Every year, millions of taxpayer dollars are poured into stadiums, hockey rinks, baseball parks, and other arenas in order to attract
and retain professional sports teams in big cities. Often the money is spent by the cities after a team "threatens" to leave the city.
When that happens, of course, the local news media act as the willing accomplices of the billionaires who own the teams. As a
practical matter, the news media have no choice. If the news coverage on Channel 37, for example, exposes the local team's
economic uselessness to the community, the chances are near zero that the sports anchor from Channel 37 will ever get access to the
locker room after a big game. And the station manager won't get free tickets to the game.
When city and state governments build facilities for sports organizations which are owned by billionaires, and raise taxes as a result,
it is clearly an abuse of power.
In addition to stadiums and arenas, the government also spends your money on smaller projects that add to your tax burden. For
example,
CAGW's
List of Omnibus Earmarks includes
$750,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame
$202,500 to the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame, Sports Research Center in Patchogue, New York for facilities renovations
$405,000 to the Staten Island Soccer League of New York for facilities construction
$800,000 to the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority for facilities construction for the Mount VanHoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex
$90,000 for the City of Waterbury, Connecticut for an economic feasibility study focused on construction of a multi-purpose sports facility
$50,000 for "Pro Sports Outreach," whatever that is.
Obviously, there's no advertising on this page, so you might wonder about my motives. I'm
just not a sports fan. I do not understand why otherwise sensible people pay hundreds of dollars
per seat to watch a football game. Football is an even mixture of hedonism and idolatry.
Basketball is about the same. Baseball doesn't have cheerleaders, but it does have ballpark gluttony.
Look at the products that are advertised during a football game: beer, luxury cars and pickup trucks, cell
phones, and more beer. Look at the halftime show at a football game: It's a lurid display of godless
titillation and hedonism. Look at the "ring of honor" at the stadium: It's idolatry.
In June, 2011, a quarter of a million people cheered in the streets as the Dallas
Mavericks celebrated their championship with a parade (paid for by Mark Cuban
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4])
and a full day of televised self-aggrandizement. But not one of the fans seems to understand that the basketball team's success does not benefit
the fans in any way. The fans went home sunburned and dehydrated and no better off than they were a month ago, yet they seem to think they've
accomplished something. I just don't get it. How are you any better off if your favorite football team wins a game — or every game?
This page has been put here to serve as an alarm to the overburdened taxpayer. When a city government
spends $10 million or $100 million on a stadium, where do you think the money came from? Is
the presence of a football team really so important? Wouldn't you prefer to keep your money in your
pocket, and let the billionaires pay their own bills?
Here is a list of "stimulus bill" projects
that include the word "Stadium."
NYCFC
soccer stadium in Queens set to be approved by City Council. A massive Queens
redevelopment project that includes a 7-story soccer stadium for the professional New York City
Football Club and 1,400 "affordable" apartments was expected to receive final approval from the
City Council on Thursday. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards will join Mayor Eric
Adams and local Councilman Francisco Moya on Thursday to celebrate the breakthrough on the project
in the Willets Point section of the borough. "We've scored a goal!" said Richards, a staunch
proponent of the project. "We're bringing the world's sport to the world's most diverse borough.
I'm rooting for NYCFC to win the championship. Queens is ready to collect its trophy!"
End
the Taxpayer-Fueled Stadium-Industrial Complex. We are big fans of Virginia governor
Glenn Youngkin, so it was sad to see him come down with "stadium syndrome," an affliction that
causes elected officials to lose all common sense and want to subsidize hugely expensive sports
venues that benefit their wealthy owners. It was a relief to see last month's collapse of
Youngkin's plan to commit $1.5 billion in borrowed state funds to subsidize billionaire Ted
Leonsis's relocation of the Washington Capitals and Wizards to Alexandria, Va. Stanford
University sports economist Roger Noll has conclusively proved that publicly subsidized football
and baseball stadiums are consistently money-losing ventures. While a handful of arenas may
break even with minimal subsidies, no facility with a subsidy exceeding $200 million has ever
achieved profitability.
Virginia
Taxpayers Likely to Spend $1.4 Billion on New Stadium. The Washington Wizards
and Capitals have agreed to move to a new arena in Alexandria, Virginia, which would cost taxpayers
an estimated $1.4 billion — even though the teams' current arena in Washington D.C.
just received $70 million in privately-funded upgrades. The proposed new stadium for the
basketball and hockey teams would cost $2.2 billion, with $819 million coming from
private sources. The City of Alexandria would spend $106 million and the Commonwealth of
Virginia would cover the remaining $1.3 billion, according to a study obtained by the
Washington Post.
Stop and think: Where does this money come from? LA
Dodgers sign Japanese pitching star to $325 million contract. In one of the
largest deals for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Japanese
star Yoshinobu Yamamoto agreed on a 12-year, $325 million contract, sources told ESPN on
Thursday. The deal for Yamamoto pushed the Dodgers' free agent spending this winter to more
than $1 billion. Earlier this month, the Dodgers signed free agent Shohei Ohtani to an
MLB record $700 million contract over 10 years. Ohtani, an MVP pitching and hitting
star with the Los Angeles Angels for six seasons, is also from Japan. In the deal for
Yamamoto, the Dodgers agreed to pay an additional $50.6 million posting fee to Yamamoto's
previous team, the Orix Buffaloes.
DC
Beltway Sports Stadium Battle Could Leave Taxpayers With A Massive Bill. The NHL's
Washington Capitals and NBA's Washington Wizards could be relocating to northern Virginia in just
the latest competition among Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland to secure professional the
capital's professional sports teams — but, as with such projects across the country,
local taxpayers could end up bearing the brunt of the costs. Virginia Gov. Glenn
Youngkin announced a tentative deal Wednesday with the parent company of the teams, Monumental
Sports and Entertainment, to facilitate $2 billion in developments in Alexandria, Virginia,
including for a new stadium, luring them away from downtown D.C. to the ire of district officials,
who also offered a substantial sum. The competition is one of several around the nation's
capital, with the subsidies for large projects like new sports stadiums coming out of local
taxpayers' pockets, even though many will never financially benefit from them, according to experts
who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
San
Francisco Giants Lost Out on Shohei Ohtani in Part Due to Rampant Crime, Homelessness.
San Francisco's struggles with rising crime, rampant drug use, and sprawling homeless camps have kept
tourists away and led to businesses and residents fleeing the city. Now, the downtown disorder
is being blamed for deterring a big name from relocating to the Golden Gate City: Major League
Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani, a rare two-way talent who is both an elite hitter and
pitcher, made news over the weekend when he announced he was signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He signed a record-breaking ten-year, $700 million contract with the team this week. But
news reports have indicated that the San Francisco Giants — the Dodgers' biggest rival —
were also all-in on trying to land Ohtani, and, in fact, offered him the exact same deal.
Did
Shohei Ohtani Spurn San Francisco Giants' $700M Offer Because City Is a Dumpster Fire?
As we reported Saturday, baseball sensation Shohei Ohtani signed a $700 million mega-deal with
the Los Angeles Dodgers. The guaranteed contract is the richest ever signed in any U.S.
professional sport. But the two-way player received an almost identical offer from another
Major League team: the San Francisco Giants, yet he turned it down. The eight-time winners
of the World Series pulled out all the stops to try to get Ohtani, virtually begging him to come,
but to no avail. The question is, why? Buster Posey, the onetime franchise Giants catcher
and current member of its ownership group, admitted that the city's disastrous decline likely played
a factor in Ohtani's thinking.
Washington
Wizards, Capitals plan to depart DC as crime crisis intensifies. As the crime wave
gripping the United States intensifies, the owner of two of Washington, D.C.'s major league sports
teams joined Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to announce a move across the Potomac to
a yet-to-be-constructed complex in Alexandria. "Ingraham Angle" host Laura Ingraham, a longtime
Washington-area resident, said it is clear that "crime was part of this decision" to bring the
teams to Virginia come 2028. "I was in D.C. when the [then-]Verizon Center... was built, and I
saw how that area of D.C. was totally revitalized... Crime has been a major problem in this city
really since before COVID," she said. "That had to be part of the decision as well —
nobody wants to go downtown." A USA Today "For the Win" column also noted the spike in crime
in the District's Chinatown neighborhood where the now-Capital One Arena is located, but also reported
a $36 million mortgage-type payment on the site has been weighing on team owner Ted Leonsis.
Glenn
Youngkin Announces Washington Capitals, Wizards Moving to Northern Virginia. On
Wednesday morning, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Mayor of Alexandria Justin Wilson, and Ted
Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards held a press conference to
announce the planned move of both of those franchises from the District of Columbia to Northern
Virginia. This is a huge move, both in upending the D.C. sports landscape, and bringing
economic growth to Virginia. The new campus, located in Potomac Yard in Alexandria, near
Reagan National Airport, would be part of what Youngkin called the next chapter in innovation in
Virginia, along with the new Amazon HQ2 corporate headquarters and the already existing Virginia
Tech Innovation Campus.
The Editor says...
Why does the governor, or anyone else, believe that the arrival of these two teams (neither of which I had
heard of until now) will benefit anyone not associated with the teams or the construction of the stadiums?
Arlington, Texas, keeps building new baseball stadiums every 20 years or so, but is Arlington a boom town
as a result? No. The economy in Arlington is no different in January than it is in July.
Washington
Sports Team Owners Want D.C. to Give Them $600 Million to Fix Capital One Arena.
Monumental Sports, the ownership group behind the Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards and
Washington Mystics, is asking for a massive amount of taxpayer money from D.C. The Washington
Post reported that Monumental is asking for $600 million of public funding over four years for
construction projects in Capital One Arena. The money would be used to rebuild the seating
bowl to remove a number of bad seats and reconfigure other seats to move closer to the court or
ice. It would also be used to build a food court with expanded hours and a new fan
entrance. Monumental would do construction over four years to ensure that sporting events
aren't disrupted. According to the Washington Post, the total cost of the improvements would
be roughly $800 million, with Monumental paying just $200 million.
Timeline
for A's New Stadium in Vegas Revealed. The Oakland A's are set to move to Las Vegas,
pending an upcoming relocation vote by the other owners in Major League Baseball. Though
there are still a few hurdles to overcome, that much has generally been determined after the Nevada
legislature cleared the way for taxpayer dollars to help pay for the stadium. But a new
presentation by the A's ballpark construction manager to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority revealed
how long it'll be before the team can play in their new stadium. According to the proposal,
construction is scheduled to start in April 2025, with a completion date in January 2028.
That's relatively quick for a major stadium project, especially considering that the site is
currently occupied by the Tropicana Hotel.
Texas
School District Backs Off Effort To Seize a 79-Year-Old Man's Home for Stadium Parking.
A Texas school district has dropped its efforts to seize a 79-year-old man's home for an expanded parking
lot. After minimal discussion during a Thursday night meeting, the Aldine Independent School District
(ISD) board voted unanimously to end its efforts to acquire a one-acre parcel and home owned by Travis
Upchurch. "We are as a family completely relieved. We can go back to our normal lives.
We don't have to worry about what's going to happen to our dad or where dad's going to go," says Tara
Upchurch, Travis Upchurch's daughter. For the past several months, her family has been frantically
trying to fend off the Aldine ISD's efforts to acquire Upchurch's property for a high school football
stadium's parking lot — part of a $50 million rebuild of the stadium.
Wisconsin
Politicians Want To Spend $550 Million on Ballpark Subsidies. Wisconsin voters might
not agree on much — but a new poll finds that opposition to the use of public funds to
upgrade the Milwaukee Brewers' 22-year-old ballpark cuts across ages, party lines, and more.
Only 29 percent of voters in the state favor the use of taxpayer subsidies for the stadium
project, according to a survey conducted last week by Public Policy Polling (PPP). Opposition cuts
across all political lines. Just 24 percent of self-identified Trump voters and 34 percent
of self-identified Biden voters say they support the subsidies, while majorities of men, women, and all
four age cohorts surveyed say they are opposed. Despite the voters' feelings, Republican legislators
are pushing ahead with plans to put taxpayers on the hook for more than $557 million in upgrades
to American Family Field, where the Milwaukee Brewers have played since 2001.
Oklahoma
City mayor unveils plan for $900M arena to keep NBA's Thunder through 2050. Oklahoma
City Mayor David Holt unveiled a proposal Tuesday for a new $900 million downtown arena that
would keep the NBA's Thunder in the city through at least 2050 if approved by voters. The
plan released released by city officials calls for the continuation of a 1% sales tax for six
years, $70 million from an existing sales tax approved by voters in 2019 for upgrades to the
current arena, and a $50 million contribution from the Thunder ownership group. The deal
calls for at least $900 million to be spent constructing the new arena.
SF
Mayor Floats Bulldozing Mall Devastated By Crime Replacing It With Soccer Stadium.
After crime forced the mass exodus of many retailers within and around San Francisco's main
shopping mall, the city's mayor is now pitching the idea of tearing it down to put in a soccer
stadium, according to SFGate. San Francisco's Union Square, which houses Westfield Mall, has
seen 47% of retailers leave due to crime and unsafe working conditions, the San Francisco Standard
reported. In the wake of this, San Francisco Mayor London Breed floated the idea of replacing
the mall with a soccer stadium in a bid to prevent the further deterioration of the area, according
to SFGate. "A Westfield mall could become, you know, something completely different than what
it currently is. It could be a place where — we could even tear down the whole
building and build a whole new soccer stadium," Breed said at a Bloomberg summit on Thursday.
She continued to spitball ideas for the failed section of San Francisco, saying "we can create lab
space or look at it as a new company in some other capacity."
The Editor says...
In other words, the crime problem in that area will remain, because the mayor obviously doesn't want to address it by
locking up criminals in whatever quantity is necessary, and for as long as necessary. It's easier to
build a new stadium and let the next mayor assign blame if necessary.
Anaheim
to Introduce New Park Near Angel Stadium With $200,000 Land Purchase. The City of
Anaheim will buy land along the Santa Ana River and build a new park at the location, after its
city council approved $200,000 for the purchase during its June 13 meeting. The 3-acre park
will feature trails, a butterfly garden, a children's playground, and exercise stations, according
to city officials. The city is purchasing the property from the Orange County Flood Control
District. "We're always looking for ways to add more park space in our city, whether that's
through a new park or adding acreage to existing parks," city spokeswoman Erin Ryan told The Epoch Times.
The
Oakland Athletics Just Showed Why They Don't Need Taxpayers To Buy Their New Stadium.
As the Nevada Legislature was considering a bill earlier this week that would give the Oakland
Athletics about $600 million in public money for a new stadium in Las Vegas, the team
inadvertently made a pretty good argument for why it doesn't need the handout. Here's what
happened: On Tuesday, Athletics fans in Oakland staged a "reverse boycott" in an attempt to
demonstrate that the team — which has for years lagged near the bottom of the MLB in
terms of attendance — actually could put butts in the seats if the on-field product was
any good. The Athletics have one of the worst records in the majors this year and have posted
an average attendance of about 9,000 per game, but more than 27,000 people showed up for Tuesday's
reverse boycott, The Mercury News reported. That's still only about three-quarters of
the capacity of their current home, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Stadium
Subsidy Stupidity Hits New Record. The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County
voted in the wee hours on Wednesday morning [4/26/2023] to spend $1.26 billion in taxpayer
money on a new government-owned stadium. That figure not only puts locals on the hook for
more than half of the stadium's estimated $2.1 billion cost, but it also sets a new record for
the largest stadium subsidy in U.S. history. Supporters of the new domed stadium say tourists
will pay that money back, not locals. The Tennessean reports that Council Member Zulfat Suara
"voted in favor because she prefers tourists to bear the tax burden of stadium construction and
upkeep (through sales, ticket and hotel taxes) instead of Davidson County taxpayers." On top
of a 1 percent hotel tax increase, sales taxes paid in and around the stadium (as well as
ticket taxes and fees) will be used to repay $500 million in bonds from the state government
and $760 million in bonds from Nashville's Sports Authority.
Oakland
to Lose Its Last Major Sports Franchise as Athletics Shift to Vegas. The Oakland
Athletics, who claim to be a major league baseball team, announced Wednesday: "The A's have signed
a binding agreement to purchase land for a future ballpark in Las Vegas. We realize this is a
difficult day for our Oakland fans," all five of them, "and community." Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao
underlined the team's statement by revealing that the city was "ceasing negotiations" with the A's
on a new ballpark. The move is going to take a while: the Athletics don't expect to be
playing in Vegas until the 2027 season, but it does appear certain that woke Oakland is about to
lose its third and last major sports franchise.
It
Sure Looks Like the Oakland A's Are Joining the Great California Exodus. Although the
final agreements are still to come, it is now all but certain that the MLB's Oakland A's will
shortly join the NFL's Raiders in relocating to Las Vegas. The team has entered into an
agreement to purchase land near the Strip for a new ballpark, which, if all goes to plan, will open
in 2027. [...] Let the finger-pointing begin. We start with A's owner John Fisher, a
billionaire who cried poor once too often for all parties concerned. It is difficult to
remember the A's were in the postseason as recently as 2020, even with the team's penchant for
trading away any talent on the roster for prospects rather than paying players the current market
rate. The team is now easily the worst in baseball. Fisher is willing to foot most of
the bill for a new stadium, but his demand that local government pay for most or all of the
infrastructure has derailed any hopes for the team to remain in Oakland.
Whether
the Chicago Bears leave or not, taxpayers are on the hook for growing Soldier Field debt payments.
As the Chicago Bears make plans to build a new stadium, taxpayers still are on the hook for the old one. A
big bill is coming soon — and the primary method of paying for it may not be enough. Whether or
not the team leaves for its newly acquired site in Arlington Heights, the public is obligated to pay for the 2003
renovation of Soldier Field that was meant to keep the team there. Due to refinancing and years of primarily
paying interest instead of principal, the debt owed for Soldier Field has ballooned from the original $399 million
to $631 million, according to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which manages the debt
payments. The increase in the debt alarms experts who work in stadium financing.
Iowa
Using $23.5M in Covid Aid for 'Field of Dreams' Stadium. Capitalizing on the feel-good nostalgia of the
"Field of Dreams" film, and the success of Major League Baseball games played on a temporary field built near the film's
site, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is using $12.5 million from the state's Covid-19 relief funds to help build a
permanent Field of Dreams Ballpark in the city of Dyersville, according to the Des Moines Register. That comes
after she already committed another $11 million from Covid-19 funds to build water and sewer lines to the Field of
Dreams stadium site. Along with city and county funds, and $1.5 million from the U.S. Economic Development
Administration, the federal funds go toward the $50 million project.
Daniel
Snyder Looking to Sell Washington Commanders. Daniel Snyder is apparently throwing in the burgundy and
gold towel. The Washington Commanders owner has hired Bank of America regarding "potential transactions," as the
team put it Wednesday, November 2nd. In plain English, Snyder is looking for someone to buy the team.
Whoever is interested had better have both a very fat wallet and an amazing line of credit. Forbes estimates the
team's value to be $5.6B. The new owner will also need to pony up for a new stadium and put shovels in the ground for
same 15 minutes earlier than as soon as possible, as the team's current home is a disintegrating disaster.
Yet
Another Industry Ditching Greasy Gavin's California for a Free State. The Athletics' drawn-out battle with
the city of Oakland may be coming to a conclusion sooner than many fans imagined as California continues to be a hot
topic in sports. As many stars and businesses are leaving the state, others are considering doing the same.
For a few years now, Athletics ownership has not been clear whether they intend to stay in Oakland or move to one of the
many big markets which do not currently have a baseball team. In 2024, the Athletics will no longer be
contractually obligated to play games in RingCentral Coliseum. Even so, talks between ownership and the city of
Oakland with regard to contracting a new stadium have stalled.
NFL's
Chicago Bears Reject Lori Lightfoot's Billions, Plan To Abandon Crime-Ridden Windy City For Safer Suburbs. The
7th-most valuable NFL franchise, Da Bears of Chicago, are packing their bags and heading to greener (read: safer, more
tax-friendly) pastures. It's the perfect middle finger to woke, inept leadership personified by real-life Beetlejuice
Lori Lightfoot. Chicago has seen an astonishing 35% increase in crime and hopelessly stupid policies from Lightfoot now
prevent CPD officers from even pursuing potential misdeamor [sic] suspects on foot. Meanwhile, the Bears rake in $166 million
annually to go toward a corrupt budget that prioritizes illicit gangbanging activities over the safety of its players, fans,
and own citizens. The only question worth asking is why they didn't do this years ago.
Chicago
Mayor Proposes $2.2 Billion Plan to Entice NFL Team to Stay; Bears Moving On to Safer Suburb. On Monday,
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed a $900 million to $2.2 billion Hail Mary offer to convince the Bears to stay in their
home stadium of over 50 years. However, the Chicago Bears stated in a press release earlier this month that they
wouldn't consider any other offers, even for their home stadium, Soldier Field. The NFL team reaffirmed that sentiment
to ESPN this week, noting that they were set on moving to another location over 30 miles away. "As part of our mutual
agreement with the seller of that property, we are not pursuing alternative stadium deals or sites, including renovations to
Soldier Field, while we are under contract," stated the team. The Bears plan to move to Arlington Park, the longtime
site of Churchill Downs' thoroughbred racing in Arlington Heights. That area experiences well below the national median
of crime levels, according to multiple crime statistic analyses.
Ron
DeSantis Is Right About Sports Teams and Taxpayer Money. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didn't have to mention
the Tampa Bay Rays' most recent foray into politics when his veto of a spending bill spiked the Major League Baseball
franchise's effort to get the state to pay for a new spring training complex. The team and its local allies tried to
sell this classic example of crony capitalism as a way to pay for a youth sports facility whose real purpose would be to gift
the Rays a new operations center. But DeSantis rightly took the position that if the team wants a new place for its
players to train, the team should pay for it itself. DeSantis decided to remain on offense against woke businesses by
also pointing out during his announcement of the veto that if the Rays — who had only days earlier voiced their
support for more restrictions on gun rights — were seeking to reach into Florida taxpayers' wallets, they ought to
stay out of politics. Predictably, that provoked the liberal press to denounce the man who many Democrats now hate
almost as much as former President Donald Trump himself.
