Posted on 05/25/2011 1:31:52 PM PDT by TheConservativeCitizen
One Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens opened his mouth and put one big ‘ole foot in it today when he said, “Watch how much evil, which we call crime, watch how much crime picks up if you take away our game.” (Link to a story on the interview here)
Uh, pardon me?
I hate to be the one to break it to Mr. Lewis, but, see, Americans only get “our game” from, what, August to the first Sunday in February every year. That’s six months. What does he think we’re doing the other six months of the year? Here we are in May and there’s Major League Baseball, NASCAR (which is addictive), NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs (which is a little ridiculous considering how soft the ice surfaces get), not to mention various other spring sports if that culture is really a driving force in one’s life. A lot of these same games appear in the months from August to February. Hmmm…..
It doesn’t seem that there is a greater amount of crime, I mean evil, on the Lord’s Day the rest of the year. At least, there aren’t any good statistics I’ve found that say crime goes up on Sunday. After all, most people are at home reading the paper or doing chores. Who’s going to rob in a neighborhood where the people are home all day? A good many of us do start every week worshiping the Father, Son and Holy Ghost for an hour in the morning followed by coffee and donuts. I do see a lot of people in coffee houses on Sunday mornings, and they are hardly inviting crime.
I will say that there is a lot of male bonding that happens while taking in the local team either in person or via the airwaves and in many places, a game is an excuse to party, sorry, I mean tailgate. That might be an issue, but seriously, there’s other things to do on Sundays that doesn’t involve robbing people. Picnics, the movies, go for a walk, play with a frisbee, heck, even the shopping malls are open. This could be time spent with family, time to learn a new skill, trade or craft. Just because people won’t be watching legalized body slamming doesn’t mean that they will be looking for victims.
And if NFL withdrawal is really THAT bad, there are substitutes: the farm system, oops, I mean BCS/college, and high school football all over these United States of America. Where I live, men go to Friday night games at the various high schools to feed their love of football. There’s no reason that this can’t continue and it’s doubtful that lack of the National Felons League is going to change that. The guys over at ESPN might have it bad enough to really get upset, but, seriously, does the rest of the USA actually believe that football is the most decisive force in American life?
Or regular Americans could do what Cultural Limits plans to: quit watching. That will free up a whole lot of time.
College Football is much better anyway.
There will be a full season.
Obama will fix everything.
Hey Ray, bring all your buddies to church
He has a point, after all just look at the way the unions in Wisconsin broke all those laws when they didn’t get what they wanted.
So yea the crime will go up because all the NFL union players will be destroying their neighborhoods as they rampage through the town while complaining they need their million dollar paychecks to pay their drug dealers and bookies.
I am a fan of NFL Football, but it is a game. I don't know a single person who will go and do an evil deed if they can't watch their team play on Sunday. In the society that I live in the very idea of no NFL being an excuse for any bad act is beyond comprehension. I expect no such reaction and do not condone, except, or buy into that kind of thinking.
Again I do not know where Ray is from but if that type of reasoning works in his neighborhood then it is a good place to stay away from.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.