Sportscasters live for story-lines they can feature during big games. They talk about them during lulls in the action, to bring some human interest to a player who’s just been injured, or simply to draw viewers deeper into the game. There were two story-lines in the Kansas City v. Baltimore AFC league championship game on Sunday afternoon. The first was the magic Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes created from the first time he got the ball in his hands. He completed 30 of 39 passes, one after the other. He had no turn-overs. His favorite receiver, Travis Kelce, caught 11 of his passes, one of them for a touchdown, and broke the all-time National Football League record for passes caught in post-season play.
I’m an old lady who hasn’t been that much into Taylor Swift for all these years. BUT NOW I’M MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER!! All due to the crazy people, the rubes and lemmings, the pathological liars, the money grubbing psychos trying to keep an audience - The more I learn about who she is as a person the happier I am that she is driving these lunatics batshit.
Taylor Swift is a blessing for America and the NFL. I hope she uses her power and celebrity to influence young people to register and vote on Election Day. Let’s make America great again, indeed.
Upvoted / liked for the humor, yes! - but with the sincere reservation that the GOP is currently engaged in subverting the Ukrainian resistance to Putin with arguments about how "we can't afford it!" - when the entire expenditure is about 5% of the Pentagon's budget for the relevant time period.
The more general point being that it's always nonsense when the right-wing nutjobs start yammering about all the things "we can't afford," given that they never, ever take into account the costs of not financing the specific projects: vaccination awareness to help fight the spread of measles or, now just highlighted in the news, syphilis; repairing roads and bridges (I am relocated in a hotel while my apt. is being completely renovated, it's less than a mile from the the site of the bridge over the Mississippi River, aka "The Interstate 35 bridge collapse," completely preventable and killed a dozen people), investing in medical research to cure a dread disease, supporting a nation crucial to the entire foreseeable future of Europe from Putin's genocidal invasion, etc.
We should all ignore the lunatic histrionics of the MAGA and right wing nuts and just let Taylor and Travis be …. Taylor and Travis. It is a beautiful thing, and if they are comfortable being together in public like that, so be it.
While I hope Taylor convinces her millions of followers who are not yet registered, to register to vote and actually go vote, the Taylor and Travis relationship actually seems like a convergence of the arts and sports in a way that shows how political temperatures on both sides can be toned down and converge into a bi-partisan political force that can be for the same goal - improving our country for the benefit of ALL its citizens.
The MAGA and right wing nuts will continue to belly-ache and complain no matter what Taylor and Travis do.
Then again, if we all benefit from it by getting a huge voter turnout, preserving democracy, and putting a stake in the heart of MAGA, maybe our national nightmare will at long last be over.
I briefly had a Taylor Swift fantasy that she could join Jill Biden for the State of the Union address. Then I looked at her tour schedule and realized she would likely be on the other side of the world. Besides the Groupies Of Putin are so classless they probably won't invite the president to give the annual address. I don't follow football closely, but when I read that Travis Kielce had broken Jerry Rice's record I realized he was exceptional. This may be the biggest sports-entertainment romance since Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. A once in 70 year event. So the MAGAs can boo hoo all they want. The media have a big story to go on about from now to the Super Bowl. Shall we start a pool? How long before a mouth foaming Trump comes out to saying tacky things about Taylor Swift? Except he may call her Nikki, or Nancy.
Thank for making me laugh about this! A lot of people seem to always be in need of something to be against and complain about. I am now feeling sorry for Taylor and Travis--such a happy time for them being screwed up by a bunch of idiots. And I think Trump has already said tacky things about Ms. Swift.
There is likely no need whatsoever to believe that this preposterous gibberish from the usual suspects is bothering either of them, by now, she is completely familiar with even worse (stalkers being arrested, etc.) and probably Travis K. isn't worried either.
I'm going to need a lot of popcorn to watch this sh*t show unfold.
But Ms. Swift is doing amazing things to motivate and inspire young women. Good on her - I hope she continues to dazzle and is happy the rest of her life.
As a Marylander, I suppose I owed some loyalty to the Ravens, but I can't give a gnat's ass about professional sports... and I have to admit being happy for Tay & Travis. (It's just so damn sweet.)
