The Super Bowl Lix experience from Taylor Swift will probably not resonate with the women and girlfriends of those who play in New Orleans.
While the Popster of Travis Kelce on Saturday on board her private jet, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles-Arresters, spent a chaotic week by navigating the largest stage in Sport. Ticket requests, promotional events, the demands of family and friends, not to mention the needs of their husband or boyfriend are just a few of the tasks.
The women who are mentioned as 'wags' do not play on Super Bowl Sunday, but that does not make the week not easier for the game for them.
To Super Bowl winner and triple NFC champion Ndamukong Suh, the stress is equal for players and their important others, as he remembers of his three trips to the big game.
“I think it depends on the family dynamics and those different pieces, because people with large families, 90 percent of that stuff leave the boys to their husbands to deal with,” the Sky Sports NFL analyst told DailyMail.com. 'So their wives and significant others run their heads cutting with 50 tickets, 60 tickets, 30 tickets, whatever it is. “I have to pass you. I have to do this. I have to do that. '' '
His wife Katya remembers many more stressors, such as being pregnant with twins during the Super Bowl from the COVID era of 2021 and Toddlers Kingston and Khari a few years later at Super Bowl LVII. And then there is social pressure to be as glamorous as the other supportive spouses – a very real consideration, according to Katya.
Ndamukong Suh and his wife Katya are seen during his time at the Los Angeles Rams
The Suhs are seen with the Lombardi trophy because she was pregnant with the twins of the couple
The Super Bowl Lix experience from Taylor Swift will be atypical for NFL and girlfriends
“You want to ensure that you present your partner in the right light,” she told DailyMail.com. 'I have been pretty confident in myself. So I feel pretty good with it, but I think there are stressors, such as: '' What is the outfit? “You want to make sure you don't wear the same as other women. '
And with the chance, the two Super Bowl teams have similar color schemes, the potential for outfit duplication doubles immediately.
“Who did we play?” She asked Ndamukong before she remembered his Super Bowl LV victory on the Chiefs as a member of Buccaneers: “Kansas City, right?”
His Bucs and the rival leaders both had red as their primary color, which led to a few nervous moments under the love interests of the players prior to the game in February 2021.
Then there is footwear, an area in force for Katya, a former college basketball star who met Ndamuong at the University of Nebraska.
“I didn't compete in the boots and the heeling area,” Katya laughed. “But you don't hit me and the heat I have on my feet.”
Ndamukong then unveiled the source of his family's sneaker game.
“Especially because we are sponsored by Jordan,” he added within hearing distance of his twins, both of which were dressed in brand equipment.
Despite the pressure to look his best, Katya says that the families of players tend to be able to get along well, even when the athletes are not necessarily teammates. Ndamukong played with people like Darius Slay from Philadelphia, Tampa Bay's Vita Vea and soon free agent Jameis Winston, and Katya says she is always enthusiastic to see their respective women Jennifer, Alexus and Breion, regardless of the root interests.
“I mean, you want to be grumpy today, I certainly have no energy for it,” Katya said about the possibility of uncomfortable interactions with rival women. “To be honest, everyone was really great.”
Katya was pregnant with twins when Ndamukong's Bucs Super Bowl LV won in Tampa
Ndamukong Suh is seen during another exhausting media session before Super Bowl Liii
Ndamukong and Katya Suh ar seen with family after the rams won the NFC six years ago
The larger pitfall, she explained, achieved the expectations of family around Ndamukong.
In contrast to his younger, unmarried teammates, Ndamukong was allowed to stay away from the team hotel as a member of the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl Liii in Atlanta and with the Philadelphia Eagles in Arizona two years ago. In each of those cases, Katya was able to rent a remote, quiet house in front of the family, away from the excitement of the Super Bowl.
As for 2021, when his BUCS defeated the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Suh was actually allowed to stay in his own house.
