During a game, Indianapolis owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon patrols the team’s sidelines, wearing a headset, pen and notepad in hand. In the heat of the battle, she’s listening to plays and pulling staffers aside to ask questions about decisions. Former Colts coach Chuck Pagano described the reactions like so:
Nobody’s ever seen anything like this. It just looks different to everybody’s eyeball.
This was a topic last season, when the Colts were initially hot, and it was positively affirmed in media. Now the team isn’t terrible, but, given contracts handed out, the scuffling franchise is stuck. Clips of Irsay-Gordon operating on the field with the busybody intensity of Tracy Flick are now received less favorably. This then provokes a media white knight defense of girl boss engagement. Aren’t other owners going to brothels?! Committing acts of villainy?! Why is this woman, striving to know more, such a problem?
I enjoy Carlie Irsay-Gordon as an NFL character and hope she continues her methods for the entertainment value alone. I also believe that all objectors aren’t crazy here. Khari Thompson of SB Nation believes that the criticism is dumb and gender contributes to it. Well, I’d agree with the latter, but not the former. Because Carlie defenders are missing, or excising, a key piece of context here.