As for the conspiracy-philes... honestly, don't they have something more important to think about? For years, I have suspected that the world was being run by malevolent cartoons... and I'm afraid I'm right.
Believing in and inventing or enlarging on conspiracy theories makes people feel like they are really special and clever, endowed with special knowledge and powers of analysis. The wonderful writer Charlie Pierce described Trump as a poor person’s idea of a rich person, and a stupid person’s idea of a smart person. [See comment about misattribution further below] Trump attracts exactly the same sort of people who think conspiracy theories are the hidden insights of really smart people.
My bad. I should have checked that attribution before stating it here. Check out this 2017 opinion column on Mediate by Chris Falcinelli, who asserts in a self-deprecating, mock-outraged way that the idea that Trump is “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person” was originally his, and then metastasized into the other forms on Twitter etc.
THANKS! Elizabeth, -Oh ok the ENTIRE previous reply was wiped out, screw it, this is MICROSOFT hot keys, 'predictive text, ' the laptop, dubious wifi (i am temp relocated in hotel while apt renovated along w/ rest of bldg.) I will NOT try to rsearch much earlier usage from like 1930's - 1950s - some pundit or maybe NV Peale ? Satirized as such...
Just imagine if Taylor Swift asked all of her social media followers to donate $5 to Bidens reelection campaign! Would be for a great cause and drive the trumptards even crazier than they already are.
Although she endorsed Democratic politicians in Tennessee, I think she will steer clear of an actual Biden endorsement, that's not her job. She will, I hope, continue to urge people to register and vote. She can do that knowing that most young people, the ones who will be most influenced by her, are more likely to vote Democrat.
Ok, but your sights are set too low: the "ask" should be along the lines of having those who can, to door knock in their town or city for at least one 4-6 hour shift, or phone call from vetted lists, as part of helping raise money for any good cause, not simply for Biden-Harris.
That will enlighten those who do it in all sorts of ways - that's based on personal experience canvassing / door knocking all over the Twin Cities, both Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the inner ring and most of the outer ring suburbs, for environmental and citizen action groups over a number of years.
Trumplethinskins going insane over the Swift-Kelce merger is just worth every moment. The NFL loves it. They have a whole new market of devotees: teenage girls! The way overweight Bud swilling, gun toting, couch potatoes aren’t gonna be around forever!
It's work, but I have to constantly remind myself that with "these people" there is no bottom. They have plowed through more basements than a housing contractor.
Yesterday I had exactly the same response: there really IS no bottom, no lower level of "minimal rationality" beyond which they won't go! It's astounding!
I am indifferent to the point of being oblivious to popular music, and I loathe football, but if this couple can help Biden and the Dems—I LOVE them both!
Judith, my sincere sympathies - "Without music, life would be a mistake," as Nietzsche put it, and that definitely includes plenty of music people love and which is popular around the entire planet , wherever it is performed by competent musicians - Mozart, Beethoven, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, and the most out there jazz and experimental avante garde all have their fans, thank god.
Loathing football, ok, so what? You've closed yourself off from enjoying what else that involves the risk of great bodily harm and death in sports, alpine skiing and rugby, soccer, even basketball and ice hockey? Why?
I am a devoted chess fan, but that hardly means I can't appreciate contact sports (especially hockey, that was my team sport) and I want to at least register a fierce dissent to a blanket dismissal, especially since you made no actual argument to justify the `loathing,' it's very odd.
I can't help but wonder if this whole tsimes isn't related just to American football - a multi-generational weekend bastion of testosterone-specific beat-down celebrations. I can't imagine this sort of ruckus connected with tennis. Perhaps baseball and hockey celebrations are supposed to be confined to locker rooms - interesting that Kelce felt free enough to go to Taylor in the stands. There's also the take on our medieval roots; if revenue collected is any measure, ticket-price of a seat at the Superbowl surely reflects our worship of gladiators, just as our attitude toward and financing of movie-idols reflects our worship of jesters.
What's stopping you? It's not realistic to think the Trump cult is going away any time soon, it's a movement, it will outlast Trump, so it's up to you and me and anyone else fed up with the news cycle to "take a vacation."
