OK I really, really didn’t want to do this. For the record; I have been a devoted fan of the San Francisco 49ers for over 50 years when I used to listen to John Brodie throw to Gene Washington on the radio!Growing up we didn’t have a TV until 1963, so for the first year of my fan life, except for holidays, I didn’t get to see football on TV. I could watch it on the holidays at Grandmas, another awesome benefit of visiting Grandma back then! Thus, I am grieving over what I see happening to someone I before thought had potential to lead my beloved team to another victory in the Super Bowl just a couple of years ago!
I am even more concerned with what is happening not only to the 49ers as a result, but perhaps through this QB’s actions, what is happening to the NFL as well! What I am hating to do is to oppose this team because of the actions of a troubled youth who has at the least confused frustration with racism! Should this phony protest continue to spread (as it already seems at least one team, the Seahawks, are threatening that the entire team may sit during the anthem), the NFL and the game of football as we have known and loved it will disappear! I agree with Rush Limbaugh that the people of this nation will not allow the game to be hijacked by the personal political agendas of wealthy athletes who owe their wealth and privilege to the very fans they insult on the field!
You might wonder why I haven’t referred to this QB by name. Rest assured I do know his name and have known it since before he was a 49er. He happened to play college football at my Alma mater, the University of Nevada. Which also makes all of this even more distasteful and disgusting to me! There are two reasons I do not use his name. First, everyone knows his name by now. If you don’t then you pay no attention to the news. Second, since everyone knows his name I see no reason why I should spread it and add to this individual’s self and media aggrandizement.
You may also wonder why I state these actions constitute a ‘phony’ protest. Again, two reasons. First, these actions lack sincerity as displayed by the ignorance of the facts about the subject. The best example of this is the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ myth in the Michael Brown case. The St. Louis Rams players used the fictional account popularized by rioters by acting out the fiction when coming out of the tunnel in one game last season, when the truth showed that Brown did not have his hands up and actually was trying to kill the officer that shot him! Second, like all the “protests” about white cops supposedly targeting blacks in recent years, it is based on falsehood. There simply is no evidence for this, as the investigations into the shootings have proved, and as the stats concerning white cops killing blacks show.
One of the reasons for this disrespectful action was stated by another NFL player. He said that this, meaning the football stadium, “is our only platform,” for such a “protest”. Allow me to correct this misinformation. This is not the only platform for NFL players to protest issues which are clearly outside of the game of football! It just happens to be the easiest and safest, at least from their point of view. So, because these children of our obsession are either too lazy or frightened to avail themselves of public platforms, such as peaceful demonstrations in the street or park, or to take the effort to petition the government, we who provide the exorbitant living for them must be insulted at every game!? The fans, myself included, will be watching a lot less NFL football is this kind of thing continues.
I have heard two “solutions” to the problem of disrespect for the anthem in sports. One was a declared solution by Jim Tortorella, coach of the USA hockey team. He stated that if any of his players sat during the anthem they would sit during the game! That sounded like a fine solution to me. Until I heard the solution which was actually used by a National Womens League soccer team when a member of one of their opponents knelt in ‘solidarity’ with the offending QB at the playing of the anthem the game previous. The solution was to play the anthem before the teams came out of the locker room for the game! I think this was brilliant! In fact, I propose this as a solution to the current situation in the NFL or any other major sport that may become infected with this PC disease that hijacks entertainment for its own purposes! Play the national anthem BEFORE THE TEAMS COME OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM PRIOR TO THE START OF THE GAME. To be clear, I am not talking about before normal pre-game warm up. After warm ups, the teams would return to the locker room, and the national anthem would be played at that time. Whatever happens in the locker rooms, the game will not be held hostage to personal political beliefs and the fan will not be subjected to disrespect of their beloved symbol of freedom! Otherwise, there may be an NFL ‘gravestone’ with the epitaph, “RIP NFL, 1960-2016. Died from political correctness and stupidity.”
Tags: National Anthem NFL
Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.