Rays
fans weigh in after DeSantis vetoes $35 million for Florida team's training facility. Tampa Bay Rays fans spoke
to Fox News about Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to veto $35 million in funding for a new training facility. "We as
taxpayers should just worry about bringing lots of ... fans to the area and support that," Bonnie, of Bradenton, told Fox
News. "The governor has no business in that." After vetoing the funding, DeSantis said Friday that he doesn't
"support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums" and that "it's inappropriate to subsidize political
activism of a private corporation." The Rays had pledged to donate $50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety in late May
following the Uvalde, Texas, shooting.
DeSantis
To Veto $35M Tampa Bay Rays Facility Over Team's Anti-Gun Statement. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) plans to veto
tens of millions of dollars that were earmarked for the Tampa Bay Rays after the team released an anti-Second Amendment
statement following a couple of recent tragedies. "DeSantis plans to veto a $35 million legislation for a Pasco County
facility that's earmarked for the Tampa Bay Rays' spring training," OutKick reported. "DeSantis's decision is in
response to the Rays politicizing recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde ahead of a matchup with the Yankees in May."
Anaheim
Mayor Resigns Amid Federal Corruption Probe. Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu, a Republican, resigned effective
Tuesday [5/24/2022] amid a corruption probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the land sale of Angels
Stadium — a probe that's already resulted in money laundering charges being brought against one of Sidhu's
political allies, former Anaheim Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Ament. In an affidavit, an FBI agent says that Sidhu
shared inside information with the Angels in order to hopefully make a deal that would lead to $1 million in campaign
contributions from Angels executives[.]
Buffalo
Bills, New York State, Erie County reach 'ironclad' 30-year deal to build $1.4 billion stadium. For almost as
long as the Buffalo Bills franchise has existed, fans have faced a persistent fear they could lose their football team to
another city. As a Buffalo native, Kathy Hochul knows that feeling well. So as governor, she was determined to
guarantee the team's long-term future in Western New York. "Buffalo Bills fans have enough stress," she said. "I
did not want them to have to worry about the future of the team." With a tentative deal for a new stadium in Orchard
Park announced Monday in partnership with the team's owners and Erie County, she put those worries to rest.
The Editor says...
When a football team threatens to leave, let them leave!
Images
Show Abandoned Olympic Venues Around the World. Olympic host cities spend big money on infrastructure,
stadiums, athlete housing and event courses that in some cases get unused years after medals are awarded and cheering
spectators have moved on to the next Olympic Games.
Voters
Don't Want To Pay for Your Dumb Stadium. Voters in Denver, Colorado, approved ballot measures on Tuesday
authorizing the city government to issue bonds to spruce up parks, renovate homeless shelters, and upgrade public transit.
They rejected just one portion of Mayor Michael Hancock's five-part, $450 million bond proposal: the one that would
have directed $190 million of that borrowing toward the construction of a new multi-use stadium near the city's hip
River North neighborhood. While the first four parts of Hancock's proposal won support from at least 60 percent of
voters, 58 percent rejected the stadium subsidy, according to The Denver Post's election tracker. The stadium
project was the most contentious of the bond issues. Hancock trotted out the usual claims, arguing that the new stadium
(and upgrades to the neighboring National Western Center, a rodeo complex) would "create year-round jobs and provide funding
for community programs and projects important for the well-being of surrounding communities." But the election results
would suggest that the residents of the city disagree. If it had been approved, the stadium project would have soaked
up 35 percent of the funding in the mayor's proposal, and many people felt "the money would be better spent elsewhere,"
Colorado Politics reports.
In
LA: You Can Vote Without An ID, But Cannot Watch Chargers Or Rams Without Proof Of Vax Or COVID Test. The Los
Angeles County Department of Public Health's newest requirement for stadium events with at least 10,000 attendees goes into
effect Thursday, and it is going to affect both the Rams and the Chargers for home games at SoFi Stadium. It may also
affect Super Bowl LVI in February of 2022, unless L.A. County figures out the thousands of tourists who typically attend the Super
Bowl and the game's week of festivities might not wish to come under its mandates, which are among the harshest in the country.
Group
warns against public financing for Bears stadium. With talk about the Chicago Bears relocating, some have
raised concerned about taxpayers picking up the tab for a new stadium. The team has submitted a bid to buy the
Arlington Race Course property in Arlington Heights for possible development. Other parties have reportedly made offers
as well. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has called it a "negotiating tactic", noting the Bears are locked into the
Soldier Field lease with the city until 2033. If the Bears were to move, Brian Costin, deputy state director with
Americans for Prosperity, said the team's owners should pay for the stadium.
Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasts Bears football team over relocating rumors. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threw some
major shade at the Chicago Bears on Friday, just one day after the organization announced it made a bid for land in Arlington
Heights with plans to possibly build a new stadium there. Lightfoot, a self-declared "longtime" fan, issued a statement
slamming the announcement as just "noise." "The Bears are locked into a lease at Soldier Field until 2033. In
addition, this announcement from the Bears comes in the midst of negotiations for improvements at Soldier Field. This
is clearly a negotiating tactic that the Bears have used before," Lighttfoot's statement read.
Build a new stadium or we'll leave! Oakland
Athletics to start looking at relocating elsewhere. The Oakland Athletics on Tuesday [5/11/2021] said they will
start exploring the possibility of relocating with the blessing of Major League Baseball, a move that could put pressure on
local government officials to greenlight a new stadium project that has spent years in limbo. The A's, who have played
in Oakland since 1968, have prioritized building a waterfront stadium in downtown Oakland at the Howard Terminal site.
But after years of failed stadium plans — and weeks after the organization requested that the city council vote on
the $12 billion mixed-use development before its late-July summer recess — the long-anticipated specter of
the A's looking into relocation became a reality on Tuesday.
It's
High Time We Make Woke Corporate America Feel Real Pain: Here's How We Can Start. For all its profits and
all its pride, Major League Baseball is just another little government-protected piggy. While they make billions in
profits, Americans have shoveled billions out of our own pockets in the form of subsidies and municipal bonds since 2000
alone. Municipal bonds, which are basically government-backed bonds that aren't federally taxed and come with interest
rates far below the levels the rest of us pay, are supposed to build things like roads, public libraries, and other projects
towns and cities might want. Roads and public libraries, some might notice, aren't the kind of places that will run you
$300 to take the kids for some hotdogs and a game. Any of us can buy into these bonds, but not a lot of us can get
them — that is, unless you own a professional sports team. It's a sweet deal if you can get it. Maybe
the league shouldn't.
Raiders'
Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas will be most connected stadium in the world. Football fans: Get ready to
take your NFL experience to the next level. Cox Business announced Tuesday that the new Raiders Allegiant Stadium in
Las Vegas will be the most connected stadium in the world, featuring "best-in-class" connectivity. In partnership with
Cox Communications, Allegiant Stadium will feature high-speed internet access with 1,700 WiFi access points, 227 miles of
fiber and copper connectivity and 2,200 Cisco Vision screens and signs throughout the venue. The stadium is
1.75 million square feet and will allow 65,000 fans to attend and connect.
New
$53M Texas high school football stadium has state's largest video board. The latest cathedral to pigskin is the
new $50+ million Children's Health Stadium, which will host Prosper (Texas) High School. Prosper is a northern suburb
of Dallas. In total, the stadium will seat 12,000 fans and houses the largest video board in any Texas high school
stadium, football or otherwise.
Due to lawsuits and environmental red tape, nothing can be built in California — except sports arenas! Welcome to California.
[Scroll down] It's not just hard-core environmentalists who use CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] to block
development. CEQA is also a favored tool of businesses that use it to try to handicap competition (the Parking Spot
sued LAX a few years ago over plans to connect a rail line to the airport, for instance); developers who attempt to hinder
rival projects; NIMBYs who don't want anything new built near them; and unions that try to force developers to exclude non-union
workers from construction projects. Yet while CEQA deters housing construction, the policymakers manage to carve out
exemptions or secure fast-track approvals for projects important to them, such as basketball arenas and football stadiums.
Redskins
owner rolls up in $180M yacht to find title sponsor for new stadium. Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder
roared up to Cannes Lions in his $180 million yacht as ad sources speculated he's in town to find a title sponsor for the
team's new stadium. Snyder, worth an estimated $2.2 billion, hopes to build a new facility at the site of RFK
Stadium — the team's historic former home — in DC. He has reportedly been working with
congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to include language in a new federal spending bill that would help
pave the way for the new stadium. The Redskins' lease for their current stadium, FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland,
expires in 2027, but Snyder has made it clear he'd like the team to leave the facility earlier if they can.
One
of California's last black enclaves threatened by Inglewood's stadium deal. Inglewood has come a long way since
Dr. Dre proclaimed in the '90s that it was "always up to no good." A surge of economic development is wiping away
its reputation as a battle zone for rival gangs and promises to remake the city not only into a sports and entertainment mecca but
also a cultural destination. But now that Inglewood is on the come up, longtime residents and city officials face a
different challenge: Many who have weathered decades of hardship no longer can afford to live there and are being left out
of the economic renaissance.
Elderly
Woman Has Had Enough, Absolutely Slams NBA Owner Wanting Taxpayer Money. The Phoenix Suns and the city of
Phoenix have been at odds for quite some time now as the team's owner, Robert Sarver, looks for funds to renovate Talking
Stick Resort Arena. Sarver says the arena needs $230 million in renovations and he's offering to cover only 35 percent
of the costs. Sarver wants the city to pay the other $150 million, and he has even threatened to move the team if his
demands are not met. This, obviously, hasn't sat well with many Phoenix residents, and one elderly lady in particular
made her feelings on the subject very clear.
Why
forking over tax subsidies to billion-dollar companies never pays off. Many New Yorkers thought Amazon bailing
on their second headquarters in Queens was a catastrophe, dashing the city's hope for 25,000 jobs and a multibillion-dollar
economic boost. But Pat Garofalo thinks we had a lucky escape. "There's a long history of companies saying,
'We'll do all this stuff if you give us this money,' and then they just don't do it," says Garofalo, author of the new book,
"The Billionaire Boondoggle: How Our Politicians Let Corporations and Bigwigs Steal Our Money and Jobs" (Thomas Dunne
Books), out Tuesday. The recent debacle of tech conglomerate Foxconn in Wisconsin is the perfect example, he
says. "Foxconn said, 'We're gonna create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin,'" he says of the company that received a $4.1 billion
subsidy from the state. "Then quietly, six months later, it was, 'Actually, no, it's just a couple thousand, and also never
mind about that plant we were planning to build.' You need to take [claims like these] with a grain of salt."
Honeywell
got $40M in tax breaks to stay in N.J. but it's leaving anyway. Honeywell International, Inc. confirmed Friday
it is moving its corporate headquarters from Morris Plains to Charlotte, North Carolina, but that most jobs — at least for
now — will remain in New Jersey. The planned relocation comes just three years after the company received a
$40 million tax credit to keep its headquarters in New Jersey, in a deal brokered and heralded by then-Gov. Chris
Christie. Morris Plans Mayor Frank Druetzler told NJ Advance Media the impending move, first reported on Thursday
[11/29/2018], caught him by surprise.
Editor's note:
The next five articles linked below, and the two immediately above, pertain to the competitive selection process for the second headquarters building for
Amazon. In order to attract Amazon, the leaders of several large cities went to great lengths to show how compatible the
cities and the company were, and apparently there was also a bidding war to see which cities would offer Amazon the biggest
tax incentives. Those special accommodations are the reason this topic is appropriate for the Sports Page. Amazon
could easily pay its own way without help from the local taxpayers: "Amazon closed 2017 with over $30 billion in cash,
cash equivalents, and short-term investments." [Source]
The residents of the cities that "won" this competition learned about the extent of the tax breaks and incentives only after the
deal was finalized, and many of those residents were not too happy about it.
Amazon's
HQ2 competition was a cruel bait-and-switch. Amazon's decision-making process with regard to the placement of
its second headquarters has taken place in a similarly public way, with the online giant soliciting bids from cities across
the country, narrowing down the list of potential winners as time progressed, and finally, in a shocking twist worthy of
reality TV, choosing two sites rather than one. The two chosen cities are already considered winners in the global
economy, two sites that need the influx of traffic and the increase in home prices less than anywhere outside of San
Francisco, two sites filled with people ready to vent their annoyance about the imposition on their towns and the depletion
of public coffers to bring jobs to their respective regions.
Just
How Bad Are Those Payouts for Amazon HQ2? The two-billion dollar payoff Amazon got to open its secondary
headquarters in Crystal City, VA and in Queens, NYC, is so bad that even the New York Times had to ask, "Did New York and
Virginia Overpay for Amazon?" If you have to ask, you can't afford the subsidies. What really stands out about
this story though (hat tip to Michael Strain) is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's hilarious cluelessness. Well, it's
hysterical if you aren't a New York taxpayer.
Amazon's
Great HQ2 Swindle. With 50,000 high-paying jobs and $5 billion in infrastructure spending up for grabs, the
largest development project in recent history generated enthusiasm as well as millions of dollars in free publicity. It
also garnered widespread criticism as community leaders and journalists condemned the secrecy of the bargaining process, and
accused the tech giant of instigating a "bidding war" between mayors and governors desperate for economic invigoration.
A corporation valued at $1 trillion, critics claimed, should not be privy to taxpayer-funded handouts. And yet,
government officials in New York and Virginia did precisely that: the combined package includes tax breaks and subsidies
worth more than $2 billion.
NY taxpayers to pay $48,000 per Amazon
HQ job. New York state is kicking in more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer-funded incentives for getting
half of Amazon's second headquarters located in a section of Queens. The Seattle-based company made its long-awaited
announcement Tuesday, saying Long Island City and Alexandria, Virginia, will each get 25,000 jobs. The online retailer
also said it will open an operations hub in Nashville, creating 5,000 jobs. Amazon will also receive as-yet unspecified
incentives from New York City.
Amazon's 'HQ2' Ruse
Exposes The Folly Of State Tax Incentives. Looks like Amazon pulled a fast one on states with its promise of a big new
HQ2. After getting states to cough up billions of dollars in special tax giveaways, Amazon announced it was changing plans,
and splitting the alleged new headquarters in two. When will states learn that trying to seduce big companies this way is a
losing strategy?
Don't
you just love that new stadium smell? [Scroll down] The theme of this luncheon was clearly to begin the
public campaign to bring the Redskins back to the city. This welcome-home luncheon has been held in Virginia in recent
years, and I'm sure there was symbolism in coming to Washington for the event this year. The hope for the District is
to sell Snyder on profiting from the development plans along the Anacostia River around the RFK site in exchange for building
his stadium there. Let us not forget, this was the location for a new Olympic stadium in the area's failed 2024 bid for
the games. Virginia? Bowser got in her shot at the commonwealth — which has been the most public
campaigner to build a new stadium for the team — when she asked where former Governor Terry McAuliffe was.
"Maybe he is missing, too," she said. It was pretty cocky, yet warranted, because city officials know that the Virginia
public lobbying of the Redskins under McAuliffe was bluster, for the most part. This stadium is not going to be built
in Loudoun County or any place else in the state. Virginia says no to projects like these.
MLB's
Tampa Bay Rays reveal plans for new $892M ballpark. The Tampa Bay Rays have revealed the team's plans to build
a new stadium that could be ready for the 2023 season. The new ballpark would be built in the Ybor City section of
Tampa and feature a translucent roof, sliding glass walls and artificial turf. [...] The project will cost an estimated total
of $892 million, although the Rays don't have a funding plan yet, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Rays
unveil their plans for an Ybor City ballpark. The estimated price tag for the entire project is $892 million.
The ballpark itself is projected to cost $809 million and related infrastructure — including a parking garage and a pedestrian
bridge over nearby Adamo Drive — is pegged at $83 million. The cost of the stadium includes one of its standout
features, a translucent roof expected to cost almost $245 million. [...] What's unclear, however, is where the team needs to have
a financial deal for a new stadium ready before it can leave St. Pete, or only needs to give the city notice that it is moving to
Ybor City. Obviously, legal action could complicate the timetable. Rays' share of the cost to build a new stadium:
That is also unclear.
MLB's
most valuable teams: Yankees worth $4 billion. The New York Yankees are now worth $4 billion, as team
valuations continue to grow across Major League Baseball. The newest estimates from Forbes show that the Yankees are
worth 8% more than last year. The Bronx Bombers posted revenue of $619 million and an annual operating income of
$14 million in 2017. The average MLB club is valued at $1.645 billion, a 7% increase, although operating
income fell due to heavier spending on marketing, player development and analytics, Forbes said. Only one other team
is worth more than $3 billion: The Los Angeles Dodgers' value has jumped 9% to approximately $3 billion,
and the team's operating income topped the Yankees at $68 million.
Petition
calls on NSW government to scrap $2 billion stadium rebuild plans. An online petition opposing the NSW government's
plan to demolish and rebuild ANZ and Allianz stadiums at a cost of $2 billion has attracted tens of thousands of signatures.
The petition, which was posted on Change.org on Saturday evening [12/2/2017], has struck a chord with more than 50,000 signatures
added by Sunday night.
NFL
banks billions of dollars on the backs of taxpayers and small businesses. The Cincinnati Bengals threatened the
unthinkable in 1995. Team owner Mike Brown vowed the team would move to Baltimore unless a new stadium was built.
Taxpayers in Hamilton County, Ohio, where Cincinnati is located, feared something greater than wounded civic pride if their
football team left. They worried that the Bengals' departure would spur an economic crisis throughout the region.
A University of Cincinnati study released at the time estimated that the Bengals added $77 million to the local economy.
Hamilton County residents could avert disaster, however. All they needed to do was vote for a modest half-percent sales tax
increase. The tax increase and municipal bonds would cover the estimated $287 million needed to build the Bengals'
new home. Residents overwhelmingly approved the tax, and the Paul Brown Stadium for the Bengals opened in 2000 after cost
overruns pushed the construction tab to nearly $450 million.
Politicians
set to "double-down on stupid" with Montreal's Olympic-size money pit. The 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and
the stadium built for the event, rank as two of the biggest financial boondoggles to ever shakedown hapless taxpayers.
In 1973, it was estimated the stadium would cost $310 million but by 2006, after calculating repair costs, modifications and
interest paid, the price of Olympic Stadium was almost $1.5 billion! Now comes word that the infamous stadium
lid — which never worked properly — needs to be replaced and Quebec's government wants to invest in a
renovation that's expected to suck up a quarter-million in taxpayer dollars.
NFL
steps into politics, fights tax cut bill with no stadium bond breaks. The NFL has come out against House
Republicans' tax cut bill, putting the league out on a political limb even as it deals with the fallout from national anthem
protests. Other big pro sports leagues are staying out of the fight, but a spokesman for the National Football League
said teams don't want to lose a special tax break that allows them to use tax-free bonds to build stadiums. The NFL
says it deserves the break because new stadiums create jobs.
GOP
bill slashes tax break for NFL, other pro sports stadiums. It's not aimed specifically at the NFL, but the
league owners who have been enjoying taxpayer help in building stadiums over the years would take a serious hit from House
Republicans' new tax overhaul. The GOP plan would prohibit professional sports stadiums from taking advantage of
tax-exempt bonds, which state and local governments often float for important public works projects. Generally used for
roads, hospitals and the like, a number of communities have extended them to help out sports teams, usually as a way of
enticing a team to stay in a community. Axing the break would save $200 million over the next decade, according
to early estimates.
Hillsborough
stadium site holds promise. Hillsborough County's selection of a promising site near downtown Tampa for a new
baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays is a positive step toward keeping the franchise in the region. [...] Though it took
two years to get to this point, the announcement Tuesday [10/24/2017] only begins the much more complex and contentious task
of negotiating a multiparty stadium deal.
Building a corporate headquarters is a lot like building a stadium: Something
Is Rotten in Amazon's Request for Proposals. Amazon says that HQ2 will be the equal of HQ1, its current headquarters
in downtown Seattle, which consists of 33 buildings and 8.1 million square feet of prime office space. If you were
mayor of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, St. Louis, or any other big city you care to name, wouldn't you want to
land a prize like that? Wouldn't you like to own what could be seen as a 50 percent share in the future growth of one
of the greatest companies ever to spring forth out of the entrepreneurial dust? Does no one smell a rat here?
Maybe
The NFL Shouldn't Be Using Taxpayer Money To Fund Their Stadiums. A bi-partisan proposal to stop taxpayers from
funding huge sports arenas has taken on a new urgency in light of the "take a knee" crusade sweeping across the NFL.
Back in June, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK) co-sponsored the bill, citing the ungodly amount the
NFL generates on sales of everything from tickets to merchandise as a reason to stop the taxpayer from having to fund
expensive mega sports stadiums.
The NFL Leaves
America. Near Detroit, the now-roofless Pontiac Silverdome sits as a colossal piece of litter that contributes to the
blight of that once successful center of automobile manufacturing. Other cities, from Saint Louis to San Diego, have been
harmed by the NFL taking big subsidies from local taxpayers and then, before public bonds are paid off, skipping town to a more
profitable deal somewhere else. Halftime performances at the Super Bowl, in front of the largest television audience of the year,
have gone the way of commencement addresses at colleges where no conservative performers are allowed and no conservative messages
permitted. Bizarre occult themes are imposed on the captive audience during these shows.
NFL Pigskins at the Public
Trough. I first started tracking publicly subsidized sports boondoggles with my very first watchdog website,
Porkwatch, back in 1999. Since then, taxpayers at all levels of government have foot the bill for football stadiums to the
tune of an estimated $1 billion every year. Over the past decade, new tax-supported NFL stadiums rose up for the
Indianapolis Colts (the $720 million Lucas Oil Stadium), the Dallas Cowboys (the $1.15 billion AT&T Stadium) the New York
Jets and Giants (the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings (the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium), the Atlanta
Falcons (the $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium), and the San Francisco 49ers (the $1.3 billion Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara).
