RebKell's Junkie Boards

[jammerbirdi]

I figure this NFL thing deserves its own thread.

This cover kind of makes Donald Trump look like a hero.



Why you ask. I'll get to that in a second. Let's take a sampling of the opinions this cover was met with on Twitter, etc.

Mike @MrCockyHill
Replying to @SInow
Uhh I think you accidentally put a picture of Roger Goodell where you meant to put Kaepernick. Might want to fix that before you go to print
5:50 AM - Sep 26, 2017
2 2 Replies 2 2 Retweets 57 57 likes

RonGloverII @RonGloverII
Replying to @SInow
@Kaepernick7 is not on the cover?!?!? #SpeaksVolumes pic.twitter.com/ODcWa9Bbyc
6:25 AM - Sep 26, 2017
2 2 Replies 7 7 Retweets 48 48 likes

Satin Dents @SatbyNature
Replying to @SInow
Where’s Colin Kaepernick? You know, the one who started it all?! Nice try SI. You still failed.
6:09 AM - Sep 26, 2017
3 3 Replies Retweets 25 25 likes

Cattan @CattanScience
Replying to @SInow
How is Colin Kaepernick not included on this cover??
7:22 AM - Sep 26, 2017

My personal favorite.

El Flaco ✔ @bomani_jones
this can't be real
5:36 AM - Sep 26, 2017

And yet, it is real. JUST fucking think about exactly how real this cover is. It's Sports Illustrated. Let's not argue about that, huh? Oh, let me further interrupt myself with some choice paragraphs from Deadspin, which actually nailed to the wall the points I've been making the last 48 hours.

This is All Bullshit

Unity. That’s the name of the detergent that Roger Goodell, the owners, and the most desperate stooges in the media are going to use to scrub this Trump vs. Sports mess until all that’s left is a shiny, useless bauble. We’re already well on our way. The NFL is literally using this for brand marketing.

For as much as the events of the past weekend were framed as Trump going to war with the NFL, our bum of a president did Roger Goodell and the league a huge favor. All they had to do was release a few limp-dick statements tsk-tsking Trump’s comments for their divisiveness, come up with a few meaningless shows of pseudo-solidarity like we saw in Arizona last night, and poof: Suddenly the anthem protests aren’t about a very specific set of problems plaguing this country, but about “unity,” a cause more hollow than anything 25 branding execs could ever dream up in a conference room. Roger Goodell is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Colin Kaepernick isn’t.

The worst irony here may be the way the NFL’s new marketing initiative not only appropriates the protests, but perverts their meaning. Kaepernick’s protest and the ones that followed were divisive, and were meant to be: That was the point, to ask people to choose sides, and to direct their attention to what’s going on in the real world beyond sports. Goodell and the owners, in asking everyone to come together around the cause of the NFL itself, have done what they always do, and made what they’ve touched cheaper and smaller.



The NFL loves nothing more than a hollow branding opportunity. Just look at the self-satisfaction on the face of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones when he knelt, uselessly, with his team before the performance of last night’s national anthem. That’s the look of a man who knows he’s taken something that has nothing to do with him and turned it to his own ends.

So getting back to this Sports Illustrated cover and why I think Donald Trump can take a hero slice of red velvet cake this evening. I'll keep it short.

By now, many are the sports fans and writers who can see what the NFL was up to this past Sunday. As this last Deadspin article so eloquently demonstrates. So what. Kind. Of a world. Are we living in when Sports Illustrated can put together that photo-collage including Roger Fucking Goodell and NO Colin Kaepernick, and say that the sports world is UNITED? What kind of world are we living in, I ask you guys? Really? It's like THAT?!?!

Well, if Donald Trump didn't bring this shit to a boil over the weekend, we wouldn't have this cover and ALL that this cover reveals.

I still wish he'd have kept his big fucking mouth shut. He's thrown my beloved football team into a tailspin from which they are going to have to work miracles to recover from.

One more fucking time. There was a war going on in the sports world. It was between athletes who were supporting Colin Kaepernick and questioning and PROTESTING his not being on a roster this year... and the NFL, the owners and Roger Goodell.

A Cold war? Yeah, okay.

Sometimes a little hot, but make no mistake, that little teapot was fixing to blow with or without Donald Trump. This is a thing, or WAS a thing, that was very real and very much between the NFL and its players, more black players than white, and athletes and journalists from across the spectrum.

