Count President Donald Trump among those who have weighed in on the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Trump was made aware of the engagement between the pop star and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. His response to the news?

‘Well, I wish them a lot of luck,’ Trump said. ‘I think he’s a great player, a great guy. I think she’s a terrific person. So, I wish them a lot of luck.’

Trump’s praise of Swift is a marked contrast to his mentions of her over the last year. After Swift endorsed Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, Trump posted ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!’ on his Truth Social platform.

In May, Trump doubled down on those comments posting, ‘Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?”

Neither Kelce nor Swift have yet responded to Trump’s most recent comments wishing them well.

Kelce and Swift have been romantically linked since 2023. They began dating shortly after Kelce made romantic overtures to Swift in an episode of his ‘New Heights’ podcast, and Swift has been a staple at Chiefs games ever since.

The two announced their engagement Tuesday in a collaborative Instagram post.

‘Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,’ Swift’s caption for the post read.

The announcement that power couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged was certainly a ‘where were you when …’ moment in popular culture.

The US Open tennis championships has its own love story involving Swift and Kelce, who were in attendance at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center last year for the men’s singles final. (Really, who could forget Travis’ smashing bucket hat?)

For tennis fans, the news broke early in the first-round match between Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic and top-seeded Jannik Sinner of Italy.

However, ESPN announcers Brad Gilbert and Jason Goodall had to show incredible restraint relaying the details in between points.

Goodall was initially confused when all Gilbert could get out initially was, ‘Taylor Swift is engaged …’

Goodall wondered if it was something to do with ‘a new record’ before Gilbert clarified things — as Sinner won a point — and offered a ‘mazel tov’ of his own for the happy couple.

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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce already has three Super Bowl rings, but on Tuesday, he gifted his most important ring yet: Taylor Swift’s engagement ring.

How does Kelce’s most recent Super Bowl ring compare to Swift’s ring?

Swift announced the power couple’s engagement via Instagram on Tuesday afternoon with a series of five photos of her and her new fiancé in a garden. The third picture in the slideshow shows off a close-up look at Swift’s engagement ring.

Long live the Eras Tour with our enchanting book

According to USA TODAY Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West, the ring is ‘by Kindred Lubeck with Artifex Fine Jewelry.’ It features a gold band with a large bezel for the Old Mine Brilliant Cut diamond, according to reports.

Kelce’s most recent Super Bowl ring – for winning Super Bowl 58 last year – features a silver band and a total of 529 diamonds and 38 custom-cut genuine rubies, according to the Chiefs’ official website. The ring’s many gems weigh a total of 14.8 carats.

Jostens manufactured the Chiefs’ most recent Super Bowl ring.

The Chiefs will open the 2025 regular season in São Paulo, Brazil against the Los Angeles Chargers. The game is scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET kickoff on Friday, Sept. 5 and will be available to watch exclusively on YouTube.

This year will be Kelce’s 13th season in the NFL and his third since he and Swift began their relationship in 2023.

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NFL fans and ‘Swifties’ alike are heading into 2025 fantasy football drafts with a burning question on their mind. Should I really spend a pick on Travis Kelce?

Kelce has long been one of the NFL’s best tight ends, but he has posted back-to-back seasons with less than 1,000 receiving yards. He has still averaged 95 catches over the last couple of seasons, but his suppressed yardage and touchdown totals have kept him out of the top-tier tight end group in non-PPR leagues.

Is there reason to believe Kelce can bounce back and be a bit more explosive in 2025? He will turn 36 in October and averaged a career-low 8.5 yards per reception last year, so history suggests it might be difficult.

That said, Kelce made a change to his offseason training program which could invigorate him. Those seeking good vibes will also note that he became engaged to Taylor Swift on eve of the 2025 NFL season. Perhaps that will energize him as he prepares for his 13th – and, potentially, final – campaign.

Here’s the fantasy outlook for Kelce and a breakdown of whether and when to draft him.

Should you draft Travis Kelce in fantasy football?

Kelce seems primed for a potential bounce-back season in 2025. The reason for this? He spent the offseason training to be more explosive.

Kelce returned to working with trainer Tony Villani after taking a two-year hiatus to focus on his acting career. Villani has trained Kelce since his preparations for the 2013 NFL Combine and has worked with numerous NFL athletes.

