Tuesday Tangents

Tangent: my watch is a jerk. It has labeled my last 3 runs and a strength workout as Unproductive.

I like your analogy to the trials coverage. I kept getting annoyed when they would go back to the broadcasters to show them talking instead of showing the race. I love Kara, but I don’t need to SEE her telling me about the race or the runners, I want to watch the runners, not the broadcasters. That said, I have so many feelings on the Taylor thing. I hate the hatred being thrown at Taylor for something she has not control over. She is going to the games to watch her boyfriend do his job, she isn’t asking to be shown on TV or the big screen. The NFL/broadcasters are doing that to line their own pockets. She has controlled the one thing she can; not allowing them to play her songs at games or on the broadcasts. Everything else is marketers doing what they get paid to do. The message the hate is sending to women and girls is to remain in the background, be small and don’t interrupt the “men’s work”.
The positive side is the number of girls her presence at games has brought to the audience is pretty amazing. My two nieces now watch football every weekend with their dad because Taylor is flashed on the screen for less than 5 minutes in a 3-4 hour game. It is building relationships, which is more far important in the end than mediocre people being threatened or annoyed by a very successful, upstanding woman being shown a few times during breaks in the action.

They literally show her for a few seconds cheering after a big play. It’s not like they are cutting to her during a play. They also show cheerleaders, other fans in the crowd like shirtless dudes and cute kids, other people’s families, and other celebrities. Weirdos are just obsessed with Taylor and being haters. They used to flash to Gisele occasionally when Tom Brady played. It’s not a big deal. At the trials we get crowd shots sometimes, and we see families celebrating and waiting at the finish line. That’s the equivalent to what we see with Taylor. My So Called Life from way back in the day…we only got one season of that.

Just echoing what a lot other commenters have said about Taylor Swift because I think it’s a really important conversation for this next generation of girls growing up. How everyone is reacting to Taylor Swift’s existence is really sad. As the mom of a “loud” girl, I’m so incredibly proud of her for taking up space and making noise. I hope she never, ever listens to the misogynists and patriarchy enthusiasts who tell her to be quiet.

Also, fwiw, Taylor is not showing herself on TV. The NFL is making that choice for her. She’s literally told the cameras to go away.

PS: This comment is no shade at you, Janae! It’s obviously a conversation that’s been popping up everywhere.

Glad to see the support for Taylor in the comments! She hasn’t asked for the broadcasters to show her, and as others have pointed out, it’s actually very little time. More time is spent by the media covering it to make it seem like a bigger deal than it is. I guarantee if she wasn’t at the games the focus would be on her not being a good girlfriend and not supporting him. I just want her and Travis to be happy. They’ve said they are tuning it all out! She can date an NFL player, go to the games to show her support, and continue on a world tour plus announce another album!! She’s incredible!

Tangents – Kim of IG trackclubbabe is also going to Sevilla, did you see that? I feel like you know each other, but I could have made that up. I’m jealous and want to join you both!!

I’m sorry, but Taylor Swift is annoying, period. Some of her songs are good, but I really don’t understand her massive appeal. She’s always playing the victim. There was an article today about her suing the guy who exposes her private jet usage-she doesn’t like her climate change hypocrisy being public. The Kelce relationship is fake, both are financially benefiting from it. Even her friends are benefiting from it, she brought Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively to one of the games so they could plug their mixers on air. It’s all about money. I’m sure everyone will be devastated when they ‘break up’ right after the Super Bowl.

People who idolize celebrities are extremely naive, and Covid demonstrated how the majority of people have no common sense or capacity for critical thinking. Celebrities and politicians are well aware of this and take advantage of it all the time.

I think when considering the Taylor Swift issue, it is not fair to compare it to the Marathon Trials. The trials are a 3 hour television spot every four years and are quite niche. It also has both female and male athletes for viewers to support.

American football is on in most restaurants for months during the season and in a large percentage of households. It represents only male athletes. Many women and girls may not like watching football or connect with it, so if showing TS for 45 seconds gives them joy, it should be welcomed. Men who see this as something that is taking away from their experience need to seriously reevaluate the football culture and how it so heavily leans towards their interests. Everything from the all male athletes, the cheerleaders in next to nothing, the culture, the food and beverage, the violence in the sport itself, is very male centric. We should really be showing more female role models during football for all the little girls who have to watch by default!