Donald Trump stepped into the demilitarized zone of this WAR and said, essentially, HEY, don't forget about me. I may be white orange and blonde but I'm still the biggest black hole of assholery in the universe and I want some of this, too.

And, like probably more than a few presidents before, he initiated a hot war in a place where there was only saber rattling. Nobody got killed. (Well, except for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'll get to that in a minute. But Thank YOU Mr. Trump!) But from the very start of Sunday's games it was clear to me that the NFL was going to run and hide behind its players protests AT the president's remarks and in the process the league was attempting to co-opt this situation and use it for all they can get out of it.

The deep irony of this entire situation is all of this is happening while Kaepernick himself is unemployed, and owners who refused to give him a chance because of his protest, now stand, arms linked, in protest to Trump saying that protesters should be fired.

I've got so many tabs open I don't even know where that one came from.

One more time back to SI. Really? They are SO dialed in to the realities of the sports world. THEY know ALL of this! So well. But we can now clearly see that they are part of some kind of this world where people are trying to control the thinking of Americans on even subjects like this. I can understand serious political ECONOMIC issues and how we will always be at the mercy of those who can afford to use the press to their own ends. But Sports Illustrated? UNITY? Unbelievable.

Let me finish by updating you guys on the situation in Pittsburgh. It's bad as I predicted it would be. The Steelers were victims of their own stupidity, some cowardice, an honorable desire to focus on football, and some really bad luck. I won't make the meme. But it's been rattling around in my head for the last few days and finally the exact wording and images popped in my head while I was in the shower earlier tonight.

Who will stand with our Veterans?



Not the Pittsburgh Steelers



So what's happening in the Pittsburgh area? Let's see. Burning tickets and jerseys and gear. But you have to understand, as I'm sure many of you WNBA hammerheads will, this means stuff like... you know... people have put together SHRINES in their homes. Cars are painted in Steelers colors, etc.

BARS which normally host game days and all that on the big screens are going to be CLOSED on Sunday. People from where I come from don't know anything about money nor do they care all that much to learn. But THIS is something else. These are businesses and they are down for taking a big hit in their week.

Like I said in an earlier post, the Steelers came up with the worst possible 'solution' to the dilemma that they were facing. And, to be fair, it was all way way out of their league. But they made a mistake and then they had the incredible bad luck of having their war vet stand out there with not a Pittsburgh Steeler willing to stand beside him. That's how it will be seen and written about and remembered forever by the people of Western PA, West VA, Ohio, etc. (Especially Ohio)

Mike Tomlin. He is going to have a very uncomfortable future, and maybe not that long of one, in Pittsburgh. That's unfortunate. He's a good guy and a great coach, IMO.

Here's what he should have told his players. (And NOT going out for the anthem shouldn't have even come up.)


If I could stop you guys from taking a knee out there today during the anthem, if I had that authority, I would do it. But I don't know if I have the legal ability to order you to do that. But that's what I would do. But here's what I will tell you. If even one of you guys takes a knee during the national anthem, you are going to blow up our football season. The people of the Pittsburgh area will turn on this franchise, make no mistake about that. Not all of them, but MORE than enough of them. And this season where we were positioning ourselves as maybe the strongest contender in the AFC to go to the Super Bowl, will be in a shambles. So I can't stop you, but I want you to know that you will be blowing up our season.

Now if we were the Niners and our team sucked like that, I would say do whatever you think is right. It's your asses not mine.

But for Tomlin the rule of unintended consequences rose up and bit him in the ass. That was the Villanueva thing. What would have been magic for Tomlin would have been if he'd just saw what was happening and trotted out and stood next to the guy. Oh well. The Steelers will never fire him. Ever. But he's going to find Pittsburgh to be bad fit going forward.

There is a way out! I've said this many times in the past few days, maybe even here already.

The NFL must hold a press conference. Goodell. Couple of owners, players (black players) Coach Tomlin, a couple of Steelers, and Colin Kaepernick. And the shit goes down as such.

Goodell: We are sorry. To everyone. We have heard and understand the issues that inspired Colin to take the stand he did and that he was not alone in his feelings. We have heard the players and so have all of you.

But we are a football league, first and foremost. So we also must apologize to and beg the forgiveness of every single fan, loyal flag-waving Americans, who were offended by the initial protests and everything that has happened in the last week. Without taking anything away from these players and the seriousness of their outcry which we all have heard and acknowledge, we simply must put this all to rest as a league whose purpose is to entertain and thrill and take people's minds of all the things in the world that we all at times need a break from.

Such as politics.

