Hi, I’m Jason Kelce, and my last meal would be chocolate chip pancakes and King Kong French Toast from The Nook, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Skyline Chili Dip, and a Dalessandro’s cheesesteak, and Mama Kelce’s dinner rolls, ribs from Smokey Joe’s, a trio of chicken wings, and Swiacki Meats’ Kabonosa with cheese, fancy beans with hotdogs, and panang curry with naan, then pralines and cream ice cream, Stocks’ pound cake, and blueberries and blackberries. Every person has at least two things in common. We all gotta eat, and we all gotta die. Today, we are joined by six-time pro bowler and Super Bowl champion for the Philadelphia Eagles, Go Birds, baby! Yeah. As well as the co-host of the podcast, “New Heights,” with his brother, Travis, Jason Kelce, welcome to the freaking show, man. Man, I’m so excited to be here, big fans of the Mythical Kitchen, and happy to be here with you, Josh. That’s incredible, and I’m a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan. I’m a huge fan of you, as well. I remember when you were drafted, I remember people saying that you were too small. I remember the 2017 Super Bowl speech where you talked about how everybody wrote off the Eagles that year, and your career has meant a lot to me. Yeah, I appreciate that. 2017 was a special year, and I think everything that happened, saying the speech on the art museum steps, a lot of that was almost felt like I was possessed. It really did. You looked possessed, Yeah. Especially in the Mummers costume, man. For sure, and to be the team of underdogs from a city that I think largely represents underdogs, maybe more than any other city that I’ve ever been around, for sure, it was just too perfect not to say. 100%, and I’d like to personally recognize my contribution to this, because I don’t know if you know this, this is a bit of Eagles Super Bowl history, this hat is actually the reason y’all won that game. Okay. Let me explain real quick. I’d love to hear. The lucky Eagles hat was facing forward the whole game, right? Tom Brady gets the ball back, potential game winning drive, I flip it backwards, ’cause I’m sitting there, Jason, I’m like, what can I do Yeah? To help the team win? Sure. Flip it backwards. Yeah. Brandon Graham gets the strip sack. Listen, I’m, I know you’re joking around right now, but that energy all goes someplace, man, and you know what, it’s energy from you and the millions of other people that were watching and doing something like that at the stadium for us on game day. We feed off all that stuff, and yeah, thank you for turning that hat around. That means so much to me. Can I, like, can we just do this real quick, man? Also when that strip sack happened and I got up, and I just like, “Fuck yeah,” and I beat my chest so hard that I subluxated my shoulder. Oh no. And I had to go to the Urgent Care, so… On the day of the Super Bowl? On the day of the Super Bowl, like literally when the ball came out of his hands that I’m on the ground, I’m trying to look up To see who recovered the ball. Yeah, so I, you know, That’s unbelievable. We’re kind of the same person, you and I- Yeah, you got more hurt during the Super Bowl than I did. God, that’s embarrassing, you ready to eat? Let’s do it. All right, Jason, first up, we got chocolate chip pancakes absolutely drowned in butter and maple syrup, Gosh. We have the King Kong French toast from The Nook in Encino. This is a stuffed French toast with banana and peanut butter, whipped cream, bananas, more peanut butter on top, and then a classic PG&J on white bread with raspberry jelly, smooth peanut butter. Yeah, so when I first started thinking about what my last meal would be, I couldn’t go out without having a peanut butter jelly sandwich. It’s the classicness- Yeah, I mean, it’s the thing I’ve had the most, I just love peanut butter and jelly. Nothing you can do to top this right here. Should we start with this then? Let’s do it. Cheers, man. Only feels right, cheers. It’s one of the greatest sensations in the world. Yeah, I mean, it’s just such a perfect blend of everything. Mm. I love it. Tell me about the French toast. Keep eating the PB&J, man. No, I’m good. King Kong French toast. I not really spent a lot of time in LA, Mm. And my brother was filming a reality TV show, which if you haven’t checked this out, do yourself a favor and never watch it. One of our employees worked on the show, by the way. No way, so sorry Yeah, David Hill. For that one. Where’s David Hill? Where, so sorry. So yeah, my brother filmed a reality show, “Catching Kelce,” Mm hmm. And I was out here for a month helping and filming with that, and I was living up in Encino, Mm hmm. And this little place called The Nook, I would go to almost every morning, and they had this French toast, and I loved it. It’s probably still my favorite French toast I’ve ever had. It looks incredible, man, I can’t wait to try it. It’s great. Yeah, David Hill shot on “Catching Kelce,” and I found that out one day, we were just passing a restaurant, he goes, Yeah? “Travis Kelce went on a blind date in there.” I’m like, “Were you just stalking him?” “Or does he like…” Speaking of Travis, you host a podcast with Travis. Mm hmm. It’s called “New Heights.” You got it right there on the shirt. I do, pretty shameless plug right here on my shirt. Hey, man, we’re on here to plug, that’s the name of the game. Who are we kidding? Yeah. But no, I’ve been listening all year. It’s really incredible. Yes. You just started this year. Tell me what it’s meant to you to be able to talk to Travis that much, ’cause you said that this Yeah. Is the most you’ve ever talked to him during an entire season. Yeah, I