I mean, classical, jazz, rock, funk, pop, and a myriad of other music is "free online" right now! Look here's one of what must be several tens of thousands, maybe you'll hate it, so find something else, right? You are online and with a search browser, so that's half the battle!
Sadly, my dearly beloved husband loves to watch the "news". He just fades out but I can't block it out so I leave the room (carefully closing the door as I leave). Married for more than fifty years so we make allowances, at least he passionately votes Blue.
Oh wow, in small strategic doses, sure. I was for the last nine days or so relocated in a nearby Marriot hotel while apt. (and entire bldg.) is being renovated (AFL-CIO union job, THAT just appeared on the sign out front, good to see!) and they had a channel selection that including MSNBC, I did find some of those programs of great interest. Also the public broadcasting had a rerun of Ken Burns doc on Benjamin Franklin, brilliantly done. Hell, I even watched "Alien Astronauts" because years and years ago I read a selection of that lit, it's fascinating even when it's deeply flawed. But a steady diet of it, no, gotta get outdoors, got to exercise, listen and or play music, dance, you name it! I love 3 minute blitz chess at playchess.com in the "Cafe" because it's FREE FREE FREE and quite enjoyable as diversion and for stimulating the brain. But our current news cycle, wow.
We are blessed to have a First Amendment and yet at times CURSED by the misuse, still:
I'm sorry, but I am so freaking tired of the "Taylor Swift boyfriend freakout" that I'm about to shut down from all the coverage.
I don't care who goes to bed with whom.
The media is feeding this frenzy and I wish to almighty heaven they shut the hell up about it.
Those who feed on it are pretty damn pathetic, and it's all part of our celebrity driven insanity that got us Donald Trump in the White House in the first place.
It's not any of our business what she and her boyfriend do in private, public and the sooner we get over our celebrity fixation on these two and start doing something about our real problems, the better we will all be.
I normally don’t go for the dizzy pop star scremin fan stuff. But if Taylor Swift influences a lot of people to vote, and especially if she endorses Joe Biden, she’s my new hero.
Let me edit this: you are surely not claiming "we" can't pay attention to more than one facet of this Rube Goldberg contraption with multiple popping and pustulating moving parts that IS "our"
collective politics and culture, based on some "raw feels" that you are projecting onto every other observer, are you?
If so, please reconsider your hypothesis! You are unnecessarily limiting your own imaginative scope for further reflection, aren't you?
Oh Lord, Richard. As a retired public defender, I do enjoy your comments so. "Rube Goldberg contraption and multiple popping and pustulating moving parts" Love it!!!
Thanks, I know there have been times before my apartment was being renovated (I was just over there, other side the Mississippi River, oldest part of the City of Mpls. about a mile 1/4 from this hotel "at the Depot," an extensively rehabbed Old Milwaukee Train Depot area where Marriot has two separate but connected hotels, relocated here while apt. is finished, and only the window replacements are left - construction
guys called that "easy peasy" in this kind of unseasonable weather) that I looked at my place, with "way too many books," "way too many guitars, amps, keyboard synths, etc.", an inversion table & free weights, plus the usual odds and ends - and THAT exact phrase, minus the "pops and pustulations" thank god, pretty well described it if I didn't carefully replace stuff a.s.a.p.
I’m an old lady who hasn’t been that much into Taylor Swift for all these years. BUT NOW I’M MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER!! All due to the crazy people, the rubes and lemmings, the pathological liars, the money grubbing psychos trying to keep an audience - The more I learn about who she is as a person the happier I am that she is driving these lunatics batshit.
Yessssssss!
You wrote exactly what I think, and said it eloquently. Thank you.
Taylor Swift is a blessing for America and the NFL. I hope she uses her power and celebrity to influence young people to register and vote on Election Day. Let’s make America great again, indeed.
That's why the drones are terrified! She will help bury Trump!
Hahahahaha.... the government couldn’t hire Taylor as an asset because they can’t AFFORD her!