Here's How Much
Money the NFL Rakes in From Taxpayers. The National Football League is now plunged into politics as players
throughout the sport kneel for the national anthem and President Donald Trump continues to rebuke them publicly.
Undoubtedly, the situation has left many fans and non-fans of the league conflicted or angry. This fiasco may, however,
open the eyes of the public to a serious and generally unchecked issue: billionaire NFL owners sponging enormous amounts of
money from taxpayers through crony capitalist schemes. The fact is that a business that raked in $14 billion in revenue
in 2016 is heavily subsidized by local, state, and federal money based on dubious claims about stimulating the economy.
Are All Millionaire Athletes
Really That Dense? With all the brouhaha about the athletes kneeling during the national anthem, I haven't seen
much reporting on why they are protesting. Social justice for blacks has been mouthed as the reason but that makes no
sense coming from wealthy individuals who have been rewarded greatly for their talents. Much of this flawed narrative
arose after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. and the media misreporting led to the Black Lives Matter
movement. Black athletes starting wearing BLM t-shirts and holding up their hands shouting "Don't shoot" even though
this version was based on a lie. [...] Do these glorified prima donnas in the NFL even know what racism is? If America
is so steeped in racial inequality, then how on earth are there so many multi-millionaire blacks in sports?
The
Economics of Sports Facilities and Their Communities. Since the 1950s, taxpayers have been the primary
investors in stadia built for the use of privately-owned professional sports teams. Team owners have argued that sports
facilities boost local economic activity; however, economic reasoning and empirical evidence suggest the opposite.
Public support for stadia is also driven by demand for community image, and owners of sports teams supply a scarce input into
image enhancement — participation in the major league — for which they have been able to extract
monopoly rents from dispersed taxpayers.
Lost Weekend for the NFL.
Hard to imagine anyone feeling sorry for the National Football League. The money, the TV ratings, the magnificently
gaudy stadiums... professional football seems inevitable and unstoppable. [...] Fox, of course, switched to another
game. This one between the Redskins and the Los Rams. The game was being played in the Los Angeles Coliseum which
had been packed the night before for a college game, Texas vs. USC. But people who tuned in to watch the Cowboys
vs. the Broncos could see that there were empty seats in the Coliseum. And a lot of them. As reported in the
Washington Post, "... it would be generous to describe the Coliseum as half full. ..."
Kneeling for
a Self-Deceiving Lie. Forget Donald Trump for a moment (assuming that's possible) and go back to what initiated
this whole escalating orgy of racial accusation that has overtaken football and other sports and you find one of the more
despicable and self-destructive lies of our time — that the police are targeting minority communities.
Heather Mac Donald's excellent "The War on Cops" is chock full of statistics demonstrating why this is not only a lie, but
the complete opposite of reality. [...] So why are all these multi-millionaires insulting the country that made them wildly
rich and creating a national (even international) crisis about police brutality when, with rare exceptions, it's no longer
there? Do they actually believe their own lie? Probably, to some extent, they do. After all, they're
surrounded by it. The media — aka Democrats with press passes — constantly rattle on about the
evils of the police in order to stir the racial pot. It even got worse after Barack Obama was elected.
Kneeling
as psychodrama therapy for the rich, black, and guilty. The otiose craze for wealthy black people and their
"supporters" to disrespect the American flag by kneeling in public — momentarily play-acting tragedy and grief in
front of a TV camera — is psychodrama psychotherapy for the guilt they richly deserve to feel. The
histrionic fad started by Colin Kaepernick that has infected athletes, entertainers, and politicians like Representative
Sheila Jackson Lee is expiation for the unconscious guilt these privileged people have earned for their heartless betrayal of
black Americans. Kaepernick's phony first plotline, that the worst problem for black people is the police, engenders
defensive anxiety in its sheer stinking falsehood. The big, deadly lie that white racism is to blame for all the
problems of black Americans and that black people remain helpless victims in 2017 is so patently false. As with all
delusional systems, its maintenance causes rage and anxiety when challenged.
Michigan
State police director facing calls to resign after she called NFL protesters 'millionaire anti-American
Degenerates'. The Michigan State Police director is facing calls to resign after sharing a Facebook message
belittling athletes who kneel during the national anthem as 'anti-American degenerates'. Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue
shared a message on her Facebook page Sunday [9/24/2017] that stated athletes who take a knee during the pre-game national anthem
are 'millionaire ingrates who hate America and disrespect our armed forces and veterans' and 'a bunch of rich, entitled,
arrogant, ungrateful, anti-American degenerates.' Hundreds of athletes have expressed they are taking a knee during the
pre-game national anthem as a symbolic protest against racial oppression and incidents of police brutality against blacks.
Can
We Please Stop Pretending the NFL Protests Have Anything to Do with Free Speech. Following the lead of the now
unemployed Colin Kaepernick and on the heels of some fiery rhetoric from President Trump on the matter, more National
Football League players than ever knelt during the National Anthem on Sunday in order to protest the institutional white
racism in America that they presume exists. Invariably, there are the stock defenders of their actions invoking the
First Amendment as an enshrined protection for their actions. Even some unlikelier defenders, such as National
Review, have framed this as a free speech issue. To be perfectly clear, doing so is an exercise in stupidity.
The First Amendment provides Americans protection to enact displays of protest, certainly. The question that goes
continually and aggravatingly unaddressed is, protection from whom?
49ers,
Rams Open Seasons With Plenty of Empty Seats in Stadiums. The start of the NFL season is normally a pretty big
deal across the country. Apparently Los Angeles and San Francisco didn't get the memo. The Rams and 49ers each
opened their season at home Sunday, and both teams had to start their games with lots of empty seats in the stadium.
The Rams are hosting the the Colts, but it seems like the los Angeles fans are not that concerned about being there to see it
in person.
The Editor says...
Uh-oh. If you spend a billion dollars on a stadium, and then football's popularity disappears, that just about
does it for your tourist-boom-town plans.
Take
a look at this $72M high school football stadium in Katy, Texas. A new $72 million high school football stadium
is ready for kickoff this season in Katy, Texas. The 12,000 seat Legacy Stadium is the most expensive high school football
stadium ever built and will be shared by eight local high schools. The stadium was voted on and paid for by taxpayers in
the area, according to NBC News.
14-Year-Old
Boy Collapses During Football Practice at Bronx School, Dies: Cops. A 14-year-old boy died after
collapsing during football practice at a Bronx school Tuesday, authorities say. Police say the teenager, identified as
Dominick Bess, was running sprints during practice at Mount Saint Michael Academy on Murdock Avenue when he fainted.
Authorities responding to the 9:30 a.m. school found the boy unconscious; coaches attempted to revive him using CPR but
could not.
Stadiums or Schools: An Analysis of Public
Expenditures. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the state of Texas cut total state
funding per student, inflation-adjusted, by 11% between 2008 and 2016. This includes a 17% cut in per-pupil funding in
the state's public colleges and universities ($1550 per college student), which has led to a nearly 25% increase, $1744/year,
in tuition. During the same period, Texas taxpayers paid $337 million to help build AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL's
Dallas Cowboys. That figure amounts to over one-quarter the cost of what was, at the time, the nation's most expensive
sports arena. In 2016 Forbes ranked the Cowboys as the most valuable franchise in the entire world, placing their worth
at $4 billion.
Oakland
Raiders move to Las Vegas is one of the worst taxpayer-funded fiscal sins of all time. Las Vegas has long been
known as "Sin City," and it will soon be home to one of the worst fiscal sins of all time: On Oct. 14, 2016, the Nevada
state legislature approved the largest taxpayer subsidy in American sports history. As long as the NFL allowed the Oakland
Raiders to move to Las Vegas, taxpayers would fork over $750 million to help fund a new $1.9 billion stadium adjacent
to the Vegas strip. On March 27, 2017, NFL owners did just that, approving the move by a vote of 31-1. The Raiders'
move ends an 18-month process that saw NFL franchises relocate away from St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland. Relocations
are more common in the NFL than any other American sport. In the last 40 years, 10 NFL teams have fled their homes,
compared to seven each in the NBA and NHL, and just one MLB franchise.
Socialism
for Sports Team Owners. The people of Oakland went into mourning this week while those in Las Vegas celebrated
the news that the National Football League's Raiders were abandoning the East Bay and heading to Sin City. But while
any sports fan understands the sadness felt in Oakland and the happiness in Las Vegas, the reaction from taxpayers in the two
places should be quite different. Those of Oakland should be cheering their government's refusal to be shaken down by
the NFL, while the people of Nevada ought to be up in arms about the way they are about to be fleeced by billionaires.
The iconic franchise was lured to Nevada by the state legislature's approval of $750 million in financing toward the building
of a $1.9 billion domed stadium where the team would play. While the city of Oakland offered to donate 55 acres
to be used for building a new stadium for the Raiders as well as infrastructure improvements that would benefit the team,
the NFL preferred the more lucrative bribe from Las Vegas.
Odds are
the NFL will bet on a team in Vegas. The National Hockey League's newest team, the Golden Knights, face off on
Vegas ice in October. And the National Football League team formerly known as Oakland would like to kick off there come
2020 after a new $1.9 billion stadium is completed on 62 acres west of the Mandalay Bay Resort and I-15. They'd
share the 65,000-seat, blessedly-domed facility with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebels.
Friday Night Priorities: Spending on Stadiums
vs. Schools in Texas. From Dallas Cowboys true believers to die-hard high school pigskin fans, many Texas
residents take massive pride in their gridiron heroes. [...] In 2009, the Dallas Cowboys opened a stadium that cost $1.2 billion,
and $325 million of that amount came from Texas taxpayers. It's a common arrangement. Nationally, between 2000 and
2015, the public has contributed more than $12 billion to the building of professional sports facilities. According to
University of Michigan professor Judith Grant Long (formerly of Harvard), the Houston Texans franchise is one of about a dozen NFL
teams to receive more taxpayer money for stadium construction than the actual cost. Did that team give the extra money back
to the state? No, they kept the remainder.
The
NFL's Most Valuable Teams 2016. Relocation and new stadiums drove NFL team values 19% higher over the past
year, to an average of $2.34 billion. The Rams doubled in value, to $2.9 billion, after moving from St. Louis to
Los Angeles. The Rams are scheduled to play three seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving into a new
stadium in Inglewood. The Rams could soon be worth close to $4 billion if Stan Kroenke scores with his $3 billion
mixed-use real estate project that could bring him hundreds of millions of dollars more than his team was making in St. Louis, net
of the relocation fee he agreed to pay ($650 million over 10 years, in equal installments, starting after the 2019 season).
9
Signs You've Become A Tool Of The Entertainment Industrial Complex. Are you ignoring the big questions in life, remaining neutral
and apathetic to the great challenges we all face? Here are some sure signs that this is indeed the case. [#1] You've mistaken
sports for actual warfare. The natural human male drive for conquest and plunder has been co-opted by televised team sports, and people
take it so seriously that sports riots are a growing form of civil unrest. [...] To be a tool for the entertainment industrial complex
means that you are a non-combatant in the war for consciousness, and a non-threat to the powers that be.
San
Antonio Stadium Subsidy Could Leave Taxpayers Holding the Ball. Lawmakers in San Antonio, Texas and in
surrounding Bexar County are giving the owners of the San Antonio Spurs, a privately owned National Basketball Association
team, a total of $18 million in taxpayer funds to purchase Toyota Field, a local soccer stadium, in hopes of landing a
professional soccer team within the next 10 years. A new subsidiary of Spurs Sports and Entertainment, an ownership
group led by Chairman Peter Holt, will be responsible for convincing Major League Soccer (MLS) to create a new team to play in
the stadium. Should the company fail to land an MLS team in the city, Spurs Sports and Entertainment will be allowed to
keep up to $13 million in taxpayer funds received.
St. Louis to Start CalvinBall League. St. Louis and the state of Missouri
are itching to hand $400 million of their citizen's money to Stan Kroenke, a billionaire seven times over, in order to induce him to keep his
lousy underperforming football team from absconding to LA or San Diego. From a financial point of view football
stadiums are lousy investments for cities. From an environmental standpoint they are monuments to man-made global warming since they consist
of concrete, the making of which is one of the worst known emitters of carbon dioxide. From a utilitarian standpoint they are useless, being
designed specifically for football which limits their utility at any other time than the 8 out of 365 afternoons they are
used. There are clearly better ways to use the money.
Price tag for Rams' Inglewood stadium could reach
$2.66 billion. The final price tag for a state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood proposed by Rams owner Stan Kroenke could reach
$2.66 billion, team officials have told NFL senior staff and league owners. [...] The $2.66 billion price tag for the Inglewood
stadium includes financing costs. The 70,000-seat venue will be privately funded with personal seat licenses and a $200 million
loan from the league's G-4 stadium program. New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, home of the NFL's Giants and Jets, opened in 2010 with a
$1.6 billion price tag making it the world's most expensive stadium built to date. The Cowboy's AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas,
the so-called "Jerry's World," and the 49ers new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara each came with $1.3 billion tabs. The new Yankee
Stadium came at a cost of $1.5 billion.
Detroit's Crony
Capitalism Problem. Anyone who wants to understand how Detroit got into its current mess should look at the new
Red Wings arena that Michigan's powers-that-be recently decided to foist on it. The arena is being sold as a win-win that'll
position the city for a post bankruptcy comeback. In reality, it is a body slam for Motown and a hat trick for Red Wings owner,
billionaire Mike Ilitch. The arena is the linchpin of a $650 million entertainment complex that Michigan's business and political
elites — who include everyone from Governor Rick Snyder down to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing — have cooked up to
revive Detroit after bankruptcy. [...] The arena itself, the first — and as of now the only certain — phase of
the entertainment complex, is expected to cost $440 million in upfront capital expenditures.
Show-Me State
Suckers Shell Out Super-Subsidies For NFL Rams. Let's say you want to build a new house for yourself.
Otherwise, you tell your neighbors and your city council, you'll leave town, taking your money, tax payments, jobs, and
prestige elsewhere. What are the odds that legislators will cover at least 40 percent of your new house's
costs? And maybe throw another 15 percent your way too on naming rights to your deluxe manor and also let you
collect all revenue from nights when you rent out the house to strangers for parties or other accomodations? The odds
are pretty low in most cities in America. But if you own the NFL's Rams (who started out in Cleveland before heading
to Los Angeles and then to St. Louis), you're in luck.
You Might As Well Watch the NFL
Playoffs — You're Paying for Them. NFL owners are professionals at convincing politicians to fund their stadiums with
taxpayer dollars through the use of tax-free municipal bonds. Though these financing tools were originally created by Congress to help
fund roads and schools, they are now used to support a league that is worth $45 billion.
LA Rams Should
Pay Back Public Funds to Missouri, Sen. McCaskill Says. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is planning to introduce
legislation that would require sports franchises who have received public financing for their stadiums and other projects to
pay back those funds if they "prematurely" relocate to another city. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that
McCaskill, channeling the rage felt by many of her constituents in the Show-Me State over the NFL's decision to allow Rams
owner Stan Kroenke to move his team from St. Louis to Los Angeles, wants to make sure the public is "treated fairly" if a
team subsidized by taxpayer dollars decides to skip town before the bills are paid off, which is the case with the Rams.
Football
is Coming Back to Los Angeles, But Should Taxpayers Be Cheering? Since football was last in Los Angeles some 20
years ago, the U.S. has opened 101 new sports facilities and stadium finance experts say that almost all of them have received
public funding totaling billions of dollars. Civic leaders usually justify this expense by stating that stadiums will
generate economic revenue and job opportunities for the city, but those gains are rarely ever realized.
Scott Walker
To Commit $400 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for NBA Stadium Deal. This [scandal] involves Gov. Scott Walker of
Wisconsin, who's running on his tough-as-nails budget-cutting credentials. Come tomorrow [8/12/2015], Walker will commit no less than
$400 million of taxpayer money to a stadium deal to keep the NBA Bucks in Milwaukee: [...] That's bad enough, of course.
But what makes the situation even worse is that Walker is actually trying to sell it as something other politically motivated
corporate welfare of the basest sort.
First
glimpse of St Louis Rams' LA stadium that will be bigger and more expensive than any other in the World. This
is the first glimpse of the so-called 'NFL Disney World' that will be erected for the Rams' long-awaited return to Los
Angeles. [...] And judging by the first mock-ups of their new stadium, their return will be far from low-key. The
glass-roofed, 80,000-seat stadium will build on what was once the Hollywood Park racetrack.
NFL
will return to Los Angeles for 2016 season. NFL owners voted 30-2 to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to Los
Angeles for the 2016 season and to give the San Diego Chargers a one-year option to join the Rams in Inglewood. The Rams'
home will ultimately be on the site of the old Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood in what will be the league's biggest
stadium by square feet, a low-slung, glass-roofed football palace with a projected opening in 2019 and a price tag that could
approach $3 billion.
Chargers,
Raiders, Rams all file L.A. relocation applications. Monday [1/4/2016] was the first day teams could apply for
relocation. Although the Chargers and Raiders have joined forces in an effort to move to L.A., the situation remains
fluid and unclear, with two potential sites in Carson (Chargers and Raiders) and Inglewood (Rams). Each of the three
teams have faced roadblocks in trying to fund new stadiums in their current cities, but the irony is that the team with the
strongest and most viable effort to keep the team — the Rams — has an owner in Stan Kroenke who seems
most eager to leave. But in league circles, the belief is that the Chargers moving two hours up the coast is the most
preferred choice.
Arlington
council OKs teaming with Rangers on development next to ballpark. The [Arlington, Texas] City Council agreed
Tuesday night to use its stockpile of gas drilling cash to help the Texas Rangers finally develop land next to Globe Life
Park. The council unanimously approved several resolutions allowing the city staff to go forward with a deal for a
100,000-square-foot entertainment complex and upscale hotel across the street from the team's ballpark. The $200 million
project could get $50 million in city money plus perhaps another $50 million in tax incentives.
Arlington OKs $200M development partnership with the Rangers. Arlington
City Council unanimously approved a $200 million development on Tuesday night [12/15/2015] to be built near the ballpark.
The Rangers proposed a hotel and entertainment development that would also add space for conventions.
Arlington
Council OKs $200M entertainment complex near ballpark. The Arlington City Council on Tuesday [12/15/2015] approved an
economic development project that will include a 100,000-square-foot entertainment complex near Globe Life Park, the home of
the Texas Rangers. The city said the $200 million project will be a public-private partnership between the city and the
Texas Rangers baseball club. The city will invest $50 million in the project, according to a release.
Garland
ISD bond projects to cost millions more than voters were told. [Scroll down] The natatorium cost
adjustments include $577,000 in design services, $560,000 in furniture, fixtures and equipment, and $7.3 million in
construction. [...] [The natatorium was] introduced at $20.4 million in December 2013; presented to voters at
$20.9 million November 2014; estimated at $31.6 million Sept. 21.
The 10 most expensive ballparks in
America. The average MLB ticket price rose 3.3 percent over last season to $28.94, the largest increase since 2009, according to Team
Marketing Report, a sports marketing publisher. The average Fan Cost Index, or FCI, is up 2.5 percent over last year to $211.68. The
FCI figure includes four adult average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four (regular) hot dogs, parking and two of the
cheapest hats. That might sound like you're getting a lot, but you'll also be spending a lot at these most expensive ballparks.
Frisco
City Council OKs $39M in improvements for Toyota Stadium. Frisco City Council on Tuesday night [9/15/2015]
approved $39 million in improvements to Toyota Stadium, the home of the FC Dallas franchise in Major League Soccer.
The improvements could include housing the National Soccer Hall of Fame at the south end of the stadium, Soccer America Daily
reported. The hall of fame could attract additional tourism dollars to the area.
Frisco
Looks At $39-Million Upgrade To Toyota Stadium. Frisco city council will vote Tuesday [9/15/2015] on a proposed
$39-million plan to upgrade Toyota Stadium, the home of the FC Dallas professional soccer team. Some of the money would
go towards an addition onto the south end of the stadium designed to house the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum.
The National Soccer Hall of Fame currently doesn't have a home.
The Editor says...
Notice that the arena is called Toyota Stadium, but it sounds as if Toyota doesn't pay a dime for maintenance or improvements.
St.
Louis may build new football stadium with taxpayer dollars without taxpayer approval.
We've had a few discussions here in the past about sports franchise stadiums and the relative wisdom
(or lack thereof) of taxpayers footing the bill for these billion dollar ventures to "relieve the
burden" on the billionaire owners and millionaire players they hope to attract to their city. It
tends to wind up being a losing proposition for most of them, but in the end it's a decision that
the voters will have to live with. Unless, of course, you live in or around St. Louis,
in which case a judge has conveniently removed the decision from their hands.
2024
boondoggle united opponents. Finally, at long last, someone has gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the
American public. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch — Boston 2024.
Detroit's
rotting Silverdome stadium goes on the market for $30 million. Pontiac Silverdome in
Pontiac, Michigan, the once proud home to the Detroit Lions that has become an empty, rotting shell,
is up for sale again, with an asking price of about $30 million. In its heyday, the Silverdome
hosted the Super Bowl, a pope, the NBA finals, Led Zeppelin, Elvis, WrestleMania and dozens of other
world-class acts and sporting events.
Oakland
Is Home to Championship Teams, All of Them Looking to Leave. The Warriors have plans
to move back to San Francisco, to a glassy waterfront arena, as early as 2018. The Raiders and the
A's, trying to disconnect from each other and from the decaying stadium they share, are threatening
to leave, too — the Raiders back to Los Angeles, the A's to San Jose or anywhere else
that welcomes them to a better ballpark.
