In the world of sports, 2023 was the year Swifties embraced football, Kim Kardashian put athletes in Skims and Ali Krieger channeled her inner Beyoncé.
While Patrick Mahomes earned the NFL MVP award, Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers won the World Series and the Denver Nuggets took home the NBA Championship trophy, Us Weekly has slightly different criteria for what makes an Athlete of the Year.
In a shocking turn of events, Travis Kelce is not actually on our list, but the Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and his relationship with Taylor Swift) inspired more than one pick. Kelce and Swift started dating this summer after he attended one of her Eras Tour shows. They went public in September when she attended a game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and Us has been watching football ever since.
Angel Reese: Best Refusal to Settle
After the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team won the NCAA championship in April, they scored the traditional invitation to the White House — but so did the losing team, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. LSU forward Reese, however, wasn’t having it, because when do the losers ever get to meet the president? “A JOKE,” she tweeted after First Lady Jill Biden publicly extended her invite to both teams.
Reese ultimately visited the White House with her LSU teammates, but the Hawkeyes did not, and Biden’s press secretary clarified that the first lady only meant to “applaud the historic game” between the two teams. Now in her senior season, Reese was recently named The Sporting News’ Athlete of the Year alongside her Iowa rival Caitlin Clark.
