Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

White supremacy is terrorism.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

People are weird.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Sunday Night Open Thread: Not So Swifties

Sunday Night Open Thread: Not So Swifties

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Commentor Scout211 shared this yesterday — from USAToday Sports, “The thin-skinned men triggered by Taylor Swift’s presence at NFL games need to get a grip”:

The multiple Grammy winner was all over social media ahead of Saturday’s game, the NFL’s main accounts included. Got prominent play during the game, too, with NBC’s crew panning to them in a suite, cheering big plays. When the musical superstar was shown on the Jumbotron, fans in the stadium went into a frenzy.

Yet Eminem’s presence at the Detroit Lions playoff game last weekend didn’t prompt the overheated vitriol that Taylor Swift’s appearances at Kansas City Chiefs games do…

It’s funny — and by funny I mean tiresome and lazy — how a high-profile female fan wrecks the game, while the prominent visibility of male celebrities or team owners at sporting events is accepted without complaint. Celebrated, even. Jerry Jones gets no shortage of airtime even when people aren’t trying to decipher his reactions to his team’s latest playoff meltdown. Matthew McConaughey’s presence at University of Texas games is considered kitschy and fun. Jack Nicholson was as central a figure in the Lakers’ Showtime era as Magic and Kareem.

But when Swift dares intrude on the NFL, a segment of people lose their ever-loving minds.

Swift has been called “Yoko Ono,” accused of having a negative impact on boyfriend Travis Kelce and, by extension, the Chiefs. She’s been dismissed as a bandwagon-hopper. And in the most ludicrous criticism of all, there are some who’ve suggested she’s using Kelce and the NFL to boost her own profile.

Yes, because the most famous woman on the planet, whose $1 billion-plus Eras Tour helped fuel U.S. consumer spending last year, needs the help.

“There’s still a segment of the culture where football is the sanctuary from femininity, from anything that’s feminized. This is where men get to be men,” said Cheryl Cooky, a professor at Purdue University who studies the intersection among gender, sports and culture.

“Taylor Swift is a scapegoat for all of the male grievances of a shifting gender order in the NFL. And the broader culture,” Cooky added. “This story is, in some ways, not a story about Taylor Swift but a story about fragile masculinity among sports fans and the residuals of old-school masculinity in some corners of fandom.”…

… [M]ost female fans will nod knowingly, used to the conditional acceptance of our fandom. We’re asked to explain how we became sports fans, as if the reasons are different than they are for male fans. We have our knowledge tested, literally, to prove we’re legit.

And despite women making up nearly half of the NFL’s fanbase, as we have for the better part of a decade, we’re still treated as an amusement to be indulged…

“Women are accepted within the (sports) universe when they’re conforming to some kind of gender norms and expectations,” Cooky said, pointing to cheerleaders and athlete moms. “But women who are in positions of power get treated much differently. If you’re not fitting in the box the NFL and fans want to put you in, that’s when you’re going to experience that blowback.

“Taylor Swift is not just the girlfriend in the booth sitting next to Kelce’s mom and cheering on her man,” added Cooky, a self-proclaimed Swiftie whose favorite album, Reputation, is centered around Swift’s refusal to accept narratives crafted for her by others. “She’s also this really powerful global phenomenon.”…

And it’s not just the right-wing misogynists who get their communal jollies hating on Swift:

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    piratedan

    Swift is fully capable of defending herself, as if she even needs to have a defense for rooting for her current romantic interest.

    In short, who gives a shit?

    It’s not a surprise about who is chirping about their manhood being threatened by her fandom, all it proves is just how insecure they must be to take something perfectly natural and human and turn it into THIS.

  5. 5.

    scav

    Jebus real manly manly menz iz fragile.

    “Eek! a girl we don’t (not) pay to unconditionally admire us on the sidelines!”

  6. 6.

    Danielx

    Best revenge: write a mocking song about insecure male football fans and make a million bucks – except most artists make their major bucks from touring. She might be the exception.

  8. 8.

    satby

    All female stars have always been subjected to the gross misogyny, whispers about their sexuality, stalking, harassment, and hatred for not “knowing their place”. The right wing hoping to push women (and men) back into rigidly defined roles and gender conformity cannot stand someone like Swift: pretty, pleasant, independent, and POWERFUL.