NFL Takes San Diego
Hostage. As the old saying goes, "If you threaten to build it, they will come." Alright, so
maybe that's not quite what Shoeless Joe meant in "Field of Dreams." But the San Diego Chargers are
proving it once again to be true. All a team needs to do is threaten to leave town and its current city will
come running with fistfuls of cash.
Brazil's
World Cup Stadiums Fall to Kids Parties, Squatters, Bus Parking. The hangover from
2014's FIFA World Cup is not yet over for Brazil. Barely a year after the last of the fans
disappeared, at least four of the 12 stadiums used for international matches are facing severe
financial problems. The monolithic sporting complexes, dubbed elefantinhos brancos (white
elephants) by local media, have been hit hard by Brazil's financial crisis and many are now abandoned,
face costly structural problems, and are even sheltering homeless Brazilians. Brasilia's newly
built Mané Garrincha stadium, the second most expensive ever built after the United
Kingdom's Wembley Stadium, is now being used as a parking lot for 400 local buses.
The Editor says...
Yeah, but didn't we have a great time watching the World Cup on our fabulous new High-Def televisions?
Remember when that guy — oh what was his name? — remember when he kicked the ball and
some other fellow kicked it right back in the opposite direction, and then that cycle was repeated about
500 times? Man, what a game! Throw the ball! Catch the ball! Kick the ball!
That's easily worth a few billion dollars in construction costs.
Raiders,
Chargers propose joint use stadium in Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles, which has
been without a NFL team since 1995, may be home to two — possibly three — teams. The Oakland
Raiders and San Diego Chargers have jointly proposed to build a $1.7 billion stadium in Los Angeles
that each team would share. The proposal is for a privately financed stadium to be built in
Carson, located about 10 miles south of Los Angeles, representatives from each team said during
an announcement Thursday [2/19/2015].
The
bad economics of hosting the Super Bowl. Sports economists say hosting Super Bowl XLIX
won't create a huge economic boost for the Phoenix, Ariz., metropolitan area, despite thousands of
football fans traveling to the area. Like most Super Bowl host cities, the Phoenix metropolitan
area is already a large economy, approximately $210 billion in size. To increase the metropolitan
economy by just 1 percent, the Super Bowl would have to create more than $2 billion in economic
growth. For comparison, a study funded by the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee found that visitors
spent $218 million when the area hosted the Super Bowl in 2008.
Super
Bowl Host City Still Reeling Over Sports Deals. Glendale bet big on professional
sports in the last 15 years, spending millions of dollars on a hockey arena for the Arizona Coyotes
and investing heavily in a spring training ballpark for the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Then the economy tanked, and the hockey team went through bankruptcy, with several different owners in recent years.
Eminent
domain use for possible Olympic site feared. Should Boston ultimately be tapped to
host the 2024 Summer Games, the use of eminent domain will be a tempting option to help clear prized
land for Olympic venues, but deploying it, warns a legal expert, could cause disastrous ripple
effects with lasting economic harm. "There is a long history of using eminent domain to try to
promote economic development. Most of the time what happens is it tends to destroy more development
than it actually creates," said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University property law professor. "It
destroys existing businesses and homes. It undermines the security of property rights and it tends
to destroy people's social ties in their neighborhoods."
The Redevelopment
Racket. The justifications that governments give for subsidizing private developments
are often dubious, but this was particularly so for a recent New Jersey deal. This summer, the state
granted $82 million in tax credits to the Philadelphia 76ers to build a practice facility in Camden.
Although it will create only 50 jobs and be closed to the public, officials believe that its waterfront
presence will uplift the city. The credit was granted by a heavily indebted state to the team's billionaire
owner, for a city that suffers 16 percent unemployment and 42 percent poverty, and recently cut half of
its police force.
San
Fran Kisses Its 70,000-Person Toilet Goodbye. Candlestick Park, born in 1960 and scheduled to be executed
presently, was an unpleasant, uncomfortable, cold, remote, windblown penitentiary located as far from San Francisco as
this city's mythical 49-square-mile limit permitted.
Sitting
empty, Bears Stadium costs Newark, Essex County millions. Newark, where more than a quarter of residents live in poverty,
is stuck paying $1 million a year on bonds for a baseball park that's lost its main tenant. The $34 million Bears & Eagles
Riverfront Stadium, envisioned as a pillar of development in the state's most populous city when it opened in 1999, is mostly silent this
season after the Newark Bears folded amid dwindling attendance. The owners are trying to sell the club after putting belongings,
including the team bus, up for auction in April.
Mayor's
alternative to Walmart? Downtown baseball stadium. In an effort to block Walmart's
proposed store in the city's downtown, Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt is pitching the idea of instead
using the site for a new baseball stadium. Schmitt has floated the stadium idea privately to
several aldermen and other civic leaders as an alternative to Walmart's planned retail superstore
in the Broadway shopping district.
Trump
would put up his own money for new Bills stadium if bid is accepted. Billionaire
developer Donald Trump said Monday [5/26/2014] that he's willing to put up some of his own money to
help build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills if his bid to buy the team is successful. Asked
about contributing money to a new Bills stadium during a brief interview before a speech at the
National Press Club, Trump said, "I think I would. If my bid were accepted, I would certainly do
what I could do." The new Bills stadium is likely to involve public financing as well, Trump said
in the interview, in which he reiterated the team's need for a new facility and said his employees
had already scouted out a couple of good stadium sites in Buffalo.
Very slightly off-topic: Chris
Christie backers awarded $223m tax break to build New Jersey mall. A major new
shopping mall and housing development in New Jersey, which is controlled by the biggest corporate
funders of Chris Christie's official mansion, has been awarded a $223m public subsidy by the
governor's administration. Luxury Point, a vast retail, residential and entertainment complex to
be built in Sayreville, was last month given one of the biggest corporate tax breaks handed out so
far by the Republican governor's state authorities, which are facing a $2.7bn budget shortfall over
the next year.
Just a little off-topic: $6M
in tax credits for firm to move one floor up in Jersey City office tower. An
Atlanta-based payment processing firm that rents space on the 39th floor of a Downtown Jersey City
tower will receive $6 million in state tax credits over the next 20 years to move one floor up in
the same building. The state Economic Development Authority approved the tax credits at its August
meeting, saying First Data was considering a move to Atlanta. First Data's Jersey City expansion
will result in 74 new jobs, a figure touted yesterday by Mayor Steve Fulop, who said the deal is
proof that Jersey City is becoming a "preferred location" for businesses.
Brazil World Cup Extremely
Costly. Brazil's World Cup stadium will cost $900 million in public funds due to allegedly
fraudulent billing, the Associated Press reports. The cost of the stadium has tripled, making it the
world's second-most expensive soccer stadium.
Brazil's
advice to World Cup tourists: 'Don't scream if robbed'. Rather than ignore the many
problems plaguing the country's preparations for its games — drought, murder, striking police,
ballooning costs, mismanagement and Dengue fever — police are inching toward resignation. They know
Rio de Janeiro state, which saw more than 4,000 murders in 2012, is pretty dangerous. And the
600,000 tourists who are expected to descend upon Rio should know it, too. So Rio police have
compiled a list of tips on navigating the city's violence, including asking tourists to refrain from
screaming if someone robs them.
Super Bowl cost NJ Transit
$5.6 million. New Jersey's playing host to the Super Bowl cost NJ Transit $5.6 million, its executive director
told a state Senate panel Thursday [5/1/2014]. Ronnie Hakim said expenses to the agency — which moved
ticketholders from Secaucus Junction to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford for the Feb. 2 game — were
$7.2 million, including overtime and other costs during Super Bowl week. That was offset by $1.6 million
in revenue from ticket sales and Pepsi advertising on njtransit.com, on trains and throughout the Secaucus Junction station,
she said.
Hot dogs,
Cracker Jack and ballpark welfare. Lawmakers from Miami to San Diego to Seattle have spent hundreds of
millions of public dollars on ballparks so billionaire owners didn't have to reach into their own pockets to pay for a
place to put their businesses. In Miami, Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria persuaded Miami-Dade County taxpayers to
build a baseball stadium with a retractable roof for his team in Little Havana. By the time taxpayers
pay off the interest, the stadium will have cost the public $3 billion. Despite guarantees
that the stadium, which opened in 2012, would lure fans to the park in droves, the Marlins rank 26th in the
majors in attendance, drawing fewer than 20,000 fans a game.
Football: A Waste of Taxpayers' Money.
The NFL's Vikings are lousy at scoring touchdowns — they have the worst record in the NFC North — but they've proven
remarkably adept in shaking down Minnesotans for free money. Next year they'll be playing ball in a brand-spanking new $975 million
complex in downtown Minneapolis, more than half of whose cost is being picked up by state and local taxpayers.
Florida
Court Allows Taking Of Private Land To Build A Major League Soccer Stadium. Last Friday [1/31/2014], the Orlando Sentinel and
News 13 Orlando both reported that a Florida Circuit Court upheld the City of Orlando's decision to take private property located on West
Church Street to build a soccer stadium for Orlando City SC, which is Major League Soccer's newest expansion team.
The Dark Side of the Atlanta Braves New Stadium.
Why would the Braves move from a convenient, fan-friendly stadium that's only 17 years old to the traffic gridlock hell at the interchange of
interstates I-75 and I-285? Because Cobb County officials bribed the team's owners with $450 million of taxpayers' money, that's why.
That means failing business owners, struggling single mothers, the unemployed and families fighting to make ends meet will be forced to pick up most of
the tab for the cost of a new state-of-the-art baseball stadium so the team's owners don't have to.
Braves plan to build new stadium in Cobb.
Braves executives John Schuerholz, Mike Plant and Derek Schiller, in a meeting with a small group of reporters, said the new ballpark will be built at the
northwest intersection of I-75 and I-285 in the Galleria/Cumberland Mall area. They said the team has "secured" approximately 60 acres of land
for the project. The Braves said the stadium is projected to cost $672 million, including parking, land and infrastructure, and will be built in
partnership with Cobb County.
It's (Financially) In the
Hole! The Red Wing City Council put Mississippi National Golf Links out to pasture for the year, buying time to sort out what's become
a $150,000 annual financial handicap on average for local taxpayers. "We all know what the lay of the land is for golf courses," said Rick
Moskwa, public works director in Red Wing. "They're all struggling. There's an over-saturation in this area for sure but I don't know
what the likelihood of somebody coming in and saying we're interested in running something like this is and if that's even possible that it can
bankroll itself."
Eminent domain and the Sacramento Kings.
Apparently we have arrived in the brave new world where the government can seize the property of private businesses such as Macy's or of individual
homeowners and declare that it's in the public interest to put a privately owned soccer stadium in its place. And this assertion is made in the
face of historical evidence, as [Ilya] Somin points out, that sports stadiums almost always turn out to be economic losers for the communities where
they are constructed.
New $444 million hockey arena is still a go in
Detroit. Detroit's financial crisis hasn't derailed the city's plans to spend more than $400 million in Michigan taxpayer
funds on a new hockey arena for the Red Wings. Advocates of the arena say it's the kind of economic development needed to attract both
people and private investment dollars into downtown Detroit.
Sacramento Bids
$574 Million to Keep NBA's Kings. In a bid to keep the city's lone major professional sports team from bolting to Seattle,
Sacramento's City Council has voted to approve a deal for a new downtown arena for the NBA's Sacramento Kings. The deal is estimated
to cost taxpayers at least $574 million in debt payments over the 35-year life of the bonds that would be issued to fund the arena's
construction.
Cubs Pledge $300 Mil. to Renovate Wrigley
Field. The owners of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team say they are willing to spend $300 million of their own money to
renovate their home ballpark, the nearly 100-year-old Wrigley Field. In 2012 the Ricketts family, who own the Cubs, appeared to be closing in on
a taxpayer-funded stadium renovation plan with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. But Emanuel backed away after Cubs trustee/owner Joe Ricketts
considered funding a TV commercial campaign against the reelection of President Barack Obama.
Chicago Suburb Borrows Millions
to Repay Stadium Debt. Saddled with debt payments after sinking $135 million into the construction of a soccer stadium, the
Chicago-area suburb of Bridgeview recently had to borrow an additional $27 million to cover required bond payments. The Chicago
Tribune reported the new borrowing comes on top of more than $218 million in debt cited in the village's 2011 audited statements.
Bill Aims to Slow Borrowing by
Illinois Municipalities. The bill comes in the wake of news stories about property taxes soaring in numerous communities where local
governments have borrowed money with the promise it would cost taxpayers nothing. Sports stadiums, golf courses, village halls, and other
facilities built or bought with alternate revenue bonds are supposed to generate enough money to repay the debts. In many instances, the
revenues have fallen woefully short, forcing taxpayers to cover the difference.
Small Town Gets Big-League Debt with
Stadium Deal. While large cities tend to receive attention for big-league deals giving tax money to build stadiums for pro sports teams,
small towns have also been stepping up to the plate to lure minor-league or second-tier professional sports teams. Many of those small towns are
losing big. One is Bridgeview, Illinois, which is in dire financial straits because its taxpayer-owned soccer stadium has failed to generate the
promised operational revenues and regional economic benefits that stadium backers had touted. The town built the stadium with $135 million
in general-obligation bonds.
Minnesota to Send
Nearly $500 Million to Billionaire Team Owners. Nearly $500 million in taxpayer subsidies will go to a new stadium for the Minnesota
Vikings of the National Football League. Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL) signed the bill authorizing the taxpayer giveaway in May. Many Vikings fans
greeted the bill signing with jubilation. Taxpayer advocates and economists who study the impact of sports stadiums warned the promised benefits
are unlikely to materialize. The team's principal owner is billionaire real estate magnate Zygmunt Wilf.
"Wastebook
2012": The National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Professional Golfers' Association
(PGA) classify themselves as non-profit organizations to exempt themselves from federal income taxes on earnings. Smaller
sports leagues, such as the National Lacrosse League, are also using the tax status. Taxpayers may be losing at least
$91 million subsidizing these tax loopholes for professional sports leagues that generate billions of dollars annually
in profits. [...] Almost half of professional football teams are valued at over $1 billion.
STOP the Wilmington Tax-Funded Stadium. A local baseball
stadium will do nothing in any impactful way to stimulate our local eocnomy. The etaphor of filling one side of a
swimming pool with water collected from the opposite side explains this perfectly. Local residents do not bury their
expendable cash for entertainment purposes in a coffee can in the backyard waiting for a stadium to be built. They
currently spend what they can afford in our many already existing local attractions, shopping, and dining. A baseball
stadium will do nothing more than redirect a family's entertainment funds that would have been spent anyway in the local
economy elsewhere.
Minnesota to Send Nearly
$500 Million to Billionaire Team Owners. Nearly $500 million in taxpayer subsidies will go to a new stadium
for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL) signed the bill authorizing the
taxpayer giveaway in May. Many Vikings fans greeted the bill-signing with jubilation. Taxpayer advocates and economists
who study the impact of sports stadiums warned the promised benefits are unlikely to materialize. The team's principal
owner is billionaire real estate magnate Zygmunt Wilf.
St. Louis Rejects $700 Million
Stadium Renovation Plan. The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) has rejected a proposal for an
estimated $700 million in renovations to the Edward Jones Dome, home field of the Rams of the National Football League.
The CVC's decision to reject the Rams' proposal, announced in early June, follows the team's rejection of a proposal by the CVC
for $124 million in renovations. The matter could go to arbitration. The CVC has the authority to accept or
reject any plan the arbitrators select or create.
Hell to the Redskins. When compared to the
$498 million fleecing Minnesota taxpayers just endured, the $6.4 million Virginia taxpayers will be spending — thanks to
Republican Governor Bob McDonnell — on improvements to the Redskins' training facilities looks like small potatoes. Regardless
of size, both the Vikings' new stadium and the Redskins "deal" feature the same credulous acceptance of imaginary threats, insider dealing and
Babbitt boosterism that undermines the democratic process and contributes to voter alienation.
Public Funding of Sports Stadiums. Since 2000,
28 new major league stadiums have been built costing over $9 billion dollars. More than half, over $5 billion, of the costs
of the new stadiums were funded using public dollars. In Utah, 4 stadiums have been built since 1991 costing $386 million in
today's dollars; $200 million (in today's dollars) of that total was paid out of the coffers of Utah cities, Salt Lake County and the State
of Utah.
Game over: Public financing of stadiums.
For years, owners got their way — mostly by pitting one market against another, preying on civic insecurity. "If you don't give me what I want,
I might be forced to relocate my team to a city with more appreciative fans." Now, though, the cleat is on the other foot. It's the taxpayers
pitting owners against owners. "If teams in other cities can build their pavilions without public help," they ask, "Why can't you?"
New stadiums —
taking from the old and sick and giving to millionaires. When new sport stadiums are financed with public money, research has shown
that the population is actually worse off economically than before the stadium. This flies in the face of the argument that stadium
proponents advance, mainly that a new stadium brings new jobs and economic expansion. Let's look at the costs and benefits from a new
stadium from both the perspective of the team, and of the "public."
Media Bias and Public Stadium Funding.
If these are such obviously bad deals, then why does the public tolerate the public funding of sports venues? [Rick] Eckstein has an answer.
Stadium promises never pay. [Scroll
down] In a just-released article in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues, my colleagues and I studied media coverage of 23 publicly financed
stadium initiatives in 16 different cities, including Philadelphia. We found that the mainstream media in most of these cities is noticeably
biased toward supporting publicly financed stadiums, which has a significant impact on the initiatives' success. This bias usually takes the form of
uncritically parroting stadium proponents' economic and social promises, quoting stadium supporters far more frequently than stadium opponents, overlooking
the numerous objective academic studies on the topic, and failing to independently examine the multitude of failed stadium-centered promises throughout the
country, especially those in oft-cited "success cities" such as Denver and Cleveland.
An
Examination of Sporting Event Economic Impact Studies. Economists widely believe that studies sponsored
by leagues and events exaggerate the economic impact that professional franchises and large sporting events make on
local communities. Such overstatement results from several factors. First, the studies often ignore the
substitution effect. To the extent that attendees at a sporting event spend their money on that event
instead of on other activities in the local economy, the sporting event simply results in reallocation of
expenditures in the economy, rather than in real net increases in economic activity.
Metropolitan Prosperity From
Major League Sports in the CBD. Whether it is publicly or privately financed, a metropolitan area
receives the same benefits from an arena or a stadium. Nevertheless, usually at least a portion of the
$100 to $500 million cost of a new arena or stadium is funded with public dollars. The reason
is that owners of professional sports teams have been effective at threatening city officials with alternative
locations. One important issue, then, is whether the employment and income benefits from the new sports
facility are greater than the public cost.
The Growth Effects of Sport Franchises, Stadia and Arenas.
This paper investigates the relationship between professional sports franchises and venues and real per capita
personal income in 37 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States over the period 1969-1994.
Our empirical framework accounts for the entry and departure of professional football, basketball and baseball
franchises; the construction of arenas and stadia; and other sports-related factors over this time period.
In contrast to other existing studies, we find evidence that some professional sports franchises reduce the
level of per capita personal income in metropolitan areas and have no effect on the growth in per capita
income, casting doubt on the ability of a new sports franchise or facility to spur economic growth.
Eleven
Sources of Misapplication. Many sports events, facilities, and franchises are subsidized either
directly or indirectly by investments from public sector funds. The scarcity of tax dollars has led to
growing public scrutiny of their allocations.
Public Funding of Sports
Stadiums. Since 2000, 28 new major league stadiums have been built costing over
nine billion dollars. More than half, over $5 billion, of the costs of the new stadiums were
funded using public dollars. ... Across the nation, franchises have argued that building a new stadium will
lead to economic development in the form of increased incomes, jobs and tax revenues. However, the
preponderance of academic research has disputed these claims.
The Stadium Gambit and Local Economic
Development. The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city
and building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita
income and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city. Yet government decisionmakers and
politicians continue to try to attract professional sports franchises to cities, or use public funds to construct
elaborate new facilities in order to keep existing franchises from moving. ... However, regardless of the
size of the nonpecuniary benefits, one thing is clear from the evidence on professional sports franchises:
owners are reaping substantial benefits in the value of their teams because they are so skilled at the stadium gambit.
C.L.A.S.S.
Action U.S.A. — Cincinnati Chapter. The Citizens' League Against Subsidized Sports
is an initiative designed to restore fiscal sanity to the relationship between professional teams and the
communities that host them. Professional sports franchises are a multi-billion dollar business
nationwide. Yet in cities across the country, those cash-rich organizations say they "need" taxpayers
to cover their business expenses — specifically, the maintenance and operation of stadiums which
were built originally with taxpayer dollars.
Group Begins Effort to Put Ticket Tax on
the Ballot. A local group is beginning an effort to put a ticket tax on the ballot in November
to help eliminate the deficit in the stadium fund. Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune held a
news conference Saturday [5/21/2011] to announce the plan. Paperwork he provided shows the group's
name would be CLASS Action. It stands for the Citizens League Against Subsidized Sports.
Group Wants to Shift Stadium
Costs to Primary Users. In 1996, Hamilton County voters approved a sales tax to pay for the
construction of Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ball Park. The sales tax hasn't kept up
with projections, meaning County leaders have had to pay the bills with money from other sources.
Also, the lease requires the County to pay for much of the maintainence and upkeep at the stadiums, and
those costs are rising as the two faciliities age. Todd Portune says those who use the stadium the
most should be the ones paying for them, not the average taxpayer.
The Municipal Debt Bubble:
When state and local governments want to spend more than they collect in revenues, they issue bonds. Such
bonds are a longstanding feature of the American landscape, going back at least as far as 1812, but during the
last decade they have spun out of control, as states and cities have increased their borrowing to indulge in
more and more spending on new stadiums, schools, bridges, and museums. They have even started borrowing
to cover their basic operational expenses. Since 2000 the total outstanding state and municipal bond
debt, adjusted for inflation, has soared from $1.5 trillion to $2.8 trillion. The recession
didn't slow the spending.