mean, you know, in the course of a season, it’s so hard to keep in touch with family members in general. Trav and I have talked more this past year than we’ve talked in 13 years. It’s been awesome to kind of rekindle that friendship and that brotherhood. You know, we all grew up together, obviously, then we went to the same college. Mm. In college, we roomed together in the same, like, not in the same building, Mm. We had two queen beds that we fit inside of one room. No way. It was not a pristine room. It was, there was a hole in the wall from the bathroom to the hallway. It was- What was the hole for? Long story short, my brother got- Jason, what were you doing with the hole? My brother got into some trouble in college, and that was why he moved in with me. Mm hmm. Okay, so he tested positive on a drug test for street drugs, marijuana, which is crazy now. Drugs, yeah, yeah, yeah. They don’t even, yeah, But so he had him move in with me to keep an eye on him and all that stuff, and in the same time period, he had the audacity to kind of go back the other way again. I was so mad- Travis fell under some bad influences. I was so mad, I punched the wall, and when I punched the wall, Holy smokes. My arm went through one piece of drywall, through the insulation, and then through the other side of the wall. It’s like an anime cartoon. So there was just a big hole from the living room to the bathroom for like, I dunno, the rest of the quarter. Yeah, do you think that that one… Eat some pancakes, eat some pancakes? Yeah, and then the chocolate chip pancakes, that’s my wife and I’s go-to, no matter where we’re at, unless it’s like a spot that is known for something else. Mm hmm. We always usually get like our own little breakfast, and then we split some chocolate chip pancakes. Pancakes for the table are, that’s like, how me and my fiance bonded. Yeah. Because whenever we go to brunch, it’s like, well, you each need a savory. Yeah. And then you get a sweet, french toast, pancakes, waffle, crepe, whatever it is, Yeah. That’s for the table, that’s like the bounty you share. Ah, exactly, yup. Mm hmm, do you think that you feeling a little bit accountable for Travis in that speech is maybe what got him to start acting right? Not that he was gonna act wrong, but do you think that level of accountability, do you think he cares for you as much as you care for him, in that sense? I mean, yes, I do think he cares for me as much as I care for him. Travis has always been a great person, Mm. And he just needed to be, go through growing up, right? There’s nothing wrong with that, and I don’t think that it’s anything more than that, like his heart has always been in the right spot. Mm. He just likes to have fun, he’s a more fly off the cuff, you know, in the moment kind of guy, and as he has gotten older, he is gotten more mature, and little stupid things haven’t happened as much. That’s pretty much it. Last question, who powerbombed Travis harder? You, when you put him through the floor of your childhood home, or Derwin James? Mm hmm. Man, I gotta give it to Derwin. Derwin got him good. Oh, he got him so good. Yeah, I mean, for Travis’ sake, Derwin got him on grass. Yeah. So at least that’s a little bit softer, I got him on the linoleum floor in the kitchen, and we hit so hard that the oven popped up off of its, whatever that’s called, the rack. Well, I’m glad you and Travis made up after the powerbomb. For sure, yeah. All right, Jason, course number two. We got the Dalessandro’s cheesesteak with American cheese, onions, and mayonnaise. We actually had this frozen, shout out to Hitchen’s brother, Pat Hitchens for putting all of this on dry ice from Philly. Yeah! And sending it out at the last minute, a Christmas Day miracle. It literally showed up this morning, so we’ve reheated it the best we can, then we got the Cincinnati Skyline Chili dip over here, cream cheese, Skyline Chili, cheese on top, and then Mama Kelce’s dinner rolls, which maybe you could tell me a little bit more about Mama Kelce’s dinner rolls? So every Thanksgiving, there was always kind of like a different meat medley and sides. Mm hmm? The one constant that my mom always has to make is the Mama Kelce dinner rolls. I love it, man. She made ’em one year, we loved them so much, and my wife still gets upset, because my mom will come over, and this is like the only thing I want. She’ll make this beautiful green bean casserole, which is delicious, Kylie, I love that, but I mean, that’s like, the thing right there. Kylie hit me with the green bean casserole recipe, though. I love green bean casserole. Dig in, man, I want to jump into these. All right, yup. So these had a, it was a marshmallow Yeah. That’s rolled in cinnamon sugar and butter, and then baked in so it hollows out the roll with marshmallow steam. Yeah, man. Innovation. Is that, that’s the food science behind it. Mm. Where else would you rather be? You guys nailed it, man, that’s it right there. That’s the stuff? Yeah. You played ball in Cincinnati, Mm hmm. Skyline Chili is the Eagles fans of regional chili. Yeah. You know, everyone hates it, except the people who love it, and then they’re brothers for life. Yeah, the first time I ever had Skyline Chili, it was absolutely disgusting, but then you eat it enough times at three in the morning, Mm hmm. And it tastes delicious eventually. And that’s a metaphor for life. Yeah. You know? First of all, it’s more like a meat sauce than a chili. Mm hmm. And on top of that, it almost is like a mole sauce kind of feel to it. Yeah, like the sweet spices, like the cinnamon, the Yeah. chocolate going in there. Mm hmm. It’s a very different kind of dish. Hot