Good Night Irene

[Shake n Blake]

(08-16-2018, 10:39 PM)Benton Wrote: To the bold: Good on you, I don't watch them.

And that's the point. A protest that no one knows about isn't a protest. I don't keep up with the NBA, so I know little to nothing about what you're talking about. But even a tennis fan who knows jack about football has heard about the anthem protest.

That's the point.

If I sit in my garage and refuse to take out the garbage, I'm not protesting anything. I'm taking little to no risk in my desire to bring attention to the issue of taking out garbage. And, outside of the squirrels in my attic, no one is going to know about my shenanigans. But if I tell my wife I'm skipping the family vacation because of my turn on garbage duty? Then I'm taking a risk.

Personally, I don't like the kneeling. I attend 2-3 public (city council, fiscal courts, etc) meetings a week that start with the pledge. As much as I disagree with what happens nationally, I say it every single meeting. But I respect the choice those players made in protesting in a way that was supposed to draw attention to a social issue, instead of taking a safer route.

And I don't think I said they were forced to use the anthem. I do believe they are very limited due to NFL rules on ways they could protest that would have any impact. As someone in the media, if I interview a player about a football game and he starts lobbing police violence statistics, I'm cutting that content. Why? Cause that's the job. Not because the media is evil or good or whatever, but if a reporter is supposed to get a story about a game or a season or whatever, and a player starts going off track, you aren't going to talk to that player again.

So, could players use an awards ceremony to discuss racial problems? Sure. And they would get just as ignored as standing on a corner and shouting the end is nigh.

I know folks who don't watch the NFL and aren't aware of the protests. But most folks who pay any attention know about the Anthem protests. They also know that the Golden State Warriors refused to go to the White House. They also know LeBron James (the biggest sports star on the planet) is a huge Hillary fan and hates him some Trump.

To the bolded: You are unlike any member of today's national media. CBS, PFT, ESPN, Yahoo and many other outlets absolutely LOVE when players speak out politically. I know because on any given day, I find stories with a political slant on each of those sights. If Steve Kerr remarks on Trump, there are 50 articles about it the next day. Shoot, they go out of their way to ASK political questions at times.

Randy Moss wants to wear a tie bearing the names of black folks killed by police? I'll see the story printed. If Richard Sherman says Trump should be impeached and Kaepernick should be President, you'll be reading about it on 90% of sports sites the next day.

So whether you want to to roll with "forced" to use the Anthem or just say NFL players are "very limited" in how they can be heard, I disagree either way. They can and will be heard, because most of today's sports media is on the same side they are.