Yesterday we posted an email from an MNB reader who objects to how often National Football League (NFL) game coverage includes shots of Taylor Swift in a luxury box rooting for Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. Covering football should be enough, he wrote, without "banal, pop-culture trivia."
I commented:
I get what you're saying, but the problem is that the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce story sells. Which means that when he's playing, just because he's associated with her, the ratings go up; if she's there and on camera occasionally, the ratings go up. More viewers means higher ad rates. Which means more money for the uber-rich folks in the luxury boxes. (Taylor Swift probably doesn't mind - it is free advertising for her movie, and one hand washes the other.)
The long game is this - it is at least possible that some of the folks intrigued by the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce narrative may stick around when, inevitably, they break up and she writes a song about it. (Suggested title: "Not A Tight Enough End.") And that could be good for the sport long-term.
So I'm afraid that if you like football, and you have any interest in watching the Kansas City Chiefs or any of their opponents, you're probably going to be stuck with the more-than-occasional shot of Taylor Swift.
Prompting MNB reader Joe Gilman to write:
Not a tight enough end!
Now I have to clean up the coffee stain on my keyboard from laughing with my mouth full!
Please put a warning up next time!
I do agree with both of you, it is a money maker for billionaires and Swift.
It is annoying as hell, but not quite as annoying as constantly seeing Jerry Jones ugly mug every time the Cowboys get a first down!
Agreed. I'd much rather look at Taylor Swift than Jerry Jones or Bob Kraft.
As for you spitting coffee on your keyboard: My work here is done. (Maybe this would be a good time to retire.)
Another MNB reader chimed in:
Wonder if baseball fans complained when the media reported on Joltin' Joe and Marilyn Monroe?
“plus ça change . . ."
First of all, it was a little different - sports coverage, not to mention entertainment coverage, was not quite as extensive then. Though I'll bet there were a lot of newsreel shots of the two of them.
There's a famous story about how right after they got married, Monroe went off to Korea to entertain the troops. DiMaggio was not amused. (Remember, they only were married nine months before Monroe filed for divorce.). When she returned, she told DiMaggio of how enthusiastic the audiences were.
"Joe," she said, "You never heard such cheering."
"Yes I have," he said.
