Jason Kelce paused for a minute, forcing back a grin at one point, and slowly described growing up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio in the same household as Travis Kelce. The two football players will become the first pair of brothers to ever meet in a Super Bowl when the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs play on Sunday.
That storyline grew tired the day after the Eagles and Chiefs punched their tickets to the NFL’s title game. Both brothers are sick of talking about it. Yet here we are, history in the making with their proud mother, Donna, supplying containers of homemade chocolate chip cookies.
On Tuesday, Jason fielded questions from a hungry mob of reporters who begged him to take a trip down memory lane. They wanted to know which Kelce brother used to win their head-to-head battles as child athletes.
“I won the vast majority of them being the older brother. I was pretty much undefeated until he hit puberty and then it changed very quickly in the opposite direction,” Jason told reporters. “It was hard to compete with him once he got to be as big and fast as I was. That’s when it really became evident the type of athlete and the type of talent that he had.”
Puberty was the catalyst for Travis (6-foot-5, 250 pounds) racking up the dubs during their formative years, according to Jason (6-foot-3, 295 pounds). That being said, the elder Kelce — Jason is 35; Travis is 33 — hinted at being the smarter sibling.
“Once he hit puberty, he shot above me in height,” Jason said. “He went from like a newborn deer that was a little bit uncoordinated with his limbs to a stallion pretty much overnight, so there hasn’t been much of a competition in that regard since. I can still get him in some card games and board games and stuff like that, but he’s got all the physical stuff.”
Travis Kelce Called Jason ‘Tricky Sumbitch’
The Kelce brothers have faced off three times in their NFL careers, with Travis walking away victorious in all three games. Sports Illustrated featured them in a 2020 cover story, a good read which dug back into the far reaches of a “layered relationship” built on a belief in winning football, things like passion, leadership, curiosity, smarts, and love.
Looking at the two brothers turned podcasters, it’s pretty clear that Jason has the more serious side. And Travis only reinforced that reality when he gushed about Jason’s desire to be great.
“He’s gonna find a way to have success,” Travis told Robert O’Connell. “He’s a tricky sumbitch now. Don’t get it twisted. He knows how to play this game. And if it was a different style of game, he’d figure that one out too.”
Jason’s Wife, Kylie, Expecting 3rd Child at Super Bowl
Another storyline making the rounds is the impending pregnancy of Kylie Kelce, Jason’s wife. She will be traveling to the Super Bowl with her OB-GYN as she approaches her 39th week. She could literally pop out the couple’s third child at halftime. Jason knows anything can happen, just don’t tell him anything until the final whistle blows on Super Bowl LVII.
“I would like to think that my wife would not tell me and just find a way to hold off, hopefully, and wait until after the game for the actual delivery,” Jason said. “We’re going to have her OB with her, her parents are coming along with her on the trip, so she won’t be alone. I think if it happens during the game, don’t even put that in my head, don’t even tell me please.”
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Eagles’ Jason Kelce Shares Puberty Story About Chiefs’ Travis Kelce