This morning, as I often do, I played catch up with my news feed on Facebook. I noticed a number of my friends were upset with the NFL.
Specifically, they were upset with players not coming out of the locker room for the National Anthem and were also upset with players kneeling for same said anthem. They just don't get it.
Many of those same people were upset when people took to the streets during any number of protests over the last couple of years when various police shootings were reported in the news. They just don't get it
They were also upset when people gathered in various parks around the country to protest the presence of Confederate monuments and demand they be removed. They just don't get it.
Protest is not supposed to be comfortable. It is meant to disturb, to upset, to shake the status quo. Does anyone really believe the protests against the Vietnam War would have been as effective if they had only been a letter-writing campaign.
We say we are fine with people protesting until they actually do. Then, we find some fault with the message or the manner of the protest. We just don't get it
The NFL players being maligned by our President have picked perhaps the least violent, yet visible means of protest they could to call attention to what they see as a real issue of race in this country. Instead of listening to their concerns or engaging them in meaningful dialogue, he tries to suppress their First Amendment rights by calling them unpatriotic and suggesting they should be fired from their teams. He just doesn't get it.
Protest is patriotic. Protest is American. In fact, protest is perhaps the most patriotic, most American act a person can engage in. America was founded on the rock of protest. (Boston Tea Party or American Revolution, anyone?)
The American Revolution was not called the American Disagreement or Dispute or Argument for a reason. Revolution is the ultimate expression of protest when all other means of calling attention to an issue or an imbalance fail. These NFL players, and the many engaging in protests to call attention to continuing racial issues in this country are simply carrying on perhaps the most American of traditions. The rest of us just don't get it.
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Monday, September 25, 2017
Sunday, February 3, 2008
God's Eyes Were Watching Them
First, my apologies to Zora Neale Hurston for playing off the title of her classic novel. But I am a happy man tonight.
I learned that sometimes cheaters do get what they deserve. I finished watching Super Bowl XLII (42 for you non-Romans), and the New England Patriots, instead of taking another step toward NFL immortality, go down as the greatest team to not win the championship. It's a bit like being named Miss Congeniality at the Miss America pageant.
However, the Patriots should never have been allowed to get that close to a perfect season. That possibility should have been eliminated after the first game of the year, when the Patriots were found to have videotaped defensive signals of their opponent. Instead of forfeiting that game, the Patriots were slapped on the wrist, fined a few bucks and a draft choice not quite as good as the one they got to keep.
Actually, the team gets to choose whether to give up a first-round choice or a second and third-round pick. That's a bit like asking a convicted felon if they would rather do five years at Leavenworth or a month at summer camp.
The league, in the guise of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, caved to the wishes of the networks and possibly the owners. It's apparently okay to punish individual players but not entire teams. Now there is talk that the Patriots may have done something similar, videotaping the final practice of the St. Louis Rams prior to those two teams meeting in Super Bowl 36. The talk may or may not be true, but there is an old saying that "where there's smoke there's fire."
I learned that sometimes cheaters do get what they deserve. I finished watching Super Bowl XLII (42 for you non-Romans), and the New England Patriots, instead of taking another step toward NFL immortality, go down as the greatest team to not win the championship. It's a bit like being named Miss Congeniality at the Miss America pageant.
However, the Patriots should never have been allowed to get that close to a perfect season. That possibility should have been eliminated after the first game of the year, when the Patriots were found to have videotaped defensive signals of their opponent. Instead of forfeiting that game, the Patriots were slapped on the wrist, fined a few bucks and a draft choice not quite as good as the one they got to keep.
Actually, the team gets to choose whether to give up a first-round choice or a second and third-round pick. That's a bit like asking a convicted felon if they would rather do five years at Leavenworth or a month at summer camp.
The league, in the guise of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, caved to the wishes of the networks and possibly the owners. It's apparently okay to punish individual players but not entire teams. Now there is talk that the Patriots may have done something similar, videotaping the final practice of the St. Louis Rams prior to those two teams meeting in Super Bowl 36. The talk may or may not be true, but there is an old saying that "where there's smoke there's fire."
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