According to thehelpsavefoundation.org, every 9 seconds a woman in the United States is assaulted or beaten. 20 people (both men and women) are victims of physical violence EVERY minute. 1 in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year, and 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence. (thehelpsavefoundation.org) After those sobering facts, let’s talk about what has a lot of men and women mad... the less than 25 seconds the incredible Taylor Swift has been shown over a three-hour span of broadcasts of the games she is supporting her boyfriend at. (If you want to disagree with this, you can head over to the New York Times article that did the time analysis.) Is everyone ok? Truly? Why is something so innocent and beautiful to see, making some people SO angry? To me, seeing two people so in love with each other supporting one another in the highlight of their careers is so remarkable. No one seemed to fret when the kick-ass Jason Kelce was shown enthusiastically cheering his brother on numerous times at the Buffalo game, so why Taylor? Mind you when she is shown it is not disrupting a play in the game. Not only that, but according to The New York Post, Taylor becoming a part of the NFL scene has generated $330 MILLION dollars for them. If you love the NFL, isn’t that something great? Female viewership has also gone up by over 20 percent in the 18-24, and 35-plus age bracket. According to NBC, that’s an increase of more than 2 million women viewers. (finance.yahoo.com) In a time where people are struggling to fill their tanks and feed their families, can’t we all just enjoy the things around us that are bringing others joy instead of throwing an adult temper tantrum? (Looking at you guy who smashed a record in a Lover sleeve on Tiktok that wasn’t even a Taylor record inside of it, ha!!) This all may seem silly to you as a reader, me on a soapbox defending Taylor Swift. To me, it’s not. If you want to stick around, I can tell you why.
Taylor has always been for the underdogs. She has never broken a sweat over the endless criticism she receives and has received over the span of her twenty-year career. She carries herself with the utmost grace and class. She has grown up in the public eye, taking every hit she’s been given and turning it into incredible art, entertainment, and philanthropy. Taylor is for the girls who were bullied. The girls who walked with their heads down in the hallways, because they knew they’d get a mean comment if they looked up. The girls who had the biggest hearts, that people took advantage of. She is for the women who have grown into strong, like-minded, successful people because they’ve had HER by their sides to get them through some of the hardest times of their lives. Death, birth, falling in love, heartbreaks, you name it. She was there. Being the same age as Taylor, I first discovered her on Myspace (whewww, aging myself) when I was a young teenager. I remember hearing those first few chords of her twangy first hit, “Tim McGraw” and I knew I was hooked. Back then, you could add one single song to your Myspace page that would play when people scrolled it. I never took it off. It lived there until Myspace evaporated into thin air. Country music wasn’t, “cool” then. But I grew up listening to it. From there, history began in her career, and I am so proud of the woman she has become professionally. I’ve never not been a Taylor fan. I’ve been lucky to see her twice in concert. I think her colliding with the NFL world because of her relationship with Travis Kelce is and is going to continue to be a positive thing for little kids and adults to see. I know for my son; it already has been.
When my son’s father died when he was a baby, one thing I always have been down on myself about was the lack of him falling in love with a sports team. It sounds wild when you think about it, but that’s one of those things you imagine when it comes to your typical father-and-son bond. Over the years, he’s dabbled in some sports but nothing that ignited any passion in him to stick with. But he did fall in love with music and playing guitar. That eight-year-old little body and magnificent brain has been taking lessons for over a year now and just did his first concert on stage playing his electric guitar. Music has always been a huge passion in my life, my entire childhood I was involved in singing along with some sports. But music was always it. My escape. He and I bond so much over of love for it, BUT I could never get him on the Taylor Swift train. Not until I dragged him to the Eras Tour Movie. He walked into that theatre with me on a Sunday morning just to make me happy, but he walked out a fan. The minute he sat down; he was given a friendship bracelet by a stranger. I’ll never forget the smile on his face. Taylor Swift fans are a community, just like sports teams are. Those three hours together, watching him see her perform on a big screen mesmerized by her grit and stage presence was confirming his love for music and entertainment. Since then, he has loved listening to her with me and learning about her, and like mostly everyone else has become enthralled in the beautiful love story that’s unfolding with her and Travis Kelce. He asked to start watching the Chiefs games, hoping to get a glimpse of Taylor but also loving seeing Travis play. Every time that man is on the screen I hear, “There he is!” It has healed the part of me where I thought I wasn’t fully fulfilling his needs as a parent for lack of passion for sports in his young life. What struck me even more this past Sunday, was his admiration for a loving, supportive relationship that they are showing for each other for all the world to see unapologetically. To both of our surprise, Taylor came down on the field after that win. My son asked me casually if Travis had seen her on the Eras tour, to which I responded Yes. His sweet little voice then said, “They really support each other. That’s what you do when you love someone.” If that right there isn’t enough for you, I don’t know what is. I don’t care how much money someone has, or what their political opinions are, but musicians and sports players are heroes to children whether we like it or not. I can happily support seeing my son watch a football player treat the biggest star in music the way she is supposed to be treated and vice versa. The way they both celebrate each other equally is such an important example for the young minds watching both the games and her shows. I thought about what he said all night and rolled my eyes at every comment I saw about the hissy fits grown men and women were throwing over a whopping less than 25 seconds per game seeing someone so in love cheer on her man. That night my son asked me to buy him a Travis Kelce jersey for the Superbowl and exclaimed how excited he was to watch it with me. You bet your ass I bought that jersey.
I think the biggest takeaway here is, we all need to do better. As humans, and as adults. Our children are seeing everything we do and absorbing it like sponges. Do you want your son or daughter to make themselves smaller because someone has a problem with something that excites them? No. I’m so tired of people being angry over things that warrant no anger. Sports and entertainment are supposed to be fun and unite people, not cause anger, hatred, and abuse. Did you know there is a 10% spike in domestic abuse reports during the first hour following a loss of an NFL game? (applevalleycounseling.org) From this one study out of the numerous, yes numerous, that I read this statistic covers several states throughout the country from a study done in 2022. Why isn’t this something we’re getting angry about? As a DV survivor myself from many years ago, I think people need to be more aware of what is happening right around them and redirect themselves. I think a lot of people have a lot of healing to do inside. I’m going to include a few links here to some of the other articles in relation to this topic at the bottom of this post. I encourage you to read them.
Go Chiefs!
And go Taylor.