The Chiefs beat the 49ers in overtime to win Super Bowl LVIII.
Some Super Bowl analysis is mathematical, meticulous and serious. Some of it is just for fun. This is the latter. After all, the Super Bowl is a moment for the “play” of it all to take center stage! This isn’t a scoop or a statistical sports analysis by any means. We have plenty of that going all week. But if you’re ready for a quick break from the numbers, or if you’re a casual viewer just looking for a snazzy conversation topic for your party on Sunday, you’ve come to the right place.
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In our quest to cover the Super Bowl from every angle – both serious and less serious – we reached out to a handwriting expert (officially known as a graphologist) to give her professional take on six key figures in Super Bowl 58.
Emma Bache discovered her interest in handwriting when she was a child, rooting around drawers trying to find her parents’ letters and, she admits with some trepidation, even reading entries in their diaries. That early curiosity grew into a more appropriate interest in psychology and studying what lies beneath the surface in people’s personalities. At 23, she enrolled in a weekend workshop on graphology, and she’s never looked back.
Now, she’s a leading graphologist in the United Kingdom and a former columnist for The Times and The Financial Times. She has provided handwriting analysis for some of the world’s leading companies, helped resolve complex fraud cases, and even contributed to a documentary investigation about a serial killer. In 2010, in partnership with Sky Sports, she analyzed top Premier League players, including Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba.
While a lot of Bache’s work is dead serious, she took a chance to have some lighthearted Super Bowl fun with us. We gave her six names and signatures and she provided a few talking points for each player. Should you use this analysis to bet the family farm? Definitely not. But you’ll find some entertaining tidbits about the Super Bowl’s main characters.
Patrick Mahomes
“Mahomes chooses a thick-nibbed pen to write his signature.
The breadth of the writing instrument’s nib indicates a writer’s sensuality – or lack of it. We can conclude that Mahomes is highly sensual with a zest for life. He just “knows” what to do and where to be at any given time. Those tall, long loops…
…what a vivid imagination that lends him a sharp insight into how his colleagues and teammates think. Loops at the tops of tall letters show us how imaginative and creative the writer is.”
You are what you repeatedly DO.
💪🦿 @PatrickMahomes pic.twitter.com/vqM5rJsIfH— Bobby Stroupe (@bobbystroupe) January 29, 2024
Our Takeaway: Mahomes is tough to beat in a clutch scenario; don’t bet against the guy. Chiefs will win.
Brock Purdy
“The slant of the handwriting indicates the communication style of the writer, and Purdy’s strong right slant makes him a true communicator, forward-thinking, and highly ambitious. Those large capitals…
…are the writer’s need for attention and indicate a confident showman who will take no prisoners with his speedy delivery. The signature in a script is always indicative of the writer’s method of “selling” himself to the public – his very own shopfront. The more extravagant the initials, the larger the internal need to ‘sell.'”
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Our Takeaway: “Mr. Irrelevant” has something to prove. But can he sell it?
Travis Kelce
“More of a hieroglyph than a signature. Those loops in the smaller letters, which are tightly closed, suggest he’s not giving anything away with his enigmatic personality. The strong horizontal lines…
…make him ambitious, determined and ever so slightly aggressive. The pasty broad strokes of Travis’ writing show a fundamental enjoyment for the good things in life, which includes a healthy bank balance.”
Our Takeaway: Mahomes has been targeting Kelce more in the playoffs, which is right on the money. (Also, what might this say about his romantic life? As calculated as it is sincere?)
Deebo Samuel
“In his rookie year signature, Deebo never lifts his pen off the page from beginning to end with his speedy signature. He displays tremendous follow through but he’s also logical and swift to make decisions. Highly energetic and driven, he is unlikely to get distracted under any circumstances.
In more recent examples of his signature:
…Deebo has used his initials alone, but there is still the same continuity in how he writes. Perhaps he now feels that his notoriety and fame allow him to merely use his initials – a little like Royalty?”
Our takeaway: Worth taking a look at Deebo in the TD markets.
Christian McCaffrey
“This signature is sharp, angled and very much to the point. There’s no mucking around for CMC, and he knows exactly what he wants and will stop at nothing to get it. There’s a lot of charisma revealed in the unconscious shading of the strokes (almost italic style). The playful flick at the end of the final stroke can obscure a more ruthless need to win at everything he does – which shows up in his strongly angled, confident strokes.”
Our takeaway: If he wins MVP, can we expect McCaffrey’s charismatic personality in the speech to skyrocket him to Travis Kelce levels of fame?
Taylor Swift
I know. But we couldn’t leave Taylor out.
“Taylor starts her moniker with a gentle swoop, a curve that lacks any form of angularity – a sign that she has a need to be loved and admired by her audience. However, this passive start soon switches up to a more complex, angled and illegible signature. The illegibility and the combination of angled and thready strokes in the middle of her name…
…denote that she has no time to people-please and can hide her true motives. Like many thready writers, she is highly ambitious and intelligent. The speed of the signature indicates a quick and incisive mind. The heart-like shape at the close of the signature also acts as an underlining…
which in graphological terms means that she is independent and likes to have the final word. A lion in sheep’s clothing!”
Our takeaway: Taylor will be there with a protective squad of friends in tow, of course, ready to provide her fans with more of the content they love. We were going to predict an album announcement, but that happened at the Grammys. (Foiled!)
And now you can slip a little expertise from a real graphologist into the small talk at your Super Bowl party.
GO DEEPER
With latest Super Bowl run, Chiefs' would-be dynasty echoes 'Patriot Way'
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(Top photo: Getty; Perry Knotts, Lachlan Cunningham, Dustin Satloff; autographs via Panini, eBay, Fanatics, SportsMemorabilia.com, GamedaySportsMemorabilia.com)