Electorate
Energized in the Sunshine State. Politicians in both parties should cast their eyes towards
Miami if they believe they can continue to ignore the will of the electorate. Republican Mayor Carlos
Alvarez who was first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, was given the boot in a recall election that
was stunning in terms of percentages. With one hundred percent of the vote counted, 88% of Miami-Dade
voters decided enough was enough. What did Alvarez in? Tax hikes, raises for members of his
inner circle, and an ill-fated decision to have taxpayers underwrite a portion of the building costs for
a new Florida Marlins baseball stadium.
Want Economic Stimulus? Don't Build a
Sports Stadium! For the last few decades sports teams across the country have nosed up to the
public trough and demanded that states and cities chip in millions for the construction of new sports stadiums.
To justify the public expense the claim has been made that these monstrous construction projects bring a wealth
of jobs and spending on entertainment and are a boon to any city that will fund them. But are they?
Do these multi-million dollar projects bring such lucrative benefits to the cities and states that pay through
the nose for them?
Sports
Stadiums as Wise Investments. In some respects, not much has changed since the early days of
professional sports. Today, one of the most popular ways for a city to demonstrate its interest in a
professional sports franchise is to possess a facility in which the team can play. In other respects,
however, a great deal has changed since [William] Cammeyer opened the first stadium. Today, the
facility used to attract a franchise is not likely to be owned by a private entrepreneur
manager-owner, but rather by a government agency.
America's
Municipal Debt Racket. New Jersey officials recently celebrated the selection of the new
stadium in the Meadowlands sports complex as the site of the 2014 Super Bowl. Absent from the
festivities was any sense of the burden the complex has become for taxpayers. Nearly 40 years ago
the Garden State borrowed $302 million to begin constructing the Meadowlands. The goal was to pay
off the bonds in 25 years. ... Today, the authority that runs the Meadowlands is in hock for
$830 million, which it can't pay back.
Blocked party: NFL bars host
town from using 'Super Bowl' name. The sports world is converging on East Rutherford (pop. 8,978) for Sunday's game between the Denver
Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, and all the town wanted to do was have a little block party for locals not rich or lucky enough to have tickets.
The NFL can't stop the party, but they did bar East Rutherford from using the phrase "Super Bowl" in any description of the humble event, set to
take place Sunday afternoon in the shadow of the town's most famous building, MetLife Stadium.
As Super Bowl exits NJ, taxpayers on hook for many
expenses. As the NFL packs out of town, with their self-proclaimed all-American extravaganza, we should say good riddance, and make sure
they don't come back with their big money, big everything, big game. Because you, New Jersey taxpayer, are on the hook for the league's big party
for itself.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Admit Their
Guitars Were Unplugged During [...] Halftime Show. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been in hot water this week after careful analysis
of the [big] halftime show footage revealed that the band's instruments weren't plugged in to anything. Flea, the Peppers' zany bassist,
took to the band's blog Tuesday evening [2/4/2014] to explain why they were essentially playing air guitar alongside headliner Bruno Mars.
The Editor says...
A lot of people paid a lot of money to see the Big Event, and the halftime show is supposed to be a significant inducement to attend. If
I had bought an expensive ticket and ended up watching a lip sync show, I'd be plenty miffed.
Politicians Smother Cities.
[Scroll down] Politicians claim that stadiums increase the number of jobs. Not so, says J.C. Bradbury,
author of The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed. "There's a huge consensus among
economists that there is no economic development benefit to having these stadiums," he says. The
stadiums do create jobs for construction workers and some vendors. But "it's a case of the seen and the
unseen," Bradbury says, alluding to the 19th-century French economist Frederic Bastiat. "It's very easy
to see a new stadium going up. ... But what you don't see is that something else didn't get built across town. ... It's
just transferring from one place to the other.
Build It,
Or Else. The Seattle Supersonics have determined that their home, Key Arena — last
refurbished 10 years ago to the tune of $95 million — is deficient. Only
45 percent of Key Arena's suites are rented, whereas in other cities the suites run at
90 percent to 100 percent capacity. … So the team's principal owner,
Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks Coffee Company, has begun reading from a
well-thumbed script.
Opening day subsidies: Publicly funded
sports stadiums are like crack cocaine to local politicians and business bigwigs. These folks are just
like addicts: They deceive everyone around them for the sake of a fix and rarely take no for an answer
when voters decline to subsidize their schemes. Instead, they resort to theft — in the form of
dubious hotel, sales, and other taxes — to pay for their fix, forcing citizens who couldn't care less
about sports to subsidize teams.
Public welfare for
billionaires — Pro-Sports Stadiums. Owners of pro-sports franchises are pressuring many
cities to provide luxurious stadiums at taxpayer expense. But some communities are throwing up a tough
defense.
Eight reasons to reject
publicly financed stadiums for professional sports teams: Providing public subsidies
for private stadiums in corporate welfare plain and simple. Public subsidies for stadiums go
directly into the pockets of team owners and players by increasing profits, player salaries and
raising the re-sale value of the team. … The billionaire team owners and the players profit,
but the taxpayer doesn't see a dime.
Does Public Investment in Municipal
Sports Stadiums Pay Off? Critics of public investment in new stadiums also note that the
multiplier effects of new stadiums is likely to be small since most new stadiums contain larger parking,
restaurant, souvenir, and other concession facilities. This reduces the amount of spillover benefits in
the neighboring community. Most economic studies have found that the local economy receives at best
only limited economic benefits from the construction of such stadiums.
Public Subsidies
For Sports Stadiums Don't Spur Economic Growth. America is in the midst of a sports stadium
building binge fueled by a considerable dose of public funding. Nationally, public subsidies for
stadiums exceed $500 million a year. Oklahoma City joined the building binge by funding a
new 18,000-seat arena as part of the MAPS program. Subsidies have not been limited to major league
sports; many communities have built facilities for minor-league sports teams as well.
Financing Professional Sports Facilities:
Public financing of large public facilities is always a challenge. Will it be worth the cost? How
will the construction costs be funded? Is it an appropriate use of public funds? Advocates for new
sports facilities often stress the economic benefits that a new facility can bring to the community.
Opponents frequently point out that many economic impact studies on the topic have found that the benefits
may not be substantial.
Stadium Finance: Government's Role in the
1990s. Public financing of sports facilities for professional sports teams has been the subject
of growing controversy in recent years. For decades, full public financing of sports stadiums and arenas
was the norm. In the last decade, however, demands for more elaborate and costly facilities on the part
of owners and the increasingly limited resources of state and local governments have challenged the wisdom
of this policy.
My stadium's better than your
stadium... "I'm not sure it's stadium envy as much as it is the machinery of state and local
politics and getting politically potent people the things they want," said Rodney Fort, an economics professor
at Washington State University who has co-written a book on stadium construction and politics of sports
titled, "Hard Ball, The Abuse of Power in Pro Team Sports."
Rich
People Versus Politicians: Legalized corruption is widespread and that's the job of 35,000
Washington, D.C., lobbyists earning millions upon millions of dollars. ... For the right price, a tax loophole,
saving a company tens of millions of dollars, can be inserted into tax law, a la the Charlie Rangel
scandal. At state levels, governors can award public works contracts to a generous constituent. At
the local levels mayors can confer favors such as providing subsidies for sports stadia and convention centers.
When politicians can give favors, they will find buyers.
Long
Island-Area Voters Nix Stadium Subsidy Proposal. The owner of the New York Islanders of the
National Hockey League threatened to move his team unless he receives hundreds of millions of dollars of
taxpayer backing for a new stadium. Taxpayers in Long Island and surrounding Nassau County responded
with a message that could be interpreted as, "Don't let the door hit you on the behind on your way out."
Voters in August overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to borrow $400 million for the Islanders and their billionaire
owner, Charles Wang. A minor league baseball stadium also would have been built. The vote was
57% to 43% against.
"The
evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and building that franchise a new stadium
or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income and may reduce the level of real per capita
income in that city."
On November 2, 2004, the citizens of Arlington, Texas, voted to increase the city sales tax in order
to contribute $350,000,000 to the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium. Many of the same voters also fell
for the same sales pitch ten years ago when the baseball stadium was built for the Texas Rangers.
By now, Arlington was supposed to have turned into a thriving boom town — a mecca of
tourism year round — according to the promises made ten years ago. And of course it
isn't, but the voters just can't say no, because Football is involved, and Football (with a
capital F) is somehow more important than almost anything else.
I'm glad I don't live in Arlington.
Why Was
Cowboys Stadium Exempt From Blackouts? As brief power outages rolled across the state on
Wednesday [2/2/2011], certain places were intended to be exempt from a temporary loss of electricity.
That included hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, police stations, other emergency response
facilities... and Cowboys Stadium?
Does this sound like a business that needs tax breaks? Super Bowl 45 Will
Break Records. A new attendance record will be set: well over 103,000 fans at the palatial
Cowboys Dome in Arlington, Texas. A new record for the cost of advertising on the game has been reached.
Advertising on Fox for the Super Bowl is at a cool $100,000... per second. Yes, 100K per tick,
$3 million for thirty whole seconds. Better be a good ad!
Cowboys
Stadium Super Bowl parking reaches up to $1100. The face value of Super Bowl tickets —
up to $1,200 — elicits awe from football fans every year. Perhaps the biggest sticker shock
this time around, though, was parking. While many will pay less than $100 for parking Sunday, the highest
priced spot near Cowboys Stadium recently sold for $1,099. That outlandish price — with two
more spots still available — caught the attention of media around the country.
Routine
items not allowed at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday. As part of the increased security surrounding
the Super Bowl, NFL and federal authorities are limiting what fans can bring to Cowboys Stadium. Everyone
entering the stadium must pass through a magnatometer [sic], such as those used at airports, and get a patdown as
part of the screening process.
Super
seat screw-up jilts 400 ticketholders. For a game that was planned for years, Sunday's Super
Bowl XLV was a pre-game nightmare for those outside and inside Cowboys Stadium. Fans could not get into
the stadium for hours because of gate closings and, once inside, some unlucky fans found that their seats were
covered by big black tarps and unusable.
But what about the halftime show? The
Lingering Stench of the Black Eyed Peas. So the Super Bowl came and went like a fat, sweaty,
overbearing relative — and it left a stench in the bathroom that can only be described as the
Black Eyed Peas. Yes — once again we are suffocated by the American assumption that what is
lapped up by teenage girls is also lapped up by everyone else over fourteen.
Oh, but at least the National Anthem was inspiring, wasn't it? The national anthem isn't
a pop song. I've heard quite a bit of criticism of Christina Aguilera's embarrassing rendition
of our national anthem prior to kick-off Sunday night. Most of the comments have been focused on her
botching the lyrics. Fair enough. But why should we be so critical of a pop star who probably
has no idea of the origins of "The Star Spangled Banner" or any sense that the song's designation as our
national anthem makes it about all of us, not about her moment on the stage?
As you may recall, the roof was closed that day. Navy
spent $450,000 of taxpayer money on Super Bowl flyover. The U.S. Navy has been criticised
for spending almost half a million dollars of taxpayers' money on a flyover at the Super Bowl — while
the stadium roof was closed. The estimated $450,000 expense was for four fighter jets that flew
from Virginia to Texas and over the retractable roof of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. As it was
broadcast on screens at the Super Bowl XLV on Sunday, spectators inside the stadium got the same view
as people watching the five-second shot at home.
The Super Bowl flyover may
have cost $450,000. The fans inside Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV had as good a view of
the flyover by four F-18 fighter jets as those watching at home. With the roof closed on Jerry Jones'
$1.2 billion stadium, people in attendance were forced to watch the flyover on the massive high-def
screens inside.
The Editor says...
Really, whose idea was it to fly four jets from Virginia for this five-second appearance over the Super Bowl?
There are plenty of loud jets in Texas. I think they still
have B-1 bombers in
Abilene — less than 200 miles away — and they're plenty loud.
No Super Bowl surge here: Sales
tax revenues rebound across Texas. Arlington will receive $5.8 million from the
comptroller's office for April, up 4.52 percent over a year ago. ... March state sales tax
revenue and April payments made to local governments represent sales that occurred in February.
The Editor says...
The statewide average was +5.16 percent.*
"Non-stop distractions are deliberately
used by those in power as instruments of policy for the purpose of preventing people from paying attention to reality."
— Politically
Short, October 5, 2015 Specific taxpayer funded stadiums and sporting events:
Owner
David Glass agrees to sell Kansas City Royals to local businessman for $1 billion. Kansas City businessman John
Sherman has finalized an agreement with David Glass to purchase the Royals for $1 billion, which is expected to be officially
approved in November at the Major League Baseball owners meetings. Sherman raised the necessary capital to satisfy
Glass. Sherman, 64, is expected to be introduced as the third owner of the Royals' franchise since its inception in
1969 on Nov. 21 at the owners' meetings in Arlington, Texas.
Cowboys Stadium to be renamed AT&T
Stadium. The Dallas Cowboys announced a multi-year, multimillion-dollar branding deal Thursday [7/25/2013] that will change
the name of Cowboys Stadium to AT&T Stadium. Team owner Jerry Jones said he wants his $1.2 billion showplace to be a building "more
familiar than the White House."
Sacramento Keeps NBA's Kings, But
Gives Up Hundreds of Millions of $$$. The Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association have a new billionaire team owner, and
that billionaire will have a new stadium for his team, courtesy of local taxpayers. Two days after the NBA rejected a bid to move the Kings to
Seattle, the Maloof family agreed to sell the Kings to a new group of investors who promise to keep the team in Sacramento. The announcement
follows the Sacramento City Council's approval of a deal for a new downtown basketball arena that has a total cost of more than $700 million.
Chicago Suburb Borrows Millions
to Repay Stadium Debt. Saddled with debt payments after sinking $135 million into the construction of a soccer stadium, the
Chicago-area suburb of Bridgeview recently had to borrow an additional $27 million to cover required bond payments. The Chicago
Tribune reported the new borrowing comes on top of more than $218 million in debt cited in the village's 2011 audited statements.
Brian Costin, director of government reform at the Illinois Policy Institute, reviewed several financial reports for the city and stadium, named
Toyota Park, and saw serious consequences for the village's stadium borrowing.
High school football: It's a Texas tradition. It's a religion. It's an incurable disease. Dallas-area
high school unveils Texas-size $60 million football stadium that seats 18,000. At least one Texas high school has achieved
gridiron glory before the football season starts. Allen High School in suburban Dallas unveiled a new stadium recently that seats
18,000 spectators and cost $60 million to build. The pigskin palace features a high-definition scoreboard, a multi-level press
box, wrestling and weight rooms, and a golf practice area.
SEC probes $634M financing of
new Marlins stadium. SEC subpoenas to the city and Miami-Dade County are seeking a long list of documents and records, including
those involving meetings and communications between government officials and executives with the Marlins and Major League Baseball.
Why public funding for a Vikings stadium doesn't make sense.
To put this proposal into terms to which we can relate, as it passed out of the Senate Finance Committee this week, the legislation would provide public
money in an amount equivalent to a $77.30 per ticket subsidy for each of the 65,000 seats at every Vikings home game. That's $77 in taxpayer funds
for each ticket, at every game, including preseason ones, for the next 30 years.
The long-gone
debate over public financing for a new Falcons stadium. A new study has raised the extreme possibility that the Atlanta Falcons, within a few years,
will be scrimmaging in a new, $1 billion stadium with a retractable roof. Roughly a third of the cost — $300 million is the figure in
current usage — is likely to be borne by those who check into Fulton County hotels and motels, via a 7 percent surcharge on their room bills.
The 20-year-old Georgia Dome, also built with a flow of taxpayer cash, would be demolished.
The Editor says...
The old stadium is only 20 years old. One could reasonably conclude that Atlanta will have to go through this process again every 20 years.
Evans:
city taxpayers won't pay for 'Skins training facility. Fear not, D.C. taxpayers. Even
the D.C. Council's biggest proponent for returning the Redskins to the District knows the city can't actually
spend money on building a training facility to lure the team back within city lines. Ward 2 Councilman
Jack Evans was asked about the possibility Friday [3/2/2012] on WAMU radio's "Politics Hour" show, where he
said it's no secret the Redskins want to relocate because their current facility in Ashburn is "one of
the worst in the league."
Santorum
backed Pittsburgh stadium tax hike. Santorum friends and former Republican associates there say
that as a U.S. senator, he astonished them by lobbying for a boost in the sales tax in 11 southwestern
Pennsylvania counties to pay for building a new stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers and another new stadium for
the Pittsburgh Pirates. The teams owners were threatening to move their teams elsewhere if the government
didn't give them what they demanded. "It was a sweetheart deal for the two teams, a total taxpayer giveaway,"
Larry Dunn, who was a Republican and the commission chairman of Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh.
Steelers-49ers
'MNF' game experiences second power outage. "I just feel like San Francisco took a big step to
show the NFL and to show the state of California that they need a new stadium," Steelers FS Ryan Clark said
following the game. "I think it was a very strategic move, and Candlestick may be no more."
The Editor says...
If the stadium needs new power transformers, it isn't necessary to replace the entire stadium.
Only slightly off-topic: Gov.
Cuomo's big development plan for Aqueduct holds promise. Of the many ambitious plans Gov. Cuomo laid
out in his second State of the State speech, none had more wow than putting the world's biggest convention center
at Aqueduct Racetrack. The proposed 3.8 million-square-foot facility — to be built on state
land with $4 billion in private money — would create thousands of jobs, boost New York City's
status as a tourist magnet and make far better use of a grossly underused property a stone's throw from Kennedy
Airport.
Dayton wants deeper review of Vikings'
stadium proposal. Gov. Mark Dayton is asking the Metropolitan Council and his stadium czar to
quickly analyze and determine the remaining issues on the Minnesota Vikings stadium proposal for the Arden Hills. ...
The county and the team announced an agreement in May to build a $1 billion stadium in Arden Hills.
The was virtually ignored by the Legislature as state leaders tried to reach agreement on the two-year budget.
Don't count on Vikings stadium in special
session. Though many expect a new Minnesota Vikings stadium to be considered at a special legislative
session, there are those who think the increasing war of words between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republicans who control
the House and Senate may prevent that. One is Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, who was first elected to the
Legislature in 1976 and is one of the longest-serving lawmakers at the State Capitol. Another may be Sen. Dave
Thompson, R-Lakeville, one of a group of influential freshman Republican legislators.
Arden Hills stadium a done stadium
deal? Hardly. The push to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium took more frantic twists and
turns Thursday as the team suggested critics might be trying to scuttle its plan to build in Ramsey County
and influential business leaders worked to swing the project back to Minneapolis. ... There were also
indications the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners has enough votes to back the $1 billion project in
suburban Arden Hills.
An
Arizona city's sports mania encounters a hard check. Taxes provided $346 million of the
$455 million cost of the huge retractable-roof NFL stadium where the Arizona Cardinals will play
10 times this season, if there is a season. But Glendale (population 253,000) has a more
immediate problem with its hockey team, the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. After the team entered bankruptcy
in 2009, the NHL bought it for $140 million and has lost at least $30 million operating it.
Sisyphus in
Boulder City. How did this little city rack up so much debt? Much, if not most of it,
comes from the city council's decision — without bothering to waste their time asking for
public approval — to build the Boulder Creek Golf Club, which opened in 2003. One
can easily understand the life-or-death need for a place to go golfing, of course. Yet, this
was the city's second public course. The first, built in 1971, was approved by voters.
Mysteriously, once the second course was operational, the first (as well as the second) began to
lose money, with revenues falling from over $600,000 annually to only $40,000.
Texas agrees deal to host
F1. Formula One will return to the United States in 2012 with a 10-year deal for a race in the
Texas state capital Austin, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has announced. "For the first time in
the history of Formula One in the United States, a world-class facility will be purpose-built to host the
event," the Briton told the F1 website. Austin, the 15th largest city in the United States, will host
the race until 2021.
If stadium
gets built, Mesa will keep Cubs. To the sound of cheers and whistles of triumph, the owners of the
Chicago Cubs officially announced Wednesday [1/27/2010] that they intend to keep their spring-training home in Mesa
but only if the state and the city can muster the $84 million to build a new stadium and practice complex.
Chargers
say they need public money for stadium. For seven years, the San Diego Chargers have said they
would build a new stadium without using taxpayer money. Thursday [12/10/2009], a team spokesman said
otherwise. "It's almost certainly going to involve some sort of taxpayer money," said Chargers special
counsel Mark Fabiani, who has led the team's stadium search since 2002.
Court
Rules Private Land Can Be Seized for NBA Arena. New York's highest court ruled Tuesday [11/24/2009]
that it's lawful for a state economic development agency to seize private land to build an arena for a professional
basketball team. The 6-1 ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals allows the contentious $4.9 billion,
22-acre Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, N.Y., to proceed. The proposed development includes office
towers, apartments and a new arena for the NBA's New Jersey Nets.
Anatomy of an Earmark.
The old Tiger Stadium was built in 1912 and was the home of Detroit's big-league team until 1999. After
the Tigers moved to a new stadium a mile away, it became the subject of intense controversy about what should
be done with it. The city wanted to tear it down. Local preservationists wanted to turn it into a
sports complex and museum. What happened was literally akin to splitting the baby.
Pricey seats at new Yankee Stadium a
Bronx bomb. The most expensive spots in America's costliest ballpark have become an embarrassment packing a
financial sting to the proud New York Yankees, as the Legends Suite section in the infield has been filled only once in
the six games since the $1.5 billion stadium opened last week. On most days, the seats that cost $500-$2,500 as
part of season tickets and go up to $2,625 for individual games haven't been close to full.
University's Stadium Plea Renews Funding Debate. The
University of Washington's quest to receive public funding for renovation of its Husky Stadium has rekindled
the debate over taxpayer financing of sports facilities. ... The university stresses it's asking for less
money than the Seahawks (football) and Mariners (baseball) did, and that its 50-50 split is a smaller share
of public dollars than for those stadiums. Public money made up about 70 percent of Qwest and Safeco
Field costs.
