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** OPINION
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** Ready for it? Taylor Swift could set a podcast record
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Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift with boyfriend Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs after last season’s AFC Championship Game in January. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Get ready for some New Heights, pun most definitely intended.

We might see the most consumed podcast of all time starting tonight. Pop star Taylor Swift is scheduled to appear on the “New Heights” podcast, which is hosted by her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, and his brother Jason, a former NFL star. It will be her first appearance on the podcast. Swift and Kelce have been dating for about two years.

Swifties and casual fans alike had their minds blown Monday over a social media clip that lasted just a few heartbeats.

On Monday night, the podcast put out a 13-second clip on social media ([link removed]) that ended with Swift saying to Travis that they were about to record a podcast.

Almost immediately, the clip went viral on social media and the internet, with millions upon millions of views piling up. Aside from hearing Swift use an R-rated word, it was the first time the general public had seen that kind of interaction between Swift and Kelce. In fact, that is what has everyone hyped. The podcast will be our first chance to see the two of them in a long conversation with one another, as well as Travis’ brother.

The podcast episode drops this evening at 7 p.m. Eastern time on the “New Heights” YouTube channel ([link removed]) . Industry experts are already predicting it could end up generating more listeners/viewers than any single podcast episode ever.

That wasn’t the only big news involving Swift.

A little after midnight (early Tuesday morning), the “New Heights” podcast put out another clip ([link removed]) in which Swift revealed the cover of her upcoming album. The actual cover was obscured in the promo clip, but Swift did give the album’s name: “The Life of a Showgirl.” Note that Swift’s 12th album was announced at 12:12 a.m. on Aug. 12.

The new album is available for prepurchase on Swift’s website ([link removed]) . The site says pre-orders will ship before Oct. 13, but added that “this is not the release date.”

Variety’s Steven J. Horowitz wrote ([link removed]) , “Spotify billboards started popping up in New York City and Nashville shortly after the album announcement, with a code leading to a playlist entitled ‘And, baby, that’s show business for you.’ Though it’s a collection of Swift’s tracks, Swift fans will likely try to discern some Easter eggs from the tracklist based on prior record releases. Some have already noted that all the tracks on the playlist were produced by Max Martin and Shellback, suggesting that they could play a pivotal role in the new project.”

And here’s one that will interest you if you’re a fan of Swift. It’s The Ringer’s Nora Princiotti with “Taylor Swift’s Latest Era Has Arrived.” ([link removed])

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** ICEd out
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Actor Dean Cain, shown here in 2022. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

I haven’t thought about actor Dean Cain since he was on that crummy Superman show in the 1990s with “Desperate Housewife” Teri Hatcher. But Cain, now 59, is back in the news since he announced on social media that he would join Immigration and Customs Enforcement to, as he said, “join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it.”

ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed to USA Today ([link removed]) that Cain will be sworn in as an honorary officer “in the coming month.”

Honorary officer? What the heck does that mean?

Since then, Cain has been mocked by many for not only joining a group whose tactics have been questionable, but also by those wondering if it's a publicity stunt just to gain some sort of relevance. After all, it’s not as if Hollywood is burning up his phone.

Actor and writer John Leguizamo was the first to come out and publicly slam Cain, and he might have had the best burn of all, writing on Instagram, “What kind of loser volunteers to be an ICE officer? What a moron. Dean Cain, your pronouns are ‘has/been.’”

Then again, John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” was really brutal. Most of his monologue was about ICE overall, but then he zeroed in on Cain. Oliver said on the air ([link removed]) , “Now, I’m not saying that ICE isn’t finding people. I’m just saying, when you are reduced to pinning a badge on the 59-year-old star of ‘The Dog Who Saved Christmas,’ ‘The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation,’ ‘The Dog Who Saved the Holidays,’ ‘The Dog Who Saved Halloween,’ ‘The Dog Who Saved Easter’ and ‘The Dog Who Saved Summer,’ maybe you are in trouble. Although, on the plus side, no need for that guy to wear a mask because the chances of anyone recognizing him are (expletive) zero.”