“I don't understand the NFL, especially at home games, why do we stay where we are not comfortable and in our zone?” Asked Ndamukong, referring to the tendency of teams to accommodate players in hotels before both at home and from competitions. 'I get it on the way …
“But I was very happy, because I was a veteran and I was close to my head coaches and security, so they never had to worry about me,” he added. “So I was lucky and had to stay in the house.”
Suh (center) spent most of his time with teammates before his three super bowl appearances, but was allowed to stay with his wife and family instead of being in the hotel
Being in someone's comfort zone is good for players, but also comes with some disadvantages.
“It's a double -edged sword,” said Ndamukong. 'I can control everything in a hotel. Nobody comes to my room, but [at home] These little ones can appear and family can come in and what is not. '
Katya instinctively understood how he could protect the routines of Ndamukong for the Super Bowl while gaining the expectations of friends and family who just wanted to spend time with him.
'She finds a rent or situation where it is super remote with the main bedroom in one wing, so that everyone can still enjoy themselves.
“Then I can just go to the wing and don't have to worry about anything and go to sleep when I want to sleep because I am very anal about my schedule,” said Ndamukong, who admitted Super Bowls – especially his first in February 2019.
The owner of a cocktail bar, Kaya, near the Portland house of the family, the organizational and management skills of Katya are perfect for the situation.
“I know he likes family, food, he likes that the routine can take a nap,” she said. “And I just communicated with the people we come with:” This is when our house is available to everyone to come by … but we want to let him rest. These are the times when he will be here, and let's all hang around and do a nice dinner, do things like that. “”
Perhaps the most stressful players are all media obligations, starting with the opening evening of the Super Bowl.
“Media Day,” Katya remembered, “that was the game to watch that for the first time in Atlanta … I watched it on TV … They are exhausted at the end of it.”
“We are all tired,” Ndamuong agreed.
Ndamukong Suh chases Patrick Mahomes during Super Bowl LV in Tampa in 2021
On the morning of the big game, Katya and Ndamuong would have liked a large family -breakfast with visiting relatives, but that was in a catastrophe for almost a year.
The person hired by Katya to cook the meal apparently had a late night on the Saturday for the Super Bowl, and with less than an hour to go before the departure of Ndamukong, that chef had to arrive.
“I had to call a few times,” Katya recalls the nervous moments before the late arrival of the chef. “They were very apologetic and all that.”
The game and the aftermath are no less nerve -racking.
In Atlanta in 2019, when the Rams of Ndamuk fell for the New England Patriots, he was seductive to Katya, who was in a low level suite.
“It felt like you could just touch him,” she said.
But the euphoria of the moment was affected by the result of the game.
“It was devastating,” Ndamukong said about losing in 2019. “I didn't sleep at all that night. People were like: '' How do we comfort him? '' '
Two years later was a completely different experience. With the 31-9 victory of the Buccaneers on the Chiefs, and Katya eight months pregnant, Ndamuong burst into a crazy dashboard to find his wife for the last gun.
“I ran to her because she moved a little slow,” he said. 'I ran into the elevator and went by the time the game was over, and then we walked to the field and had the confetti. So that was great. '
Katya and Ndamukong Suh are seen to celebrate the Super Bowl LV win of the BUCs in 2021
When he lost two years ago, Van de Chiefs as a member of the Eagles in Arizona, the presence of Sons Kingston and Khari considerably relieved the blow.
“We have images of our children in a super bowl who sees Dad playing,” said Katya about 2023. “That is really cool.”
Of course the Eagles of Ndamukong dropped a heart killer, 38-35, so the joyful image of their children comes with the painful memory of a crushing defeat.
'It was not as traumatic as the first [Super Bowl loss]'Ndamukong reluctantly agreed.
Ndamukong now reflects back on his three Super Bowl experiences and clearly still suffers from his two defeats.
But no matter how painful those memories are, they also serve as a memory of Katya's not -repellent support to help him navigate the week so that he could deposit his focus in the game itself.
“I think it is great about having the woman I have – and it is always uncomfortable to talk about your partner when they sit with you – but she is super, super special and rolls with the punches,” he said.