Fresno's new baseball stadium better not be paid
for with municipal bonds! Dale Rubin, of Salem, Oregon is an attorney who specializes in public
subsidy issues. He recently finished a brief for a public policy group in which his concluions of law
were that municipal subsidies for sports stadiums are unconstitutional. He said 'Almost all state laws
say that no public entity should be aiding private enterprise. In spite of that, billions of dollars of
bonds are flowing to build these sports facilities.'
Citi, AIG Won't Drop Big Sports
Sponsorships. AIG, Citibank and a number of other federally bailed-out financial
institutions have no plans to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in sports team sponsorships,
even as they take billions in taxpayer support, ABC News has found. In boom times, the
sponsorships were seen as a way to advertise the firms' "brands" and appeal to potential customers. ... But
critics, including a member of Congress, say the decision to continue them now is hard to defend.
Special Interests Push for
Sports Stadium Subsidies. With Washington state facing a projected $3.2 billion budget
deficit — the difference between growing revenues and even-faster spending growth — one might
expect lawmakers to focus on how best to use the existing rise in tax revenues to provide the core functions of
government. If special interests get their way, however, taxpayer financing of Seattle-area stadium
renovations will be among the "priorities" competing for tax dollars.
New Indianapolis Stadium May
Already Need Bailout. Taxpayers in Indiana may already be on the hook for a financial bailout of Lucas Oil
Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League and reputedly the most heavily subsidized
professional sports stadium in the nation. The Capital Improvement Board (CIB), which manages Lucas Oil Stadium,
announced about two years ago the stadium's annual operating costs would be $10 million while yearly revenues would
be only $7.7 million.
The False Promise of Subsidized Tourist
and Entertainment Complexes. In city after troubled city, convention centers, stadiums, arenas,
opera houses, aquariums, museums, casinos, racetracks, and other places of entertainment are presented as
powerful engines of economic development that will pay for themselves in new jobs, paychecks, and taxes.
The mounting evidence suggests, however, that while such projects offer significant benefits to a very narrow
slice of the regional (including suburban) business community, they offer very little to the urban community
in general.
Stadium Subsidies Hitting Taxpayers Harder:
Study. [Andrew] Moylan's research shows as the taxpayers' tab increases, so does the total stadium
construction cost. Stadiums that were built with 50 percent or more in taxpayer subsidies were
$65 million more expensive on average than those built with less than 50 percent in subsidies.
The reason? Not surprisingly, Moylan argues, private financiers demand more fiscal accountability with
their own money than government bureaucrats do with other people's tax dollars. Not only is the average
percentage of stadium costs subsidized by taxpayers growing, but total subsidy amounts are rising too.
Sports teams pay millions for talent but ask the public to pay millions for stadiums. Welfare kings: In October 1995, the city of Seattle opened a
new NBA basketball arena that immediately drew accolades for intimate design elements and dynamic sight lines.
But just a dozen years later, Sonics owner Clay Bennett claims KeyArena is no longer an economically viable NBA
facility and that no amount of renovations could alter that reality. Bennett intends to relocate the team
next year barring some unforeseen final-hour deal to build an entirely new arena with public funds.
Tips on writing a term paper on
stadium subsidies. There was a rash of new sports stadium development that occurred in the
1990s. Most of these stadiums were built partly or wholly with government money in the form of stadium
subsidies. Naturally many social groups were outraged that government money was being diverted from
social programs to millionaire players and billionaire owners. Politicians have argued that stadiums
bring tourism dollars into the city that far outweigh the cost of the stadium subsidy. Many economists
disagree; they feel that most of the revenue stadiums generate comes at the expense of other entertainment
venues within the town.
Stadium Socialism: Jesse
Ventura, Governor of Minnesota, took a position that is extremely rare in state government. He said that
neither the state nor the city nor any other unit of government should spend any money on funding yet another
municipal ballpark or providing a taxpayer subsidy to professional ball teams and their media flunkies.
"The taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for new stadiums," said Ventura. That's a sentiment that
would have been common in America a hundred years ago. Today, after decades of government entitlement
programs for everyone, it now seems revolutionary.
The Billion Dollar Whatever. It's possible that the
Twins site will flourish — it's already in a part of town with plenty of condo-and-loft development,
so it has a leg up on the deadlands of the Vikings site. We were promised lots of development
around the Dome, too, and what did we get? One bar. One. If the planners of the
site came back and saw what their work had produced, they would've been convinced prohibition had
been reintroduced, because there's no possible other explanation for building a gigantic sports arena
that produces exactly ONE bar before the development sputters out and the area sits dead for 20 years.
Santa Claus
Government. Last Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent its list of wishes to the political
equivalent of Santa Claus: Congress. ... The mayors claim the economy will be stimulated if their
wishes are granted. What do they want? The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has analyzed the
72-page list. ... [The projects include] 15 projects with the term "stadium" in them, including a
$150 million Metromover extension to the Florida Marlins' baseball stadium ... Kristina
Rasmussen, NTU's director of government affairs, offers more analysis of the mayors' report
on NTU's blog: "Total cost of the wish list is $73,163,299,303."
The Odd Couple,
or Here We Go Again. We thought this was properly dealt with back in January by Raiders Chief
Executive Amy Trask, who simply said in essence that the Raiders would be concentrating on the current season
in a stadium they're simply thrilled with, and that they are not actively seeking out the 49ers as
business partners. But like a zombie, this 'joint stadium' idea has come to life once again, walking
the streets by night and claiming more victims, many of them credulous 49er Faithful.
E-mails show NYC
played ball for luxury boxes. When it comes to getting a luxury box at the new Yankees and Mets stadiums,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's aides appear willing to play ball. Recently released internal e-mails between the mayor's
aides, city lawyers and Yankees officials show that City Hall gave the team even more parking spaces than had been
negotiated previously, plus the rights and revenue from three billboards near the stadium in exchange for a suite.
Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of the English Language, 1964 International Edition,
Volume One, page 548.
Corzine's
friendship with investor raises questions. Gov. Jon Corzine's recent disclosure that one of his
close personal friends is a partner in the investment group that threw a billion-dollar lifeline to the
troubled Xanadu sports and entertainment complex may have backfired. While Corzine no doubt expected his
disclosure would quell any rumblings of a conflict of interest, critics have raised new questions about the
administration's role in the $2 billion Meadowlands complex, including the role of former economic growth
czar Gary Rose.
Time Out Needed on Stadium Deal.
Similar to the arena deal seven years ago, all three levels of government have been tight-lipped about providing
details of possible government involvement in a new stadium. Both the provincial government and the City
of Winnipeg have refused CTF freedom of information requests for details on using public money for a new stadium.
$1.1 Billion Twins Stadium Tax: The
Minnesota Twins sued to get out of their lease so they can pressure your lawmakers to buy them a stadium.
The new lease presumably would be as worthless as the one they just nullified. Meanwhile, the
disenfranchised citizens — who will not be allowed to vote on it — are stuck paying the tab.
The stadium will cost taxpayers $1.1 billion dollars. The Twins essentially contribute
nothing. Oh sure, they will tell you the Twins are contributing $125 million. But the deal
also gives them naming rights for the stadium, money from concessions, parking — so the
$125 million will be easily recovered.
Seattleites should not have to pay
for another arena boondoggle. Since 1999, Seattle taxpayers have forked over more than
$1 billion in today's dollars to the ultra-rich owners of baseball's Mariners and football's Seahawks.
Despite threats to move the teams, folks are a little hesitant to cough up several hundred million more for a
new basketball arena for the Seattle SuperSonics and Storm.
Randolph Calls For End to
Taxpayer-Funded Luxury Suites at Local Stadiums. In the wake of the recent public news that the
Lucas Oil Stadium could run the taxpayers an extra $10 million in operational costs, City-County
Councillor Ike Randolph today, filed a freedom of information request with the City of Indianapolis.
The request seeks all documents and expenditures on city-owned suites at the RCA Dome, Conseco Field House
and Victory Field between 2000 and 2006.
DC taxpayers are being thrown
an expensive curveball. DC City Council members who will vote Tuesday [11/13/2007] on whether to
approve the Mayor's plan for a publicly-subsidized baseball stadium in Anacostia should remember this year's
earlier "commuter tax" court controversy. According to a new study from the non-partisan National
Taxpayers Union Foundation, the stadium proposal would worsen taxes in DC to fund a project that will mostly
serve residents of Maryland and Virginia (80 percent of the team's fans are expected to come from those
two states).
Storm clouds in the outfield.
The city of Anaheim, thanks to the foolishness of then-Mayor Tom Daly and then-council members Lou Lopez and
Frank Feldhaus, gave then-owner Disney $30 million in benefits in 1996 to keep the team in Anaheim.
Residents got little in return, but the one thing they did get was the supposed pride of having the city's
name in the national spotlight. It looks like a sucker's deal in hindsight.
Sports owners fund McCain, shun Obama.
Sports team owners may not be John McCain's answer to the Hollywood elite, but they're overwhelmingly supporting
his presidential campaign over Barack Obama's. Through the end of June, team owners in the four major sports
and their families have given to or raised as much or more than $3.2 million for McCain, the presumptive
Republican nominee, compared with as much as $615,000 for his Democratic rival Obama, according to a Politico
analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission, the campaigns and interviews.
If You Build It, They Will Leave. On
the same day the Florida Marlins paraded through Miami to celebrate their second World Series championship in
six years, politicians from Miami-Dade County swallowed the young baseball team's corporate welfare bait.
County Mayor Alex Penelas and Manager George Burgess announced they were offering a whopping $73 million
in bed tax revenue, plus a parcel of free land, to help build a new $325 million baseball-only
retractable-roof stadium that the lucrative franchise desperately wants.
Voters
starting to take a stand against stadium funding. In Sarasota, Fla., a $16 million bond
referendum was on the ballot to help fund a $45 million reconstruction of a stadium currently used by the
Cincinnati Reds for spring training. Another $7.9 million was to be spent to add land for practice
fields and its related construction costs. The total of some $52.9 million was to be funded by the
county, state and city, with the Reds contributing $10 million.
Stadium is fielding money —
from us. I wasn't overly alarmed when a Deseret Morning News headline announced last week that
the funding of Dave's Big Soccer Stadium will cost much more than we were originally told. … When it came
time to finalize the funding details for the soccer stadium last week, someone finally got around to mentioning
that it will cost more than the $45 million as advertised — it will cost another $28 mil
in interest, bringing the price tag to, ka-ching!, $73 million.
Private Benefits of Public
Stadium Financing: Public subsidies of professional sports stadiums provide no tangible public
good, a fact being recognized by more cities around the country, says an economist who's studied the issue.
"You see a lot more resistance (to taxpayer-funded stadiums) than you did in the past. I think people are
seeing the evidence that the benefit isn't there," said Phillip Miller, an economist at Minnesota State
University.
Baseline Welfare Cases: Stadiums, Subsidies, and the
Dole. Major League Baseball has become a regular recipient of corporate welfare. In
particular, taxpayer subsidies to fund ballparks — which once were the rarest of
exceptions — have become the norm. Unfortunately, over the years, some businesses and their
representatives — in particular, many state and local business groups — have been
regular supporters of subsidized stadiums. It is often the case, in fact, that the business leaders in a
community become the loudest cheerleaders for tax giveaways to baseball teams.
Leaky Stadiums — Milwaukee's
Stadium Experience. The typical argument used to sell a stadium construction contract to the
tax-paying public is that it improves the local economy. Money will be generated, and the taxes on the
new revenue will in theory offset the taxes used to subsidize the new stadium. The problem with this
stream of thought is the first step. How is that money generated? Most people have entertainment
budgets, and the $100 they spend taking the family to the ballgame is $100 that they don't spend on movies or
bowling later on in the month.
Ballpark figures:
Sports economists agree that cities — and taxpayers — get close to nothing from spending
public money on sports teams. What they haven't figured out is why we're still doing it.
Stadium Subsidies Scalp The Public.
Ever since the Boston Tea Party, public debate over whether to pay taxes and how to spend those dollars has been
a vibrant part of our democratic process in Massachusetts and across the nation. The debate over taxpayer
subsidies for the stadium that is proposed to replace the venerable Fenway Park is shaping up to be an epic battle
pitting the public interest and the public well-being against the well-financed powers that be.
Sports Stadium Madness: Why It Started, How
to Stop It. Nationally, subsidies to professional sports facilities cost taxpayers some
$500 million a year. More than $7 billion will be spent on new facilities by the year 2006,
with most of it coming from public sources. Communities that are hard-pressed to keep their schools open
or police on the beat are nevertheless entering into agreements to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to
bid away a professional sports team from another city.
Put pro sports blackmailers out
of business. Taxpayer subsidies for new sports stadiums have been responsible for some of the
biggest expansions of government during the 1990s. Cities have used public money to engage in unseemly
bidding wars, with pro teams playing government against government in quest of an ever-more-lucrative stadium
deal. As the bidding has risen, even teams with stadiums as young as 15 to 20 years old (like
the domes used by the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Seahawks) are demanding new playpens costing upwards of
$400 million.
Stadium Subsidies Strike Out. Do public
subsidies for stadiums make sense? Many studies suggest the answer to that question is an emphatic NO.
Economist Robert Baade of the Heartland Institute, an Illinois think tank, analyzed the effects of professional
sports teams and stadiums on economic development in thirty-six metropolitan areas. The results, he found,
overwhelmingly indicated that professional sports is not statistically significant in determining economic
growth rates.
The Stadium Gambit and Local Economic
Development. The evidence suggests that attracting a professional sports franchise to a city and
building that franchise a new stadium or arena will have no effect on the growth rate of real per capita income
and may reduce the level of real per capita income in that city.
Sports Pork: The Costly Relationship between
Major League Sports and Government. The lone beneficiaries of sports subsidies are team owners
and players. … Indeed, the results of studies on changes in the economy resulting from the presence of
stadiums, arenas, and sports teams show no positive economic impact from professional sports — or a
possible negative effect.
Caught Stealing: Debunking the Economic Case
for D.C. Baseball. District of Columbia mayor Anthony Williams has convinced Major League Baseball
to move the Montreal Expos to D.C. in exchange for the city's building a new ballpark. … A baseball team in
D.C. might produce intangible benefits. Rooting for the team might provide satisfaction to many local
baseball fans. That is hardly a reason for the city government to subsidize the team. D.C. policymakers
should not be mesmerized by faulty impact studies that claim that a baseball team and a new stadium can
be an engine of economic growth.
Mets, Yanks stadium
subsidies top $1.25 billion. Field of Schemes has obtained new figures from the New York
City Independent Budget Office (I'm sure they'll give them to anyone, but I asked) on the cost to taxpayers of
publicly subsidized tax-exempt bonds for the new Yankees and Mets stadiums. The verdict: The
$930 million in Yankees stadium bonds will cost the city $10 million in lost tax revenue, the state
$18 million, and federal taxpayers a whopping $200 million; for the Mets' $528 million in
tax-exempt bonds, the figures are $6 million city, $10 million state, and $115 federal.
Speaking of the Yankees... A-Rod
Gets Steal Of A Deal Thanks To NYC Tax Loophole. They were crying foul Friday [2/25/2011]
about a sweetheart tax loophole that will enable Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez to live in his new $6 million
luxury West Side penthouse and pay virtually no real estate taxes. The cost of a 28th row ticket for
the Yankees 2011 home opener is $1,211. The cost of an A-Rod autographed bat is $700.
Say It Ain't So: Stadium Subsidies in
Nevada. Research has shown that the economic benefits of subsidized stadiums are monumentally
overstated. For years, analysts have searched in vain for proof that the pro-subsidy hype peddled by
stadium supporters squares with reality. In fact, on this issue the level of agreement between
free-market, conservative and left-liberal economists and policy analysts is startling.
Poll:
48% Oppose Cotton Bowl Project. Almost half of Dallas residents say the city should pull the plug on a
planned $50 million face-lift for the Cotton Bowl, according to a Dallas Morning News poll. Even
though the City Council strongly supports the renovation, 48 percent of those polled last week said the
investment doesn't make sense now that the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic, the January collegiate bowl game, has
announced that it's leaving in 2010.
$1.1 Billion Minnesota Twins Stadium
Tax. The Minnesota Twins have sued to get out of their lease so they can pressure
your lawmakers to buy them a stadium. The new lease presumably would be as worthless as
the one they just nullified. Meanwhile, the disenfranchised citizens — who will not be
allowed to vote on it — are stuck paying the tab.
Update: Ballpark bill in scoring position.
The Minnesota Twins scored a major victory late Thursday [4/20/2006] when the [Minnesota] House Taxes Committee
said a sales tax could be used to help build a $522 million stadium in downtown Minneapolis
without requiring a referendum.
Minnesota Twins Win Stadium Subsidy
Deal. Years of concerted effort by the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball team paid off on
May 26, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) signed a stadium subsidy bill before the start of the Twins game
against the Seattle Mariners. It was a good night for the Twins, as they won hundreds of millions
of tax dollars for a new stadium and then defeated the Mariners 3-1. But many analysts believe it
was a bad night for Minnesota taxpayers.
Penguins souring on Plan B. Gov.
Ed Rendell yesterday [1/19/2007] said the arena deal being offered the Penguins is better than others struck
recently in the National Hockey League, but the team has balked at a proposal to share development rights and
parking revenues with Pittsburgh casino backer Don Barden.
Florida Turns Down Subsidy for Marlins
Stadium. Although Florida lawmakers declined to provide financial assistance to the Florida
Marlins Major League Baseball franchise, a proposed move of the team to San Antonio, Texas has been killed.
[So! All that talk about leaving town was just an empty threat. Imagine that.]
Sports
Stadiums and the Effects on the Economy. Before the depression, stadiums such as Wrigley
Field, Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and Fenway Park were being built by using private funds. In
the 1980's America was spending about $1.5 billion on new stadiums; in the 1990's it spent
$11 billion. Furthermore, in 1967 the cost to build the Kingdome was $67 million,
in 1999 the cost to build Safeco Field was $517.6 million.
The team that mistook its
stadium for a hat. Whenever a new major league baseball stadium opens, it's hailed as
an emblem of progress, a palace of sport, an engineering wonder, a centerpiece of the community,
and an immense improvement over its predecessor. In recent years, it has also become mandatory
to apply such overworked expressions as "state of the art," "intimate," and "old-fashioned ballpark
with all the modern conveniences." Historically, even underachievers such as San Francisco's
wind-cursed Candlestick Park and the multi-sport concrete ashtrays of the '70s have drawn opening-day
accolades — and, of course, so have the good ones.
Public Funding of
Stadiums: A very large collection of articles on this subject at No Land Grab dot org.
The name of the
game is money — tax money used to build sporting arenas. As players' salaries and ticket
prices spiral astronomically upward, it is the taxpaying public that is being stuck with the bill for
new stadiums. If there has been one constant in professional sports over the past 20 to 25 years,
it is that owners and players are becoming increasingly wealthy at the expense of fans, non-fans, and
taxpayers. In 1976, the average salary of major league baseball players was $51,000. That
jumped to $412,000 by 1987 and is well over $1,000,000 today.
Field of Schemes dot com is the companion
website to Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private
Profit, by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause. Since 1998, we have been casting a critical eye on the
roughly $2 billion a year in public subsidies that go toward building new pro sports facilities.
Sports Stadiums Becoming Major Corporate
Welfare. "We are just pointing out two important facts," [Roger] Noll says. "Stadiums
are not a net local economic benefit, and the reasons cities are paying for them is because the (federal)
government made the professional leagues monopolies" — exempt from anti-trust laws
that apply to most other industries.
Take pro sports off the government
payroll. Call it "public funding" if you like, but the fact remains: There
is no such thing as public money. The government has no money, except what it takes from
the taxpayers. What the D.C. Council's agreement means is this: If I decide to
go to any games at the new stadium, which is to be completed in 2008, I will be paying
for a ticket to a game, at which I will buy drinks and hot dogs, and the entire spectacle will take
place in a facility that I helped pay for.
Ballpark
Boondoggle. Beginning in the early 1990s, an unprecedented stadium
construction boom has swept the world of professional sports. Since the opening
of New Comiskey Park in Chicago in April of 1991 a total of 28 new stadiums have
been built or are under construction to house professional football and baseball
franchises in the United States.
Big money
socialism: If the wealthy owners of sports teams want new stadiums, let them build
them with their own money. They're not entitled to our money. Just as cities take
people's homes so rich corporations can do what the politicians call "urban renewal," telling
the courts economic development is a "public use," sports tycoons argue their stadiums are in
the "public interest." Their politician friends tell voters that a stadium will "bring
jobs," be "good for the city," "pay for itself." Bunk. Study after study finds
stadiums cost far more than they return.
Bowl games and
traditions. It irks me that the Peach Bowl is now the Chick-fil-A Bowl. It vexes me to
hear the mandated phrase "Invesco Field at Mile High." I grieve the loss of the old and honored
place-names of sports: Candlestick Park, Three Rivers Stadium, Jack Murphy Stadium. … That corporate
names, attached to stadiums by means of vast expenditures, can make no claims to the people's veneration,
as opposed to their fleeting fancy, is no mere controversial assertion on my part — it is an admitted
feature of the principle of the system.
The
Capital Spenders: Why are $100,000 of our tax dollars going to the Tiger Woods
Foundation? This multi-millionaire can afford to support his own foundation. Why
must taxpayers continue to contribute to various sports halls of fame, including $75,000 for
the one in Syracuse, N.Y.? … Why is the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.,
getting $450,000 for "educational outreach"?
Supposed economic
benefit? I'm fine with the idea of the Cowboys playing in Arlington,
but I wish owner Jerry Jones would write the check for it and leave Arlington taxpayers
alone. He'll get their money eventually, along with ticket, parking, food and
souvenir revenue from everyone else who comes to see the Cowboys of 2009 and beyond.