  13. 13.

    Martin

    Reminder that Tom Brady, despite all the Super Bowls never earned half as much as Gisele did. She was always the breadwinner.

  14. 14.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    No way she’s working for the Pentagon.  She’s more likely working for the CIA.

    The Spy Who Loved Kelce​

  15. 15.

    CaseyL

    That was a good game. I like both teams, and couldn’t decide who I wanted to win.

    For pure football reasons, I wanted the Bills to win. To come so close, so often; I would have liked to see them triumph.

    But for everything else – including the political angle – I wanted the Chiefs to win. And they did. Neener neener, RW losers.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    Cole had a fresh bun up, but it disappeared and I’m guessing a dog done got it.

    Things happen in the desert.

  18. 18.

    Yarrow

    @Martin:  Did Giselle get crap for supporting Brady like Taylor gets for supporting Travis Kelce? I don’t remember anything about that.

  21. 21.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Right now, Fox is suggesting that Taylor Swift is a psyop because she posted a link to register voters.

    From the final Xit in the OP. Stands to reason that she’s a psyop, because *registering voters* and *voting* are profoundly unamerican activities.

    Sigh.

  22. 22.

    HumboldtBlue

    She was wearing a friendship bracelet with Travis’s number and two hearts!

    I absolutely love this phenomenon. And I love how she makes heads explode and her extraordinary hold on her fans. Go ahead and fuck with Swifties if you want, you ain’t gonna like what comes back.

    Travis Kelce has a personality as well, he and his brother host a very funny podcast together and both are widely respected. Older brother Jason will never pay for a meal or a drink in Philly ever again.

  24. 24.

    Josie

    The irony of this whole thing is that Travis is the manliest of men in the way that these creeps measure such things, and he is obviously very okay with her fame and power. That’s probably what chaps them the worst.

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trollhattan:

    Cole had a fresh bun up, but it disappeared and I’m guessing a dog done got it.

    Things happen in the desert.

    Did we ever decide if that other loaf was butt bread, ass bread, or crack bread?

  29. 29.

    chrome agnomen

    @Josie:

    they may not regard him as the manliest of men, because they perceive, in their twisted way, that she is controlling him, and sapping his manly essence.

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    @Josie:

    and he is obviously very okay with her fame and power 

    Ali Wong said, “The only kind of man who would leave a woman who makes more money is the kind of man that doesn’t like free money.“

  32. 32.

    SpaceUnit

    How dare a woman barge in on their big manly football circle jerk.  Losers.

     

    ETA:  These incels need to put their chairs in a circle and have a group cry over their hurt feelings.

  33. 33.

    billcinsd

    @Martin: Is that true? I mean her net worth is greater than his, but she started earning big money by around 15. The only year I could find her earnings they were $47 million, which is much less than TB would have made

  34. 34.

    scav

    Luckily, there’s at least one clear fool-proof sign of a real man.  They squeal and leap on a Laz-E boy when confronted with a female voter.

  38. 38.

    waspuppet

    She’s definitely on the list of “I like her more now that I know how much wingnuts hate her.”

    (I think the heart signs after the touchdowns may have had something to do with his mom and brother being in the stands too, but why split hairs?)

  40. 40.

    billcinsd

    Jack Nicholson was as central a figure in the Lakers’ Showtime era as Magic and Kareem.

    So was Dyan Cannon and I don’t think her presence was a big deal.

  44. 44.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

     the most famous woman on the planet, whose $1 billion-plus Eras Tour helped fuel U.S. consumer spending last year

    now that’s a swift stimulus

  45. 45.

    Yutsano

    I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan ever since she broke out on country radio with a song about Tim McGraw (who is also a liberal if quiet about it). When she crossed over to pop I was worried but she was already halfway there with some good crossover songs. I’m chuffed her career exploded. I only hope she can do something about her serial monogamist boyfriend. Travis is a great player, but man he is good at breaking hearts too.

  47. 47.

    kindness

    Yea well that whole meme about the on line right being in Ma’s basement, Cheetos stained fingers, and can’t understand why he can’t get any dates?  It’s true.

  48. 48.

    Brachiator

    OT. There is a CNN Town Hall with Nikki Hayley. Is this a repeat? I have been avoiding GOP crap.