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano struck a sharp balance, roasting Cain while also making serious, salient points in “Dean Cain wants to join ICE. Forget Lex Luthor, this Superman is after Tamale Lady.” ([link removed])

Arellano wrote, “Superman used to go after Nazis, Klansmen and intergalactic monsters; now, Superman — er, Cain — wants to go after Tamale Lady. His archenemy used to be Lex Luthor; now real-life Bizarro Superman wants to go to work for the Trump administration’s equally bald-pated version of Lex Luthor: Stephen Miller.”

Arellano later added, “American heroes used to storm Omaha Beach. Now the Trump administration wants its version of them to storm the garden section of Home Depot.”


** Big numbers
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I’m no fan of Little League Baseball and Softball being nationally televised by ESPN — in part because for every little star, there’s a kid who gave up a homer or made an error or who struck out in a big moment.

I’m all for kids playing youth sports and learning all the valuable lessons that come with that. But I don’t think we should be showing the worst or most embarrassing moment of a 12-year-old’s life on national television merely for our entertainment.

But, I also know I’m in the minority on this. And here’s proof: Sunday’s Little League Softball Championship Game was the most-watched Little League Softball game in history. The game — which featured a team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, defeating a team from Floyds Knobs, Indiana, in Greenville, North Carolina — had an average audience of 1.44 million viewers. The game peaked at 2.98 million viewers.

And there’s more. The regionals for the Little League Baseball World Series last week drew an average of 522,000 viewers across all ESPN platforms. That’s an 80% increase from last year, and the most since 2022. It’s an especially good number considering many of the games were on during traditional weekday work hours.

The Little League World Series now moves on to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for two weeks of action with the championship game scheduled for Aug. 24.


** ESPN news
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ESPN’s Laura Rutledge, shown here in 2023. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

ESPN is adding a second full-time sideline reporter to its “Monday Night Football” coverage. Laura Rutledge, who hosts the daily show “NFL Live” on ESPN, will be added to the broadcast team that already includes play-by-play announcer Joe Buck, game analyst Troy Aikman and sideline reporter Lisa Salters. ESPN also announced that Salters has been signed to a contract extension. In the past, Rutledge has filled in whenever Salters has been out. But now “MNF” will have two sideline reporters.

The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch made an excellent point, writing ([link removed]) , “The move sets up the on-air talent roster for what will be ESPN’s most important live broadcast ever: Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027, the company’s first-ever Super Bowl broadcast.”

ESPN will have four Mondays with a doubleheader, as well as two games on a Saturday late in the season. For those games, ESPN announced that ​​Peter Schrager and Katie George will be the sideline reporters, with the booth being handled by play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler, and analysts Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick.


** Media tidbits
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* The Atlantic’s Toluse Olorunnipa with “Kari Lake’s Attempt to Deport Her Own Employees.” ([link removed]) Olrunnipa writes, “After rushing to shut down the government-funded media outlets she was tapped to lead, Kari Lake has launched on a mission so strange that it is perhaps unprecedented: She is trying to force her own employees out of the country. Lake has been making the rounds on right-wing media in recent weeks to pitch herself as a devoted enforcer of President Donald Trump’s broader agenda. Her latest targets are J-1 visa holders who worked for Voice of America. Obscure to most Americans, they have attracted Lake’s attention in part because they embody a trifecta of triggers for Trump’s ire—they are federal employees, they are immigrants, and they are journalists.”
* The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “Increasing the danger: Journalist killing in Gaza sends a chilling message.” ([link removed])
* Mediaite’s Alex Griffing with “BBC Reports Slain Al Jazeera Journalist Once ‘Worked For a Hamas Media Team’ As His Past Praise of Oct 7 Goes Viral.” ([link removed])
* CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo with “Sinclair is exploring merger options for its broadcast business. ([link removed]) ”
* For Nieman Lab, Andrew Deck with “Politico’s recent AI experiments shouldn’t be subject to newsroom editorial standards, its editors testify.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* The Washington Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Karen Tumulty, Drew Harwell, Clara Ence Morse and Jonathan Edwards with “How D.C. crime became a symbol — and a target — for MAGA and beyond.” ([link removed])
* Let’s close today with something fun. The New York Times’ Maya Salam with “‘Road House’ Still Reigns as the Best Bad Movie.” ([link removed])


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