No, we’re not jealous. We’re not mysogynist, we’re not “haters”, we’re not worried about losing football to Swifties.
We’re not angry. We don’t hate celebrities, or even celebrity couples (ok: we hate Ben Affleck and J-Lo. And Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. And Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.).
I read one of those generally admonishing Facebook posts yesterday about this topic. It went as follows: “Your daughters are watching you hate Taylor Swift for supporting her boyfriend. And hearing you complain about her taking 60 seconds of air time out of a three hour game. What they hear: “be smaller, be less’”
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it’s Taylor herself that is delivering the message “be smaller, be less” … because she’s such a damn pushover.
She’s not behaving like the most powerful woman in Pop Music, rather she’s behaving, in every way, like a girlfriend.
She goes to the games with the star quarterback’s wife. She cheers and dances and does special handshakes with said star quarterback’s wife when Travis makes a play, cries when he loses. She hangs out with his very matronly mom. She became part of Team Travis, way more than he’s become part of Team Taylor.
Let’s take a look at a couple other athlete celebrity relationships. Madonna and Dennis Rodman … at what point was Madonna his girlfriend? At what point did Madonna show up at games to “support her boyfriend?” Madonna was in charge of that relationship. Rodman was her plaything. Young girls were empowered, a strong woman crossing racial boundaries to take what she wanted, when she wanted it.
At no point was Madonna in a booth watching games doing little handshakes with Bill Laimbeer’s wife, and cozying up to Rodman’s mom. She never cried after a Piston loss – neither did I, nor anyone not from Detroit – and likely never even paid attention to the scores: it was her world, and Dennis was part of it.
Gisele never lost her sway over all the years with Tom Brady. We didn’t see her acting like yet another NFL WAG, she was an act all to herself, with a celebrity partner.
David and Victoria Beckham. Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union. Ciara and Russell Wilson.
And unforgetably, Joe D and Marilyn Monroe.
None of these woman turned into cheerleaders, wearing team colors and jumping around like smitten school girls. They all came out bigger on the other side of these relationships, or have maintained their gravitas while in them. We can talk about Marilyn and Gisele and Ciara without mentioning Joe D, Tom Brady, or Russell Wilson. Rodman is a notch on Madonna’s belt, not a defining moment.
Taylor? We can’t talk about her now without mentioning Travis. She’s his girlfriend, and acting like it.
It’ll end the way it has always ended for Taylor: she’ll get dumped, and write a song about it. The message for little girls isn’t “Daddy’s a hater”, it’s “get a football player boyfriend, worship him, and lose yourself.”
Don’t blame us for that. Blame Taylor. And if you have a picture of Bill Laimbeer’s wife, please don’t show me.
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Short Shots
Ben Simmons played a real basketball game last night (1/29/2024), and changed the Nets, they played with pace, played defense, and looked like a completely different team. If his balky back is behind him, this team gets interesting.
Siakam to the Pacers, and Rozier to the Heat. Are these trades going to change the power structure in the East? We think so, it at least solidifies each team’s spot in the Top 6, we think the Pacers have a better chance than the aging Heat, but both trades are a major upgrade.
The Knicks won handily last night, without Randle or OG. This team now expects to win, and has a formula. If they can keep Dolan out of the way, this might be the most fun we’ve had as Knick fans in a good long while.
Early Super Bowl call: San Fran by a bundle, they’ve been the most consistent and best team in football, when healthy. And they’re healthy.