Posted on 10/03/2010 7:14:38 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
I don't like the pink chin straps, wistles, towels, etc. being used by the NFL this week. There are better ways to support cancer awareness. Why should breast cancer be singled out? Why not prostate cancer?
I sure miss Pete Rozelle as NFL Commissioner.
Maybe you're the one with the problem.
I've had relatives die just as hard a death due to other forms of cancer. Why is their suffering any more or less important?
I think pretty naive if you don't think political-correctness and feminism has something to do with the funding of various forms of cancer, all of which are equally devastating.
You don't think it's odd that the NFL is concerned stopping breast cancer but isn't promoting prostate cancer screening since the majority of their viewers and fans are men but are pandering to only one form of cancer?
Surely, the NFL can be charitable enough to diversify and take on other diseases other than ones just impacting feminists. Why can't it promote screening for cancer the majority of its fans might fall prey to as well?
Komen is by no means the first to make that level of push. I remember the 80s and MDA, seemed in August you couldn’t buy anything without a picture of Jerry Lewis and one of “his” kids next to the register.
I’m pointing out that it’s nothing new, or exciting, and most of all that it doesn’t effect the game. That was your argument that it’s injected into the game and some how changing it.
I just pointed to MDA. And really UW is is at least as omnipresent, they just hit things from a different angle, they like to get corporations to hassle their employees. Our UW “coordinator” sends out e-mails at least weekly.
In the end it’s a matter of how do you live life, are you looking for reasons to get mad or not. If you’re looking for reasons to get made then pink ribbons provide one, if not it’s just there. But getting mad over pink stuff is pretty silly.
And they should do more for prostrate cancer. MLB does pink bats and blue bats or other alterations to equipment on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
October happens to be breast cancer month. And, they do have better PR than other forms of cancer.
They talked about it pretty extensively last year. The league is allowing them to use pink for “minor uniform articles”, and it’s totally voluntary. Last year Chad Ochocinco was hoping to put on so much pink he would actually get fined by the league (he gets fined for uniform violations a lot), his promise was that if he got fined he’d write a matching check to the Komen Foundation. Never found out if they actually fined him. The list of available items seems to have increased this year, last year it was mostly gloves and towels with some tape, Chad was one of the only ones with pink cleats, don’t remember any chin straps or mouth guards.
I was thinking about how many hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dollars it must have taken to make all that pink stuff that was basically going to be used once. That money would have been better spent directly donated to the cause.
“Yeah ... prostate cancer alone kills far more men than breast cancer.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, this year prostate cancer deaths are estimated to be 32,050, while breast cancer deaths are expected to be around 39,840 female and 390 male.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/prostate
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast
So this was something you heard on tv?
Pink whistles for officials? Yes. Pink on footballs? Yes. Pink Gatorade cups? Yes.
And on and on and on.
They talked about it during the pre-game shows with an NFL official. Last year I think they had the ribbon on the balls and the officials just had ribbons. Gatorade cups would be their call entirely (you don’t mess with other people’s logos, and the Gatorade cups are logoed).
That’s the world of big money sports entertainment. Logos and corporate colors everywhere. You just notice when one color gets a large presence and it happens to be a bright color. Pay attention to the Thanksgiving games, there will be just as much UW crap on the field AND 3 extra long half time shows. You complained about it effecting the game, extra long half times alter the whole rhythm of the game, most Superbowl coaches complain about it.
There’s nothing new or unique about this. It just has a bright color.
It’s the charitable campaign that’s managed to float to the top, of COURSE it’s obnoxious. I used to work at a place next to a store that allowed the Salvation Army to do their holiday drive, by Christmas day I was ready to kill anybody that even owned a bell. That’s the nature of successful campaigns, they get annoying because they become unavoidable. But by the age of 30 I got pretty good at selectively ignoring stuff. By the time we hit the second half of the early games the pink was just another team color to me.
I’m not projecting anything on you, you’re the one arguing against a stupid ribbon like it actually matters. You clearly are mad about it, if you weren’t you wouldn’t be complaining. And it is definitely a silly thing to get upset about.
In my view, it’s very immature to accuse someone who disagrees with you on some point of doing so only for emotional reasons.
Good arguments (civil discussions between people with different viewpoints) lead to good insight, if not always, or even often, agreement. This cannot occur if one party continually claims that the other’s stated reasons are not the reasons for that person’s conclusions.
I am saying nothing more than what you said about your observation about the Salvation Army campaign: it had become obnoxious to you because of its pervasiveness in your particular experience and situations.
And I’m sure you would agree that a point could be reached at which many people shared your annoyance at an omnipresent Salvation Army campaign.
Your reasoned observation should be accepted, and I accept it. I don’t claim that I know that you are simply having an over-the-top emotional reaction, that in your heart of hearts you are “against” the Salvation Army campaign or find it obnoxious in your situation just because you are “mad” about some silly bell-ringing.
Good day!
I never said you were against anything, I pointed out that you’re having an unreasonable and pointlessly emotional response to some pink on the field. Since Jerry Lewis proved companies got a lot of good PR from public support of charities there has always been at least one charity that’s deep into over exposure territory. Jerry’s, Easter Seals, United Way, Unicef, St Judes, and now Komen’s pink power. That’s how it’s been for decades, that’s how it’s going to be for the foreseeable future. If you don’t like it the best path is to just ignore it.
Maybe you actually should read what you’ve written. You clearly are angered, not as angered as some, but angered. There’s no “claiming” by me, it’s obvious in your text. You just gotta learn to ignore it. There’s 4 more football weekends then it’ll go away... to be replaced by the UW campaign. Not only does ignoring it help keep you on an even keel, it devalues the entire campaign. They do this for good will, if you don’t even notice it happening then they aren’t getting the good will they’re trying to buy.
The “pink” items are given to various charities for auction bringing in many times the amount spent on them. ML baseball did the same this summer
The items are usually signed then donated to various charities which then auctions them, bringing in many time more then the cost of the items
This is the best response to this post. It is all about money and the fact that people will buy a certain name brand product over another if it has the pink ribbon on it.
I refuse, will not buy anything with the pink ribbon.
This foundation has become a fraud giving money to other organizations, the most famous being Planned Parenthood.
It is also now just a political organization.
The fraudulent pink campaign that ends up supporting Planned parenthood.
Maybe its just their first step and next time it will be aids.
Those things are applicable to any cancer, what is being asked is why is breast cancer so special? No one is putting down or trying to lessen the pain of breast cancer but there are many other cancers out there too.
If I was going to wear a ribbon for cancer it would be for childhood leukemia. Those kids go through a whole lot more than most breast cancer victims.
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