damn, I’m diving in. You’re the second guest to have Skyline Chili on their last meal, by the way, so you gotta hang out with “Cobra Kai” star and star of “School Spirits,” Peyton List. Okay, I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you and her would have an awesome time. Peyton, come hang out with Jason, and just eat Skyline Chili. Yeah, we’ll eat some Skyline Chili, or Cincinnati chili, yeah. Cincinnati chili. Yeah. Skyline’s a brand, it’s a competing brand with Gold Star. It is. It is, but it’s definitely the most popular. This is America, baby. Good job, again, good job, again. Gosh. The body craves it. Mm hmm. It doesn’t matter what your mind thinks, Dude. The body craves it. When I haven’t had it in this long, oh my gosh. Every time we go back to Cincinnati, I have to have Skyline Chili. We gotta, okay, cheesesteak. We gotta talk about the Philadelphia cheesesteak. Tell me why Dalessandro’s over all the other steaks in the city? Man, it’s the one that my wife likes the most. There’s a lot of similarities here, but- Jason Kelce, big wife guy. I am big wife guy. Yeah, my initial favorite was probably Tony Luke’s, which I think might have just changed their name, down in South Philly. That was the one that I had had the most, Mm. And also, Jim’s on South Street. Yeah. Jim’s is great, and then when we moved out to the suburbs, we’re now in Delaware County. Mm. And I feel like if you’re Delaware County, you’re like, all about Delessandro’s. I recently, like, I’d always had it American cheese and it’s still the way I prefer it. Mm. I tried one with Whiz on it recently- Wait, was that the first time you tried it, was recently, no way. Yes. Like I mean, I lived there 12 years now, Mm. And had never tried it with Whiz. I’m like, Whiz is disgusting, like, who’s putting Cheese Whiz on a sandwich? I feel like you can’t eat though the Cincinnati chili dip You’re right. And then call Whiz disgusting, you know? But I was resistant to this, and then I tried it, and I liked it. Fair. The Whiz is not bad. It’s not bad. It’s really not bad, mm hmm. I’ve actually, I’ve only had Delessandro’s once. Also, Ricky Bankoff said that you don’t know what you’re talking about. Yeah. Angelo’s is the best, sorry to the Bankoffs. Angelo’s? Angelo’s. So Angelo’s, I mean, I feel bad. So first of all, Angelo’s is unbelievable. Mm hmm. Like it is so good. I just don’t think they’re like a cheesesteak place. Yeah, pizza shop. Yeah, I mean, but their A pizza shop that sells sandwiches. Sandwiches are better. Oh, interesting. Well, I shouldn’t say that. Their pizza’s phenomenal, Mm hmm. But they have, some of their sandwiches are unbelievable. Damn, well, cheers then. Cheers. Did you cut that or just rip? I ripped it, but I ripped it really clean. Yeah, I was about to say, it looked like you- I’m very strong and precise with my movements. That was very good. If the Eagles need a new weakside backer, man, I’m just saying. I’m just saying, give me a tryout, Mark Wahlberg did it. Gosh. In that documentary, Mark Wahlberg made the team, you know? He did, that was also when most of the guys had second jobs, and it was a much different time. I’ll keep this job, it’s fine, man, I don’t need to- Yeah, but I actually, I’ve met Vince Papale, I know Vince very well, Yeah. And he was a stud, and I don’t think you’re Vince. I can’t play. I don’t have, my bum knees, if I didn’t blow out my knee in high school, I would maybe, no. Yeah, yeah. All right, recently, you suffered heartbreak on the world’s biggest stage. Oh gosh, we gotta talk about… I know, we gotta talk about this. I know. We gotta talk about this. You made it to the finals, you grinded all year, and in the end, you just didn’t have what it takes. How did it feel to lose the Digiday Video Awards? I know, I thought, listen, the South China Post, they were out there, man, That was a good setup, man, that was a good setup. Hulu. Thank you, I tried, I tried. Yeah, the Super Bowl was a rough one. It was, I mean, it was an awesome experience to play my brother, and my mom to be up there with me. Mm hmm. But my brother told me before the season started that year, ironically, we’re doing a charity event down at the Shore, it’s the Jersey Shore, for those of you watching. That’s what they called it in Philadelphia for some reason, and my brother is talking in front of a bunch of people, and says, “You know, losing a Super Bowl “makes you wanna win one that much more,” ’cause it’s just such an Mm. Agonizing, I’m like, he’s just saying something that people want to hear. Yeah. Like this guy is trying to be star of the show, whatever, and after we lost, I was like, oh, he’s right, like that is a, it’s a terrible feeling. It’s to go that far with that team, and to not have that, like, that stamp of like, world champions, Hmm. It sucks, and we had a really, really good team, and we were returning a lot of guys, but no matter how many guys come back, it’s not the same team, Yeah. You know? I guess Pat Mahomes and Travis get to share that one. I mean, they were pretty good too, they were pretty good. They’re not bad, I mean, there’s a reason they’ve… I mean, they, if you want to… I mean, it’s crazy. The Chiefs have been to six consecutive AFC championship games. Unreal. Three of the last four Super Bowls. What they’ve done over this first part of this, Mm hmm. The last decade has been pretty remarkable. I will say, this Eagles team is far and away the most fun that I’ve ever had watching sports in my entire life, and also to have you and- Really? 