Taylor Swift Fixing Games? Kansas City Chiefs Rivals 'Accuse' NFL of 'Bizarre' Conspiracy
For too many involved in the NFL - fans and media and even players and coaches - "bad calls'' require some sort of deep explanation; just existing as "bad calls'' isn't enough.
And now along comes Taylor Swift to fuel a new level of conspiratorial thinking.
Two Buffalo Bills rivals tangled on "Sunday Night Football'' in Week 5, the New York Jets losing a controversial 23-20 decision to the Kansas City Chiefs. A controversial (bad?) against Sauce Gardner negated a Jets interception of a Patrick Mahomes pass that might've been a difference-maker.
The official NFL social media account on Monday, trying to ride the wave of publicity that has come from Ms. Swift's new dating relationship with the Chiefs' Travis Kelce, published a post that celebrated the idea that the “Chiefs are 2-0 as Swifties.”
Cute - unless you just lost a game that you took seriously.
“Lmaoo maybe if is was a swiftie, the ref wouldn’t of threw the flag,” Gardner responded in a since-deleted post.
The suggestion is obvious, and many have followed suit: The NFL is suddenly making a fortune off its connection with the music sensation Swift. TV revenue. Ticket sales. Kelce jerseys. All of it. Through the roof. So, goes the conspiracy theory, the more the Chiefs win, the more Swift is on our network cameras, and the more money we make.
Therefore ... Make sure the Chiefs win!
Fixing games for a short-term financial gain in what is already a billion-dollar industry - that might collapse entirely if just one ref admitted that yes, he was instructed to throw a flag to seal a Chiefs win over the Jets - has always hit us as being a moronic accusation.
And yet ... so much went wrong for the Jets down the stretch - so much that ended with the Chiefs moving to 3-1, matching the Bills' mark - that even Jets coach Robert Saleh was moved to label the late-game action "a series of unfortunate events ... It was just bizarre.''
"Unfortunate'' and "bizarre''? Hey, that's the Jets. ... Whether Taylor Swift is in attendance or not.
