{"id":2202945,"date":"2026-10-16T21:22:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202945"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:22:51","slug":"hall-of-fame-basketball-coach-recalls-being-too-embarrassed-to-talk-to-taylor-swift-at-knicks-game-i-acted-like-i-was-on-my-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2202945","title":{"rendered":"Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Recalls Being Too \u2018Embarrassed\u2019 to Talk to Taylor Swift at Knicks Game: \u2018I Acted Like I Was on My Phone\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tJohn Calipari may have conquered the world of college basketball, but he says he was too \u201cintimidated\u201d to take a shot at talking to Taylor Swift when he had the chance at a New York Knicks game this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a Friday (Oct. 15) interview with CBS Sports College Basketball<\/em>, the University of Arkansas coach recalled attending game 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden and seeing that the pop star was also in the building. \u201cTaylor Swift was there,\u201d he said. \u201cI was embarrassed to go up to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tTaylor Swift Sits Courtside at Knicks-Cavaliers as ESPN Calls Her \u2018Travis Kelce\u2019s\u00a0Fianc\u00e9e\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tWatch Taylor Swift Join in on the Raucous Celebration at MSG After the Knicks\u2019 Game 4\u00a0Win\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tJason Kelce & Travis Kelce Discuss: Has Taylor Swift \u2018Ever Made a Halloween\u00a0Song?\u2019\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tCoach Cal went on to say that the 14-time Grammy winner was just a few feet away from him, at one point conversing with Adam Sandler and his wife. Despite knowing the Happy Gilmore <\/em>star, the Basketball Hall of Famer said he was \u201cintimidated\u201d to approach.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe came up and was bubbly, and then I\u2019m sitting here at this table,\u201d he added. \u201cShe\u2019s at other end \u2026 I took my phone and I acted like I was on my phone, and I wasn\u2019t on my phone, but I acted like I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo underscore how big of a deal it was, Calipari also shared that the last time he felt nearly as starstruck by a powerful figure was when he met Barack Obama \u2014 and even then, he had no problem shaking the president\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\n\tSwift notably attended two Knicks games this year. She first went with then-fianc\u00e9 Travis Kelce to the New York team\u2019s away game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in May. It was just a couple of weeks later that she cheered on the Knicks \u2014 who\u2019d go on to win the NBA Finals \u2014 at MSG, sitting next to Mariska Hargitay and Este and Alana Haim. <\/p>\n

\n\tLess than a month after that, Swift would return to MSG for her wedding, which Sandler officiated. The pop star is now fresh off the release of her The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore <\/em>deluxe, which earned her a 16th career No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with \u201cPatient Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/pop\/taylor-swift-intimidated-basketball-coach-cal-knicks-game-1236362225\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2280985197-e1781186715561.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard John Calipari may have conquered the world of college basketball, but he says he was too \u201cintimidated\u201d to take a shot at talking to Taylor Swift when he had the chance at a New York Knicks game this year. In a Friday (Oct. 15) interview with CBS Sports College […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-2202945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2202945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2202945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2202945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2202945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}