100%, especially- More than 2017? More than 2017 for a very specific reason, like when you had, we’re just gonna, let me nerd out about football really quickly. Let’s do it. Especially because, you know, you had Sirianni coming in, and like your speech in 2017, Mm hmm. Everybody doubted Sirianni. He had the whole Yeah. Growing flowers metaphor. Well, I know I had a whole speech in my head ready to go if we won, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there was a lot of similarities. Mm, and then for y’all to like really find your identity in the end of the 2021 season, you know, started off kind of rocky, and then it was just like, Mm hmm. The most Philadelphia Eagles move to say, we’re gonna be a fuck you, I’m gonna hit you in the mouth football team, Yeah. And we are gonna run it down your throats, and to watch Jalen, Yeah. Who I’ve always loved and been a huge fan of, you know, since the days at at ‘Bama. Yeah. It was just so fun, and I’ve just never seen an Eagle team play like that, Yeah. And then to watch it all come to fruition in 2022, it was incredible, man. It was like destiny, it was written. Yeah, I mean, it was probably the most dominant football team I’ve ever been on, I mean, even when we were winning Mm hmm. In 2017 with Carson, and we won like nine straight, you know, it was, we were winning games pretty handily most of the year, and Jalen was a huge reason for that. The coaches did a great job, had a great defense, it was a really, really, like just across the board loaded roster. We stayed healthy, Mm hmm. Almost, so close. It was a hell of a game. I offended a lot of people at an Elk’s Lodge in San Diego, because when Jalen completed bond to AJ Brown in the end zone, Yeah. I, right when he released the ball, I just got up outta my chair, and I went, “You gotta believe!” And then when he caught the ball, I yelled, “God is an Eagles fan!” And I high-fived somebody in a Chief’s hat, so you almost got me kicked out of the Elks permanently. I’m not an actual Elk, I was there as a guest, even worse, but tell me how much it meant to have your mom, national celebrity, and now, Bud Light Ambassador Donna Kelce on the field? Because I mean, that was a massively viral story, even people who don’t follow sports. Hey, Mom. I love you. Good job. Our mother has been such a important part, first of all, of us being here. Mm. But of raising us, and making us into the people we are. It doesn’t get talked about a lot for like a Super Bowl or big events, and two brothers playing each other gave kind of a platform for my mom, in some ways, to represent everybody else’s mom, who their sons are Mm hmm. Playing on that stage, and for her to have to put up with everything she put up with, with us growing up. Mm hmm. And for her to be such a important figure for us, it was awesome to see her celebrating that way, and it’s pretty remarkable. She did, I mean, she did more media appearances and got more sponsorships in one week than I’ve had in 13 years, so it was a- Donna, you deserve it. Don’t let him Every, every penny, Sound disappointed. She deserves it. She obviously did an incredible job raising you and Travis. I mean, not only, you might be the best center of all time. I’m just, let me go. Travis might be the best tight end of all time, two incredible kids, also incredibly funny, very successful, after football, y’all are gonna be. I don’t know why I talked like Yoda there. Very successful after You will be. Football, y’all will be. You have three daughters of your own right now, Mm hmm? What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from your mom and dad? I think the most important thing, certainly a mom and dad, but the best thing anybody can do is believe in like, somebody else. Everybody at different parts of our life is gonna have doubt or self-doubt, or don’t know if you can do it, and we were very blessed and fortunate to have two parents that really believed in us no matter what it was. Mm hmm. Even if we were gonna be terrible at it, they didn’t show it, right? And for me, between them, between coaches I’ve had, I think that’s the biggest thing I want to infuse in my kids, is that I believe in them. I believe that they can be successful in whatever they want to do, and yeah, they can achieve their dreams, so I think I really do want to instill that in my own children. I’ve gained a whole new respect having kids and how hard raising children is. Yeah. And I think it’s also incredibly gratifying, so I get why everybody does it. Mm hmm, I also have to give you the platform here to clear the air. You weren’t just sleeping while your latest child was being born, right? You were doing more than that, weren’t you? I was doing a lot of sleeping. There’s not much you can do. Fair. You know, I’m… I’ve never been there, I can’t say. You know? You know, you try and, you know, get water when your wife’s running out of things. Is there anything I can do, can I go grab things? And outside of that, you’re sitting around, a lot of sitting around waiting for the fireworks to get going, and the biggest mistake all dads make, not all dads, a lot of dads make, is when your wife starts going into labor, a lot of times, you’ve been sitting around all day, Mm hmm. You haven’t eaten anything all day, and this is why I think a lot of guys pass out. Seriously. Their blood sugar levels are low, man. So the moment, that’s why I’m eating bagels, and that’s why I’m trying to get all this food down. That’s smart. You’re right. ‘Cause I wanna be there. Mm hmm. So yeah, that was the third rodeo, the first rodeo, I didn’t bring a fan, didn’t bring anything. They don’t care about, they don’t care about the dads at the maternity ward or hospitals, likely, as they shouldn’t. Yeah, yeah, we’re not doing the men’s rights, you know, that’s- I’m not