‘He was neglecting that ability to go from 17 to 20 miles an hour,’ Villani said, before adding. ‘He may have gotten comfortable because he kept getting open. He had 93 and 97 catches, but he didn’t have that threat after the catch. He has the moves, but not the juice.’

Villani and Kelce focused on improving the tight end’s speed and explosiveness during offseason training. Kelce arrived at Villani’s gym able to reach a maximum speed of 18.3 mph without pads; after weeks of training, he increased that figure to 20.6 mph.

Based on those results, Villani expects Kelce will have ‘a little bit more juicing yards after the catch’ during the 2025 season.

That could be all Kelce needs to emerge as a high-end fantasy asset. He averaged just 3.5 yards after the catch (YAC) per reception last season, down from an average of 5.0 the previous season and 5.9 from his All-Pro first team season in 2022.

Kelce ranked as the No. 3 fantasy tight end in 2023 when he averaged 5.0 YAC per reception. If he can get back to those numbers this season, he will have a chance to vastly outperform his average draft position (ADP) as the TE6 – especially since he has remained Patrick Mahomes’ most targeted player the last two seasons.

If you’re looking for a more ‘vibes’ reason to back Kelce, consider this: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and actress Hailee Steinfeld became engaged Nov. 22, 2024. In five regular-season games after the engagement, Allen averaged 31.36 fantasy points per game while throwing for 1,188 yards, rushing for 215 and totaling 17 touchdowns.

Could Kelce’s engagement to Swift have a similar impact? Maybe not, but if Kelce is happy and focused on what could be his last NFL season, he could go out with a bang.

Verdict: If Kelce’s training pays off, he should be more explosive in 2025 than he was last season. That will give him a chance to re-emerge as a top-three fantasy tight end, a role he occupied every season from 2016 to 2023.

Even if he doesn’t reach those same heights, Kelce should be a consistent target machine and one of the more reliable options in PPR leagues. Don’t be afraid to target him in Round 4-5 of fantasy drafts if you’re looking to land a tight end early.

Clark, a Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift fan, might have to get into the prediction business. Swift announced her engagement with Travis Kelce on Instagram, captioning the post with, ‘Your English teach and your gym teacher are getting married.’

It wasn’t always a given for the famous couple. Many people were skeptical that the relationship was genuine, but Clark wasn’t buying it.

In fact, the Indiana Fever star guard predicted this outcome.

‘As a Kansas City Chiefs fan, how long will Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift last?’ Clark was asked in a TikTok video posted to the Big Ten Network page in October 2023.

She wasted no time replying with a prediction that took nearly two years to come true.

‘They’re gonna get married,’ Clark replied. ‘You heard it here first.’

Whether or not Clark was the first one to call this outcome is anyone’s guess, but the WNBA star has been all over this from the beginning.

If Clark ever wants to walk away from playing basketball, it appears she’d have a fine career awaiting her in the fortune telling business.

Single-handedly getting someone inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is beyond the limit of presidential power.

Probably?

Donald Trump’s latest sports side-quest began Aug. 24 with a demand that Roger Clemens be added to the Hall of Fame – after playing golf with the seven-time Cy Young winner.

Undisputedly one of the greatest players in baseball history, Clemens’ legacy was soiled by steroid allegations brought on by his appearance in the 2007 Mitchell Report, and he failed to receive enough votes in 10 appearances on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

Having scored a win on Major League Baseball’s reinstatement of Pete Rose in May, Trump’s again using the bully pulpit in his support for Clemens, but this case doesn’t look to have a path to victory.

The president still seems to believe MLB commissioner Rob Manfred can unilaterally add players to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the museum is a completely separate entity from the league. Trump appears to have found this out to some degree, claiming in the Truth Social post that Manfred had ‘promised’ to put Rose in the Hall of Fame ‘but it was essentially a promise not kept because he only ‘opened it up’.’

Clemens will likely appear on a ballot again later this year, needing 12 of 16 votes from a committee made up of Hall of Famers, executives, media members and historians. He already struck out with such a group in 2022, earning less than four votes on the contemporary baseball era ballot.

