by Mark Armstrong
Well, not everybody. Just the NFL, the NBA, the MLB, the PGA…
What are they doing? Do none of them realize that their very existence as national sport franchises means that a great deal of their audience, their market share, consists of people who are proud Americans? Have they been convinced that most of us are “woke” socialists trying to usher in a wave of communism where freedom used to ring? Here’s the news: America likes its freedom—even more than professional sports!
Roger Goodell, commisioner of the NFL, says he only wishes they’d all listened to Colin Kaepernick sooner. Yes, the NFL is collectively taking a knee. Maybe he and his accomplished business associates figure, like the NBA, that their future is in China. Or maybe he’s hoping one of his teams’ stadiums won’t turn into the Roman Colosseum… Or be burned to the ground. He should note that these people aren’t impressed by any of his concessions, and in their rage might well make use of his NFL to get in our faces. Goodell has surrendered in the name of “social justice.” We’ll see how that works out for his league. The photo of Jerry Jones kneeling with his Dallas Cowboys pretty well does it. They’re not “America’s Team” any more. The only redeeming factor in this mass capitulation is the fact that, regardless of their stance on “social justice,” still no team has signed Kaepernick.
Scheduled NBA playoff games were…rescheduled. The big names needed to take a little time off to “focus on social justice issues.” What they actually did was go meet with Barack Obama. He helped them contrive the demands they would make before agreeing to go forward with basketball. They’ll be on one knee during the National Anthem, and their very own “anthem” will be played before every game. Players will be allowed to emblazon the name of a dead felon on their jerseys or head-bands, to remind viewers every few seconds that they must take a stand against police brutality and “systemic racism.” You won’t be seeing any MAGA symbolism. That is prohibited, as is anything that might hurt the feelings of the America-hating socialists. The NBA campaign would undoubtedly save a lot of unnecessary nonsense if they gave a little free advice to their fans; Don’t curse out or otherwise lip-off the cops. It’ll go smoother that way.
Major League Baseball has taken tremendous criticism for having been “slow to respond.” At first it seemed like the league might just try to let things cool off and blow over. But then individual players began to “speak out,” taking matters into their own hands as the Daily Caller put it. Dozens of players began releasing statements, or slogans, mostly chanting, “black lives matter “(who said they didn’t?). Then there was some discussion of the “racial disparities” in the front office and elsewhere in management. Not only that, but then came the discovery that a substantial percentage of players are “people of color” who must of course have their political views represented by the league. So Major League Baseball fixed it. They’ll be donating millions of dollars to entities that funnel money to Black Lives Matter, inc. Wonder if they ever considered where all that money comes from.
Golf has been the one sport we thought we could watch without having our patriotism condemned. Some caddies are wearing masks, but at least the golfers aren’t. Everything was going great at the FedEx club playoffs at East Lake Country Club near Atlanta. It was the final round on Labor Day, with Dustin Johnson protecting a four or five shot lead. Other players were playing brilliantly too, and it was a great day even without the presence of cheering fans. That’s when coverage paused for an interview with the Coca Cola spokesman. Coca Cola was a primary sponsor of the event. His interview stressed the need for “social justice,” and generally “making this a better place.” Oh, whatever! Is even golf not immune from this rush to insanity? I’m still watching for now, but they’d better cool it.
