Life as a professional athlete playing for a franchise is full of uncertainties. You might be loved for a season and hated for a game. Players are bought, sold, traded off, and everything in between, regardless of whether they want it or if they have true love for the fans. A year ago, Luka Doncic could have sworn he was ‘Mavs for life!’
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Only a fair few players ever get the opportunity to spend their entire careers or at least a significant portion in one team. Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce is one of those rare stars who had this privilege. He started his career with the Eagles in 2011 and hoisted their colors till his retirement in 2023.
The 2018 Super Bowl winner was on the Roommate Show recently with Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson and was more than happy to talk about the life and experiences as a Philadelphia faithful, as a player, as a fan and as someone who still resides in the city.
Kelce revealed that he was raised in Cleveland, which despite the rivalries between the city helped him prepare for Philly since there were many virtues that both the people shared.
“Cleveland’s heavy. It’s not dissimilar from Philadelphia, just on a much smaller scale. Born off the back of blue collar workers that were either steel mills, transplants, you are making car parts, or tires or whatever it is. It’s a lot of hard working people. A lot of the athletes that we cherish in Cleveland were hard workers, came and gave extra effort,” Kelce said.
Kelce added that Philly wasn’t much different in that regard when he showed up to play for the Eagles. “A lot of Philadelphia fans love in their athletes are the guys that I loved growing up,” he added, noting that he considered himself to play for fans who had similar cultural values as him.
Reiterating just how lucky he was to have only played for one team, Kelce revealed, “In Cleveland, I watched all my favorite athletes leave. Jim Thome ended up coming and playing for the Phillies. I know, you guys loved that. I hated it. He was my favorite baseball player of all time and all of a sudden, he’s a Philadelphia Philly.”
And then Kelce revealed his biggest heartbreak. “LeBron left us. And I love LeBron. I am not taking that. I still love you. But that hurt, right? In Cleveland, you watched all of the guys leave!” the Eagles legend explained, only for Jalen Brunson to remind him that LeBron left Cleveland twice!
Responding to the cheeky remark, Kelce noted, “He did leave twice but the first one was the one that hurt the most. After he won the championship, it was like, ‘alright, go do whatever you want now,'” Kelce joked, adding that it was okay, since LeBron also appeared on his podcast, ‘New Heights’.
That, and the fact that he won Cleveland their first championship in forever had let Kelce forgive him for a lot of the heartbreak that was caused.
