ESPN Writer Ignites Outrage With Latest Comments About Police And Patriotism

Western Journalism ^ | 5/30/16 | Jack Davis

[Impala64ssa]

When police officers sing the national anthem before a sporting event, it is nothing more than “staged patriotism” that divides communities, argues Howard Bryant in a column in ESPN The Magazine.

“Policing is clearly one of the most divisive issues in the country – except in the sports arena, where the post-9/11 hero narrative has been so deeply embedded within its game-day fabric that policing is seen as clean, heroic, uncomplicated. Following the marketing strategy of the military, police advocacy organizations have partnered with teams from all four major leagues to host ‘Law Enforcement Appreciation’ nights, or similar events,” Bryant writes in his June 6 column, according to NewsBusters.

Bryant claims that athletes are intimidated by the spectacle of singing cops.

“Nobody seems to care much about this authoritarian shift at the ballpark, yet the media and the public are quick to demand accountability from players they consider insufficiently activist,” he writes. “They blame these black players for not speaking up on behalf of their communities, ignoring the smothering effect that staged patriotism and cops singing the national anthem in a time of Ferguson have on player expression.”

“[T]he increasing police pageantry at games sends another clear message: The sentiments of the poor in Ferguson and Cleveland do not matter,” he adds.

“Nobody seems to care much about this authoritarian shift at the ballpark, yet the media and the public are quick to demand accountability from players they consider insufficiently activist,” he writes. “They blame these black players for not speaking up on behalf of their communities, ignoring the smothering effect that staged patriotism and cops singing the national anthem in a time of Ferguson have on player expression.”

“[T]he increasing police pageantry at games sends another clear message: The sentiments of the poor in Ferguson and Cleveland do not matter,” he adds.

“ESPN should be ashamed of themselves,” Travis Yates wrote on Law Officer.

“The assertion by Bryant is ridiculous and he is part of the problem,” Yates wrote. “Personalities such as Bryant have a duty to be informed and to say things that are intelligent instead of furthering an agenda that just happens to not be true. The truth is there were 40 shootings in Chicago this weekend alone. Who does Mr. Bryant think responded and investigated those shootings? Who does he think stands in the gap between these street criminals and good, hard working citizens?”

Brant was also criticized on Sunday’s Fox and Friends Weekend.

“What is the problem here with expressing some patriotism?” commented Anna Kooiman.

One commentator noted that Bryant, unlike others at ESPN, has not been held accountable for causing outrage.

“His paranoia and hate-infested bashing has found its way onto the pages of ESPN’s mag in past issues but he and his job at ESPN have not gone the way of Curt Schilling, proving Curt Schilling’s claims of leftist bias at ESPN,” wrote S. Noble on Independent Sentinel.

So espn fires one man for his viewpoint while letting another publish an article bashing police officers singing the nat’l anthem? #bias

— Ethan Parsons (@Ethan_Parsons) May 30, 2016

ESPN fired Schilling in April for sharing a meme about the transgender bathroom controversy.

[Impala64ssa]

ESPN fired Curt Schilling for being "divisive"? SHEESH!

[Eagles6]

Yeah, seriously.

[aquila48]

Boycott ESPN.

[sargon]

This guy is a f-----g moron.

Oh well, pass the beer nuts...

[kabar]

May 28, 2011.

Just over three months after being arrested on several charges, including assaulting his wife, committing battery on a police officer and resisting arrest outside a western Massachusetts pizzeria, the case against ESPN senior writer Howard Bryant ended on Friday when he agreed to serve six months of pretrial probation.

If Bryant, 42, completes the probation, he will have no criminal record of the charges, according to Fred Contrada of The (Springfield, Mass.) Republican. But Greenfield District Court Judge William Mazanec advised Bryant that the charges could be brought up again if he violates any law during his probation period.

Two weeks after the incident, on March 12, Bryant began writing again for ESPN. A company spokesman Josh Krulewitz told USA TODAY at that time, "We continue to monitor the situation as it progresses through the legal process."

Bryant is a frequent contributor to ESPN's The Sports Reporters, he has written three books and he worked at several newspapers before joining ESPN in 2007.

[lee martell]

What kind of people or groups own ESPN? And how long have they owned it? I’m guessing the major owners aren’t even that much into sports per se. They want to use this network to present a false facade of our predominant culture, to stir division and bias.

[Unam Sanctam]

ESPN sux.

[boop]

How many years has the National Anthem been played at sporting events in America?

50 years? 70 years?

And police have been a "presence" at every major sporting even for at least a century.

How would this a$$hole like it if there were NO security?

Who would protect his pampered butt if someone threw a bottle at his head?

Yeesh, the Vet in Philadelphia had a friggin' JAIL on the premesis.

Likely before this fool was even born.

Frankly, cops that work games should be applauded for all of the dim bulbs that they have to deal with.

The drunken numbskulls who try to ruin the game for normal people.

[fella]

Hey Howard Bryant! When something bad happens to you and/or your family “Who Ya Gona Call”?

[vpintheak]

They should fire his buttocks for american un-American crap like this. But knowing ESPN they will probably promote him.

[Organic Panic]

All these BLM sympathizers need to just come out and say what they really want. They want to go back to g=segregation. Fine. Have at it. And wall up the cities with your own police forces. Or better yet. Move to a non white paradise like Haiti or Somalia where you won’t see any white devils holding you back.

[Thumper1960]

ESPN fires Curt Schilling for exercising his First Amendment but keeps wife beating, cop assaulting Howard Bryant who harbors a grudge against the cops for interfering in his wife beating.

Sure, ESPN has no "liberal bias".

[Joe Boucher]

No,
ESPN fired Schilling for being divisive while being WHITE.
Howard Bryant is like obammy, a negro. And everyone knows you can’t fire a negro.
Not with obammy’s injustice dept.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

ESPN fired Curt Schilling for being "divisive"? SHEESH!

Yes. But Schilling is white...so ESPN is safe if they fire him.

No one will say a word at ESPN over Bryant's comments.

[johniegrad]

ESPN hired him AFTER these charges were filed?

[moovova]

Howard...remove 911 from your cellphone speed dial.

[kabar]

No. He was hired in 2007. The incident took place in 2011.

[johniegrad]

Thanks. Man, I’m extra stupid today. I better stop posting.

[ManHunter]

This’ll probably come as no surprise, but the Disney Corp. is the majority owner of ESPN.

[lee martell]

Disney!? A Majordomo of the Gay Mafia? Now it makes sense! Using their kind of logic, anyway.