Alex Morgan spent half of her media availability talking about Taylor Swift ahead of the pop star’s latest album drop

• Alex Morgan is a huge Taylor Swift fan.
• The USWNT striker devoted much of her Thursday media availability to discuss the pop star’s latest news.
• Some fans were adamant that the press should have used the entire time to discuss soccer.
• But there is interest in athletes’ lives away from competition, and there is room for journalists to cover stars as people outside of sports.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

There are plenty of things that set Alex Morgan apart from the rest of the world: her athletic prowess, her international fame, her two World Cups, her Olympic gold medal, and her countless other accomplishments in the world of soccer.

But in at least one aspect, the US Women’s National Team superstar is just like everyone else.

She is absolutely amped about Taylor Swift’s rerecorded album.

During USWNT media availability from Orlando, Florida, Thursday morning, Morgan raved about her favorite pop star. She also oozed excitement about the news that Swift would be releasing a new version of her iconic “Fearless” album this year and that one of its top songs – “Love Story – was set to drop at midnight on Friday.

“This is the best news ever that she rerecorded ‘Fearless,'” Morgan said in response to the Orlando Sentinel’s Julia Poe. “Like half of you guys don’t even know what we’re talking about right now, but [I’m a] big Taylor Swift fan and I just love what she’s doing.”

"She is a huge inspiration to me, so I'm very happy about that news," she added.

A few questions later, the conversation returned to Morgan's insatiable Taylor Swift fandom. She revealed that she listens to Swift's music "every time" she rides in the car with her husband, fellow professional soccer player Servando Carrasco. And, apparently, Carrasco isn't nearly as infatuated with Swift's anthems as his wife is.

"And he's like 'Haven't you listened to her enough?!'" Morgan said. "I'm like 'NO! There's no such thing!' So there's that."

"We can continue talking about Taylor this whole time," she added as an aside. "I'm totally fine with that."

And so we did. A few journalists asked Morgan about soccer-related topics, but when it came down to the final question, All for XI's Stephanie Yang brought the focus back to the most pressing news of the day "since you said you were happy to talk about Taylor Swift."

Unsurprisingly, Morgan was more than willing to indulge. She quickly rattled off some of her favorite songs from Swift's most recent album - "Evermore" - including "no body, no crime," "marjorie," and "willow."

"I just feel like I play the whole album on repeat," she said. "The album is amazing and now I'm really excited to go back and look at 'Fearless' because she said that she has six new songs... she added on 'Fearless.'"

"Right after this I'm about to go and check those songs out," Morgan added. "So, yeah, I gotta go guys."

After the session came to a close, Morgan took to Twitter to call the Swift-centered conversation throughout media availability "the highlight of my day."

"Talking soccer is always cool, but talking about one of the most influential and powerful women in the world is my cup of tea," she added.

—Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) February 11, 2021

But not everyone agreed. Some Twitter users were adamant that members of the press should have used the entire time to discuss soccer. One such user - who has since deleted their tweet on the matter - even went so far as to suggest that the conversation about Swift deligitimized women's sports.

—Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) February 11, 2021

—Lindsay Gibbs (@linzsports) February 11, 2021

Much of our work as sports journalists involves covering athletes' lives away from competition. In fact, just by clicking into this article, you are lending credence to the idea that interest in sports' biggest stars transcends the field, court, rink, diamond, or gridiron.

So Alex Morgan loves Taylor Swift. She's also a phenomenal soccer player. There is room for both to be true and for journalists to write about each.

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