Aside from the steroid allegations being a red line for voters, particularly those on the veterans committees, Clemens was divisive among peers and fans alike. Still, nearly two-thirds (65.2%) of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ended up voting for him, so it’s certainly not as if Trump is in the minority thinking Clemens is worthy.

But Clemens isn’t some sort of grassroots candidatee.

Minds were made up about him years ago and even with lobbying from the most powerful man on the planet, the Hall of Fame’s gatekeepers have no interest in Clemens’ case, much less relitigating the steroid era at large. In fact, once Alex Rodriguez falls off the ballot in 2031, the Hall of Fame’s own ‘Steroid Era’ will come to an end.

Roger Clemens thanks Trump

Clemens and his son Kacy posted photos and videos of their day on the golf course with the president, including a scorecard that showed Trump shooting a 77 at his course in Northern Virginia.

Clemens shared Trump’s Truth Social post and added: ‘I appreciate the love! DT knows more than anyone the fake news that’s out there. Everyone has their agendas… I played the game to change my family’s direction generationally and to WIN!’

Roger Clemens Hall of Fame voting results

Clemens spent 10 years on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, nearly doubling his support over the decade but still coming up short of the 75% required vote share to earn a spot in Cooperstown.

2013: 37.6%
2014: 35.4%
2015: 37.5%
2016: 45.2%
2017: 54.1%
2018: 57.3%
2019: 59.5%
2020: 61%
2021: 61.6%
2022: 65.2%
2023 (veterans committee): < 25%

On Thursday, Aug. 21, the SEC made a long-awaited move by adding a ninth conference game to its teams’ football schedules.

Five days later, one of the first ripples from that decision was felt.

The Crimson Tide were scheduled to visit Milan Puskar Stadium on Sept. 5, 2026, while the Mountaineers were set to play at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 4, 2027.

With West Virginia off the schedule, Alabama has added a non-conference game against East Carolina in 2026. Had the series with the Mountaineers not been called off, the Tide would have played two Power Four opponents in the non-conference schedule in both the 2026 and 2027 seasons, with Florida State already on the books for 2026 and Ohio State for 2027.

West Virginia, meanwhile, will instead play Coastal Carolina in 2026 and Southern Miss in 2027, with both those games coming at home.

‘We are proud of the number of high-quality home-and-home non-conference games we have scheduled for the next 10 years,’ Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said in a statement. ‘That being said, we know that college athletics has been evolving and changing rapidly over the last few years, and it made sense for us to make these adjustments on our future schedules.

‘We have a bit more flexibility as we transition to a nine-game format in the Southeastern Conference, and it gives us the opportunity to further evaluate how strength of schedule is evaluated for the College Football Playoff. Between other home-and-homes as well as conference games, we will continue to have a solid strength of schedule, which is good for our team, fans and college football.’

West Virginia has had multiple major-conference opponents as part of its three-game non-conference schedule in every full season since 2018, though this year, it’s playing only longtime rival Pitt. In a release, the university said its preferred non-conference scheduling approach is having one Power conference team, one Group of Six team and one FCS team annually, noting that it’s a structure “conducive to reaching and advancing in the new CFP format.”

‘This scheduling philosophy has proven to be successful across college football. It aligns our football program with its competition in terms of potential postseason opportunities and advancement,’ West Virginia athletic director Wren Baker said in a statement. ‘I am also aware of the importance of a seventh home game in 2027 for our fans and the huge economic impact it brings to our state, city and tourism division,’ Baker added. ‘Visitors coming to West Virginia are not only critical for state tourism, but also to our local economy.’

A Colin Kaepernick documentary, originally planned with Spike Lee and ESPN, was shelved due to creative differences.
Finding a platform to distribute the documentary may be challenging because of the NFL and political sensitivities.
The docuseries on Kaepernick is needed because he’s such an historic figure.

No, that’s not a knock on magnificent filmmaker Spike Lee, who seemed so destined when he struck a deal in 2022 with the exiled NFL quarterback and ESPN. Lee, his creative edge aligned with purpose, was just the one to do justice to the story of the man behind the most consequential protest by any athlete of this generation.

Or so it seemed. Then the project, which was close to completion, was shelved. Apparently, it’s not all on Lee or Kaepernick with ESPN (prominent NFL partner and all) squarely in the crosshairs.

