I Met Taylor Swift 15 Years Ago When The World Was Very Different.

The announcement of the billionaire pop star's new album comes on her boyfriend's podcast, bringing joy to Swifties worldwide, and in 2025, upsetting so many others who just can't cope.

Me, my daughter Savannah, and Taylor Swift, with the #13 Stars jersey we presented, 2010.

What the hell has happened to the world? To us? Why are people so filled with hate about so many things, including, and in my head unfathomably, a girl who grew up on a Christmas tree farm in rural Pennsylvania, before moving to Nashville with her family to pursue a music career, who has become the biggest pop star in the world?

Hell, I’m gonna lose followers and subscribers just for mentioning her. Some of my lifelong friends won’t read further here, if they opened the piece at all. I just don’t understand it.

What is so damned threatening and awful about Taylor Swift - an American success story - the girl next door who built a 1.6 billion dollar empire one meet and greet at a time - the savant who is largely regarded in her own industry as a songwriter and entrepreneur without peer - a hit machine and social media queen boasting 280 million instagram followers (the US population is about 350 million) and 250 million Tik Tok impressions - a nice girl who dates a football star and gives millions to charity?

Isn’t that the American dream? Shouldn’t we hold this up as another example of what is possible in this country?

Taylor Swift isn’t just a pop star - she’s a lightning rod and a litmus test. She’s a mirror to look into, revealing the character of the observer. She’s a bright light to her fans and so many more, and a scourge on football fans everywhere.

Back in 2010, the Dallas Stars asked me and my daughter to go to the Taylor Swift concert at American Airlines Center and present her with a Stars jersey (complete with her lucky number 13 and name on it) at a pre-show meet and greet.

I had no idea who she was - but my young daughter did. You know how it goes - dad gets a shot to get major dad points and have a night out with my little girl - damned right we’re going all out.

And I wrote a short piece for the Stars website and I still have it. I’m going to repost sections of it here now, along with more commentary. Because I’ve been lucky enough to meet lots of famous people in settings not unlike this.

And it’s stuck with me all these years - she’s stuck with me all these years over a short but very memorable and personal encounter - because that’s what she does better than anyone I’ve ever seen.