Another Weekend For Broken Men To Whine About A Woman Supporting Her Boyfriend

Let’s begin with the quiet part out loud. There are a couple of different things happening.

First, a good deal of the “Taylor Swift is ruining football” narrative comes from the right-leaning part of the ideological aisle.

So, one needs to consider that Taylor famously came out as anti-Trump and anti-Marsha Blackburn in 2018 (so MAGA types hate her, even if she would be a good role model for their inevitable daughters) and she is with Travis Kelce, who promoted the COVID vaccine — so, again, MAGA types hate him. It’s an unholy union for them.

And then, one needs to understand that trucks and control rooms are often (not always) controlled by men calling camera angles and shots, and Taylor has no idea when she’s on TV and isn’t actively inviting it most of the time.

And perhaps finally, if you want to make an argument that it’s “ruining football,” well, that’s a very long bridge and it’s quite far. But consider some of the games she has attended. Her debut Chiefs game was Chiefs 41, Bears 10. I would argue Taylor actually added to that game, because the on-field product sucked. Her playoff debut was a horrible clunker in which a decapitated Dolphins team couldn’t do anything and lost 26–7. Again, her staring through ice was a high point of that game for many. And then Bills-Chiefs, which is maybe the best game she’s attended minus Chiefs-Packers in the regular season, I counted potentially three or four cutaways to her at most. Jason Kelce owned that game. Did he, ahem, ruin it for you?

Like so much these days, this argument is ideological. It is happening because MAGA-types don’t like Travis getting the jab and don’t like Taylor using her platform against Trump acolytes. In reality, a lot of deeply conservative men would kill to have a daughter like Taylor Swift, because then instead of bankrolling said daughter or hoping she “marries well,” they could bask in some of the reflected glow of the tour and merch. But it’s more convenient to hate her and claim she’s ruining a product that still pulled 40 million viewers into a game everyone knew she’d be attending.

Here's another bottom line: a lot of guys hate seeing Taylor show up because they know their wife wouldn't put it on the deck for them.

Your take?