campaigning for… Yeah. More support for dads, that’s who needs it. Yeah, but they, you really, for me, I can overheat very easily. Yeah. So had to bring the fan, I wanted to bring an air mattress in. I love that you’re treating your wife’s birth as if it’s like a sporting event. Yeah. Like, well, you gotta keep your blood sugar at this level, you gotta make sure you have Yeah, dude, you gotta be prepared, yeah. Gloves on just in case the baby’s slippery. Listen, I’m not gonna be passing out Yeah. And not be holding my wife’s hand, It’s smart. And at least encouraging her while she’s pushing, which is not many, my wife is very good at being pregnant. She’s very good at it. Proud of you. You know your wife is good at giving birth when the doctor’s like, “She’s good at that, “that was impressive.” Send her to the combine, Dude. That’s a win. Hey, that’s right. If there’s a combine for giving birth, Kylie, you’re invited. Jason, course number three, we have taken all of the meats and quarantined them together. We got a full rack of ribs from Smokey Joe’s in Kansas City, we have a trio of chicken wings, I heard you like sweet and spicy wings, so we got the mango habanero, we have a dry rub with some Cajun seasoning, and then a classic Buffalo with homemade blue cheese dressing over here. Oh. And then we have something I was previously unfamiliar with, and not to brag, I know a lot about sausage. No. I’ve never heard of Kabonosy? Well, we call it Kabonosa. I would trust you on that, Kabonosa. But I will preface it with this. I got Kabonosa from my father-in-law, Mm hmm. And he is notorious for pronouncing things incorrectly, so, it might be very well be Kabonosy. Either way. I’m gonna say Kabonosa. Yeah. You say Kabonosa, I say, Kabonosa. Yeah, it’s basically a fresher Slim Jim, yeah. Yeah. So… Mm, there’s three kinds of Kabonosa, by the way. Yeah. We got the original, we got hot and cheesy, and then normal hot. So my favorite is the hot and cheesy. Mm, that’s fair. This is the greatest thing I’ve ever tasted. It’s good. I can’t believe I’ve been living my whole life without kabonosa until now, and I’m so mad, but I’m gonna make up for lost time, damn it. Yeah. All right, tell me about the ribs. We were not able to get ribs from Mike’s in Philadelphia, but shoutout Mike, he was very nice about it. He was out of town, and couldn’t smoke ’em. Well, yep, either way, this is… Joe’s is a good second, right? They’re Kansas City based, and it’s in a gas station, which I feel like- Some of the best foods are. Yeah, that’s a good sign to me. Yeah. When you have a food coming out of a gas station that everybody’s going to see, it’s gonna be a good spot. Dig in, man. It’s all right. I didn’t mean to pick my first choice, I should’ve given…. You’re the guest, I should’ve… If you want this rib, I don’t think you can go wrong. Okay. It’s a pretty freaking good rib, man. Yeah. Nailed it. That’s a man bite right there. I tried, I ate the bone. I ate the bone. So did I. Mm hmm, that’s okay. Are you swallowing it? How are you dealing with it? No, I’m gonna end that one right there. Jason, you would’ve said- I really do, I do think eating cartilage is good. I’m a fan. I was about to launch into a big heartfelt question. Yeah. What was that? Jason, you once said that you are in the business of hope. Mm hmm. I’m curious if you were explaining to a non-sports fan what the larger like, social importance of sports is, Oh my gosh. What would you say to them? Check this out. This is where the meat sweats hit, and then you have to start talking about philosophical concepts. That’s how we do it. Yeah, I mean, we talked, we were talking about CrossFit before we came in here, right? Sorry to reintroduce Sorry, sorry. A conversation that happened off camera. I’m gonna get so much crap for that, by the way. Oh really? Like of course he was talking to him about CrossFit. Nah, sorry. No, no, no, that’s great. But you know, being a part of something in a group, I think is a big reason why CrossFit is successful. It’s the same thing with sports, right? And, you know, a NFL team is really, the only reason it exists is because of the fans and everybody that are a part of that group and support it. It ends up representing an entire city, and I don’t think it’s any surprise that a lot of the times when sports teams are doing really well in cities, that it feels like the city is really alive. Yeah. That it feels like everybody’s in a good mood, and I think that that rubs off in other areas. I think, I grew up in Cleveland, were not good sports growing up, I mean, Yeah, yeah. The Indians were good. The Indians were very good, Mm hmm. But the Browns left, and they came, and I’ve always like, looked at Pittsburgh and Cleveland, which I think started largely in like, the same spot, but I think Pittsburgh’s sports teams like dominated, and I wonder if that helped like, rejuvenate the city, and lead to like growth, Interesting. And like, now, they’re like a booming, like technological space. One of the beautiful things about football is at the start of every season, everybody’s gonna win a Super Bowl. Everybody’s got hope, Mm hmm. Everybody is excited, you’re excited to go. Like, people don’t go to games necessarily to watch football. Mm hmm. They go to socialize, and hang out with their friends. Yeah. And the football is what’s happening out in the background, Mm hmm. And everybody’s hoping that the game is gonna go well, and I think it, when it does go well, it makes people more optimistic, it makes people happier Yeah. And I think that that rubs off in a lot of other ways. Something that, especially myself, like growing up, Mm hmm? It’s very strange, to