NFL Owners Don’t Fear Trump, They Fear Their Own Players

The Nation ^ | 6/13/18 | Dave Zirin

[iowamark]

In 1969, NFL linebacker Dave Meggyesy walked away from the NFL in disgust over the way he believed football was acting as a reactionary social force in society, an impediment against meaningful social change. In his book Out of Their League, he wrote, “Politics and pro football are the most grotesque extremes of a dying empire.”

In 1975, sportswriter Robert Lipsyte had a similar analysis of not just football but sports as a whole. He wrote in his classic book SportsWorld: An American DreamLand:

"A great deal of the angry energy generated in America through the coming apart of the 1960s was absorbed by SportsWorld in its various roles as socializer, pacifier, safety valve; as a concentration camp for adolescents and an emotional Disney Land for their parents.… SportsWorld is a buffer, a DMZ [demilitarized zone] between people and the economic and political systems that direct their lives."

These quotes have been crawling under my scalp in the aftermath of the decision by the National Football League to fine teams if their players do not show “proper respect” during the national anthem. Much of the analysis of this by righteously rageful critics of ownership is that this decision was a capitulation to Donald Trump; that these billionaire masters of the universe fear Trump; they fear the hive-mind control he has over his political base and its ability to collectively hurt ratings, attendance, and bottom line profits. NFL owners, this critique goes, want to get their league out of Donald Trump’s mouth at all costs, so they meekly submitted to his wishes. Evidence of their weakness in the face of his bullying bombast was seen, as football scribe Melissa Jacobs pointed out, in the pathetic spectacle of Roger Goodell saying absolutely nothing when the Super Bowl champs, the politically active Philadelphia Eagles, were disinvited to the White House by Trump, even though not one Eagles player took a knee during the anthem last season in protest of racial inequity and police violence. It was, Jacobs correctly points out, an unabashed embarrassment that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke out immediately in defense of socially engaged athletes while Goodell remained silent.

Yet I disagree with the analysis that this new rancid policy of coercive patriotism was enacted because NFL owners are in full surrender to Donald Trump. Yes, they are afraid—very afraid—but it is not fear of the orange golem in the White House that has driven this new policy. It is fear of political athletes. It is fear of labor. It is a fear not rooted in a loss of profits—the Carolina Panthers just sold for over $2 billion, for goodness sake—but in a loss of control.

The NFL is supposed to be, as Lipsyte writes “a buffer,” and “a concentration camp for adolescents and a Disney Land for adults.” Instead, we are seeing football—of all things—as a center of the rebellion against both our racist system of police violence and mass incarceration as well as resistance to Donald Trump. By taking knees during the anthem, the kids in the “concentration camps” and the performers in the Adult Disneyland are doing more than showcasing a political resistance. They are brashly and boldly displaying an independence from what they are supposed to be doing. They are refusing to be a buffer. They are rejecting the idea that they will be part of the “theatrics of a dying empire.” Instead, they are living by the credo set forth by Muhammad Ali, who said, “I don’t have to be what you want me to be.” This is polarizing, enraging in some quarters, and political red meat for Trump’s frothing base. But for NFL owners, the threat is far more daunting: To them, it’s players refusing to be mere extensions of equipment on the field or robots advancing the ball. It’s players noticing, as Michael Bennett of the Eagles has written, that the league is not in fact integrated. It’s segregated, with mostly black bodies taking all the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injury, while an almost entirely white ownership class reaps the rewards. NFL owners are willing to look soft and foolish. They are willing to look like Trump lackeys. They are willing to be mocked if it accomplishes a broader objective: making sports be again a demilitarized zone between people and their lives. Their aims are nothing less than to stop, by any means necessary, the invasion of the real world—with all its racism, injustice, and creeping authoritarianism—into the sports world. If these owners have to be racist, unjust, and authoritarian to accomplish these aims, then so be it, irony be damned.

This is the code red: The players are tasting independence as well as a sense of their own power, and that cannot be tolerated, no matter who is in the White House.

[Pining_4_TX]

If there are fewer people in the stands, then the people who walk up and down the aisles peddling food and beverages will not have jobs.

[dblshot]

I agree with Zirin and that’s why I am not interested in watching football anymore. Of course Zirin left out that most of the eagles players said they weren’t going before Trump cancelled.

[Texas resident]

For every NFL player there are dozens of wanna be’s waiting in the wings to take their places. I think they could replace the bad apples pretty quickly. The game might be different, but the players won’t be insulting their fans.

We shall see if the owners grow a set and take care of business.