Upvoted / liked for the humor, yes! - but with the sincere reservation that the GOP is currently engaged in subverting the Ukrainian resistance to Putin with arguments about how "we can't afford it!" - when the entire expenditure is about 5% of the Pentagon's budget for the relevant time period.
The more general point being that it's always nonsense when the right-wing nutjobs start yammering about all the things "we can't afford," given that they never, ever take into account the costs of not financing the specific projects: vaccination awareness to help fight the spread of measles or, now just highlighted in the news, syphilis; repairing roads and bridges (I am relocated in a hotel while my apt. is being completely renovated, it's less than a mile from the the site of the bridge over the Mississippi River, aka "The Interstate 35 bridge collapse," completely preventable and killed a dozen people), investing in medical research to cure a dread disease, supporting a nation crucial to the entire foreseeable future of Europe from Putin's genocidal invasion, etc.
We should all ignore the lunatic histrionics of the MAGA and right wing nuts and just let Taylor and Travis be …. Taylor and Travis. It is a beautiful thing, and if they are comfortable being together in public like that, so be it.
While I hope Taylor convinces her millions of followers who are not yet registered, to register to vote and actually go vote, the Taylor and Travis relationship actually seems like a convergence of the arts and sports in a way that shows how political temperatures on both sides can be toned down and converge into a bi-partisan political force that can be for the same goal - improving our country for the benefit of ALL its citizens.
The MAGA and right wing nuts will continue to belly-ache and complain no matter what Taylor and Travis do.
Then again, if we all benefit from it by getting a huge voter turnout, preserving democracy, and putting a stake in the heart of MAGA, maybe our national nightmare will at long last be over.
I am desperate for the misery to end. I hope it will happen in my lifetime.
I only take issue with one thing you said we should not ignore them. Remember keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Your lips ....God’s ears!
TSDS: Taylor Swift Derangement Syndrome.
It's a beautiful thing!
Guaranteed to boomerang, as we are already seeing.
Never forget how incredibly stupid the wingnuts are, dangerous nonetheless, but very, very stupid.
I briefly had a Taylor Swift fantasy that she could join Jill Biden for the State of the Union address. Then I looked at her tour schedule and realized she would likely be on the other side of the world. Besides the Groupies Of Putin are so classless they probably won't invite the president to give the annual address. I don't follow football closely, but when I read that Travis Kielce had broken Jerry Rice's record I realized he was exceptional. This may be the biggest sports-entertainment romance since Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. A once in 70 year event. So the MAGAs can boo hoo all they want. The media have a big story to go on about from now to the Super Bowl. Shall we start a pool? How long before a mouth foaming Trump comes out to saying tacky things about Taylor Swift? Except he may call her Nikki, or Nancy.
Thank for making me laugh about this! A lot of people seem to always be in need of something to be against and complain about. I am now feeling sorry for Taylor and Travis--such a happy time for them being screwed up by a bunch of idiots. And I think Trump has already said tacky things about Ms. Swift.
There is likely no need whatsoever to believe that this preposterous gibberish from the usual suspects is bothering either of them, by now, she is completely familiar with even worse (stalkers being arrested, etc.) and probably Travis K. isn't worried either.
Next he’ll say she wasn’t born in this country (it seemed to work with ‘Nimrada’.)
If E. Jean got 83.3 million...TS could bankrupt Orange Foolius!
I
Groupies of Putin..I LOVE IT!
Let's hope it has a happier ending than Monroe & DiMaggio.
I'm going to need a lot of popcorn to watch this sh*t show unfold.
But Ms. Swift is doing amazing things to motivate and inspire young women. Good on her - I hope she continues to dazzle and is happy the rest of her life.
As a Marylander, I suppose I owed some loyalty to the Ravens, but I can't give a gnat's ass about professional sports... and I have to admit being happy for Tay & Travis. (It's just so damn sweet.)
As for the conspiracy-philes... honestly, don't they have something more important to think about? For years, I have suspected that the world was being run by malevolent cartoons... and I'm afraid I'm right.
Vote Trump OUT, people.
