An Open Letter to the NFL

You graduated high school in 2011. Your teenage years were a struggle. You grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Your mother was the leader of the family and worked tirelessly to keep a roof over your head and food on your plate. Academics were a struggle for you and your grades were mediocre at best.

The only thing that made you stand out is you weighed 225 lbs and could run 40 yards in 4.2 seconds while carrying a football.

Your best friend was just like you, except he didn’t play football. Instead of going to football practice after school, he went to work at McDonald’s for minimum wage.

I met friends for breakfast at a local casino/sports bar this morning. I noticed that they had 9 big screen boob-toobs within my sight of my table and footsball was only playing on one of them - and no one was watching it.

I spoke with the manager and he said that patronage had plummeted in the wake of the kneelers and it had them leery of losing additional business. As a consequence they’ve cancelled several footsball-centric special events and are highlighting other sports (ANY other sports) instead.

It would seem that footsball is becoming a business-killer!

It has been an affront to me, for decades, how the hijacked culture of the left celebrates empty leftist celebrities whose accomplishments are the ability to fake emotion and appeal to movie producers such as Harvey Weinstein.

At the same time they denigrate real heroes whose courage and blood have been shown on battlefields to defend the American nation and to maintain freedom throughout the world.

Entertainers celebrated, warriors denigrated.

If only NFL fans would spend 10% of their time attending to the affairs of the country, as they did to the NFL, the country would be far better off.

Perhaps that day has come.

I am not a football fan. I do not watch any sports except the Avalanche once in a while. One of my best friends is a retired NFL defensive lineman. We do not talk about this mess since it is almost like talking religion, there are no winners in the discussion. A boycott is the ONLY way your voice will be heard.

However here is my solution to the problem. Let the players take the knee WHEN THEY ARE ON THE SIDELINES DURING THE GAME. And salute the flag and National Anthem during the pregame events. That way they can show patriotism and respect for the military and also show support for those who state there are problems with the police and discrimination.

But I know what the answer to this will be. We cannot be uncomfortable during the game. Our tushes are too fragile not to allow them a place to sit.

My first post college job was in NYC, 1974. In today's dollars, I made 30,000. I had tons of college debt, a car payment, rent and train commuter fare to pay. After that there was NYC, NY state income taxes taken out. I used to feel pretty good if I had $10 a week for “fun money”.

Compare that to a typical NFL free agent who makes a team's roster at the same age I was in 1974 (24). “The 4-year minimum base salaries for players in this year's draft are as follows: $465,000 (Year 1), $540,000 (Year 2), $615,000 (Year 3), $690,000 (Year 4)” (per Forbes.com). No or little college debt. How many entry level, 24 somethings can say they made $1M in the first 2 years of working?

But again, let's compare our lives again ....

I am 66 now. In the 42 years since I first started working, I married and had a child. When my daughter was just 6 months old, I lost my job of 13 years. I was out of work in my occupation for 15 months (yet I worked at any thing I could to keep the wheels on the cart). Both wife and daughter had braces and college educations - paid for by me. I've owned 2 houses. My debt is relatively low. Three years ago, I was treated for prostate cancer (am clean today). At my retirement, I was a product line sales manager. How did I do this? They would say “white privilege”. I call it working my fat Polish butt off

So tell me again, young 24 year-old NFL player who knows so much and lectures me now every time you get in front of a camera - how god damn tough have you had it or will have it?

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