Nancy Armour certainly isn’t the first sportswriter to receive an angry message from a reader.
Few have ever received one as vicious and profanity-filled as the one Armour got Monday morning.
Tbe USA Today sports columnist posted a column Saturday morning headlined, “The thin-skinned men triggered by Taylor Swift at Chiefs’ NFL games need to get a grip.”
Armour included lines such as “when Swift dares intrude on the NFL, a segment of people lose their ever-loving minds,” and “If these things are truly impacting your ability to enjoy a game, or sports in general, the problem isn’t Swift or anyone else. The problem is you.”
She also mentioned NBC analyst Tony Dungy’s recent comment that some fans have found the talk about Swift “disenchanting.”
Armour also retweeted a couple of posts that mentioned Swift Sunday during the Kansas City Chiefs-Buffalo Bills game.
Monday morning, Armour got a nasty response from a misogynistic fan.
The fact the email was sent at 4:34 a.m. suggests it might have been a classic case of “drunk-tweeting,” but nothing can excuse the venom in the message.
“B****, shut the f*** up, you don’t know a f****** thing about what men think about football,” the message began, “and the only reason anyone gives a f*** about Taylor Swift at a football game they keep showing the stupid b****. …
“So like I said, shut the f*** up no one gives a f*** about your opinion you don’t f****** matter apparently you think you matter but you don’t.”
Armour tweeted the entire message Monday afternoon, noting, “But it’s not about misogyny, right?”
That’s about all you can say in that situation. And other media members appreciated Armour’s response.
Nancy gets quite a bit of this, and she handles it with more grace than I can.
But this is often what it’s like to be a woman in sports, especially when we have the temerity to call people out on the misogyny.
Good riddance to this guy. I’ll stick with Nancy and Taylor. https://t.co/9q3elPMtms
— Rachel Axon (@RachelAxon) January 22, 2024
How can someone be THIS mad about 15 seconds of Taylor Swift on their screen that they not only *think* this, but sit down and write it in an email to a stranger AND send it? Absurd behavior. https://t.co/U0SnZUZV0G
— Caroline Darney (@cwdarney) January 22, 2024
Always weird when someone tells a female sports reporter she doesn’t know what she’s doing or doesn’t know about X sport, esp someone who’s been a sports reporter for 30 yrs at top publications/outlets in top roles.
Do men get nasty emails? Yes but not in same way or proportion. https://t.co/IKtE2GQUVR— Kat O’Brien (@OBrien_Kat) January 22, 2024
[Nancy Armour on Twitter/X]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.