me at least, for a grown man to tell another grown man that he looks up to you, but you’re somebody that like, I’ve looked up to for a long time, and I know there’s millions of other people out there like me who looked to y’all as role models in the NFL, right? Sure. And I’m curious how you’ve seen the definition of like, strength change recently? Especially because your teammate, Lane Johnson, who you’ve been playing with Yes. For over a decade, I mean, that meant so, so, so much to me when he stepped away from football for a time Sure. To deal with anxiety and depression. Yeah, and it, to be honest, it was a scary time, ’cause he kinda stepped away, and nobody really knew what was happening, Yeah. You know? This is something that largely was not talked about in the professional sports realm, Mm hmm. Or really, really, in society in general. Yeah. Even just five years ago. There’s other players that I’ve had on my team that have struggled with similar things. Guys throughout football’s existence have struggled with this, I mean, Brian Dawkins came out in his Hall of Fame speech and talked about how he struggled with it, Yeah. And that was like, that was like the biggest, baddest guy Truly. Ever. Like, he would go out there on game day and was literally another person, he was Weapon X. He was Weapon X. Yeah, man. Crawling around. Yeah. He would hit people and say he was trying to make them believe in God again, I mean, yeah. But I think it’s good for people to hear that, especially in the day in social media where everybody posts a very doctored up picture Mm hmm. Of what they look like, and all these positive things that inside, everybody struggles with a lot of the similar things going on, and when in Lane’s instance, I don’t want to speak for him, Mm. But you know, we just all wanted to be there for him. We all wanted… Yeah. I just want, you know, I just want you to be happy, man. I want you to be fulfilled. You got a family, you got kids, you’re… Football is like the least important thing, so I think everybody was very supportive, and you know, having played with him for that long, and he had already earned so much respect in the building that when a guy of that stature does it, it helps. Mm hmm. I think people that probably maybe aren’t necessarily the most open minded about that, or don’t have the same experiences or frame of references be like, “Oh man, this is like, “I never thought in a million years a guy “like that would struggle with it,” but really proud of him, Yeah. And proud that he’s been so open about it. 100%. Jason, we haven’t even gotten into the wings yet. Yeah. We got mango habanero wings, the dry rubbed with Cajun seasoning, Tony Chachere’s all day, and then classic Buffalo. Yeah. What’s your go-to? Go-to is Buffalo, ’cause I feel like that’s Mm. Like the most staple across the board. No matter where you go in, Yeah, yeah. You get a Buffalo wing, you know pretty much what it’s gonna taste like. It’s gonna be good. Mm hmm. I like to dress it up though. I do like, mango habanero, I like a little bit of heat and a little bit of sweetness Mm. If it’s done right, and dry rub, there’s something really nice about a dry rub if they’re cooked perfectly. You know, wings don’t need a whole lot to be good. 100%. If it’s a fried chicken wing, It’s a foolproof food. Like, you drop it, you forget it, you take a nap, you come back, they’re done. That’s right. But please, man, dig in. All righty. I’m going right for mango habanero. Same, I’m starting. That’s a tasty treat. That’s delicious. That’s a tasty treat. Well done. All right, Jason for your next course, sorry, I got the burps from the meats. Yep, been there. Got the meat burps. That tracks, for the next course- Who doesn’t get those every once in a while? It’s a necessary part of the show. We got the panang curry with beef. This is from a spot in LA called Sticky Rice, ’cause they make it way better than we do. Okay. Along with the naan bread, and then we got Oh good. Your beanie weenies. This is franks and beans, hotdogs and beans, except we made it as good as we could and fancy. I was about to say, this looks way different than the beans and weenies I had growing up, but I cannot wait to try it. Yeah, we cooked down canellini beans with like Iberico ham, blackstrap molasses, some imported tomatoes, added some Wagyu beef hotdogs in there, a little bit of gold flake, which is, they all know is utterly useless, gold flake is dumb. It’s not even expensive, but we thought it’d look kind of cool, as beanie weenies do. It does look very cool, it’s Thank you. Immediately fancy when you put gold leaf on something. Please, man, dig in. All righty. I’m going right for this. Yeah, I gotta jump in. That’s good. That’s really good. That’s really good. That is really good. Oh my gosh. Is it better than the stuff out of a can? I mean, yes, it’s infinitely better. I won’t be offended if you say it’s not. Well, there’s like a certain level of like nostalgia out of the can, Mm hmm. But this is a much better overall dish, without question. You’ve mentioned the Andrew Luck article that came out Yeah. Around December, and Andrew Luck, for people who don’t know, famously retired at age 29. Yep. And one of the biggest things he talked about in that article was that he didn’t know who Andrew Luck outside of football was. Yeah. I’m curious as somebody who been playing football damn near your whole life, 13 seasons in the NFL, Yeah. 12 seasons, and you just decided to come back for your 13th. Man… What was that decision like? Like, what more do you have to prove? Well, yeah, I mean, I don’t know that I have anything to prove, and Andrew, if you’re out