ring with his number on it but the main character is the friendship bracelet. Because, um, here at LaineyGossip we are claiming credit! You can see the bracelet on her left wrist. 

It’s custom and they each have one: 

Thank you to those of you, and – ahem – not to brag but there have been many, who’ve been messaging us on social media to let us know that the term that Sarah first started using, and the term we have used from day one to refer to Taylor and Travis, has been adopted by TNT themselves. Not “Traylor”, not “Tayvis”, but TNT. And, sure, fine, whatever, maybe we don’t officially have the right to the credit, but we are taking it anyway, because as far as we can tell, we have been the pop culture site that refers to them as TNT more than anyone else. Thanks to our readers for acknowledging it! 

 

But mostly thanks to TNT themselves for giving us suuuuuuch a great penultimate episode to their first season. This is why those previous losses had to happen, because suspense is essential in storytelling. Otherwise what we saw at the AFC Championship would not have been quite so entertaining. And, by the way, suspense and adversity aren’t a one-time deal. There will be more of it in upcoming seasons. This is the rom-com formula! So ride this out now while you can, all the way to the Super Bowl where of course there will be suspense and uncertainty, although that’s not necessarily the suspense and uncertainty I’m referring to where their relationship is concerned. The fact that KC is in the Super Bowl is already the big win – because getting there as underdogs is already an achievement. And getting BACK there, for Kansas City and Travis is basically the achievement for Taylor, the King Maker. The fact that KC is in the big show means that she can never be referred to as a curse again. There is no room for a curse when he's going to the f-cking Super Bowl. 

Is SHE going to the Super Bowl? We’ll talk about that next.