Brother Act

Everybody loved "Everybody Loves Raymond" back in the day. I still love the reruns.

And "Everybody Hates Chris" was hilarious too and I still watch it on Hulu or Netflix or whatever. All these streaming channels are as hard to tell apart as all those grocery store loyalty cards I carry around.

So here is my idea: The NFL could have a show called "Everybody Loves Patrick But Everybody Hates Jackson."

The Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is probably the most popular player in the league. Watching him play is fun, he's a good sport, and honest about when he screws up royally, like he did in the closing seconds of the first half of Sunday's AFC Championship Game, when he tossed away the chance to add three points to his lead as time ran out.

When time really ran out, his team lost by those three points. But he owns it and he will be back for lots more great games in the future. We look forward to seeing him!

His brother Jackson, not so much. Jackson Mahomes is 21, younger brother to Patrick. He shows up at every Chiefs game and prances about on the sidelines and the private boxes, drawing as much attention to himself as he can. While I can understand it must have been awfully rough coming up a few years behind a brother who was an all star in every sport all along, Jackson has decided to make a horse's patootie of himself every chance he gets.

👉He caused a stir at a high-class bar in Kansas City, demanding special service for his coterie of hang-outers, to such an extent that the establishment went on social media to say they didn't have enough room for his ego.

👉In Baltimore this season, when the Ravens beat the Chiefs, Patrick poured a bottle of water over fans as he left his private box, explaining, "They were thirsty."

👉In 2019,  Jackson teamed up with Patrick's fiancee, Brittany, to sing an acapella duet on "Nah...nah...nah..nah...hey...hey..hey...goodbye" to Patriots fans at Gillette Stadium after the Chiefs beat the Patriots.

👉Most appallingly, in October of the season just past, Jackson showed up with the Chiefs for an away game against the Washington Football Team. That was the Sunday when the WFT was honoring their late player Sean Taylor, who was gunned down by intruders in his own home. FedEx Field emblazoned their turf with Taylor's number 21 as a memorial, sectioned off with a rope. 

Care to guess who went past the rope and filmed himself twerking on that memorial for his TikTok?

Jackson and his brother's girlfriend

It's quite a lot for Patrick, the brother who has achieved something with his life besides doing a silly dance, to deal with all this sideshow.  And there was a picture of Brittany giving him the big big kiss right before that championship game, right behind the team bench.

I'm fairly certain that the guy who snaps the ball for punts and kicks doesn't get to have his significant other snoggling him as the team gets ready to play.

I'll say it again, it must be awful to be Jackson, with all the glory going to his big brother. 

But one must admire the facility of language with which he responds to those urging him on TikTok to find his own circus to lead:

“Sup I get Bullied a lot but I’m still here.” 

How nice it would be for the Chiefs and for his brother if he were elsewhere, or still there and being a fan, not a circus of his own.