The Democrat Party just nominated a man for the US Senate who thinks America's most popular sport is built on toxic masculinity.
Now he wants Michigan to send him to Washington.
What this man wrote about the sport that made him is something Michigan football fans will never forget.
He Played the Game and Then Stabbed It in the Back
El-Sayed was a two-year starting captain at Bloomfield Hills Andover High School – center on offense, nose guard on defense.
Then he picked up a pen.
In a 2021 Substack post responding to Jon Gruden's resignation from the Las Vegas Raiders, El-Sayed declared that "the toxic masculinity at the heart of America's most popular sport – and men's sports culture more generally – is way deeper than a few emails."
He called racism, misogyny, and homophobia the "lingua franca" of football locker rooms.
He said he enjoyed his time on the field but endured "the worst kinds of racist taunting" the moment he stepped off it.
And then he proposed the solution.
Ted Lasso – a fictional soccer coach from an Apple TV+ streaming show – who bakes cookies for his boss and cries on command.
"Ted cries. He talks through his problems. He encourages his players," El-Sayed wrote approvingly.
That's the model this man wants for American athletic culture.
The Radical Who Beat the Establishment by a Razor
Bernie Sanders endorsed him.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed him.
Hasan Piker – the Twitch streamer who praised Hezbollah – campaigned for him.
The Michigan Democrat establishment tried to stop him with Congresswoman Haley Stevens.
He beat her anyway – by less than one percentage point.
Now he's telling Michigan voters he's ready to unify the party and take on Republican Mike Rogers in November.
Multiple polls show Rogers leading.
A Michigan Education Association survey put Rogers ahead by 10 points in a head-to-head matchup.
The Senate GOP's campaign arm released a memo calling El-Sayed "the most radical Senate nominee in U.S. history."
That's not opposition spin – that's a description of a man who thinks Ted Lasso should replace Vince Lombardi.
This Is What Democrats Actually Believe About You
El-Sayed's football post wasn't a mistake or a youthful opinion he's walked back.
It was a fully developed worldview from a man with a medical degree and a Rhodes Scholarship who wants to represent Michigan in the United States Senate.
He looked at coaches like Lombardi, Belichick, and Saban – men who built dynasties through demanding standards and unapologetic competition – and decided the sport needed more men who bake cookies and cry in public.
He also tied his sports preferences directly to his ideology, writing that European soccer "speaks to my politics" because it is "deeply egalitarian."
Republican Congressman Byron Donalds ripped El-Sayed.
“I would say that he’s soft, and I would tell the men in the state of Michigan this is why you cannot elect morons and fools like this El-Sayed guy,” he said. “The Democrats … want some guy who could put on a T-shirt and go out there, but the truth is, he doesn’t even believe in basic American culture.”
https://twitter.com/nathanbrand/status/2086947693008462025?s=20
Michigan has college football programs across the state.
The Wolverines just won a national championship two years ago.
The Big House in Ann Arbor is the largest stadium in America.
But El-Sayed thinks the sport that fills it every Saturday is governed by toxic masculinity.
Every Michigan man who ever played the game, coached the game, or watched from the stands just found out what Abdul El-Sayed thinks of them.
The polling shows they already have an answer.
Sources:
- Paul Bois, "Abdul El-Sayed Argued 'Toxic Masculinity' Governs American Football," Breitbart, August 10, 2026.
- "Abdul El-Sayed claimed 'toxic masculinity' is at heart of American football in old blog post," The Midwesterner, August 10, 2026.
- "Michigan Dem Senate nominee comes under fire over resurfaced blog post linking football to 'toxic masculinity'," OutKick, August 10, 2026.
- "Mike Rogers leads Abdul El-Sayed, tied with Haley Stevens in Michigan Senate race: Poll," The Hill.
- "El-Sayed stresses Democratic unity in Michigan Senate race," The Washington Times, August 9, 2026.