Dan Rodricks: A Ravens prediction, a fruit fight and a few other things (Taylor Swift) nobody asked about | STAFF COMMENTARY

Nobody asked me, but the media obsession with Taylor Swift has reached the ridiculous. The frequent references to her and her romance with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Ravens’ opponent in the AFC championship game, are gratuitous and click-bait cheesy. I’ll have none of it.

Nobody asked me, but I have the Ravens beating the Chiefs, 30-13, with scoring by Justin Tucker (field goals of 48, 43 and 28 yards); Lamar Jackson (7-yard run), Nelson Agholor (12-yard pass from Jackson) and Gus Edwards (two-yard run), and with the following disclaimer: Dan Rodricks has not won a sports bet since 1989, the same year of Taylor Swift’s birth in West Reading, Pa.

Nobody asked me, but the claim, if true, that Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby was not fully candid with his ex-wife, former Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, about their federal tax debt — well, that’s just not good for a marriage or any relationship. It would be like Taylor Swift not telling Travis Kelce she’s already written their breakup song.

Nobody asked me, but his multimillion-dollar campaign for the U.S. Senate must have given David Trone the name recognition he needed to establish in the Baltimore region by now. His commercials must have made him familiar to thousands of voters who previously never heard of the guy — the way Taylor Swift upped Travis Kelce’s Q Score.

Nobody asked me, but it appears that Trone’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Angela Alsobrooks, will need to save her campaign funds for a major advertising buy closer to the election in May. Trone, the wealthy co-founder of the Total Wine & More retail chain, has outspent Alsobrooks by about 10-to-1 so far. As wide as that margin is, the one between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is far wider. He has an average annual salary of $14.3 million from the Chiefs; last year, she made that much every three days.

Overheard: Discussing the Senate primary, a young guy in Cockeysville was surprised to hear his boss suggest that she might be supporting Trone over Alsobrooks.

“Yeah,” she said, “I guess I’ll keep giving my money to Trone.”

“What? Really?” the young guy asked.

“Oh, no,” she said. “I don’t donate to his campaign. I just drink a lot of wine.”

Nobody asked me, but those of us who question why attorney Thiru Vignarajah is running a second time for mayor of Baltimore — his fourth bid for a citywide office in six years — should consider this: Sheila Dixon’s current campaign marks the fourth try for the top job; she and Vignarajah run for office the way Taylor Swift runs through boyfriends, hoping the stars finally align.

These repeat candidacies remind me of a time, in the mid- to late-20th century, when Maryland had several perennial candidates. They attained a certain level of local fame — far more fame than votes. Melvin Perkins was one of those perennials; he ran for Congress, for governor and for mayor. He was known as the “skid row candidate” because of his eccentric lifestyle. He went to court to have himself certified sane, and one of Melvin’s many civil suits established the right of paupers to run for office without paying the usual filing fee. He was a wise fool who said many provocative things. On the need for affordable housing following the demolition of three of the city’s pensioner hotels, Melvin said: “The mayor says there are no more flophouses in Baltimore. Well, then! Let’s build one!”

Nobody asked me, and I’m no Swiftie, but Vignarajah’s remarks to Sun reporter Emily Opilo could be the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song: “I’ve learned from [my mistakes]. I’ve had tough times and I’ve grown. I’ve become a better person. I’m not perfect. No one is.”

Nobody asked me, but members of the Maryland General Assembly should not vote to make the persimmon the official state fruit until proponents of other natives have their say. Sen. Arthur Ellis, a Democrat from Charles County, has filed a bill to give the persimmon the special designation that lovers of the pawpaw and wild plum would probably like those fruits to have. Pawpaw people are passionate for their favorite native fruit — though probably not as passionate as Swifties for you-know-who — and, having sampled wild plum jelly from Garrett County, I can attest to its superiority over sour, tasty-for-10-minutes persimmons. Ellis could be in for a battle he didn’t expect.

Nobody asked me, but Marylanders have been well-served by the two members of Congress who won’t be running for re-election — John Sarbanes and Dutch Ruppersberger. Plus, they both voted to certify Joe Biden’s election in 2020 and preserve democracy, unfortunately not the case with every member of the Maryland delegation.

Nobody asked me, but the city and the counties should conduct a “useless parking lot” inventory to identify all impervious surfaces, public or private, that are either no longer needed or too large for their current use. Retail shopping centers in decline, abandoned industrial buildings — remove the unnecessary asphalt and plant trees. Who pays for this? Taylor Swift. Environmental activists say she is the world’s “most carbon-emitting celebrity” because of all her travels by private jet. They say she needs to plant more than 2,000 trees to make up for all the carbon emissions just from her travels to see Kelce play football over the last few months. She’s in town, somebody run this by her.