Jason Kelce Shows Love for Flyers on New Heights Podcast
By Scott Cole
There are only a scant few sports personalities that can singlehandedly take over a city’s sports and cultural scene. Jason Kelce, the center for the Philadelphia Eagles is one of those guys. His brother, Travis, has dubbed him the “Mayor of Philadelphia” and he is probably not far off. Ever since his epic Super Bowl victory speech, he has become beloved in Philadelphia. He’s even embraced the role of Philly Sports Ambassador by popping up at events for other teams: singing the national anthem for the Sixers, hanging with the Phillie Phanatic, and cheering the Flyers on. But he is not just an ambassador. He really does enjoy the Philly sports scene.
He is a fan of the teams of the area. He cheered the Flyers on during their last playoff run. He was supporting the Phillies during last year’s World Series run. In short, he may be from Cleveland, but we’ve adopted him.
He and Travis run their own podcast called New Heights. They talk mostly about football and silly pop culture things. On the latest one, they talked a lot about hockey. Here are some of the highlights:
Claude Giroux is Feisty and Likes to Arm Wrestle
The podcast starts off with Travis teasing that Jason is only wearing a Flyers jersey because he lives in Philly, but isn’t a fan. Jason quickly pushed back that he was friends of Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell when they were in town. Travis felt that Giroux looked like he “wanted to punch him in the face” and asked if he always looks like that.
Jason shared that Giroux is a scrappy guy who beat former Eagle Connor Barwin in an arm wrestling contest. He challenged Jason to one. Jason didn’t want to because he’s bigger and if he wins, no big deal, but if he lost it’s embarrassing. He did reveal that once he “had a few beers in him”, he bested Giroux. He also reiterated that they are friends.
Jason Got to Hug the Stanley Cup
So, if you fast forward the podcast to the 1:06:00 mark, you can skip some of the other stuff if you don’t have time. After Jason gets “Flyered Up” by donning a cap, he brings on his next guest. The NHL brought the Stanley Cup over to the podcast and Jason got to hug it while teasing Travis that he can’t because he “spiked the Lombardi Trophy“.
Phil Pritchard, the “Keeper of the Cup” shared some fun stories about what has happened with the Cup. For example, he revealed that the bowl of the Cup can hold 17 beers, although “15 or so slosh out when you try to drink it.” Jason was denied drinking from the Cup as only winning players have that right along with people who invite them to do so. So…Philly win that Cup so Jason can drink!
They also teased Travis for breaking the replica Lombardi by talking about people, like former Flyer Nicolas Aube Kubel denting the Cup last year. But other players have dented it too.
Jason Honored the Flyers with a Smooch
Pritchard allowed Jason to kiss the Cup. Appropriately, he searched out the Flyers winning Cup teams and planted a kiss on those spots. Sadly, the Flyers are on the top ring. In a few years, that ring will be retired and placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame. If the Flyers want to remain on the Cup, they better start winning soon.
Travis is Lobbying for the Kansas City Coyotes
In recent news, the Arizona Coyotes are a mess and a bunch of places are trying to actively recruit them to move there. Travis admitted that he would love to see the Coyotes move to Kansas City and tried to promote the city to the NHL. Both Jason and Travis played hockey as kids and have a deep love of the game. They both agreed that KC would be a perfect city for it.