In The Wall Street Journal, the editorial board called for an end to the conspiracy theories swirling around America’s most scrutinized couple: “Maybe the Chiefs will win the Super Bowl, or maybe not. Maybe Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce will live happily ever after, in a world-historical setback for the art form of breakup songs, or maybe not. Maybe she will endorse Mr. Biden again, or maybe not. But the C.I.A. isn’t orchestrating it all, and neither are the Illuminati, the Freemasons, Elvis, J.F.K., Bigfoot, Opus Dei, or alien lizard people living among us.”
Examining the sport of football beyond Kelce, Sally Jenkins in The Washington Post called out the failure to respond adequately to the long-term physical damage that many players suffer: “It’s difficult to say just how much embarrassment and exposure it will take to force those rotters in N.F.L. ownership to accept responsibility for the hazards of the game they reap billions from, and stop treating players like disposable napkins at their profit banquet.” (Madelynn Coldiron, Frankfort, Ky.)
On the NPR website, Linda Holmes described a turtleneck worn by a protagonist of the new Prime Video series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” as looking “so soft and luscious you could put a scoop of it on top of a slice of pie.” (Tutt Stapp-McKiernan, Castleton, Va.)
In The Boston Globe, Brian McGrory excoriated Ralph de la Torre, the chief executive of Steward Health Care Systems, for his vanity and insensitivity as he swanned around Boston: “When he moved Steward’s headquarters to Dallas five years ago, he didn’t leave many friends behind — and you can probably lose the ‘m’ from many.” (Michael Costa, Bristol, R.I., and Tom Abbott, Alameda, Calif.)
Also in The Boston Globe, Beth Teitell zoomed in close on the “rich-man casual” affect and attire of the developer Richard Friedman: “His hair was silver. His tan was yacht. His white shirt possessed an inner glow. Let’s not waste time on God’s ideal blue blazer and go right to his jeans, which were so subtly aged and ironed that I half expected to catch Ralph Lauren in the shadows.” (John Halloran, Danielson, Conn., and James Morris, Cambridge, Mass., among others)