Stadium project is burning through $1 million
each day. The new Cowboys stadium is about 40 percent complete, and crews are spending nearly
$1 million a day to build the team's new home, construction manager Jack Hill said.
New
Cowboys stadium costs tower over others. Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said since [Jerry] Jones is
paying for most of the stadium, taxpayers shouldn't have a problem. "Does it bother me?" he said. "No,
it does not. He is making a huge investment in Arlington." Jones' investment is about $725 million.
The city of Arlington's investment is about $475 million. For that kind of money, Arlington could have
built its own stadium like the Reliant Stadium in Houston, which is where the Houston Texans play. ... The big
difference is that the 50 yard line seats that are 20 rows up at the new Cowboys stadium will cost
you $150,000 for a personal seat license and $340 for a ticket.
The Art of the NFL.
[Scroll down] The new Cowboys Stadium provides a good example. The field, the television screen, the
party zone, the presumptive lines at the parking lot — the good taxpayers of Arlington, Texas have
built Jerry Jones his Taj Mahal. He didn't forget the harem. Ensconced within the stands are
platforms accommodating clusters of pole-dancers, a kind of J.V. Cowboys Cheerleaders squad.
City ordered to disclose secret arena
proposal. The city of Sacramento was ordered Thursday [10/26/2006] to turn over a copy of a
negotiating proposal sent to the owners of the Sacramento Kings as part of their discussions for a new
arena in the downtown railyard.
County Claims Bengals Cheated
Taxpayers. Hamilton County commissioners claim the team for which they built a
stadium and the league that oversees the team cheated them out of $600 million. One
of the most controversial pieces of evidence is the Bengals' win-loss record: The team said
it needed more money to be more competitive, but the Bengals still stink.
Jones' Subsidy Could Reach
$1.2 Billion. The stadium deal for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys is
weighted heavily on the side of the team. The Cowboys emphasized during the tax initiative
campaign that they were putting up half the money for the stadium —
$325 million — but that isn't quite true. While the city will
use the new taxes to retire its side of the debt, Jones will be able to slap his own
10 percent "tax" on tickets and a $3 tax on parking to retire his side. That
will raise about $10 million a year, or $300 million over 30 years.
Take
Me Out of the Ballgame. Generally in these agreements the city will pay part of the
costs and the team pays the rest. In this case, Arlington increased property, car rental and
hotel taxes to pay for the city's share. But according to a story in the Dallas Morning News,
it also wants to levy a 10 percent tax on tickets and a $3 parking tax. The twist here is
that those user taxes will be applied toward the Cowboy's portion of the bill.
An End to Sports Welfare? When
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked Arlington, Texas voters to pay for a new stadium last November, he
did not call the classic plays from the sports welfare playbook. He could not say America's Team
needed a state-of-the-art facility to compete, since Texas Stadium (in the Dallas-adjacent suburb of
Irving) has more luxury suites than any other stadium in the National Football League (NFL) and the
Cowboys won three Super Bowls in the 1990s. He could not say he was financially strapped, since
his franchise ranks sixth in the NFL in profits and second in revenue, according to Forbes magazine.
Baseball stadium is
striking out in the nation's capital. The District of Columbia "won" a bidding
war for the Montreal Expos by promising to construct a $440 million stadium, one of the
most expensive ever. But total projected costs already have ballooned
to $530 million. And author Charles C. Euchner warns: "Count
on that cost ballooning past $600 million or more. Public works projects
invariably run over budget by at least 25 percent."
Our national
disgrace. Today we hardly bat an eye when a large enterprise like a sports
stadium is started not by business people, but by politicians. Or when one of the
poorest-run cities in the nation distracts itself from improving its badly provided essential
services to engage in what has become a rich-man's luxury. Or when we see captains of
industry reduced from creators of wealth to welfare addicts. … In the end, the argument is
that this kind of subsidy creates jobs and profits and thus "pays for itself." Of course,
it doesn't. The so-called economics used to justify these subsidies to major league sports
are worth less than the literary value of infield chatter. A simple truth remains: When
it is economical to invest in a stadium, private enterprise will do so. When it is not,
then it shouldn't be done.
I'd ride the subway, but I haven't enough change. Baseball vs. D.C.: The
Lerners have already benefited from D.C. taxpayers, who were forced to foot the $611 million bill to
build the stadium for Theodore Lerner, his family and his $450 million baseball team. Fan support
has been averaging 29,000 tickets per game, while the team is a last-place-in-the-league joke in almost
every category.
Stop the Squeeze
Play. As Major League Baseball announced it was bringing in a mediator to pinch-hit for a
baseball stadium lease settlement that could heavily burden taxpayers, a letter to [Washington DC] City Council
Members today [1/19/2006] from five citizen groups pitching from the right and left of the political spectrum
contended that the costly bidding game should be called on account of fiscal recklessness.
Stadium parking garage to be above
ground. Officials in charge of building the Washington Nationals' new ballpark in Southeast
are negotiating a deal with Western Development to build two parking garages above ground at the stadium
site and wrap them with condominiums and retail.
Public Funded
Fresno Stadium. Partisan forecasts made by some local economists have grossly
overestimated the economic benefits and understated the economic costs of the Diamond Group's
proposed publicly funded minor league baseball team stadium.
Is There An
Economic Rationale for Sports Stadium Subsidies? Controversy shadows sports
in the United States. Sports are so deeply woven into the fabric of our culture that
disputations about them are inevitable. Sports are leisure; sports are business; sports
are religion. The multiple personalities of sports are nowhere more visible than in the
many municipal stadium debates taking place throughout the country. City leaders from
Miami to San Francisco have summoned sound economic management as their star witness in defending
plans to subsidize the renovation or construction of stadiums.
Government-funded
stadiums are not worth price of admission. Games and circuses once were provided
by government. How better to satiate the desire of the Roman masses than to entertain
them in the Arena? Today, governments build stadiums to attract sports franchises for
the same purpose. But the American masses seem to be tiring of transferring billions
of dollars to billionaire team owners.
Corporate welfare, Dallas-style:
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones claims to have lost 55 pounds through renouncing cheeseburgers and
beer. Now it's time for a real diet. Imagine how much Jerry could contribute to the public weal
through renouncing the public money he wants for a new football stadium.
Watchdog cries foul on
ballpark. A government watchdog group plans to ask the D.C. Office of Campaign
Finance to investigate whether the use of city employees to solicit letters of support for the
mayor's $440 million baseball stadium-financing plan constitutes an ethics violation.
Public Dollars, Private Stadiums. Do sports stadiums
really revitalize a community, bringing revenue, jobs, and status as a "major league" city? Since the
mid-1980s, nearly ten billion dollars of public money have financed new playing fields in the US, so they must
be worth the investment, right?
Chicago Stadiums Fail to Deliver Promised
Benefits. Chicago has two taxpayer-subsidized sports stadiums, neither of which appears to be
living up to the promises made by supporters of taxpayer funding. U.S. Cellular Field, home of the
Chicago White Sox, is supposed to pay rent to the state after attendance hits a certain figure, but in recent
years attendance has been below the target, effectively giving the White Sox a rent-free stadium.
Experts Agree: Public
Support for Stadiums Is Madness. Although research proves sports stadiums
drain public resources, are of minimal or no economic benefit, and enrich primarily the
owners of sport teams, St. Louis and Missouri might succumb and dole out many millions
for decades to come.
"Publicly funded sports stadiums are like crack cocaine to local politicians and business bigwigs. These
folks are just like addicts: They deceive everyone around them for the sake of a fix and rarely take no
for an answer when voters decline to subsidize their schemes."
Egregious Earmark of the Week: $100,000 to
Fix Orange Show Stadium. Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) has spotted this week's egregious earmark
buried in the Transportation-Treasury-HUD appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) for fiscal year 2006. The
noteworthy pork project comes to the grand total of $100,000 allotted to the city of San Bernardino, Calif.,
for making renovations to the National Orange Show Stadium.
Home Run
for Corporate Welfare: During the twentieth century, more than $14 billion in
government subsidies went to the four major professional sports — Major League
Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey
League. While cities build fields of dreams for teams, hoping they will come, it isn't clear
there are economic gains. Three experts on the economics of tax-funded stadiums examined the
need for subsidies of sports teams and the economic impact of sports on local economies.
Sports Stadiums: No
Pot of Gold for Cities. Sports stadiums may have psychological and even
political benefits, but they are falsely sold as an economic development tool. Cities
and boosters ought to rely on private capital for funding these structures.
Public Financing of Sports Stadiums: How
Cincinnati Compares. Hamilton County, Ohio, asks taxpayers to approve a sales tax increase to
raise funds to subsidize new sports stadiums for the Reds and Bengals. Ultimately, taxpayers must
determine for themselves whether an investment in sports will make life better.
Sports Stadiums
Can Be Privately Financed. This report concludes Ohio is out of step
with other states and cities, which have moved away from public financing, and toward private
financing, of sports stadiums.
Stadiums,
Professional Sports, and Economic Development: Assessing the Reality. About
one century ago, professional sports became prominent in American public life. During
its early years, the business of sports was primarily a private undertaking, financed with
private money and played in private stadiums and arenas. But state and local government
subsidies to professional sports businesses have proliferated over the past few decades,
and economic arguments have been crafted to justify the subsidies. … Public funds are increasingly
scarce. We must test the argument that professional sports offer an important return on government
subsidies. The purpose of this paper is to use economic theory and empirical techniques to assess
the contribution of professional sports to metropolitan area economic development in the United
States.
D.C. Councilwoman
Stands against Taxpayer-Funded Stadium — For a While. Major
League Baseball was thrown a curveball on December 15 [2004] as District of Columbia
Councilwoman Linda Cropp (D) tried to help local taxpayers by changing the
financing rules for a proposed new stadium.
A New Baseball
Statistic for Opening Day: Government subsidies for professional sports
stadiums are not only economically unsound, they are unfair to sports fans and non-fans alike.
Where
Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio? And Where are the Stadiums You Played In? The
modern stadium barely tips its hat to its ancestors anymore, rather it prefers to
dance on their graves. How unfortunate to think that one of the establishments that
helped to bring America together and forge our nation as one has evolved into nothing
more than a greedy child constantly asking for money.
No Jones Tax! It is not the
job of taxpayers to build facilities for private business entities. The mission
of No Jones Tax campaign is to prevent taxpayers from paying higher taxes, new taxes, or
for new give-away schemes to build a new stadium for Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones
can build his own stadium without our tax dollars.
We Wuz Robbed! The Subsidized Stadium
Scam. While the actual sport of baseball is an excellent metaphor for the free market
(illustrating how individuals and teams work together and compete against one another), at the professional
level nearly all the teams play in government-owned or government-subsidized ballparks.
Here's a Deal We Can Afford to Refuse: From
Cleveland to Baltimore to Chicago, cities nationwide have repeatedly been suckered by team owners who claim they
can't operate profitably without state-of-the-art, taxpayer-funded facilities offering luxury boxes and other
high-dollar seating arrangements.
It's "play ball"… with taxpayer
money. Down the road, maybe these saps — AKA taxpayers — may balk at paying
for stadiums, luxury skyboxes, parking concessions, tax abatements, and various other schemes that funnel
taxpayer money to billionaire owners.
Public
Interest is Usually Special Interest: Special interest groups have been quick to tap the public
till. Of course, they usually aren't so blunt as to demand tax money for their personal benefit.
They have found a more effective strategy: obtain government subsidies for their pet project by arguing
that it will benefit everyone in the community. Their project, in fact, is something we all "need."
It's amazing what a person will "need" when someone else is picking up the tab.
The
sports stadium scam: What is seen and what is not seen. Taxpayer
subsidization of professional sports facilities is almost always a losing bet,
economically speaking. The economic impact studies employed by politicians,
the news media, and pro sports owners to support government-financed facilities
are beset by methodological problems and don't count all the relevant costs.
Public-Private
Promises 1: Three Rivers Stadium [Part 1]. Pittsburgh's
Three Rivers Stadium is deemed "economically obsolete for baseball" by boosters
of the Forbes Field II project, yet privately owned Busch Stadium in
St. Louis, similar in age and design, has generated profits
every year since its opening.
Public-Private
Promises [Part 2]
Stadium subsidies are
being offered by local governments but they offer few or no benefits to residents. Should Congress Stop the Bidding War for Sports
Franchises? On November 29, 1995, the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, and Competition
of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held hearings on sports franchise relocation. That testimony is
summarized here.
Sports
Stadium Stampede Could Trample Taxpayers for $15 Billion. Between
1990 and 2000, the average Major League Baseball salary rose 243 percent, and
the average National Football League salary increased 143 percent. Tax subsidies
help team owners to offset or even inflate these expenses while maintaining their
profit margins.
Stadium Socialism: Research
shows that taxpayer-financed sports facilities aren't economically justified, according to
economists. A national poll conducted by Media Research and Communications found that
80 percent of Americans oppose using their tax dollars for sports
stadiums and areas. But city and state politicians keep building them.
Bush's
baseball tax fetish: Economist Raymond J. Keating of the Washington,
D.C.-based Small Business Survival Committee estimates the total costs of building
big league ballparks at $11.5 billion, with taxpayers picking up about 81 percent
of the tab, or $9.3 billion.
Game Plan: Cincinnati
voters approved a sales-tax increase in 1996 that would pay for about 90 percent of
the $450 million Paul Brown Field. PSINet Stadium, home of the Super Bowl
champion Baltimore Ravens, was built almost entirely with public money. Revenue
bonds and sports lottery money accounted for $200 million of the $223 million
price tag. The Jacksonville Jaguars invested only $10.5 million in
the $135 million reconstruction of Alltel Stadium in 1995.
Your
Bread, Kansas City's Circus: The IRS has recently ruled that an
elaborate plan devised by the lawyers of the former owner of the Kansas City Royals to
keep the baseball team in town served a charitable purpose on the ground that
it will lessen the burdens of government.
Everyone Wants A Taxpayer-Funded Stadium, Except
Taxpayers. It's good to be the owner of a sports franchise. Not only do you rake in
millions from inflated ticket prices and exorbitantly marked-up concessions, but you can convince the state
into chipping in money to build or maintain your stadium.
State-subsidized Slush: While the
jury is still out on the economic costs and benefits of new municipally supported stadia, the benefit to the
fans is, shall we say, minimal? How about almost non-existent.
Subsidized Ballparks Price Fans Away.
New evidence indicates that sports fans who vote to subsidize sports arenas with their taxpayer dollars quite
possibly could be denied entry at the gate.
Pro
Sports on the Dole: Government officials would better focus their attention
on creating a healthy economic environment for their respective cities and states by lowering
taxes, reducing regulatory burdens, and paring down the size of government.
Taxpayers
Shouldn't Subsidize Pro Sport. In 1994, the Edmonton Oilers persuaded
Edmonton's councillors to institute a ticket tax to help the team pay its $2.8 million
annual rent, and then managed to have the rent scrapped entirely last year, while still
retaining ticket tax proceeds. Talk about eating and having your proverbial cake.
Sports Stadium Madness… Still Ripping Off
Taxpayers. Future historians will look back on the 1980s and 1990s with amazement.
Communities hard-pressed to keep their schools open or police on the beat nevertheless spent billions of
dollars on stadiums and arenas for use by professional sports teams. Mediocre athletes were paid more in
a single season than the average taxpayer earned in a lifetime. Tickets were priced so high that the
average taxpayer, whose earnings were taxed to build these facilities, could not afford to walk through the
turnstile.
Minnesota Twins beat taxpayers in
extra innings. Score: Twins: $330 million, Taxpayers: big losers. "This bill
isn't a deal. It isn't even the outline of a deal. It is simply the first step in which the
legislature has acknowledged the principle that taxpayers should be on the hook for financing new stadiums for
professional sports teams," said David Strom, Legislative Director of the Taxpayers league of Minnesota.
How Taxpayers Prop Up Sport Mogul's
Profits: Sports teams and their facilities have little measurable impact on the economic vitality
of a community. As pro team owners hunker down to protect their interests, it is the hapless taxpayer who
will get stuck holding the bag for non-performing assets, not to mention the collateral damage from
non-performing schools. This is the choice many communities now face, and hopefully more will
choose wisely in the future than have done so in the past.
Tax
Me Out of the Ball Game: Construction of the
new Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati will cost local taxpayers at least
400 million dollars. Despite this enormous public investment, there is no
guarantee that the Cincinnati Bengals will continue to do anything but lose. Actually,
the only thing the Bengals have promised not to do now is - leave. Try to contain your
excitement. Stadium deals financed with public dollars are one of the most egregious
forms of corporate welfare at the municipal level. Yet, there is no real outcry
because professional sports organizations have done a masterful job of promoting
a myth. The myth is that professional sports franchises and their stadiums are
good for local economies. Unfortunately, there is no real evidence to support this.
Public
Funding of Stadiums: Governments Must Simply Say No: Using public moneys to help fund the construction of new, or the
renovation of existing, stadiums is bad public policy. Teams owners often want new stadiums in part (at
least) to realize greater profits and increase the values of their teams. New stadiums can create from
$10 million to $40 million in additional annual income for an owner. Even if the extra revenue
is used solely for players' salaries, the owner still benefits, because the value of the team increases:
Baseball teams that had the highest venue revenue in 1996 tended to be the teams with the greatest franchise
value. Hence, public money invested in stadiums ends up eventually benefitting team owners and players.
Wasting Taxes On Sports
Is A Favorite U.S. Pastime: Americans spend billions in tax dollars to subsidize professional
sports. The government lies, saying stadiums will pay for themselves. It never happens.
Meanwhile, many fear a tax cut will short-change government, mistakenly believing it is the source of all
good. We have lost the awareness that we control our own destiny, instead relying on government.
Rowdy fans and athletes:
NFL fans 'cause earthquake'
during game in Seattle. So loud were the fans during their side's 34-7 victory that they measured between a magnitude 1 and 2
earthquake. Fans of the Seahawks are growing a reputation for their ear popping shows of support. In 2011, the fans were picked up by a
nearby seismic recording station while earlier this year, CenturyLink Field entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the noise created.
This isn't going to help: Jacksonville Jaguars Offer Fans Free Beer
To Buy Tickets. The winless Jacksonville Jaguars have released their own strategy to increase ticket attendance to this week's game and
prevent a blackout: free beer.
You step out of line, the man comes and takes you away. Seattle cops to don
opponents' jerseys. The Seahawks announced Wednesday that undercover law-enforcement officers will wear opposing team jerseys at
games this season in an effort to quickly detect fans exhibiting unruly and inconsiderate behavior.
Rowdy NFL fans will be required to see the shrink.
The NFL is shrink-rapping football fans. Unruly fans booted from stadiums this year will be required to pass a code-of-conduct exam — or
they won't be allowed back in for another game.
Cops:
Saints fan shoots two 49ers fans after loss. An angry New Orleans Saints fan shot two San Francisco
49ers fans in a restaurant parking lot Saturday evening [1/14/2012] shortly after his team lost the NFL divisional
playoff game, police said. Donald Ray Ayro, 31, reportedly became upset with two 49ers fans while watching
the game at an Applebee's restaurant.
High School Basketball Player Attacks
Ref. A video of what not to do when you don't like a ref's call has been circulating the Internet.
In a game between Florida high school teams Arcadia DeSoto and Port Charlotte, DeSoto's Mason Holland shoved a
Port Charlotte player, and then, after a technical foul was called on him, went ballistic and threw the
referee to the floor.
The High Cost
of Favoritism. Those who star in sports that are big in educational institutions —
football and basketball being classic examples — can start having the rules bent in their favor as
early as high school. Everyone wants a winning team and bending a few rules for those who can make that
happen may seem like a small price to pay. At colleges and universities where football or basketball are
big time, ensuring passing grades for players on those teams is a major priority.
Putting
Sports on Notice: The statistics regarding violence at school and other amateur sporting
events have been cited regularly in the media — yet violence at those events continues
unabated. … It is time for every parent, if not every prospective spectator of an organized
athletic event, to consider the wisdom of attending contests that have become as much about the
egos of the fans as about the players.
The
Last Resort for Losers. Nowhere in the rule book of any sport is criminal
violence authorized. Even in those sports events where physical force is part of the
competition, causing injury to an opponent may be incidental to the goal of the competition
but it is not the goal itself. Even in boxing, a sport about which there is debate over
the whether it has crossed the line to violence for violence sake, there are rules which
must be observed.
Keep me out of the
ballgame. Today, taking your son or daughter to a major sports event might require a helmet and
earplugs. Too many players aspire to create gangsta images and cover themselves with tattoos, record nasty
rap albums in their spare time, and push and kick a cameraman or two just to maintain that bad-boy image.
Concerned about
gang signs, NFL reviews tapes. The league, concerned that some players might be celebrating by
using the hand signals of street gangs, has hired experts to study game tapes.
Amoral media, lowlife fans,
spoiled athletes and beer. Let's finally stop repeating the false notion that big business has
conservative values. Big business has no values. … Liberals perpetuate the falsehood of big business
as conservative for three reasons: They have a materialist view of the world (just about everything is
explainable by economic status and motives; it aids in getting people to vote Democrat); many people resent the
amorality of big companies; and it seems to counter the argument that the major news media are
liberal — "How could the news media possibly be liberal when they are all owned by
large corporations!"
Obviously, Sports Do Not Build Character.
If you are one of those people who believe the old adage "sports builds character," you have some explaining to
do. Why are so many professional athletes, who have spent their entire lives in organized sports, masters
at cheating, serial adultery, drunkenness, compulsive gambling, drug abuse, and thuggish fighting (to name just
a few of the vices)? … By character I mean moral excellence: a life characterized by prudence, fortitude,
self-discipline, and humility in pursuit of what is good.
Morons
disguised as hockey fans. Montreal was the lead story on morning TV news on both sides of the
Canada-U.S. border yesterday, but the Canadiens' Game 7 victory over the Boston Bruins was merely a
footnote. The big story was the violence and vandalism that grew out of the celebrations after the
Canadiens' win. I'm not sure what Monday night's carnage means, but there's an argument to be made that
our society is headed in the wrong direction.
