It wasn’t a pretty season nor a pretty game, but the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed in yesterday’s Super Bowl, a 25 – 22 win in overtime. The San Francisco Forty-Niners had leads and two chances to stop the Chiefs and win: once at the end of regulation when the Chiefs drove down for a tying field goal with three seconds left and once in overtime when the Chiefs drove down for the winning touchdown.

I saved this slot in the Ewellogy to write something profound about the game, but it’s just a game so let’s treat it like one.

Here we are, under a crescent moon in Las Vegas, a tumultuous Kansas City season climaxing in a storybook comeback ending. – Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2024

Crescent moon…where have I seen that before? I remember, in the Friday File of the daily 70-word blog by the economist Elliot Eisenberg:

The Friday File: Since the start of CY2019, the KC Chiefs have played 20 games when the moon is a waxing crescent, a growing toenail sliver. And of those 20 games they have won 19. By contrast the 49ers are 15-15 in the last 30 waxing crescent games they have played. Lunar analysis says the Chiefs will win. The economist in me is overwhelmed at the correlation. As for causality… – Elliot Eisenberg, February 9, 2024

There you have it. Of course, you also have the #1 pop singer in the world, Taylor Swift, in a storybook romance with Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce.

And Taylor Swift fans knew that the Chiefs were going to win because of her connection to the number 13. I get it. I was born on December 13th, myself, same as Taylor Swift. But here’s the significance for her:

I was born on the 13th. I turned 13 on Friday the 13th. My first album went gold in 13 weeks. My first No. 1 song had a 13-second intro. Every time I’ve won an award I’ve been seated in either the 13th seat, the 13th row, the 13th section or row M, which is the 13th letter. Basically, whenever a 13 comes up in my life, it’s a good thing. – Taylor Swift, MTV, May 7, 2009

So for this year’s football season:

• The Super Bowl was the 13th Chiefs game she’d attended.
• It’s Super Bowl LVIII or 58, and 5 + 8 = 13
• The Chiefs played the 49ers, and 4 + 9 = 13
• The game was played on 2/11, and 2 + 11 = 13
• To make the game, she had to fly in from Tokyo, a trip that takes, you guessed it, 13 hours

Between the moon, Taylor Swift, and the number 13, the 49ers didn’t have a chance.

We’ll be back to more serious subjects tomorrow.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. (1 Corinthians 9.24, MSG)