I was certainly rooting for the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of Sundays back. And, after that, I wanted the underdog Detroit Lions to pounce all over the San Francisco 49ers.
To be clear, the drama staged by the NFL powers-that-be surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce was not the motivating factor for cheering on the Ravens. What turned me into a Raven’s fan was my appreciation that the Ravens’ coach gave glory where glory was due the previous Sunday in his team’s win over the Houston Texans. The coach began his postgame press conference by reading a Scripture verse where all praise went to God Most High when it came to victory.
I watched most of the Ravens/Chiefs game until the Ravens were involved in a couple of wacky plays. Behind by ten points at the time, but with most of the 4th quarter yet to play, the deficit was certainly not insurmountable. But when the quarterback threw an interception into the end zone with just under seven minutes to play, I had had enough. I mean, the QB had a receiver wide open but decided to try to thread the needle with another receiver caught between three defensive players? Go figure.
Post-game analysis, which spanned many days, got people talking about the possibility of a rigged game. It certainly seems that if you’re looking for viewership in the upcoming Super Bowl, you would want more than just a toss-up and a “may the best team win” the sole ho-hum driving force. Wouldn’t you want drama, intrigue, and, yes, a bit of romance thrown into the mix? Now that’s a show! And that combination would draw in a totally new audience to replace the fans that had dwindled away because of your far-left end-zone messaging and your everything-gay promotions. (By the way, can a man who has transgendered into a woman soon be part of an NFL squad so that the league can brag “woman player” inclusivity?)
And if you want to ensure that your Chiefs are seen as the good guys in the upcoming matchup, you certainly don’t want the underdog, never-been-to-the-big-dance Lions in the mix. We all know how much America loves to root for the underdog.
Now, I want to make myself clear. I am not suggesting here that there is any provable hanky-panky within the halls of power of the NFL. I am just suggesting that I think it is fair to say that the way things have worked out has caused more than just a few of us to utter one big, “Huh?“
Okay, the NFL has gone woke, and the upcoming Super Bowl is appealing to many in that peculiar camp. I, for one, will be tuning out, but I’m sure things will work out for the best. It will at least be a close enough game, and the end result will wrap up a wonderful, season-long narrative.
So, where are the stories from those on the right?
To continue with the sports theme, why are we always playing defense? Where is our offense?
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch Tucker Carlson conduct a solemn interview with an internet sensation on X who goes by the moniker “Catturd.” Catturd, of course, is not his real name, like William, Mike, or Carl Catturd. Nonetheless, he has an interesting story of how he went from being a drug-using, tie-dye-wearing, honest-to-goodness hippie to championing the common-sense viewpoint of the right. What happened?
While working construction, Catturd and his builder buddies would listen to Rush Limbaugh broadcasts. Because he overwhelmingly agreed with Rush and his arguments against the left, Catturd soon came to realize that he himself was a conservative.
Catturd decided to start tweeting his own opinions and, before long, found himself famous. His tweets even got under the skin of the high and mighty, like Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Catturd posted a cartoon mocking the congressman’s support of the war in Ukraine, and this started a heated tweet exchange. Kinzinger threatened to punch Catturd’s lights out if they ever met on the field of battle.
Now why would a relatively small player in the culture wars be used here as an example of pushback to the Taylor Swift’s of the world?
I think it comes down to what’s going on behind the scenes.
The left controls all the big messaging outlets known as the mainstream media. But the right seems to have a whole army of rabble-rousers behind the scenes in the Twittersphere. In political days of yore (Nixon in the 1970s), the term “Silent Majority” referred to the folks that were a strong, powerful motivating force in the culture but did not have a megaphone within the media. Something very similar is stirring today.
Bold, outspoken champions on the right may have been shoved to the sidelines. (Think of Tucker Carlson, whose newfound home on X is roaring like a house on fire.) But add to their continued influence a great number of other X heroes like Jack Posobiec and rising stars like Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk and old mainstays like Glenn Beck and Eric Metaxas (both of whom I have worked with previously)—let’s just say that America’s personal 2024 Super Bowl, this year’s presidential election, is far from played out.
Be encouraged. Our movement is grassroots. And when we can build on the conservative clawing and scratching of a guy named Catturd, anything is indeed possible.
One final note: As far as I know, Taylor Swift has not yet made an “official” political endorsement—and neither has Catturd, for that matter. They are both keeping their powder (or litter-box litter) dry for now.
A version of this article appeared originally at TheBlaze.com.
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Albin Sadar is author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries. Albin was formerly the producer of “The Eric Metaxas Show.”