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.
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]