We don’t usually concern ourselves with the attire of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The man’s, shall we say, colorful sartorial choices are his business (and his fiancée’s).
But we feel compelled to speak up about the “Free 4” T-shirts that Kelce and another player donned recently in support of teammate Rashee Rice, No. 4, who faces a six-game suspension.
We have to ask: Is there a blank space where Kelce’s good judgment should be?
Rice, a former wide receiver for Southern Methodist University, was suspended for a very good reason. Last year, he sped down North Central Expressway in a rented sports car at 119 mph as he raced a friend, causing a six-vehicle collision in Dallas that injured multiple people. At least two children, ages 3 and 4, were in the wrecked vehicles. A mother told our newsroom colleagues that her young son was left crying and shaking.
As if all of this wasn’t awful enough, Rice and his pals fled the scene.
If you live in North Texas, you’ve probably seen footage of the collision. It was a Saturday evening, and Central Expressway is one of the busiest thoroughfares in Dallas. Rice is lucky that he didn’t kill anyone.
Rice eventually apologized through his attorney. Two months ago, a Dallas County court sentenced him to 30 days in jail and five years’ probation. If he successfully completes the deferred adjudication, he won’t have a conviction on his record.
Oh, and accommodations were made to work the jail sentence around his schedule.
A six-game, unpaid suspension is small potatoes compared to what Rice did. And it was a punishment that Rice himself negotiated with the NFL, according to news reports.
Yet Kelce wants the NFL to “free” him from this mild consequence?
We don’t know what was going through Kelce’s mind when he put on that shirt. What we can see is that the Chiefs are off to a rough start this season. Three plays into their opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce collided with Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy, sidelining him with a dislocated shoulder. Worthy didn’t play in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles either, which Kansas City lost. We suppose the Chiefs are aching for backup.
Whatever the case, the T-shirt was a poor choice. Sports stardom has a way of intoxicating some athletes with a sense of entitlement, and the NFL has a sketchy history of holding players accountable. That the league meted out a punishment and that Rice accepted it is a good thing.
Even before his romance with Taylor Swift made him one of the most famous people on earth, Kelce had built a reputation as an affable Everyman — someone you might have a beer with.
Well, a good friend doesn’t make excuses for bad behavior. Some things are more important than football.
— The Dallas Morning News
