Defiant NCAA & Useful NFL Idiots: Football In A Dangerous Time
Watching the self-besotted #Emmys2020 is a reminder that creative people love submerging themselves in their characters. For the sanctimonious #Emmys crew, #OrangeManBad is an Actors Studio opus in which they have the central role, a turgid drama they mistake for real life. All praise to them.
Nothing new in that. Actors have been celebrating their progressive politics at awards shows going back to Marlon Brando sending Sacheen Littlefeather to decline his Oscar for The Godfather in 1973. Lately, however, thespians have been joined by athletes in this hommage à moi, donning the cloak of social justice while lecturing Hillary’s hayseed “deploreables and irredeemables”. (How Colin Kaepernick was denied an #Emmy last night is puzzling.)
We’ve described this descent into political kabuki the past few weeks. But there are some signs that perhaps the mainstream of American sports might be shaking off its lassitude and telling the woke Dr. Feelgoods to take a hike.
At the height of the Covid-19 panic, the leaders of the NCAA Football conferences were at a crossroads. Their faculty and students were largely convinced that president Trump had allowed the virus to ravage the nation. The media was telling anyone who’d listen that simply stepping outside your home was an invitation to gruesome death. The streets in football hotbeds like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Georgia, Oregon and Washington State were jammed with protesters and looters demanding their rage be answered.
How could the universities engage in something as frivolous as sports while the nation seemed ready to implode? One by one the conferences were forced to consider the place of Division One football in a society so riven with crises. First the Mid-America Conference made the decision: no football this fall.
They were followed by the universities of the Big 10 conference representing prestigious schools such as Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern, Minnesota and Iowa, where football is bred in the bone. Next came the decision to cancel from the Pac-12 Conference representing many of the states most affected by rioting and Covid-19: Stanford, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, Arizona. (They are also some of the most liberal states in the U.S.)
Considering the gravitas of these institutions it was thought that the other conferences would naturally fall into line and cancel as well. But a funny thing happened. The SEC, Big 12 and ACC— representing 2019 national champions Clemson plus Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State as well as independents such as Notre Dame and the service academies— said “Hell, no, we are going to play”.
To those who criticized the schools for endangering the health of student athletes these schools replied that there was nowhere safer to be than on their campuses in a protected environment with excellent healthcare, training and education. They’d put in safeguards and proceed with the season.
This left the conferences who’d backed out in a strange place. Coaches, athletes, their families and not a few alumni were furious that the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and others were going to play, get the TV exposure and make all the money. The traditions of Bowl Games, rivalries and tailgating that go back as far as the early 20th century were imperilled.
Why could those schools protect their students but the mighty Big 10 and Pac 12 be helpless to do the same? And how serious was the threat? Number 1 ranked Clemson had 37 players test positive for Covid in August; they won 49-0 in their opening game. The protestations of college presidents and their devoted Covid-19 advisers did little to stem the indignation.
Demonstrations and letters commenced, intensifying as the rival conferences began play in early September. This past week, the dam broke for the Pac-12, Big-10 and others. They announced that they were going to play after all, starting limited schedules in mid to late October.
While other bulwarks of American power clung to their masks/ isolation/ cases narrative, the weight of popular culture told the universities to stop impinging on their traditions.
That was followed by news from the NFL where gullible players on the Pittsburgh Steleers admitted they had no idea the real story behind the death of Antwan Rose who was being honoured with his name on the team’s helmets. Thirty minutes before encountering police, Rose had been the triggerman in a drive-by shooting. The police were trying to arrest him for the shooting when he fled and was killed.
Steelers lineman Maurkice Pouncey admitted, “I was given limited information on the situation regarding Antwon, and I was unaware of the whole story surrounding his death and what transpired during the trial following the tragedy.” To make amends, Pouncey wore the name of police officer Eric Kelly who was killed in the line of service in 2009.
Pouncey in effect admitted he’d been sold a bill of goods by the #BLM radicals who’ve captured the NFL this year. “I take responsibility for not doing more investigating into something that is sensitive to the community and his family, but it is a lesson learned as it relates to political issues that occur every day in our society.”
Rose is far from the only dubious “victim” of police that the NFL has swallowed in its efforts to placate the radicals on its teams and in its sponsors. Here’s our reveal on Jacob Blake, whose name is on helmets of NFL players after fleeing police who sought to arrest him for sexual assault, breaking his restraining order, car theft and more.
Still, useful idiots such as Detroit QB Matthew Stafford and his wife continue to defend honouring frauds foisted on them by #BLM and leftist radicals. In their blithe acceptance of Blake et al. they are insulting women as victims of violence and families of police killed in action.
No wonder public opinion of pro sports has plummeted in recent Gallup polling tinyurl.com/y3h7eo9u For many who’ve deserted the league this fall over its leftward political turn, it will take more than individuals such as Pouncey to bring them back. It will take an intervention for the league, its owners, players and broadcasters to echo the Steeler’s admission that he was duped.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his next book Personal Account with Tony Comper will be available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca this fall.