[dsrtsage]

Ban and protest the NFL for their blatant misogyny and koreaphobia. They are the definition of non inclusivity. Not one woman and not one korean are allowed on their teams and this must stop now

[onyx]

"But for NFL owners, the threat is far more daunting: To them, it’s players refusing to be mere extensions of equipment on the field or robots advancing the ball.

It’s players noticing, as Michael Bennett of the Eagles has written, that the league is not in fact integrated. It’s segregated, with mostly black bodies taking all the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injury, while an almost entirely white ownership class reaps the rewards. "




ROTFLMAO!!

Are we to believe that Michael Bennett has just noticed the NFL is over 70% BLACK and now he has a problem with it?

STOP THE PRESSES! Michael Bennett has just found a downside to the league's overwhelming percentage of black players!

Does Michael Bennett want MORE WHITE players to endure the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injuries?

[jacknhoo]

They need to fear the people who pay the players, dang fools.

[deport]

Yep. They can’t get away from the southern plantation concept.
Black workers and white owners.

[billyboy15]

It’s players noticing, as Michael Bennett of the Eagles has written, that the league is not in fact integrated. It’s segregated, with mostly black bodies taking all the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injury, while an almost entirely white ownership class reaps the rewards. “

Bennet gets the Dumb MF of the year award along with the other Dumb MF’s who actually believe this horse shit.

Next we’ll be hearing about there being a gun held to their empty heads forcing them to play.

[zeestephen]

Re: “Zirin left out that most of the Eagles players said they weren’t going before Trump cancelled.”

Zirin also claimed that no Eagle players “ever took a knee.”

True - because all of the Anthem protesters stayed in the locker room while it was being played!

[IrishBrigade]

‘It’s segregated, with mostly black bodies taking all the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injury’

it’s abysmally terrible that guns are held to the heads of these black players, forcing them to accept the millions of dollars they make playing a kid’s game...

[SkyPilot]

The NFL players are over 70% black (on defense, the figure is over 80%).

That latter number (80) also close to their average IQ (no joke).

They are millionaires, and many live in mansions and drive cars that are worth more than what the average person earns over a decade.

They are chided by their friends and families to "do something about racial injustice." Guilty about how much money they are handed to play a silly game, they comply. Many of them are just racists themselves who hate whites, so they act out willingly and enthusiastically.

Many act like complete fools in front of a live crowd of 60,000+, and millions more on television.

They simply are not worth my time or money any longer.

[Ransomed]

Every player could have an eagle perched on their shoulder pad with sparklers in their hands during the anthem and I still wouldn’t watch the NFL. I stopped watching because it is a terrible product, just garbage.

The NFL is a sport where its grown men can’t even self police themselves enough to stop the chest slapping displays, hulk rage poses, and mincing celebration dances. The NFL had to impose swishy rules to stop its players from doing such fruity things ‘excessively’. They can still do it, just not too much. That is some true little girl type stuff all around.

Freegards

[bankwalker]

They actually fear violence in the locker and don’t know what to do about it. I heard this from a very reliable inside source.

[bankwalker]

Locker room

[thoughtomator]

The reality is that the players have zero power that the league does not allow them to have. The league could fire them all and there would be no lack of volunteers to replace them, not at that salary scale. And the show would go on.

But if they piss off all their paying customers? Then, the show stops.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I quit watching the NFL long before Donald Trump became President, and even before Krapperdick. I quit watching because the games were increasingly boring, with endless flags for “dangerous” hits that nobody got hurt on, endless replay reviews, and 5 minutes of commercials for every minute of action. The product became unwatchable, so I quit watching.

[Pining_4_TX]

“Does Michael Bennett want MORE WHITE players to endure the risk, pain, and traumatic brain injuries?”

Yes, but not the multi-million dollar checks.

[redgolum]

Pro sports don’t want white conservative fans. The NFL is trying to attract minority fans, and letting the kneeling stuff go on is part of it

[redgolum]

T
If they do that. The owners will not get invited to the good parties and will be skewered in the press. They can lose money, they will not lose social status

[Seaplaner]

Even if the players began standing, respectfully, during our National Anthem, it's not as though we would come rushing back.

I, for one, have discovered more free time to catch up on projects, and there is less in the way of soda, beer and chips on my coffee table.

I also observe that I see much less in the way of grownups looking totally ridiculous wearing NFL jerseys and other childish gear. (Not cheap stuff, I might add).

It's largely positive. I do miss some of the excitement, but it's not worth it to this Veteran to endure my very fine Country and Way of Life being insulted by the ignorant, America-hating ingrates who do not realize how replaceable they are.