On Monday, the Kansas City Chiefs fielded questions from reporters ahead of Super Bowl LIX. But unfortunately, much of the conversation surrounding the big game had nothing to do with the X’s and O’s on the field, resulting in numerous Chiefs’ players being asked about the perceived bias officials have had for the Chiefs throughout these playoffs.
Whether it be Troy Aikman calling for officiating to “addressed” this coming offseason while on the call of the Chiefs-Texans Divisional Round game or Adam Schefter insinuating that the NFL’s decision to include quarterback slides under their expanded review assist system was made because of the perceived favoritism from officials towards the Chiefs, the topic has become a mainstream story discussed by many in sports media.
Naturally, the topic was brought up by reporters on the opening night of Super Bowl Week designated for media availability by both teams. And while some opted to bring up the officiating in a respectful way, longtime Boston radio host Rich Shertenlieb took a much different approach…
In a video Shertenlieb posted to his YouTube page, he brought up the officiating to both Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. But he did so in a rather disrespectful way.
“Patrick, for your whole career you have had so many great people help you win. So who is your favorite ref?” Shertenlieb asked Mahomes.
To Mahomes’ credit, he tried to genuinely answer the question even though he clearly noticed that the question was facetious.
“That’s hilarious,” replied Mahomes. “All the refs are great, man. All the refs are great. They do the best they can. We go out there play the game the right way.”
Shertenlieb continued on with the narrative that Mahomes has some kind of relationship with the officials, asking him in another facetious follow up question about whether there is a referee in particular that he “gives a Christmas card to every year”.
“Is there one you give a Christmas card to possibly?” asked Shertenlieb.
“Not that I can remember,” replied Mahomes. “I’ll have to ask my teammates to try and figure it out.”
In the same video, Shertenlieb spoke with Travis Kelce and similarly asked him questions insinuating that the Chiefs are getting assistance from the officials. However, Kelce handled the troll questions in a much different way than his teammate.
“Travis, what do you love more? Taylor Swift or phantom 15-yard Roughing the Passer penalties in the playoffs?” asked Shertenlieb.
“That’s a good question. Anybody else?” replied Kelce, ignoring Shertenlieb almost entirely.
It’s one thing to ask a question about the officiating considering the fact that millions of fans have been calling the legitimacy of the Chiefs postseason run into question. But Shertenlieb’s approach in doing so, especially when it comes to bringing up Kelce’s significant other in Taylor Swift, is certainly a bit over the top.
Shertenlieb was long-known for his co-hosting of Toucher and Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub, but that ended amidst drama in 2023. He returned with a morning show on 100.7 WZLX in May 2024, but was laid off in November amidst wider iHeartMedia layoffs. He’s been doing some freelance work since then.
In response to some criticisms of his line of questioning, Shertenlieb seems to believe his approach was fair. That was shown in his reply to an aggregation post from the Dov Kleiman account that described his questions as “awful”.
“Ha! Imagine asking a football question to a football player about the most talked about football call of the postseason,” wrote Sherenlieb in defense of his questions.
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
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.