Stephen A. Smith Supports Chiefs Fan Taylor Swift, Blasts 'Ridiculous' Tony Dungy

Stephen A. Smith Supports Kansas City Chiefs Fan Taylor Swift, Blasts 'Ridiculous' Tony Dungy

Sports makes strange bedfellows, which is the best way for us to dissect why NBC's Tony Dungy is being ripped by Stephen A. Smith on the subject of ...

Taylor Swift?

Retired NFL coach Tony Dungy is claiming Taylor Swift is "disenchanting" NFL fans from tuning into the games, a goofy notion on its face based both on TV ratings and Dungy's accidental hypocrisy. (More on the latter in a moment.)

And ESPN's Smith is hitting back at what he calls the "ridiculous" criticism.

"I went to a Taylor Swift concert. That (bleep) was off the chain," Smith said. "That was something special. It's getting ridiculous how she's being criticized by some, insulted by others, blamed by many. Grow up."

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Who is doing the "blaming and insulting''? That would be Dungy, who is an odd interview with Fox News said Swift's presence at NFL games - specifically games involving her boyfriend Travis Kelce, whose Kansas City Chiefs are at Buffalo this weekend for a playoff showdown with the Bills - is "the thing that's disenchanting people with sports now. There's so much on the outside coming in - entertainment value and different things taking away from what really happens on the field."

Responded Smith: "In the case of Tony Dungy, it's like, come on man, can we stop this, sir? Please, respectfully, please? Love Tony Dungy, love him to death. But you're blaming Taylor Swift for disinterest in NFL action?"

Two key points ...

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One: There is zero evidence of any "NFL disinterest.'' Football on TV has never been more popular, and all indications are - despite the protests of purists - that "entertainment value'' is adding to audience size.

And two: Dungy works for NBC, which is hungry to broadcast every Chiefs game it can, in part because the pop star's presence in a stadium suite causes NBC's producers, directors and cameramen to make certain they keep her on the tube.

If Tony Dungy really feels that Swift on TV is a problem, why doesn't he speak to his own TV network responsible for the problem?