It never, ever cease to amaze me when people love to label certain non-political issues as “political”.
Those issues usually center around race relations, police brutality, religion, and discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation. Those are societal ills that need to be changed. They are NOT political.
The latest to step into the fray was former NFL QB and Hall of Famer Brett Favre.
Favre said he did not want politics involved in sports because it’s hurting the games.
Favre made his comments Sunday on “The Andrew Klavan Show” on The Daily Wire. He also said that he believes most fans want sports to remain about sports, not politics.
“I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch a game. I want to watch players play and teams win, lose, come from behind. I want to watch all the important parts of the game, not what’s going on outside of the game, and I think the general fan feels the same way.”
“I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, ‘I don’t watch anymore; it’s not about the game anymore.’ And I tend to agree.”
Well, let me say one thing: it’s too bad we have to see players having to take a stand at sporting events. Hell I WISH that players didn’t have to.
But you know what, issues surrounding race-relations, police brutality, discrimination based on race, gender and sexual orientation STILL exist. And since there are no laws written to prevent police brutality, someone has to take a stand.
When NFL star players headlined by Patrick Mahomes and Odel Beckham, Jr. made a video last year stressing #BlackLivesMatter, the NFL commissioner Roger Goodevil acquiesced. When the NBA and WNBA players brought it to our attention, the commissioners and owners in both leagues listened. When Major League Soccer, the NSWL, and US Women’s National Team took a stand, people listened. When the NHL and MLB took action, people listened.
And remember, this was after NASCAR (of all sports organizations) took a stand.
Let’s not forget that we have had famous athletes that stood up for equality for decades. Do Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (and countless others) ring a bell?
What people like Favre (and Brian Urlacher and Mike Ditka) are doing is simple: label something “political” or undesirable when they do not give two damns about the cause itself.
I’m willing to bet he (and Urlacher and Ditka) does not consider breast cancer awareness political. I’m pretty sure that he ( and Urlacher and Ditka) does not have a problem with the NFL supporting our military.
Favre has had many black teammates — some of whom he may have been close to — so he cannot feign ignorance to what has been happening to my community.
A wise man once said, “if say you have black friends and not have any empathy towards the black community, those black folks are not friends — you just KNOW them.”
Categories: NFL
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