What a shame. When news broke in mid-August, like a year after the fact, that the docuseries was off, ESPN issued a statement citing “certain creative differences.”  Yet Lee, prevented from discussing many details due to a non-disclosure agreement, told Business Insider there are no plans to take the project to air on another platform.

Which brings us to the point: This is a great opportunity for someone to pick up the ball.

Regardless of what factors sealed the documentary’s fate with ESPN – and it’s fair to wonder about the potential for retaliation from the Trump administration, the relationship between the network and the NFL, which recently acquired a 10% stake in the network – Kaepernick’s story still needs to be told in what promises to be a compelling documentary.

After all, 2026 will mark the 10-year anniversary of Kaepernick’s national anthem protests – which brought attention to police brutality against people of color but cost a talented quarterback his NFL career.

First, his NFL career was squashed because he took a courageous stand. Now, the backtracking on the documentary makes me wonder whether there are forces that similarly want to suppress the narrative flowing from his dramatic mark on history.

Kaepernick’s voice, essential to any documentary, still needs to be heard.

Hello, Ryan Coogler and Ezra Edelman. Those are two Academy Award-winning filmmakers who come immediately to mind for a short wish list. They would undoubtedly knock a Kaepernick documentary out of the park. While Coogler blew up years ago with “Black Panther,” before that he produced a fascinating documentary about the 1989 World Series in the Bay Area that was halted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake. And he is executive producer for “Katrina: Race Against Time,” a riveting, five-part National Geographic documentary that began streaming recently as the 20-year anniversary of the devastating hurricane that toppled New Orleans looms. Edelman produced and directed the eight-part docuseries, “O.J.: Made In America,” among other impressive works.

And Edelman knows something about a major project getting scrapped. His docuseries on Prince, which was to air on Netflix, will never be released, blocked by the legendary musician’s estate.

Kaepernick, who in 2020 signed with Disney for rights to a docuseries, hand-picked Lee as his director. But now what? We may never know the extent of their creative conflicts. Reportedly, Kaepernick may have had the sense his story – which is how the docuseries was presented in the original announcements — was overshadowed by Lee’s vision to convey a larger theme about police brutality. Maybe that was the key factor, maybe not. Maybe they resolved the differences to the point of moving forward. Maybe not. Non-disclosure, you know. In any event, the “certain creative differences” also seemingly involved ESPN, which ultimately pulled the plug on the doc.

The climate has certainly changed since 2020, when corporate America (and by extension some media entities) embraced the “racial reckoning” that occurred after George Floyd was killed on a Minneapolis street at the hands of police – ironically tragic that it illustrated the issues that Kaepernick protested over. Back then, the climate was such that telling stories about the Black experience in the media flowed with the “reckoning.”

Not so much now, amid a climate where some (if not many companies) try to avoid attention from the Trump administration, which has launched so many attacks on DEI, media entities, political opponents and then some. I’m guessing ESPN doesn’t want that smoke.

Sure, it is said – now – that the decision on the Kaepernick docuseries came about a year ago, which would have been before the Presidential election. I found it interesting, though, when ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro was asked during a live interview last week on CNBC if the decision to scrap the documentary was the result of not wanting to anger the Trump administration.

“No, absolutely not,” Pitaro began his response.

Then he went straight to what seemed like an obligatory talking point, adding, “We made that decision many months before the NFL announcements.”

Hmmm. The question was about the Trump administration, not the NFL.

Then again, ESPN’s flow with the NFL is so sensitive in this space, too. The NFL is adamant that it didn’t have a role in scrapping the documentary (and, no, the NFL wasn’t jumping on the table demanding that ESPN move forward with the doc). And NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell assured ESPN staff during a Town Hall meeting on Aug. 13, via Zoom, that the league, despite its 10% equity stake, would not get involved with its journalistic independence, which presumably extends to myriad content. Goodell also had similar emphasis in speaking to CBS staff in New York the previous day.

Still, that’s always going to be in the air when it comes to a (potential) Kaepernick documentary. Even if another ultra-credible producer starts from scratch and creates a remarkable docuseries … on which platform will it be distributed?

Remember, Kaepernick’s story can’t be told without Trump and even more so, the NFL, cast as major villains. Kaepernick, unable to land another NFL job – despite his resume and the perpetual need for quarterbacks in the league — sued the NFL for collusion. That the league settled said something about the merits of his case.

