From OutKick · Joe Kinsey · · 3m
Screencaps: Gracie Hunt, Sweeney outrage, and 4th grade hoops
A Tuesday morning sports column swings from fake celebrity outrage to a Chiefs heiress's flag-waving post to the madness of youth sports.
In brief
A Tuesday morning sports column swings from fake celebrity outrage to a Chiefs heiress's flag-waving post to the madness of youth sports. Youth sports panic is parents performing for each other on social media, not kids falling behind. Originally reported by OutKick.
Tuesday Screencaps opens
Joe Kinsey's OutKick column starts with a thought experiment: what would female athletes say if Lizzo, not Sydney Sweeney, had fronted the prediction market ad?
The Sweeney backlash
Female athletes spent days blasting Sweeney's barely-clothed promo spots for a gambling app aimed squarely at men with money to burn.
The Lizzo double standard
Kinsey argues the same critics would be cheering if a different body type held those footballs. Brave. Stunning. Owning her sexuality on her own terms.
“She's owning her sexuality on her OWN TERMS!”
It's about the hat
His read on the real motive: the outrage traces back to a MAGA hat Sweeney wore at a party roughly four years ago, not to the ad itself.
“These frauds hate Sweeney because of some MAGA hat at a party like four years ago.”
Brands need a backup
Sweeney has become the Pat McAfee of the hot-endorser market, a single name everyone competes for. Kinsey says the ad world needs a second option.
“We need another Sweeney to step forward.”
Gracie Hunt at Arrowhead
The Chiefs heiress posted a patriotic message after the home opener, writing about the anthem filling Arrowhead and a B-2 bomber passing overhead.
“One nation, under God. 🇺🇸”
Timed to 9/11
Her post landed days after the September 11 anniversary and thanked the people who serve, closing on the land of the free because of the brave.
“May we never take for granted the land of the free because of the brave.”
Burned out but impressed
Kinsey admits the nonstop Gracie content wears on him because it is always so polished. This one, he says, was a home run.
“This is how it's done.”
Reverse Mount Rushmore
A reader asks for the worst Bengals quarterbacks ever. Kinsey gives up one name he clearly still resents: Akili Smith.
“God, he was terrible.”
Basketball in September
An Omaha youth football coach rescheduled a rained-out practice, only for parents to say their 4th graders now had basketball. In Nebraska. During football season.
“Basketball bleeding into football season is borderline blasphemous in Nebraska.”
Parents performing online
Kinsey blames Instagram and Facebook. Suburban parents watch friends' kids fly across the country for travel ball and refuse to look like the losers of the group.
“Suburban parents don't want to be seen as failures.”
The high school game test
His measure of whether a kid is fine: take them to a local football game. If they can find a few friends, vanish, and resurface at halftime for concession money, relax.
“You're doing fine.”
Christmas trees in August heat
A reader found a Hendersonville Cracker Barrel running Halloween and Christmas displays with carols on the speakers while it was 85 degrees outside.
“To add insult to Summer, they were playing Christmas Carol melodies over the Muzak system.”
The key point
Youth sports panic is parents performing for each other on social media, not kids falling behind.