there, I would certainly love to talk to you, like, I find that whole story fascinating. Mm. I’ve thought about retiring for five years now. Oh, I was gonna say, I remember since like 2018, 2019, yeah. Yeah. Playing in the NFL is really hard. Mm. Go figure, right? Yeah. But it’s not just the physical part of it, Mm hmm. And what you have to do on game day, it is a mental grind, especially the quarterback position. In order to do that well, it takes time, it takes commitment, it takes attention in meetings, it takes communicating pointedly, like all of these things ultimately become a grind over the course of a season. Yeah. And mentally, you can get burned out at times. You have to ask yourself whether you want to do that or not, or whether you still feel comfortable and able to do that, and ultimately, I still feel like I am and I still want to. I think Andrew was at a point where he obviously felt like he was done. I think a lot of the things that were going on for him that caused him to step away have been going on for me, I just haven’t made that decision yet. Yeah. Yeah. Like what, what are the specific things that you think were going on for him? Can’t do too much. Also, dig into the Thai curry, now, man. Yeah. Come on. Let’s do that. Oh my gosh. This is really freaking good, right? That’s amazing. Shout out to Sticky Rice. This is so much better than we could have made, my god. Good job, Sticky Rice. Goddamn. Yeah, the first time I ever had curry was over in Thailand. For some reason, growing up, I never had curry. Mm hmm. And I just remember having it, and being like, what in the hell is this? And why have I not had it before in my life? If you didn’t grow up with flavors like that, which is also just say like, capital F Flavor, Yeah. Right, like, Yeah, man. It’s, man, it’s a hell of an experience. Yeah, so, very, very good. All right, I wanna get back to the Andrew Luck thing. Alrighty. What, in what ways do you feel connected to that? Like, don’t have to share anything overly personal, but… Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that I’ve taken from him is that he was tired of the person he was becoming as a result of football. Mm, yeah. And you know, we talked about this before. In order to be great at something, you gotta put your all into it, and you have to really dedicate yourself, and you only have so much time and energy throughout the day to like, assign towards something, right? Yeah. I gotta be there for meetings, I gotta be there for the game plan, I gotta be there for my teammates, I gotta communicate, I need to be ready myself to play on game day. All that requires a lot of attention, and focus, and energy, and when you go home from that, you end up, in a lot of ways, being a shell of like who you really are, because you’re so Mm hmm. Worn out, right? So like, unfortunately, my kids, who are young, and my wife, in season especially, they don’t get to see like, the happy dad that’s always got energy to play, and loves doing that, Yeah, yeah. And I think, I gotta think that Andrew, when he made statements like that, Mm hmm. Were probably some of the things that he was thinking about, like, you know, I don’t get to apply this to other areas of like, self-fulfillment, improvement, or to improving the lives of my family around me. Yeah. All right, Jason, for our final course, we got the Stocks vanilla pound cake, we got the pralines and cream ice cream, Yeah. And then we got a bowl of blueberries and blackberries. There you go, yeah, so Stocks is a local bakery in Philly. My wife and her side of the family, again, a lot of… My wife has introduced me to a lot of great food, but they always get these for people around the holidays, Mm hmm. And that was one of the first things that we had during Christmas was the Stocks pound cake, and it is so good. My favorite way to eat it is you take a slice, cut it off, well, first of all, take the icing off the slice, put it in the toaster, toast it up till it’s nice and brown like this, and then put the icing right back on, it’s good. I can’t wait to try it. I haven’t had a proper pound cake in a minute. Legend has it that when they started implementing all the rules for trans fats, it would’ve had to alter the recipe so much that they got grandfathered in to keep the trans fats in there, so enjoy. That is the most incredible… That’s the most incredible story that I heard, especially about like eastern PA food since I went to the Yuengling Brewery, which, yeah, right? Nice, okay. Went to Mecca itself, Mm hmm. And they were like, “You know, during prohibition, “we got a special dispensation to brew beer “for pregnant women.” I swear to god, they were like, Because there’s so much iron in beer, that literally, they could get a doctor’s note, Yeah. So the only people they can sell to are pregnant women. I’m like, if that’s not the most like Eastern PA story… Couldn’t shut us down, ’cause the pregnant women needed beer. I’m like, hell, yes. There you go, baby. That’s a delight. Yeah, that’s a perfect toast on that, too, good job. Mm hmm. Nicole, you crushed on the toast. Nicole, really good job. Perfect level, where we going next? I need ice cream, man. I got the drys, I need the wets. The ice cream definitely And then we- Pairs well. And then we got a salad. Yeah, I- All right, man. Listen, very weird to just have blueberries and blackberries. I don’t know, man, I love it. Dude, I don’t know what it is. I love blueberries and blackberries. I will sit there with the biggest container you can get at the grocery store, Mm hmm. And just eat an entire batch of ’em. I eat a pound of blueberries everyday. Yep. Apparently, bears really like