Now think of all the media partners doing business with the NFL. In addition to ESPN and ABC, there’s NBC (and Peacock), Fox, CBS, Amazon, Netflix and YouTube. And maybe at some point, AppleTV. Given the politics of big business, I’d be shocked if any of those partners, or potential partners, would embrace a Kaepernick documentary about now.

Sure, there are some non-NFL attached entities out there. Think PBS or Vice. The point is that the challenges for a Kaepernick documentary to get maximum exposure extend beyond the creativity of the content.

Then again, the drama attached to the documentary adds another layer to the saga.

A documentary that somehow, in some way, by somebody, needs to be done.

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell

On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social

CHICAGO — Don’t hold A’ja Wilson’s greatness against her.

There has been some thought, aided by the Las Vegas Aces’ rocky start, that this was going to be the season for someone else to win MVP. That as otherworldly as Wilson is, the wealth should be shared.

That’s not fair, though. To Wilson or the game.

“There’s not a more dominant player,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said Monday night, after Wilson dropped 18 points and nine rebounds in a 79-74 win over the Chicago Sky that extended Las Vegas’ win streak to 11 and clinched a playoff spot.

“If you had to pick one right now — you could pick anybody in the league and you got one game to win, who are you taking? That answers your question. Or if you start with that as the question: Who’s as good as A’ja Wilson? That’s the point.”

Hammon is, of course, biased. Wilson, the league’s MVP in three of the last five seasons, is the driving force for Las Vegas, offensively and defensively. The Aces don’t have those titles in 2022 and 2023, or that trip to the semifinals last year, without Wilson.

But Hammon also has a point.

Wilson leads the league in total points scored and is a close second to Napheesa Collier in scoring average. She also is No. 1 in rebounding, blocks and that all-important player efficiency measure. She’s the only player to rank in the top three in points, rebounds, steals and blocks.

Really, though, Wilson’s game has been next-level since … Well, since South Carolina.

She has been top 10 in scoring, rebounding, blocks and efficiency every year she’s been in the WNBA. And most years, she’s been first or second in each of those categories. Wilson reached 5,500 points and 2,000 rebounds faster than anyone in WNBA history, and is also the only player with three games of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.

“It gets lost a little bit, and I don’t think that’s fair. I mean, the way that she shows up every single night, I think people get used to it,” said Jackie Young, who has played alongside Wilson her entire career.

“She puts up the numbers every single night, and because she’s won three MVPs, I don’t think that it should get lost,” Young added. “She’s still putting up these numbers every single night, and I think she should be rewarded for that.”

This is not a slight against Collier, or the season she’s having. But there is a tendency to hold transcendent players to higher standards, to judge them against themselves rather than their peers. To get so used to someone being exceptional that it becomes the expectation.

There is also a very real “fatigue” factor. Was Charles Barkley really the MVP in 1993? Or were people just tired of seeing Michael Jordan win everything? Same for Karl Malone in 1997. Nikola Jokić has three MVPs, but Hammon thinks he deserved a fourth.

“The way he impacts a game with the passing and the rebounding and the scoring, he just is so dominant in every kind of which way. A’ja has a similar dominant state line,” said Hammon, who spent eight years as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs before being hired to coach the Aces.

“She just impacts every area of the game. First in total points. First in total rebounds. First in total blocks. Blocks, steals. She’s everywhere. She’s everywhere,” Hammon said, drawing out that last word. “That’s dominance.”

With the Aces’ struggles at the beginning of the season — after a 9-11 start there were some doubts about the playoffs — and the dominance of Collier and the Minnesota Lynx, Wilson was, for the first time in several years, largely absent from early MVP debates. Collier, who finished second to Wilson last year, was the favorite.

Might still be, though Collier’s absence for seven games because of a sprained ankle and the Aces’ second-half tear have put Wilson squarely back in the conversation. Wilson is averaging 26.2 points, 12.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.5 steals a game during Las Vegas’ 11-game win streak.

On Tuesday, she was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for a third consecutive week.

“She’s going to be the greatest player to ever play this game when it’s all said and done,” Hammon said. “Don’t miss it.”

And never, ever take her greatness for granted.  

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.