Michele Tafoya Bolts Liberal Mainstream Media For GOP Politics

Longtime sideline reporter Michele Tafoya got a shout out from legendary play-by-play man Al Michaels at the end of NBC's coverage of the Super Bowl, and with good reason.

After 30 years on the sideline, Tafoya is hanging 'em up. At least as a nationally recognized and highly respected sideline reporter.

Now, she will immediately co-chair Republican businessman Kendall Qualls’ campaign to become Minnesota governor. She is scheduled to appear on both former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s podcast, as well as the Fox News late-night show later this week.

While Tafoya told The Athletic that the move was "absolutely" her own decision, you can't help but think the mainstream media's left-leaning ways helped push her in a new direction.

She also admitted that she wanted to get away from sports after feeling she “was not as free to be as vocal about world events" as she would like.

What she may have meant was that she's not as free to have conservative views in today's world of far-left news outlet, such as ESPN, NBC and the rest. Like so many of the rest of us, Tafoya likely either wanted no politics in sports, or both sides to be afforded equal opportunity to express their opinions, without retribution.

But we all know that's not how it works in the mainstream media, where only one political side is allowed to be heard. Sports media has become full of activists, to the point where you can't even trust what they say about sports. Everything has become slanted toward their view of the world, as opposed to telling actual stories of the people they cover.

That may not have been the reason Tafoya is leaving, but you can't blame her if it was.

Follow Sam Amico's NBA coverage @AmicoHoops