    Anyway, she says she would pardon Trump to heal the country, because nobody wants to see an 80 year old president in prison.

    Hell, I want to see Trump thrown under the jail.

  49. 49.

    FelonyGovt

    Us female sports fans have been an afterthought since forever.

    And yes, male celebrity fans are celebrated. Will Ferrell comes to most Los Angeles Kings hockey games.  They show him cheering and the audience goes wild.

  51. 51.

    gwangung

    I can only hope Taylor is greatly amused by all the hullabaloo about her romance among the incel set. (And if she’s hooked up with a great looking athlete with a good sense of humor, then all the happiness in the world).

  52. 52.

    anitamargarita

    @O. Felix Culpa:  I am not really into football any more, but I was slightly for the Bills because KC was the rival of Denver , where I grew up. Am perfectly happy that KC won, if it pisses off the weird incel swift haters. Win for me,either way.

  53. 53.

    different-church-lady

    If I’m not mistaken this is the sport where there are scantily clad females with pom poms on the sidelines at every stadium, yes?

  57. 57.

    different-church-lady

    @Yarrow: Not as much, but yeah, she would get some crap. Especially after “My husband can’t throw the ball and catch the ball” comment.

  58. 58.

    Matt McIrvin

    I recall Erik Loomis for some reason getting annoyed that David Byrne was registering voters at his “American Utopia” shows. I guess he found it too virtue-signally or something (and Loomis seems to have a thing about this going back a long way, where he thinks liberal promotion of voter registration is useless because they might not vote for your candidates).

    I think to some extent he just didn’t understand where that came from: “American Utopia” is just a Broadway adaptation of the touring show Byrne was doing in the runup to the 2018 midterm election. On that tour, I remember, he had voter registration booths set up at all the venues and did a little spiel about how if we don’t turn out for the midterm “we don’t have a democracy”. He just kept doing it on Broadway, I guess. Couldn’t hurt though the impact might be lower.

  61. 61.

    Yarrow

    @Timill: I read a profile of Travis Kelce that said he makes most of his money from his various business interests and his job with the Chiefs is “basically just his side hustle.”

  63. 63.

    Bupalos

    Probably not fair to base this on opposing teams hating her. They should hate or at least fear her, I’m pretty sure the NFL has to be supremely intere$ted in these swiftie eyeballs.

    Now KC fans (who are quickly becomming The Worst, just like all fans that enjoy these ridiculous long runs of success and luck) shitting on her is a whole other kettle of fish.

  64. 64.

    billcinsd

    @Yarrow: Kelce makes about $15 million a year for his football playing. His net worth is like $40 million. He could probably make more if he went int free agency, but prefers winning to more money.

    Swift is worth more like $750 million. Probably dating Swift is more lucrative to Kelce than dating Kelce is to Swift

  66. 66.

    Tazj

    I was at the Bills game tonight. Almost everyone who was around me, men and women alike, all Bills fans, were thrilled to see her. I mean of course there were people who didn’t care, but most people were really excited about it.
    We sit in section 236 and she was in the suites above sections 243-244. Honestly, this is based on what people around me were saying. I could barely make out the Chiefs jerseys in the windows from my vantage point. But every once and awhile someone one would scream “there she is!”

  68. 68.

    Gretchen

    After he made a touchdown Travis looked up at her box and made a heart with his hands. Kansas City is loving this.

  70. 70.

    Tony G

    @wjca:

     

    @Josie: I actually don’t understand these losers (not that I’ve spent much time trying to understand them).  I’m a straight man, and when I see an attractive young woman I’m certainly not inclined to insult her.  I these assholes have ever had a relationship with a woman, it must have been a pretty abusive relationship.  Just pathetic.

  73. 73.

    Tony G

    @different-church-lady: I’m a regular reader of “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and, yeah, Loomis is one annoying, self-righteous jerk.  He’s a college professor, for Christ sake, who likes to do cosplay about what a leftist radical he is.  The rest of the blog is usually worth reading though.

  74. 74.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Taylor is a talented woman who has made it big on those talents. She is a powerful, talented woman whose interests and beliefs don’t align with those of conservative white males. At one time they talked of her as being the ideal white woman in a Aryan world and then she up and disappointed them by not being their White Power Poster Woman. I love that she is tweaking them by merely existing and having fun while they bitch, moan and flex about how anti-Taylor they are.

