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It began with a viral photo. There was Patrick Mahomes, standing victorious in a locker room, his arm raised in triumph, his torso shirtless, his gut exposed and… kind of flabby? Maybe it was the lighting. Or a bad angle. Mahomes blamed that. Still, the evidence seemed undeniable: Here was one of the greatest athletes on planet earth, moments removed from leading the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl, and it sure seemed like he was rocking a Dad Bod.
It didn’t hurt that Mahomes played along on X (“Yoooo why they have to do me like that!?!?!? #DadBodSZN”). Or that his teammates had poked at his physique for years.
“You would think he was a soccer dad or something,” former Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill said on a podcast.
When Mahomes appeared on stage last summer with tight end Travis Kelce at a charity event, both struggled to pull a snug Chiefs jersey over their regular clothes.
“Dad Bod,” Mahomes said, shrugging.
Mahomes isn’t the only one. Superstar athletes in all kinds of physically demanding sports are combining unconventional body types with otherworldly athleticism: Luka Dončić’s pudgy midsection, Josh Allen’s round barrel chest, Nikola Jokić’s lack of muscle definition.
It led to a relevant question: If Patrick Mahomes can be one of the best athletes in the world, in the Super Bowl for a third consecutive year with a body that inspires memes, did that say something about him, or our own fundamental ability to understand what real athleticism looks like?
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