I boycotted the NFL last year. I didn’t make a big deal of it. I didn’t change my FB profile. I didn’t do any hash tags. Truth is I didn’t have much to boycott; I’m a Dolphins fan. It was amazingly easy to do. In light of the new ruling of fining teams for players that take the field and refuse to stand for the National Anthem I decided to just not watch the NFL anymore. That’s just me though. You can do as you please and I’m not here to influence you but to offer an suggestion.
Some years back I saw a gay man working at Chick Fil A. If you didn’t know the founder of Chick Fil A Sam Truett Cathy wasn’t with that gay shit and donated money to organizations that promoted “traditional” family values. All the same there was a gay man working at Chick Fil A taking orders and giving up that top notch Chick Fil A customer service. It struck me as odd. Working for a company with a founder and CEO that is openly against your lifestyle just seemed kind of off. Fast forward 5 or 6 years and we have Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem because of police violence and social injustice and shit. It would be wrong to say the NFL was opposed to resolving the issues Colin was kneeling for but I can say as an organization the NFL didn’t give a fuck about said issues.
Fast forward to last week and the internet was like “the NFL is 127% black even the refs are half black because their shirts are striped if they sit out blah… blah… blah.” You know the internet stays with these theories and these halfcocked plans to over thrown tyranny. Granted this is the same internet that would punter kick a puppy into highway traffic for 5 million. Then I thought to myself would I risk my career and gamble with the future of my family to kneel on the sideline? Would I throw caution to wind and leverage my only talent against the league? Would I take my current job that I’ve down for free for years to get to this point risking life and injury to stick it to “the man”? Or would I grit my teeth, bury my pride, stand and put my hand across my heart when the anthem is played? I would surely choose the latter. Colin Kaepernick is still a top 20 QB and Robert Griffin III is signed to the Ravens with a kneecap as stable as Jell-O in a wind storm. Clearly talent isn’t enough. Clearly. With this knowledge I would know with absolute certainty that the league with dispose of me and I wouldn’t be a martyr because Colin already has that job. I would be forgotten and the checks would stop coming.
This isn’t a player issue. This is a fan issue. Unlike the superstar filled NBA the NFL is filled with faceless players. 60 man rosters with 55 of them unrecognizable to the average Joe in passing on the street. The fans fill the stadiums. The fans buy the merchandise. The fans watch the games generating ad revenue. So maybe before we jump out of the window and ask these men to fuck up their money maybe the fans can just hold on to their money instead.
It’s just a thought tho.
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