Caitlin Clark, Taylor Swift, Chris Russo Edit by Liam McGuire

As soon as cameras panned to Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark commiserating in a luxury suite at the Kansas City Chiefs playoff game this past weekend, there was no surer thing than the knowledge that Chris Russo would be mad enough to say something about it on Monday.

The curmudgeonly Mad Dog is always ready to complain, whether it’s about the latest NFL news or his qualms with flying coach. But especially about Taylor Swift showing up at Kansas City games.

Sure enough, Russo was fired up about seeing Swift and Clark on his TV screen during an NFL game. He also seemed to be under the impression that the WNBA star, who was decked out in Chiefs gear, was jumping on the Kansas City bandwagon at a convenient time.

“I’ve had enough with Kelce. I’ve had enough with the girlfriend. Now I got Caitlin Clark in the mix,” said Russo. “Who, by the way, I saw Caitlin Clark play, what, 50 games in college basketball the last two years? Parts of it.

“I never heard one reference. I never saw her father with a Chief jersey on. I never saw her with a Chief hat on. I heard not one reference in 50 games that she was a Chief fan, and then all of a sudden now she’s a big Kansas City fan. Come on, stop, please. I understand you want to be a fan because they win.

“It’s ridiculous. And ESPN, they’re going to be as guilty as everybody else. They’re going to show you Swift and her and that freaking press box until the cows come home.

“When Taylor Swift’s Bob Dylan, come back and talk to me. Come back and talk to me when she has that impact. Not for the 18-year-old girls like my daughter… When you change music, come back and talk to me.”

We enjoy a good Chris Russo rant over here, but we’ve gotta say that was an incredibly sexist diatribe by the 65-year-old radio host. First, he refers to pop megastar Taylor Swift as “the girlfriend.” Second, Russo says he knows Clark’s fandom isn’t legit because he never saw her father wearing Chiefs gear at any of her Iowa games. Third, he diminishes Swift’s cultural impact by saying her fans are just teenage girls (like his daughter!), unlike true artists.

There’s often a fun side to Russo’s crankiness but, in this instance, he just comes off like an asshole.

Furthermore, Mad Dog might be interested to know that despite Caitlin Clark’s father’s lack of Patrick Mahomes jerseys, the basketball phenom has long professed a love of the Chiefs. In a 2023 appearance on ESPN2’s ManningCast, she showed off photos of herself as a child wearing Chiefs gear, saying “I’ve been a Chiefs fan since I was a young girl… I was a Chiefs fan even when they were not very good.”

We don’t know who crapped in Chris’s cornflakes Monday morning (or most mornings really) but he missed the mark on this one. Go touch some grass, Chris, as Taylor Swift’s fans might say.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.