For the most part, fans — at least the ones reacting on social media — seemed excited that Taylor Swift was at the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets. Swift apparently is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and NBC certainly leaned into Swift being there, showing her on camera a dozen or so times throughout the evening.

But, of course, there were plenty of complainers, too — those who whined that NBC was making too big of a deal out of Swift and that it was ruining a football game. And to those people, I say I’m surprised old fogeys like you could stay up late enough to watch the game.

NBC didn’t miss one snap — not one — of that game. Whenever there was a big play such as a touchdown, turnover, great catch or interesting moment, NBC showed the replay of that play.

And when they showed Swift in the suite, what were they not showing that you really wanted to see? Yet another shot of Chiefs coach Andy Reid looking at his play chart? Or Jets quarterback Zach Wilson looking at an iPad? Some random cheering fan in the stands?

Swift might be the most famous person on the planet at the moment. So what, she showed up a few times onscreen during one of 14 games on Sunday. Fourteen! I hardly think that ruined the day. If you think it did, maybe grab another bowl of Jell-O and get back to your stamp collection.

Meanwhile, the TV numbers were great. Overnight ratings showed that an average of 27 million tuned in, making it the most-watched Sunday night game of the year. NBC reported that viewership was up 53% among women ages 12 to 17, up 24% with women 18 to 24 and up 35% with women over 35. Overall, female viewership was up by 2 million.

The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr went to the site of Sunday night’s game for “Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and a monoculture yearning for romance.”

And there’s this story from The New York Times’ Emmanuel Morgan: “Notebook and Pen in Hand, a Swiftie Watches the N.F.L. and Learns.”

Best rivalry in sports?

Among the best rivalries in sports? Ohio State vs. Michigan. The Yankees vs. Red Sox. And Shams vs. Woj.

Wait, what? Who?

This is my favorite media story of the day as Washington Post sports media columnist Ben Strauss writes about the rivalry between NBA insiders Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic.

NBA reporter Frank Isola tells Strauss, “It’s the only real rivalry left in the NBA. Everyone else likes each other.”

Strauss writes, “Their dynamic has become a fascination of the league, with fans lining up to cheer them on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and to keep score of their performances on the internet and even in NBA locker rooms. Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers? Woj. Rudy Gobert has covid? Shams. Kevin Durant to the Warriors? Woj again. Both boast millions of X followers (6 million for Woj, 2 million for Shams). Both are recognized by every NBA fan with an X account. They so own NBA news that one former league executive told The Post that they are the only NBA reporters who matter. A former Athletic executive said it might not even be worth having an NBA vertical without Shams. Shams has starred in an AT&T commercial, and Woj has been a T-Mobile pitchman. The suggestion is that they are always connected.”

Because Woj was once a mentor of Shams, Strauss writes, “Now, multiple NBA reporters and officials describe their relationship as something akin to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, the tension between them spilling across their respective galaxies.”

I couldn’t get enough of this story. Well done by Strauss. Check it out.

Zucker’s next move

Jeff Zucker, shown here in 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker is making moves. Axios’s Sara Fischer was the first to report that Zucker and his investment firm are acquiring a stake in the newsletter startup Front Office Sports, and that he will serve as co-chair of the FOS’s board. Front Office Sports covers the business of sports.

Fischer writes, “This is Zucker’s splashiest deal since launching RedBird IMI, a $1 billion investment fund focused on media, entertainment, and sports. Zucker now has a brand and platform that he can use to develop and license new documentaries and video projects, with a source saying FOS will seek to hire new on-camera talent.”

In a release, Zucker said, “The team at Front Office Sports has built an impressive platform for sports business journalism, and I’m excited to help it grow in the years ahead. Audiences are more interested than ever in the business of sports, and this investment will allow Front Office Sports to create even more compelling news content that draws people in.”

Financial details are not yet public, but this is a big deal for FOS as it continues to grow and become a major player in the sports journalism world.

Writing about the Nobel winners

Hungarian-American biochemist Katalin Karikó, left, and American physician-scientist Drew Weissman speak at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday after being awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The Nobel Prizes are being awarded this week. On Monday, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, whose work identifying a chemical tweak to messenger RNA, probably saved millions of lives.

The New York Times’ Benjamin Mueller and Gina Kolata wrote, “Their work enabled potent COVID vaccines to be made in less than a year, averting tens of millions of deaths and helping the world recover from the worst pandemic in a century. The approach to mRNA the two researchers developed has been used in COVID shots that have since been administered billions of times globally and has transformed vaccine technology, laying the foundation for inoculations that may one day protect against a number of deadly diseases like cancer.”