So we ask that our apologies to the fans and all Americans who were offended by all that has happened be accepted. We ask that Colin be included in your forgiveness. All Americans should respect free speech and understand that we don't all have the same perspectives and concerns over issues that affect all of us differently.

We are reinstating Colin and we've asked the Pittsburgh Steelers to keep him on their roster as he is given the time to return to form.

We also would like to now ensure the fans of this league that what has happened in the last two seasons will never happen again. No players will be permitted to use their positions in this high-profile sport and their time on camera to engage in any form of political demonstration or protest. Should that happen we will not take away that player's job, but we will instead fine that player an amount equal to his yearly salary. IF he does it again he will forfeit a second year's salary. If he does it for another game than we will be forced to permanently ban that player from the NFL.

Anyway. I think that would and is one of the only honest ways out of this mess. Because right now, the Steelers aren't the only team that's going to take a hit. The NFL is sitting on the precipice, IMO. Could be wrong, but I haven't been so far.

[Catch24Rules]

[cthskzfn]

Phony patriotism display, vis a vie photo op of players on field for anthem, instituted w/ government money, brilliantly used to expose the hypocrisy in the society.

White racist America explodes with indignation.

Answer is to say "We're wrong for using this platform".

Nah.

If you're offended by Kaepernick taking a knee, you don't deserve the freedom you supposedly cherish.

_________________
Silly, stupid white people might be waking up.

[jammerbirdi]

I'm always amazed when people don't take my advice. And, unfair asshole that I am, that's the case even when they haven't heard my advice.

But I'm so shocked (but not really) that the NFL hasn't done this so obvious thing that I've suggested they do. Get out in front of this thing now, before it escalates. Or, I should say, before the escalation. Because that's the next phase.

When these fans, the ones burning jerseys and calling for a boycott, realize through the second weekend that they're not being listened to... that, as the Sports Illustrated cover I posted suggests, the millionaire and billionaire populated sports world has achieved a 'unity' that totally disregards their feelings (only, uh, where the millions and billions of dollars come from) about this kneeling during the anthem bit, that's when the cancer that this represents will really begin to spread. Booing will turn to empty seats. And more booing.

But these guys are the most arrogant and entitled people in this whole situation.

a) Not the players, who are working from a model that says high-profile athletes have a responsibility to speak up and act up in order to draw the nation's attention to what they see as injustices. But there are lines that can never be crossed. Don't spit in the customer's food in full view of the customer. The flag is, as I said, the most sacred representative object in our national identity. I think I said it better than that actually but that's all I have this morning. But right now, everybody has to lose something in order for everyone to win and the patriotic fans are going to have to acknowledge and, at least for what has already happened, accept and forgive what has already gone down. The athletes have to give the fans back their gesture of respect for that which the fans hold most sacred and the fans have to in turn accept and forgive the fact that the athletes were trying to make a statement about something they hold to be more important than football.

b) Not the fans who are angry, they are of the working and middle class who are called upon to FIGHT IN THE WARS which show no sign of ever ending. This is THEIR flag, their colors, the alter at which everyone in this country must bow their heads or else. We can all pretend these little better things in our liberal or left-leaning heads but that's all like the metaphor I used last week about hurricane warnings, strength categories, and how humans process that information with no grasp of the giant unknown realities they face. You can think it. Say it. Doesn't mean it's real. Reality is what we're seeing happening. Not what we indignantly think should be happening.

But the owners? And the league. Wow. That they actually tried to slide into this and use Donald Trump to shield the fact that they were the ones responsible for a festering anger on the part of the very players they now stand beside, in unity , against Donald Trump's villainy?

And now to Trump. Because people need to hear this, too. Trump has now become the thing we attach all that is wrong with the world to. The Boogie Man. It's all so dangerous and stupid and there's no better example why than this very one with the NFL situation. As long as we can even tangentially bring Donald Trump's name into an issue, we've GOT it. Fucking Trump! What'd he say this time? In an apparently more ironic time, it was a running joke to do the same with Nixon. Nixon was behind everything, went. The joke.

Joke, I say. Which is what many many people are becoming and more than a few have already been for going on the last two years. I think we could all do better by beginning to re-shift the blame back to where it always has been, in any case.

Even mother nature. Has Trump fucked up this Puerto Rico response? Yes. Absolutely. Somewhere, many places I'm sure, there are medivac helicopters sitting idol on helipads and in hangers. Ships that could have been on their way to PR before the storm even hit. Speeches should have been made demonstrating our nation's resolve and focus on the situation in PR.