Believing in and inventing or enlarging on conspiracy theories makes people feel like they are really special and clever, endowed with special knowledge and powers of analysis. The wonderful writer Charlie Pierce described Trump as a poor person’s idea of a rich person, and a stupid person’s idea of a smart person. [See comment about misattribution further below] Trump attracts exactly the same sort of people who think conspiracy theories are the hidden insights of really smart people.
Yes, I am stealing that and crediting both Pierce and you, thanks!
My bad. I should have checked that attribution before stating it here. Check out this 2017 opinion column on Mediate by Chris Falcinelli, who asserts in a self-deprecating, mock-outraged way that the idea that Trump is “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person” was originally his, and then metastasized into the other forms on Twitter etc.
https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-is-a-dumb-persons-idea-of-a-smart-person/
THANKS! Elizabeth, -Oh ok the ENTIRE previous reply was wiped out, screw it, this is MICROSOFT hot keys, 'predictive text, ' the laptop, dubious wifi (i am temp relocated in hotel while apt renovated along w/ rest of bldg.) I will NOT try to rsearch much earlier usage from like 1930's - 1950s - some pundit or maybe NV Peale ? Satirized as such...
I’m honored.
Malevolent cartoons! Love it.
Just imagine if Taylor Swift asked all of her social media followers to donate $5 to Bidens reelection campaign! Would be for a great cause and drive the trumptards even crazier than they already are.
Although she endorsed Democratic politicians in Tennessee, I think she will steer clear of an actual Biden endorsement, that's not her job. She will, I hope, continue to urge people to register and vote. She can do that knowing that most young people, the ones who will be most influenced by her, are more likely to vote Democrat.
Ok, but your sights are set too low: the "ask" should be along the lines of having those who can, to door knock in their town or city for at least one 4-6 hour shift, or phone call from vetted lists, as part of helping raise money for any good cause, not simply for Biden-Harris.
That will enlighten those who do it in all sorts of ways - that's based on personal experience canvassing / door knocking all over the Twin Cities, both Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the inner ring and most of the outer ring suburbs, for environmental and citizen action groups over a number of years.
It's an education in its own right.
Trumplethinskins going insane over the Swift-Kelce merger is just worth every moment. The NFL loves it. They have a whole new market of devotees: teenage girls! The way overweight Bud swilling, gun toting, couch potatoes aren’t gonna be around forever!
It's work, but I have to constantly remind myself that with "these people" there is no bottom. They have plowed through more basements than a housing contractor.
No bottom at all, especially not for the The Former Guy.
Yesterday I had exactly the same response: there really IS no bottom, no lower level of "minimal rationality" beyond which they won't go! It's astounding!
Hard to keep up with all the never-ending cray-cray of the maggots.
I am indifferent to the point of being oblivious to popular music, and I loathe football, but if this couple can help Biden and the Dems—I LOVE them both!
Judith, my sincere sympathies - "Without music, life would be a mistake," as Nietzsche put it, and that definitely includes plenty of music people love and which is popular around the entire planet , wherever it is performed by competent musicians - Mozart, Beethoven, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, and the most out there jazz and experimental avante garde all have their fans, thank god.
Loathing football, ok, so what? You've closed yourself off from enjoying what else that involves the risk of great bodily harm and death in sports, alpine skiing and rugby, soccer, even basketball and ice hockey? Why?
I am a devoted chess fan, but that hardly means I can't appreciate contact sports (especially hockey, that was my team sport) and I want to at least register a fierce dissent to a blanket dismissal, especially since you made no actual argument to justify the `loathing,' it's very odd.
My music: classical and jazz. My sport: baseball.
I can't help but wonder if this whole tsimes isn't related just to American football - a multi-generational weekend bastion of testosterone-specific beat-down celebrations. I can't imagine this sort of ruckus connected with tennis. Perhaps baseball and hockey celebrations are supposed to be confined to locker rooms - interesting that Kelce felt free enough to go to Taylor in the stands. There's also the take on our medieval roots; if revenue collected is any measure, ticket-price of a seat at the Superbowl surely reflects our worship of gladiators, just as our attitude toward and financing of movie-idols reflects our worship of jesters.
Thanks for expressing your nuanced appreciation of American football, it's impressive in itself.