After Karikó and Weissman won, a couple of my Poynter colleagues and I wondered if there were high-profile stories about them before they won the Nobel Prize. After all, what they did was so critical.

As it turns out, yes, there were extensive stories about them.

In April 2021 for The New York Times, Kolata wrote a story with the headline: “Long Overlooked, Kati Kariko Helped Shield the World From the Coronavirus.” At the time, Kolata called Karikó “one of the heroes” of the COVID-19 vaccine development.

Go back even further to November 2020 when Stat’s Damian Garde and the Boston Globe’s Jonathan Saltzman wrote, “Before messenger RNA was a multibillion-dollar idea, it was a scientific backwater. And for the Hungarian-born scientist behind a key mRNA discovery, it was a career dead-end. Katalin Kariko spent the 1990s collecting rejections. Her work, attempting to harness the power of mRNA to fight disease, was too far-fetched for government grants, corporate funding, and even support from her own colleagues.”

They called her a “little-known scientist who refused to quit.”

Journalist killed in Philadelphia

Here’s a disturbing and sad story. A Philadelphia journalist was shot and killed inside his home overnight on Sunday. Josh Kruger — a freelancer who wrote about the LGBTQ+ community, city and state politics, and other issues for outlets such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Citizen, LGBTQ Nation, and Billy Penn — was killed when an unidentified person entered Kruger’s home and shot the 39-year-old. No arrests had been made as of Monday.

The Inquirer’s Ellie Rushing reported, “About two weeks ago, Kruger wrote on Facebook that someone came to his house searching for their boyfriend — ‘a man I’ve never met once in my entire life.’ The person called themselves ‘Lady Diabla, the She-Devil of the Streets’ and threatened him, he wrote.”

Rushing also wrote that Kruger “… worked for the City of Philadelphia for about five years, overseeing the mayor’s social media platforms and policy campaigns, and acting as communications director and spokesperson for the city’s Office of Homeless Services.”

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement, “Josh cared deeply about our city and its residents, which was evident both in his public service and in his writing. His intelligence, creativity, passion, and wit shone bright in everything that he did — and his light was dimmed much too soon.”

In a statement, District Attorney Larry Krasner said, “As an openly queer writer who wrote about his own journey surviving substance use disorder and homelessness … Josh Kruger lifted up the most vulnerable and stigmatized people in our communities — particularly unhoused people living with addiction. Josh deserved to write the ending of his personal story.”

Moving over at the Times

Several high-profile sportswriters from the now-disbanded New York Times sports desk are moving to another department at the Times. They include columnist Kurt Streeter and Olympic writer Juliet Macur.

The Times announced Monday that Streeter and Macur, as well as Alan Blinder, Shawna Richer and Billy Witz, are moving to the Times’ national desk.

Streeter will report on questions of identity, including racial, political, religious, gender and more. Macur will still have a hand in sports. The Times says she will “find stories that use sports to reveal the national culture, mood and politics. She will also turn her sharp eye to the lucrative and high-pressure world of youth sports.”

Witz, who covers college sports, will continue to report on colleges and college athletics. Blinder will report on education. And Richer, who was an editor in sports, will now be an editor on the national desk.

Media tidbits

• Scott Vance has been named a managing editor at The Washington Post. He will oversee the international, business and sports departments. Vance has been at the Post since 1995 and has spent the past decade as deputy managing editor. He becomes one of four managing editors, joining Krissah Thompson, Justin Bank and Matea Gold.
• Gannett has had a lot of layoffs over the past few years, but now they’re hiring reporters to cover Taylor Swift and Beyonce? The Columbia Journalism Review’s Jon Allsop with a thoughtful column: “In defense of the Taylor Swift and Beyonce beats.”
• The Verge’s Elizabeth Lopatto with “How the Elon Musk biography exposes Walter Isaacson.”
• The Buffalo News’ Derek Gee with “The final press run at The Buffalo News.”
• For the Post-Tribune, Doug Ross details the stories of Fox News journalists Jennifer Griffin and Benjamin Hall, who was badly injured covering the war in Ukraine: “Journalists detail harrowing rescue from Ukraine at Sinai Forum.”
• For Poynter, Roy J. Harris Jr. with “Advice for journalists about to read Marty Baron’s new book: Start at the back.”
• The New York Times’ James Wagner with “He Announces Baseball Games in Spanish. It is Not His First Language.”
• Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon with “‘Shattered Glass’: An Oral History of the Media-Movie Cult Classic.”
• Baseball writer Jim Caple, who spent 17 years at ESPN, has died. Here’s more from ESPN.

Hot type

• The Washington Post’s Andrew Van Dam with “The states that produce the most musicians, and more!”

More resources for journalists

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