The NFL has a problem that it bought and paid for. And it couldn’t happen to a better organization. First it turns a blind eye to the players in the league who have raped and gotten away with it, not to mention domestic abuse, child abuse and downright murder. It has given second chances to convicted dog fighters and drug abusers — yet I’m all for second chances. It ignores the future health-altering consequences of CTE. It approves of causes its players take up — just as long as it’s NFL-approved causes that’s all about feeling good.
Rogue police officers killing unarmed black men and women is not one of those causes. The police must think of themselves as an extended branch of the military — they fight an undeclared war against a certain group and class of people that some of them have hated since the Civil War. See St. Louis right now.
Meanwhile, the real soldiers currently serve at the behest of a stark-raving idiot who wouldn’t know what being Presidential means if it slapped him in the face.
For all of the critics of players such as Colin Kaepernick who chose to kneel at the national anthem to protest the excessive use of police force against people of color and decry ‘oh how could he be so disrespectful to the men and women of the military’… they can stuff themselves in a place where the sun doesn’t shine.
You are being hoodwinked. Bamboozled, as Malcolm X would say. You think the NFL really gives a s--t about service men and women? Well, they don’t. Instead, they have formed an alliance with the Department of Defense. Why you say? Well for money of course and the DOD in turn gets a captive audience full of testosterone to promote its brand:
According to federal documents obtained by NJ.com, the Department of Defense has paid out millions to NFL teams to finance advertising and game-day military tributes.
From 2011 to 2014, the government paid $5.4 million to 14 NFL teams, who have used some of the money to pay for costs associated with holding patriotic ceremonies and providing perks to military personnel attending the games, the report stated.
The Atlanta Falcons received more than $1 million from the Department of Defense since 2011 and the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills have each raked in more than $500,000 during the same period, the report stated.
The report comes a week after Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake (R) called out the New Jersey National Guard for its spending agreements with the
New York Jets on advertising and game-day salutes. Flake said fans are under the assumption teams are directly paying for the heart-felt tributes. Instead, he argues, it's simply a form of advertising and marketing.
This coming from Republican Jeff Flake, folks. So when players kneel or sit out the National Anthem, what they are really doing is f---king with the NFL’s money. The NFL certainly doesn’t give a s—t about its players on the field, let alone off the field. And that’s not all. Even ‘feel good’ awareness campaigns are suspect and for good reason. I knew it was a reason I detested the NFL during the month of October:
That the NFL found a way to monetize patriotism shouldn’t surprise anyone; the only surprise is how efficiently and directly they did it. This sort of behavior is par for the course with the NFL. Every October, it puts its athletes in pink shoes, pink towels, gives refs pink penalty flags and sells “authentic” alternate pink jerseys to promote breast cancer awareness. The proceeds from these sales do not go breast cancer research, and what little escapes the wholesaler, distributor and retailer goes toward promoting screening and awareness. The NFL doesn’t directly profit, but its friends do.
This is all about branding folks and the genesis behind it all is the money that is made off it. Yet when real life crashes into the NFL’s spanking brand new, retractable-roof stadiums, they find out quickly just how out of touch and boxed in they are. The majority of NFL players are African-American men and unless they are an international brand name themselves, they are but one jerk move away from having their heads blown off by some trigger happy cop who happens to hate black people — ask Michael Bennett about that.
America is a racial powder keg and President Donald J Trump (aka UBum — King James, you da man!) decided to light the match on Friday night while he was on one of his self-serving, ego-boosting, red meat throwing political rallies.
Can’t get Obama Care repealed?
Can’t stop Mueller from announcing imminent indictments related to Russia?
Well, just go to your tried, true and tested throwing black people under the KKK bus.
Dare NFL owners to get rid of the next black player who kneels (that SOB)…
Uninvite that ungrateful Negro Steph Curry from coming to the White House…
Send your surrogates out to publically suggest that the black woman Jemele Hill be fired from her ESPN gig…
Double down and accuse the NFL owners and its Commissioner of being weak and manipulated by those uppity players.
The NFL has no one to blame but themselves for the current mess they are in. This is what happens when you politicize patriotism for profit while ignoring the real needs and concerns of many of your players.
If the NFL doesn’t like what is happening and going to happen to its brand, then maybe instead of tacitly pressuring its players to stand for the National Anthem and the displaying of the flag, maybe they should return to the time where players didn’t actually take the field until the propaganda show was over.
Well, Sunday will be very interesting.