    Taylor Swift paired up with Def Leppard and for that she gets my ‘vote’…lol!

  76. 76.

    RaflW

    If a psyop is to “convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their motives and objective reasoning” then the main thing going on here is that Fox continues to be a decades-long psyop on a few million viewers per night.

    Swift? Doing run of the mill GOTV.

  77. 77.

    Shalimar

    @billcinsd: I’m not sure he could going forward.  His career to this point was definitely worth that, but Kelce now is a 34-year-old tight end.  For comparison, he is 5 months younger than Rob Gronkowski, who retired 2 years ago.  I hope Kelce has 2-4 years left, but probably no one would pay top tight end money for those.

  78. 78.

    wjca

    @billcinsd: I think he could get $5-10 million more

    But why?  To what end?  He’s already got more than he can spend in a lifetime.

    All a higher salary would do (besides further enriching his agent, of course) is indicate to people who know nothing about football how good he is at what he does.  Insecure people need to do that sort of thing.  Apparently he doesn’t suffer from that affliction.

  79. 79.

    BethanyAnne

    Swift’s last few albums have converted me to a Swiftie. “Midnights” is amazing as an album. The individual songs are exceptional, but I love seeing albums that hold together as albums. Another sign that I’m truly An Old now, most likely. Watching her do work for Good, and annoying pathetic Righties along the way is just icing on the cake.

    It was good to see Kelce have a very good day today. He’s been looking older to me, and I expect he only has a year or two left in the league. Which is fine – he’s clearly earned his spot in the Hall of Fame. Both of the games today were really good. Made me miss my Mom; she would have had a blast watching them.

  80. 80.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Tony G: ​
      being an incel is a major factor. I see this in women’s sports. There are males who like, there are males who are indifferent, but the haters are always incels.

  82. 82.

    JML

    As much as I care about any celebrity relationship, I’m rooting for them. Both of them seem nice. It’s got to be challenging to date in a fishbowl like this, but they seem to actually be enjoying each other so that’s nice. I am enjoying all the right-wing looneys freaking out about T-Swift somehow ruining the world of football by going out with a really good TE, because it’s incredibly dumb, and the more the world sees these looneys as being incredibly dumb people who deserve to be mocked the better off we probably all will be…

  83. 83.

    RevRick

    @Yarrow: The difference is that Taylor Swift is both the epitome of white, female wholesomeness and a former country music star. It was thus assumed that she was on the Right’s team. She belonged on their side, in their thinking.

    But she has openly aligned herself with teh gays, the blahs, and the Demonrats. This is a betrayal of the first order! How dare the bitch! She needs to be put in her place.

  84. 84.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @different-church-lady: To be expected from a political machine that prioritizes vote suppression.

    As for Taylor Swift, I’m still not familiar with her music, and I’m just hoping that television is lying to me, and she doesn’t have an actual problem with Dr. Teeth.

  85. 85.

    Bupalos

    @billcinsd: he’s what, 33? His curent contract will be his last likely and already has a kind of retirement bonus built in. The reason he’s still in KC is KC was worth more to him in branding terms and he was worth worth more to KC than any other team in football terms. That would be doubly true if he were up for FA this year.

  86. 86.

    Sasha

    I’m not a Swiftie, but the fact that she makes all the right heads explode make me a fan of hers nevertheless.

  87. 87.

    Sasha

    @RevRick: It goes beyond merely that. White supremacists convinced themselves for *years* that Swift was a secret white supremacist — an Aryan goddess — who had to play nice and hide her true views until the Day of the Rope or something. Her unequivocal revelation as a lefty broke their fascist hearts.

  89. 89.

    Paul in KY

    @CaseyL: I was for the Bills, but KC played a better game & deserved to win. Ravens better be ready. KC is a much better team than Houston.

  91. 91.

    Paul in KY

    @Matt McIrvin: Glad Mr. Byrne is making voter registration easily accessible. However, he won’t be off my personal shit list till he agrees to reform The Talking Heads, or at least play some of the good Heads songs when he is in concert. I saw him once and the only Heads songs he did were 2 obscure ones and ‘Little Creatures’ (which is a fine song, but the Heads have 9 or 10 better than that one).

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