Posted on 09/25/2017 4:09:33 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Donald Trump drove this bus, tweeting away at 100 mph. It blew straight past Crazy Town. His speech on Friday and subsequent posts about firing “SOBs” who kneel during the national anthem threw plutonium on a fire that has been smoldering for a year. That fire blew up on an increasingly beleaguered — and increasingly holier-than-thou — NFL.
The national media narrative heading into yesterday’s NFL play was simple: “You either support players who take a knee during the national anthem, or you are a racist.”
Condemnation of Trump was necessary, if not compulsory. Players tweeted it. Media types broke their ankles tripping over each other to reach the sanctimony summit. NFL team owners, following Roger Goodell’s lead, joined the echo chamber out of expediency and fear of social media backlash.
Left out of this equation — the metaphorical Joe and Jane Sixpack and their two kids, Brady and Tammy Lynn. They dropped $700 or so on four tickets, plus more on concessions, parking and swag at Gillette. Their reward: Tom Brady being Tom Brady. That was unfortunately preceded by a visual lecture on how they do not understand “the struggle” — delivered by athletes whose salaries average $1.9 million per year, supported by a group of owners whose balance sheet is in the billions.
The “1 Percent” on steroids. And that 1 percent just called Joe and Jane Sixpack racists. Not a winning play for a league that is already having a bad couple of years.
Brandin Cooks was among 16 or so Patriots booed for taking a knee. Fans cheered wildly when Cooks made the game-winning grab to ice Brady’s 50th career fourth-quarter comeback. The brutal math is simple: fans pay to see Cooks make catches, not political statements.
Every so-called Neanderthal fan who booed yesterday, along with the evil, greedy corporations who buy luxury suites, and the unwashed millions watching on TV, directly and indirectly pay the salaries of players. Fans are the reason why the Patriots are worth $3.7 billion. Many of these same fans are derided for wanting to simply watch a game. That disdain comes from self-righteous State Run Media hacks whose employment depends on having an audience of said fans. These cowards faithfully “stick to sports” — until it suits their personal views.
The marketplace will be the ultimate determinant of whether or not these anthem protests dent the NFL shield. The short-term benefits for owners is glowing press and a solid they can use on the players once talks begin on a new CBA.
The long-term prognosis, however, isn’t good.
NFL TV ratings are at a 19-year low. The national NFL TV audience in Week 2 had 10.6 million fewer viewers (96.6 million total) than in same week last year. Shares of the NFL’s biggest stakeholders — Comcast (NBC), Disney (ESPN), Fox and CBS — were down between 1 and 8 percent last week, despite an overall jump in the markets. Analysts cited lower ratings and concern over player protests. The chalk couldn’t be scrawled on the board more plainly than that. Yet, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Patriots owner Bob Kraft and hundreds of players went ahead. If they didn’t physically take a knee, Goodell and Kraft took sides with those who did, against their protest-weary fans.
Other signs of trouble: Week 1 in Los Angeles, the Rams and Chargers combined drew fewer fans than USC-Texas — even though the Rams played in the same venue. The Chargers could not fill a 27,000-seat soccer venue.
The scars of domestic violence and DUI remain. There have been 40 NFL player arrests in the past year — out of 1,700. That might be lower than the national average. Still, the average person does not make millions to play a game. Of those arrests, 14 were for DUI or drug possession, while 10 were for domestic violence and disorderly conduct.
The revelation that Aaron Hernandez suffered from CTE at age 27 has given Casey Anthony’s attorney a green light to sue the Patriots and NFL. It re-invigorated the “should my kid play football” debate. Football is losing that debate more often each year.
Yesterday’s boos, meanwhile, were a win for Trump — despite all the pious, hand-wringing condemnation by multimillionaires. One Twitter follower put it best: “Trump isn’t earning 30 more electoral votes. It’s the reaction to Trump that is earning him 30 more electoral votes.”
Bill Speros (aka Obnoxious Boston Fan) Tweets @RealOBF and can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com
Wish I had you for a neighbor!
Certainly the more the Left descends into radicalism, the clearer it becomes to honest people that this radicalism is madness.
That’s just it! This is all based on lies. There is no racist cop violence against blacks. In fact, black and Hispanic cops are much more likely to use force than white cops. And since young black males are responsible for most of the violent crime in this country, who do you expect the cops to be shooting at more often, Mrs. Nussbaum?
These idiot players should be forced to read (assuming any of them can read) Heather MacDonald’s writings on the subject. She lays out the facts.
Good article...it pisses people off but wow Trump is really picking up a lot of support over this. Of course the tradtional press won’t admit this.
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