But when Trump says PR is in the middle of an ocean, the entire anti-Trump human response mechanism cries out in laughter and derision. Really? Puerto Rico is 1000 miles from Miami. I flew 4 hours from Atlanta to San Juan and, I think, something like three to get back to Miami. Over water. Ocean. So again, Trump is inarticulate. Uses a system of metaphors that would make sense only to New York construction laborers and my sister-in-law Mickey. It's in the middle of the ocean! In the context of what Trump was saying, that is, you can't drive truckloads of supplies in like you did with Harvey and Irma, he's right. Is PR literally in the middle of any ocean? No. But come on, is PR in the middle of the fucking ocean? I've been there and that's a pretty good plainspeak description of the place.

What was Trump's role in Ferguson? Remember that? Months of protests about what happened to that kid? Was it Trump's racist justice department headed by Jeff Beauregard Southerner who found that the shooting was justified? No. It was Barack Obama's JD run by Eric Holder.

Did BLM form during the first months of Trump's presidency? Nope. They popped up back during the Obama administration. Did Colin Kaepernick first take a knee when white Donald Trump was sitting in the White House. No again!

I guess we are starting to become this thing we used to so decry. People who hysterically overstate and exaggerate reality for political purposes. And now it's just coming down to who can lie louder.

[pilight]

The players never did a good job of defining what they're protesting against. Just vagaries about injustice and inequality, as if these things were just discovered by Colin Kaepernick last year. Kneeling during the national anthem at a football game to protest is counterproductive and self aggrandizing. Instead of 'look at these issues', it becomes 'look at me'. Check the media coverage. It's not about the real issues, it's about the symbolic ones. Nobody is talking about unarmed kids getting killed by cops, they're talking about how athletes disrespect the nation or the flag. Plus, if we want to make some headway in solving these issues then there needs to be a dialogue. That won't happen if you start by figuratively spitting in the face of the people you need to have a dialogue with.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[jammerbirdi]

[cthskzfn]

[mercfan3]

[cthskzfn]

[pilight]

[Genero36]

<embed><iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pmtm-an5xJw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></embed>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmtm-an5xJw

_________________
I'm all for the separation of church and hate.

[jammerbirdi]

[jammerbirdi]

[pilight]

I always thought Kaep was overrated. Jim Harbaugh found a way to make it work with him, because he's a great coach. Kaep is the latest in a long line of QBs who lucked into a superbowl without being all that good, like Vince Ferragamo or Rex Grossman.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Genero36]

[pilight]

One thing Kaep said back when he started this protest always struck me. It's harder to get a cosmetology license than to become a police officer.

Here in Georgia, to get a cosmetology license you have to go to an accredited cosmo school for a year, then do 1500 hours of OJT supervised by someone who already has a license, then pass two proctored exams. Once you have the license, you have to do hours of continuing education every year to keep it.

To become a POST certified law enforcement officer you have to pass a background check and attend a police academy for 11 weeks. That's it. No independent evaluation, no ongoing education, no required supervised OJT. 11 weeks and you're certified to have a badge and a gun and take down bad guys.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Howee]

[mercfan3]

[mercfan3]

[GlennMacGrady]

Many, and maybe most, simple folk Americans think that honoring our flag and national anthem at public events is a moment to reflect and remember the huge sacrifices made by millions of our ancestors to create our nation, such as the fact that almost 600,000 Union soldiers in the Civil War were killed, wounded, captured or missing -- all to end slavery. 90% of these soldiers were white men, fighting alongside black men. The flag under which all these men fought and died was the stars and stripes. The Civil War was the bloodiest war in American history, fought to achieve our national anthem's noble aspiration that all of our "land" would be "of the free".

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., added a fifth stanza to the Star Spangled Banner in 1861 because of the Civil War:

When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

Simple folk Americans feel this kind of thing in their gut.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[cthskzfn]

[justintyme]

This is the type of over the top hyper-patriotism that gets people all worked up and defining things to their own ends. People will get bent all out of shape about it beacuse someone told them that kneeling=I hate veterans and spit on dead soliders even though that is ridiculous. And in 50 years when more level heads prevail there will be a statue commemorating this. Why do I know this? Because it's happened before:



The uproar was deafening. How disrespectful it was. They got death threats. And now they are heroes of the fight for civil rights.

_________________
↑↑↓↓←→←→BA

[justintyme]

[GlennMacGrady]

[jammerbirdi]