With all the uproar about NFL players kneeling when the national anthem was played before games, there is much fake and suspect support for those kneeling and the cause they support, the shooting deaths of black men by law enforcement. Let’s examine this situation.
The players supporting the cause by kneeling, interlocking arms, or any other type of action thought inappropriate while the national anthem is played is certainly their right. These are men, supposedly mature professionals (OK, let’s give them the benefit of doubt) in their sport of professional football, where salaries sitting the pine are more than most of us will ever make in our lifetimes. Those players who have been coddled and told they are stars at every step of the way to the NFL. Regardless of being paid huge sums for their football abilities and prowess, they can protest. Their management even supports the protests, as evidenced by owners being present on the field and sometimes participating while the protest occurs.
The only problem with the protest is that it is done without regard to the feelings of the paying spectators in the stands, the viewers watching television, or those listening to radio coverage commenting on the activities on the field during the anthem. You know, the people that pay the freight.
Those huge salaries to players and payouts to owners by sponsors and television/radio contracts are paid through us, those that support the NFL by our viewership. Those that do the living, working, and dying – those rubes in America that believe in something greater than themselves; God, Mom, flag, and apple pie. And if you want to protest at work on our time by showing disrespect to the national anthem and the flag, you do so at your own peril.
These overblown, junior high kids in adult bodies, are “at will” employees and can be fined or fired for any offense outside of the NFL handbook for players. If they are injured beyond repair, or can’t measure up to past performance on the field, they are traded or cut from the roster. Out of a job, many through no fault of their own other than through playing the game. The vast majority of these players are not Rhodes scholars and are mostly followers, not leaders.
To trivialize any deaths by law enforcement without putting the situation into context is wrong, but President Barack Obama did it many times. He accused law enforcement before he knew all the facts. He couldn’t wait to get his face in front of a camera to comment. Is it a tragedy when a person, regardless of color or race, is killed? Of course. All lives matter.
With all the concern about head trauma and incidents about concussions and how they affect athletes later in life, the NFL is dealing with enough without protests. Declining participation in lower level football; pee-wee, junior high, high school, college – all numbers have been reduced for feeder programs for the NFL. At this point in time, there is a real fear full contact football, the game I and many of you participated in and love, is in decline.
Has there been any in-depth interviews with those protesting to understand why they were protesting? Not much. Is there a solution brought forth by those protesting to address the problems and what they can do to help? Crickets. Have any of them contributed any money to help those traumatized by killings?
Hundreds of innocent people die every year in the city of Chicago at the hands of their own citizens and law enforcement, what do they propose to alleviate the killings and help those affected? Nothing. No monetary help, no bling given, no wallets being opened and cash flowing to help. More crickets chirping. Silence.
Let’s call this what it is, a misdirected attempt to harm the NFL — management and players to support a movement that is misdirected, confusing, and non-descript. It has no leaders and no real meaning except yelling slogans, participating in protests, misdirected anger against something endemic in American culture. Violence on the field is helping to kill the NFL. Violence on the streets is killing people. Protests do nothing to right the wrong that is in the culture. The wound is being picked at in intervals and eventually the scab is removed to bleed society and no matter what is tried, the wound will not heal.
Whose fault is that? Everyone should look in the mirror, especially Democrats and the willing media whom encourage, enflame and support these protests.
The rotting of America from within continues…
1 Comment