On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs faced reporters’ questions ahead of Super Bowl LIX. Unfortunately, much of the discussion revolved around the perceived bias from officials towards the Chiefs during these playoffs, rather than the game itself. This topic has gained traction in sports media, highlighted by Troy Aikman calling for officiating to be “addressed” in the upcoming offseason and Adam Schefter suggesting that the NFL’s decision to include quarterback slides under their expanded review assist system was influenced by favoritism from officials towards the Chiefs.
On the opening night of Super Bowl Week, reporters naturally brought up officiating during media availability. While some approached the topic respectfully, longtime Boston radio host Rich Shertenlieb took a much different route. In a video posted on his YouTube page, he asked Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce questions related to officiating in a disrespectful manner, starting with Mahomes: “Patrick, for your whole career you have had so many great people help you win. So who is your favorite ref?” Despite the facetious nature of the question, Mahomes tried to respond genuinely, saying, “That’s hilarious… All the refs are great, man. They do the best they can. We go out there play the game the right way.”
Shertenlieb persisted with the narrative, asking if Mahomes gives a specific referee a Christmas card every year. Mahomes replied, “Not that I can remember. I’ll have to ask my teammates to try and figure it out.” In the same video, Shertenlieb also questioned Travis Kelce, asking, “Travis, what do you love more? Taylor Swift or phantom 15-yard Roughing the Passer penalties in the playoffs?” Kelce, however, sidestepped the question, responding, “That’s a good question. Anybody else?”
While discussing officiating is valid, Shertenlieb’s approach—especially linking it to Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift—felt over the top. Known for his co-hosting role on Toucher and Rich at 98.5 The Sports Hub, which ended in drama in 2023, Shertenlieb returned with a morning show on 100.7 WZLX in May 2024, only to be laid off in November during wider iHeartMedia layoffs, leading to some freelance work since.
In response to criticism of his questions, Shertenlieb defended his approach, calling it fair in a reply to an aggregation post from the Dov Kleiman account, stating, “Ha! Imagine asking a football question to a football player about the most talked about football call of the postseason.”
Ha! Imagine asking a football question to a football player about the most talked about football call of the postseason. https://t.co/xxIZdTAayH
— Rich Shertenlieb (@heyrichhey) February 4, 2025