berries? Really? Yeah, apparently, and I feel like I just like have this self-image that I’m just this very large fat man with a beard, and a lot of people in a certain community might call me a bear. Oh, you’re definitely a bear. Yeah, so- You go out to Silver Lake, that’s bear country, man. You got hair, you got hair, yeah. So whenever I’m eating berries, I kind of think to myself like, I am totally a bear right now. Mm hmm. What’s a power bottom or something? Anyways… We both learned what power bottoming is from the show that you guest starred on, because you actually played Fat Mac. Mm hmm, yes. Mm hmm. That was one of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen. That was one of the highlights of what playing a professional sport can give you is randomly did a episode of “Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” probably the greatest sitcom. Is that even a fair way to describe that show? I don’t know, man. Yeah, man. Hey, “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” is the ultimate proof to me that cancel culture doesn’t exist. It’s real. Jennifer Aniston’s like, That’s fair. “You couldn’t make ‘Friends’ today,” and then it’s like, Yeah. “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’s’ still on the air. What happens when you die? What happens when you die? Sorry, we normally ask guests earlier, but I forgot to do it, and so now, we’re just That’s fair. At dessert. Yeah, I mean, what do I really think happens? What do you really think happens when you die? I’m curious, ’cause everybody thinks about it, and everybody has a different answer. I think you go into a hole, Mm hmm? Or a furnace, Yeah, yeah. And you cease to exist anymore, as morbid as that is. Yeah, I’ve pondered like afterlife a lot, Mm hmm. And there’s a lot, I mean, football is a very religious community. Yeah. Extremely, right? Like I’ve come to the realization that like, whether religion is real or not, or whether there is an afterlife, like these things exist, and have existed for like a long time. Yeah. And I think there’s a reason for that, really. I think that at at at one end, they’re all real, as you probably read the books and follow everything. Yeah. Or on another level, they just teach great lessons, and are wonderful ways to go about living fulfilled and healthy lifestyle, right? Sure. To me, afterlife is what you leave behind you. I live on forever Mm hmm. In my wife, my kids, now through you, if you live past me, all the people that I interact with, I don’t know if I will, man. All the people I interact with, I feel like that’s my legacy, and how I live on forever, and everything you do while you’re here does make an impact. Yeah. Because it makes an impact with your everyday interactions, with the people you touch, with the people you love, and yeah, that’s the way I think about it. Goddamn, I’m all fired up. Now, I’m all fired up to do some good, man, I mean, running through a brick wall to impact people now. Let’s go, baby. You’re ready for the lightning round? Let’s go, baby. All right. If the NFL allowed one hockey style fight per game, which player would you fight? Travis. Oh god. Easy. I would love to get another round of my brother. Other than me, who’s the one person dead or alive you’d wanna share your actual last meal with. My wife. Like, well, now, I’m second guessing this. Yeah, it’s deceptively tough, ‘Cause that would be really emotional, yeah. It’s deceptively tough. Yeah. I would still want to do it with my wife, because I- Jason Kelce wants to do it with his wife. Well… Do I get to do that while I’m having my last meal? That would… Yeah, well, what you do, it’s in a porta potty though. It’s in like a Coachella porta potty. What you do in there is up to you and God. What song do you want them to play while you’re doing your wife during your last meal? It originally said funeral, but now that the wife thing came up… Yeah. Let’s see, how awkward can we make this? I gotta go “The Cape,” by Guy Clark. It’s a very obscure reference, but it’s not gonna improve the mood of me and my wife’s shenanigans, but it’s, yeah. Sometimes you gotta throw a genuine song in there, you know? Yeah, I might be crying. Just to keep her on her toes. While things are happening, but… I always do, man, you know? Hey! Hey! What’s your biggest regret in life? You know, I don’t mean to say this, like I don’t really have regrets. There’s all sorts of things I would change, Mm hmm. But I don’t think of them like I regret that. Who are the Eagles beating in next year’s Super Bowl? Whoever plays us. Goddamn right, brother, goddamn right, bro. Jason, thanks again so much, man. If you wanna deliver your Thank you. Last words into that camera right there. I love you, Ky. I thought it was gonna be like a Go, Birds, or something that’s funny. Sorry. All right, well, check out all new episodes of “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,” presented by Wave Sports and Entertainment every Wednesday on YouTube, wherever you listen to your podcasts. Also, you can see Jason and Travis live at their special for their podcast, “New Heights Live,” that’s happening 4-26 at Kansas City Music Hall. That’s exciting, man. Yeah. Exciting and incredibly terrifying. Yeah, uh huh, no. We’ve never done anything live, so the beauty of knowing that things can be edited is a very nice comfort. Mm hmm, yeah, you’re just, Yeah. People say to imagine the crowd in their underwear, you gotta imagine yourself fully naked. If not, just be fully naked. I’ll do it fully naked. You’d do it fully naked? Yeah, why not? Yeah, yeah, go, no, it’s a common technique. Yep. 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