I can't even. This is so incredibly weird and stupid. I am tired of reading about Trump, MAGA idiots, and social media in general.
I feel ya. It's hard to avoid all the junk if you keep up with the news. Jeeze. I need a break.
We all need a break, but I don't see one coming!!!
What's stopping you? It's not realistic to think the Trump cult is going away any time soon, it's a movement, it will outlast Trump, so it's up to you and me and anyone else fed up with the news cycle to "take a vacation."
I mean, classical, jazz, rock, funk, pop, and a myriad of other music is "free online" right now! Look here's one of what must be several tens of thousands, maybe you'll hate it, so find something else, right? You are online and with a search browser, so that's half the battle!
https://wdgyradio.com
Sadly, my dearly beloved husband loves to watch the "news". He just fades out but I can't block it out so I leave the room (carefully closing the door as I leave). Married for more than fifty years so we make allowances, at least he passionately votes Blue.
Oh wow, in small strategic doses, sure. I was for the last nine days or so relocated in a nearby Marriot hotel while apt. (and entire bldg.) is being renovated (AFL-CIO union job, THAT just appeared on the sign out front, good to see!) and they had a channel selection that including MSNBC, I did find some of those programs of great interest. Also the public broadcasting had a rerun of Ken Burns doc on Benjamin Franklin, brilliantly done. Hell, I even watched "Alien Astronauts" because years and years ago I read a selection of that lit, it's fascinating even when it's deeply flawed. But a steady diet of it, no, gotta get outdoors, got to exercise, listen and or play music, dance, you name it! I love 3 minute blitz chess at playchess.com in the "Cafe" because it's FREE FREE FREE and quite enjoyable as diversion and for stimulating the brain. But our current news cycle, wow.
We are blessed to have a First Amendment and yet at times CURSED by the misuse, still:
constitutioncenter.org/go/firstamendment
From Jefferson to Brandeis: The First Amendment, the Declaration, and the Constitution
Yet here you are.
And you as well.
Yeah in between The Guardian and working out, c'est la vie!
I'm sorry, but I am so freaking tired of the "Taylor Swift boyfriend freakout" that I'm about to shut down from all the coverage.
I don't care who goes to bed with whom.
The media is feeding this frenzy and I wish to almighty heaven they shut the hell up about it.
Those who feed on it are pretty damn pathetic, and it's all part of our celebrity driven insanity that got us Donald Trump in the White House in the first place.
It's not any of our business what she and her boyfriend do in private, public and the sooner we get over our celebrity fixation on these two and start doing something about our real problems, the better we will all be.
Over and out.
I normally don’t go for the dizzy pop star scremin fan stuff. But if Taylor Swift influences a lot of people to vote, and especially if she endorses Joe Biden, she’s my new hero.
Yes!
Oh no, it's the worst thing ever, really?
It feels like a distraction fromm the idiocy going on in congress. We don't have to play that game.
??? LOL.
Let me edit this: you are surely not claiming "we" can't pay attention to more than one facet of this Rube Goldberg contraption with multiple popping and pustulating moving parts that IS "our"
collective politics and culture, based on some "raw feels" that you are projecting onto every other observer, are you?
If so, please reconsider your hypothesis! You are unnecessarily limiting your own imaginative scope for further reflection, aren't you?
Oh Lord, Richard. As a retired public defender, I do enjoy your comments so. "Rube Goldberg contraption and multiple popping and pustulating moving parts" Love it!!!
Thanks, I know there have been times before my apartment was being renovated (I was just over there, other side the Mississippi River, oldest part of the City of Mpls. about a mile 1/4 from this hotel "at the Depot," an extensively rehabbed Old Milwaukee Train Depot area where Marriot has two separate but connected hotels, relocated here while apt. is finished, and only the window replacements are left - construction
guys called that "easy peasy" in this kind of unseasonable weather) that I looked at my place, with "way too many books," "way too many guitars, amps, keyboard synths, etc.", an inversion table & free weights, plus the usual odds and ends - and THAT exact phrase, minus the "pops and pustulations" thank god, pretty well described it if I didn't carefully replace stuff a.s.a.p.
Cursed to live in interesting times!?