Nashua
woman charged with murder after Sox-related argument. A Nashua, New Hampshire woman is being held without bail
after prosecutors say she ran down a man outside a bar — after a argument witnesses say was about the Red Sox and Yankees.
NFL
announces new fan code of conduct. The NFL implemented a new code of fan conduct Tuesday [8/5/2008],
warning that spectators who misbehave will be ejected from stadiums and barred from coming back. The
policy, first recommended by commissioner Roger Goodell at league meetings in April, is aimed at conduct
that the league said "detracts from the gameday experience."
Booing at games may be banned.
The organization that oversees high school sports in Washington is considering rules for fans that could ban
booing and offensive chants. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has not made an
official ruling, but has discussed guidelines to crack down on negative conduct, a spokesman said. Some
of the state's top coaches believe a boo ban is extreme.
The Editor says...
This is political correctness carried to its extreme in the land of the easily offended. Are
spectators expected to cheer for both teams? I think the courts would rule that booing, however offensive,
is constitutionally-protected free speech.
The Olympics:
Chinese
Swimmers Test Positive For Banned Substance, Win Olympic Gold Anyway While WADA Looks Other
Way. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed on Saturday that 23 Chinese
swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics. But WADA let
it slide after China claimed the positive results were a result of accidental contamination.
Multiple reports said the swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine months before the
COVID-delayed Games began in July 2021. Typically found in heart medication, trimetazidine is
listed as a "metabolic modulator," which can help with endurance in physical activity.
Paris
Won't Air-Condition Athlete Housing At Summer Olympics Because Of Climate Change. The
2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are still a few months away, and they're already one of the most
ridiculous athletic competitions yet. Not because of any one individual athlete, or the
qualifying process, or the introduction of new sports. It's all due to the political views of
the event organizers and their laughable desire to virtue signal on a global stage. In a
recent interview, the head of the organization in charge of building athlete housing for the 2024
games revealed that they didn't add air conditioning to lower the event's "carbon footprint."
Let
them Drink Water: Alcohol Ban at Paris Olympics for All but VIP Elites. Alcohol
consumption at the 2024 Paris Olympics will be restricted to special VIP areas only, a report
Tuesday confirmed, meaning the elites can happily quaff Champagne while those in the cheap seats
will be forced to look on and sip water. Thanks to an edict called Elvin's Law which began in
1991, alcohol sales have long been banned to the general public in France's sports stadiums.
China
'asked Putin to delay invasion of Ukraine until after Winter Olympics'. China asked Vladimir Putin to delay any
invasion of Ukraine until after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, according to a Western intelligence report. It suggests
officials in China may have had some indication of Mr Putin's plans before he went ahead. Beijing denied the assertion
as "baseless speculation" and an "attempt to smear China". A Western official told the New York Times the report did not
make clear if it was Putin and Xi Jinping who discussed the matter, or some of their officials. The Olympic closing
ceremony took place on Feb 20. On the following day Putin recognised two breakaway areas in Ukraine and sent
troops in to help separatists. Then, on Feb 24, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
AP:
NBC Olympics [was] a ratings "disaster" — and [is] now a tainted brand. How bad was it? The
best night for Olympics ratings was February 13, when NBC had 112 million Super Bowl viewers ready to watch even more
sports. How many stuck around? The New York Times reports ... not many: [...] Almost eight in ten viewers didn't
even want to just leave the channel on after the end of the Super Bowl, but actively chose to tune out. This had
nothing to do with the performance of the athletes. Viewers knew after NBC's atrocious brown-nosing of Vladimir Putin's
Soviet iconography in Sochi's opening games that they already knew what the coverage from Beijing would be like. And
they turned out to be correct. This time, though, the moral issues were even more obvious, and yet produced no real
shame in Beijing's corporate partners.
NBC's Beijing Olympic
Ratings Called A 'Disaster' For Network. A sobbing Russian figure skater berated by one of her coaches for a
poor routine. Grim-looking cooling towers in the background of acrobatic snowboard jumps. Diplomatic
boycotts. Half-empty stands. Announcers covering the games from Connecticut. It all played out in a host
country engaged in human rights atrocities that was also the origin site of a global pandemic. For NBC, it wasn't
exactly Olympic glory in China. The media adjectives pouring in to describe the legacy of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
aren't pretty: "Disaster." "Joyless." And NBC's $7.75 billion investment in 2014 that gave it exclusive
American media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032 is under question after a second consecutive ratings dud.
Olympics
Close Out With Brutally Low TV Ratings. Sunday [2/20/2022] was the final day of the 2022 Beijing Olympics and
the overall numbers for how many people watched this year's winter games were the worst ever for NBCUniversal. The
games, which started Feb. 4 and went through Sunday, averaged 11.4 million viewers across all of the network's platforms
in primetime, according to the Hollywood Reporter in a piece published Monday. Those numbers are down from the average
number of 19.8 million who watched the games in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the report noted. Not only were the
average number of viewers down by 42%, but this year's winter games were down some 26% from the summer Olympics held in Tokyo
in 2021.
The Editor says...
The Olympics still exist for two reasons: [#1] It's a proxy for World War, in which each
country demonstrates that their young athletes are stronger and tougher than all others. Cheating abounds, even though
it's strictly forbidden. But that happens in real wars, too. [#2] The Olympics exists to sell exclusive television
rights to one American TV network, which will then sell commercial time for lots of money. Even so, the commercial revenue
will not be enough, if nobody's expected to watch, and the network will lose money. But wait and see — that same
network will eagerly bid for the TV rights next time. The whole show is about glamorous and prestigious international
competition: Part of it is sports, and part of it is a soap opera; therefore, it's a lucrative TV series. Except
the monetary wheels come off if nobody cares any more about the stinkin' Olympics, as millions of
non-viewers have demonstrated this year, when the event was held in Communist China.
The
great Olympic figure-skating debacle. Congratulations to Russia, which took first, second, and fourth places in
women's figure-skating while turning the competition into a [fiasco] so repellent that sportswriters were using terms like
"child abuse" afterward to describe what went down. I wrote a few days ago about Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old
Russian superstar who was heavily favored to take gold in Beijing. News broke this week that Valieva had tested
positive in December for a banned substance, a heart medication capable of enhancing endurance. But she wasn't banned
from the Olympics: Because of her tender age, the Court of Arbitration of Sport deemed her a "protected person" who'd
be allowed to compete while an investigation into her drug test proceeded. That threw the competition into chaos, with
the International Olympic Committee declaring that no medal ceremony would be held if Valieva finished in the top three due
to the uncertainty over her status. [...] Oh, just to round things off, the World Anti-Doping Agency has now accused the
Court of Arbitration of Sport of having essentially rewritten the rules to let Valieva compete, further tainting the process.
Worst. Olympics.
Ever. Ten days ago, this newsletter noted that the opening days of the Genocide Games — er, the
2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing — had generated a "cataclysmic loss of audience" for NBC. Over the past week
or so, the audience size hasn't gotten any better — and it's not just here in the United States: [...] Viewers
around the world have a lot of reasons for antipathy toward China these days — from the ongoing Uyghur genocide,
to the crackdown on Hong Kong, to the aggressive moves towards Taiwan, to that virus that started in Wuhan which has killed
almost 6 million people around the world officially and perhaps many, many more. There are no live audiences or
cheering crowds at the events, a television correspondent got dragged away on air, waiters and bartenders in the hotels are
wearing full hazmat suits, and there's not even the usual pretty scenery — the ski-jump platform was built next to
a steel plant with structures that reminded American audiences of nuclear reactors. There's something absurdly
dystopian about this whole debacle.
Olympic ideal
exposed as farce on sad night in China. No matter how the IOC tries to spin it, the enduring symbol of the
Beijing Games — and really, the entire Olympic movement — is a sad little girl put in an untenable
position by adults who have no shame. A lot of serious issues will need to be addressed after the flame is
extinguished, from doping rules to age limits to tyrannical coaches, but we shouldn't lose sight of the bigger
questions: What will it take for the Olympics to truly live up to its ideals? Is meaningful change even possible
at this point?
Chinese
Athletes at the Olympics get 5-Star Food, Nice Hotels, This is what the Rest of the Worlds Athletes Get. It's
no surprise the Communist Chinese are doing everything they can to make the lives of the Winter Olympic athletes pure
hell. From sleep deprivation to absolutely horrific living conditions and terrible food. Here is a video showing
yet another 'water main break' in a brand new building. These seem to always happen on the same floors that the competitors
who will soon be competing occur on. History will show you, we should never again have the Olympics in China. They
cheat! This video was filmed by Finnish athletes who were set to compete the next day. [Video clip]
Finnish
athlete posted pictures of water leaking into her apartment, ordered by Chinese officials to delete them. The
habits of tyranny are hard to break. China expected that the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing would once again impress
the world with China's ability to build shiny new venues and organize vast and impressive mass ceremonies. But,
instead, what is becoming known as the "Genocide Games" is exposing the autocratic authoritarianism of China's governing
officials and the downright shabby nature of its treatment for foreign athletes, some of whom dare to complain in public.
Unlike Chinese citizens, they don't have to worry about their social credit scores once they leave the Middle Kingdom.
Beijing's
Olympics are Downright Dangerous: Here's Why. The 2022 Winter Olympics have just begun in Beijing.
It's China's second opportunity to export its ideology since the 2008 Summer Olympics. It's happening despite China's
harsh repression of its ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which has been condemned by many countries as
genocide. Nevertheless, all but 14 countries (plus North Korea) appear to be responsive to the IOC's "Sports without
political interference" initiative in sending delegations and athletes to the Beijing. Little do they know, the Chinese
government uses its hosting of the Olympics as a propaganda tool precisely to silence this criticism of its human rights
record. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is like the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Each event is being used to showcase
the host country's glamour and fearful power.
American
skier ditches Team USA to compete for communist China in Olympics. American-born-and-raised Olympic skier
Eileen Gu reportedly gave up her American passport and was naturalized as a Chinese citizen to compete in the Beijing Winter
Olympics for communist China, new reports highlighted last week. After growing up and training in the United States and
competing as a member of the U.S. freestyle ski team, Gu revealed on Instagram in 2019 that she had decided to compete for
China in the Beijing Winter Olympics. "This was an incredibly tough decision for me to make," Gu wrote at the time,
according to a The Wall Street Journal report last week. Gu, whose mother was born in China, said she hoped the
controversial move would "inspire millions of young people where my mom was born."
Uyghur
Concentration Camp Survivor: NBC 'Supports Genocide' by Airing Olympics. Tursunay Ziawudun, a survivor of
China's brutal concentration camp system for Uyghur people and other Muslim ethnic groups, accused NBC and Comcast of
supporting genocide by airing the 2022 Beijing Olympics in an interview with Breitbart News on Saturday [2/5/2022].
Ziawudun joined a large group of mostly Uyghur protesters in front of the White House on Saturday to observe the anniversary
of the 1997 Ghulja massacre — which resulted in thousands of arrests and an estimated hundred dead after Uyghurs
organized peaceful protests against the communist regime in Beijing in the northwestern city that year — and to
protest the Beijing Olympics. Opponents of the Games argue that a country openly engaging in genocide should not
receive the honor of hosting such a prestigious event and that focusing on sports competition in China distracts from the
long list of atrocities that government is committing.
Olympics
Viewers, Onlookers Scratch Heads Over Controversial Call DQing US, Russian Skaters As China Wins Gold. Some
Olympic viewers were left perplexed during the weekend when a speed skating judge's decision disqualified the United States
and helped China win a gold medal. The United States had finished second in its semifinal race of the mixed team relay
event in short track speed skating Saturday, joining first place Hungary to advance to the finals. That was until an
official's review after the race determined that the United States and Russia, the fourth place finishers, had impeded
skaters from team China, causing both teams to be disqualified. Team China, the world's number one ranked team in the
event, had initially finished third and not qualified for the finals. However, thanks to the penalty against the U.S.,
China took their spot in the final and went on to win the gold, the country's first medal of the games.
Olympians
lament inedible food and 'unreasonable' conditions. As many athletes watch their Olympic dreams get dashed by a
positive COVID test, more and more are taking to social media and speaking out against the conditions of the Beijing
"quarantine hotels" into which they are being forced to check in. "My stomach hurts, I'm very pale and I have huge
black circles around my eyes," said Valeria Vasnetsova, a Russian athlete competing in the biathlon, in an Instagram post
shared from isolation. "I want this all to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired." Thursday, Vasnetsova
posted a picture of her food tray. On it sat a bit of plain pasta, some charred meat, a sprinkling of potatoes, and
some orange sauce. According to Vasnetsova, that was "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already."
TV Ratings
Tank For The Olympics In Communist China. The ratings are in for NBC's first day of coverage for the 2022
Winter Olympics being held in communist China and they are down from the previous year. The network's coverage in
prime-time Thursday for the opening ceremony to kick off the games averaged 7.7 million total viewers, according to a report
published Friday by TV Line.com. The Olympic viewership also landed with a 1.3 rating in the coveted demographic of
ages 18-49, the outlet noted. While those numbers helped the network lead the night, those numbers are down over the
last decade, Outkick's Clay Travis noted. He appeared to be noting numbers from Sports Media Watch.
Chinese
official physically removes Dutch reporter covering Olympics during live broadcast. Gold or Gulag? It's a
question on the minds of many anxious athletes and journalists as the Olympics kick off in Beijing — one made more
urgent by the physical removal of a reporter by Chinese officials on live television. "Our correspondent @sjoerddendaas
was pulled away from the camera by security guards at 12:00 p.m. live in the NOS Journaal," tweeted Dutch public broadcaster
NOS, Friday [2/4/2022]. "Unfortunately, this is increasingly becoming a daily reality for journalists in China. He
is fine and was able to finish his story a few minutes later." The not-so-subtle move from the Chinese is further proof
that the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOC) meant business when it announced it would punish those foreigners who spoke out
in a manner the Chinese Communist Party deems is "against the Olympic spirit."
Goons
Drag Reporter Away on Live TV at Beijing Games Opening Ceremony. The Beijing Winter Olympics are officially
underway — but, before the Opening Ceremony even finished on Friday [2/4/2022], Chinese authorities proved to the
world once again that it won't tolerate any kind of free press. In an extraordinary clip from Dutch broadcaster NOS,
one of its reporters who is in Beijing to cover the Games can be seen being manhandled by a security guard sporting a red
armband. The reporter, Sjoerd den Daas, attempted to carry on his broadcast while being grabbed and yelled at by the
guard, then NOS decided to cut away back to the studio.
Protesters
Surround NBC HQ Asking for Ban on Genocide Olympics. Tibetan exiles and supporters of Tibetan freedom gathered
outside Chinese embassies, Olympic headquarters, and NBC studios to protest the Beijing Winter Olympics, derided by critics
as the "Genocide Games" because the event risks validating Communist China's brutal suppression of minorities like the
Tibetans and Uyghur Muslims.
China's
Olympic tyranny. Why are Americans participating in the Winter Olympics while the host nation, China,
perpetrates a genocide and menaces its neighbors? The Biden administration has announced a diplomatic boycott, meaning
no "high-level" U.S. officials will be going to China. But American athletes are still going, along with diplomatic,
consular, and security personnel to protect them. NBC Sports is still televising the Games. Corporations such as
Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Visa are still paying millions of dollars to sponsor them. Why?
Winter
Olympics guests describe 'dystopian' scenes inside the village. 'Dystopian' scenes from inside Beijing Olympic
village include barmen in full PPE mixing cocktails and robots spraying clouds of disinfectant into the air as China attempts
to host a Covid-free Games. Video shot inside the Nanshanli Condotel on Thursday reveal journalists and Olympic
personnel in light-touch masks mixing with hotel staff wearing full hazmat suits due to fears the Games could become a
super-spreader event. A Reuters reporter inside the hotel described the atmosphere as 'dystopian', saying the air
smells like disinfectant due to the number of times floors and walls are sprayed, while all food service arrives in hotel
rooms plastic-wrapped.
Big
Brother Olympics: Beijing to feature Uighur surveillance company as major sponsor. The Olympics, which
are all dedicated to peace, human dignity, and brotherhood, have a pretty creepy sponsor now that the host is Beijing. [...]
That so-called artificial intelligence firm, which translates languages, is neck deep in China's surveillance of ethnic
Uighurs, the Turkic people in China's northwest, millions of whom have been systematically forced into labor camps in order
to wring any vestige of non-communist culture out of them. This company's 'products' provide China's "Lives of Others"
surveillance apparachiks the means to know what individual Uighurs may be saying or writing in private, the better to abuse
and imprison those who do not conform mindlessly to China's communist party line. It's as Big Brother as such things get.
Boycott
the Beijing Olympics. If ever there was an Olympics that should be boycotted, this is it. The purpose of
the quadrennial games is, or ought to be, to promote goodwill among nations while allowing athletes a stage where they can
test their skills against world-class competition. No one believes that is the purpose of the Beijing Olympics.
In the opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping could apologize to the world for allowing the coronavirus virus to spread from
Wuhan throughout the planet while authorities hushed it up and worked hard to prevent its spread to the rest of China.
That would be a demonstration of goodwill and a modicum of decency, given the millions globally who have died. That is
not going to happen.
China
Insists 'No Lockdown' for Genocide Olympics as More Regions Go Under. Organizing officials for the 2022 Winter
Olympics said Tuesday the Games' host city, Beijing, has no plans to lock down any sections of the capital to prevent the
spread of the Chinese coronavirus during the event — scheduled to take place from February 4 through February 20 —
despite mounting lockdowns in surrounding areas. "Beijing won't need to be sealed off for the Games next month," Huang Chun,
who leads the 2022 Winter Olympics' coronavirus prevention efforts, told reporters on January 11, adding that a lockdown
order for either Beijing or its surrounding province of Hebei remains "off the table" for now.
NHL
Considers Not Sending Players to Beijing's Genocide Games over Coronavirus Fears. On the heels of its decision
to postpone many of its games through December, the NHL is also now contemplating withdrawing its players from the Beijing
Olympics, all because of its concerns over the coronavirus. The National Hockey League had intended to take a
three-week break in February to make room to send its players to Beijing for China's "genocide" Olympics. Still, after
delaying as many as 40 games this year over fears about the coronavirus, the make-up games have put the Olympics in doubt.
China
Plans to Pay American Influencers to Promote Beijing Olympics Amid Boycotts. China is paying American social
media influencers to promote the Beijing Olympics and tout U.S.-China cooperation on climate change, according to government
filings. The Chinese consulate in New York City hired the public relations firm Vippi Media to run the influence
campaign, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. For
$300,000, Vippi Media will hire prominent Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch users to tout the games and promote China-U.S.
cooperation on issues like climate change, the contract says. The firm's founder, Vipp Jaswal, tells the Washington
Free Beacon he has not yet chosen the influencers to be used for the campaign.
The
Concentration Camp Olympics. This February will see U.S. participation in the winter Olympics at Beijing.
The games will occur amid the knowledge that Xi Jinping is committing some of the most appalling human rights abuses on the
planet. A million Uighurs are being persecuted, as are Falun Gong practitioners. Hongkongers have had their
liberties crushed. Since Joe Biden's election, Xi is increasingly menacing Taiwan. In 2018, Xi named himself
"president for life," and has been busy returning China — an authoritarian state as-is — to
totalitarianism. Xi continues to make unwarranted claims on the South and East China Seas, militarizing these
international waters. Both are vital to U.S. and global trade. Imagine Mexico or the U.S. claiming the Gulf of
Mexico and the Caribbean as territorial waters. Xi is growing more bellicose, threatening Asia Pacific nations,
including U.S. allies Australia, Japan, and South Korea, among others. The Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of
the Beijing Olympics is an empty gesture. It signals weakness, not strength. An apex predator like Xi only
respects actions that have real teeth.
Why
we must boycott the Olympics in China. Back in 1936, the Olympic games were held in Hitler-led, fascist, Nazi
Germany. In Berlin, to be specific. For years afterward, the world shook its head in wonder at how the
International Olympic Committee (IOC), could ever have been so out of touch with reality that it honored a dictatorial,
despotic nation. Now, they've done it again. The Communist Party of China (CCP) is scheduled to hold the 2022
Winter Olympics in Beijing. Stupid knows no limits. Before we go into the decades of China's human rights
violations and utter disregard for international laws, the latest outrage from this totalitarian state is the disappearance
of a three-time Chinese female Olympian tennis star, Peng Shuai, after she accused a former vice-premier of sexual
assault. She's obviously paying the price for outing a Commie biggie and is either dead or tucked away for life in some
rancid prison.
Boxing
bouts [were] fixed at [the] 2016 Olympics, investigation finds. Boxing bouts for medals at the 2016 Olympics
were fixed by "complicit and compliant" referees and judges, an investigation reported on Thursday [9/30/2021].
Investigator Richard McLaren was appointed by the International Boxing Association, known as AIBA, and found AIBA officials
selected referees and judges to ensure that bouts could be manipulated in Olympic qualifying and at the Rio de Janeiro
Games. He also found signs the 2012 Olympics in London were affected.
China
Hosting the Winter Olympics Is an Extremely Bad Idea. The Summer Games in Japan, which organizers and the world
had hoped would mark a milestone toward the end of the sixteen-month-long global shutdown, unfortunately fell prey to the
COVID-19 virus. In Tokyo, the delta variant has impacted how the Olympics have been staged and can only lead to
speculation on how the upcoming Winter Games might play out. One thing is certain: testing and more testing of athletes
will undoubtedly remain a greater part of any participation in future sporting events. Fast-forward to the XXIV Winter
Olympics, to be held in Beijing in February. There's talk that under the guise of widespread COVID-19 testing, the
People's Republic of China will have carte blanche access to the collection of DNA samples from the world's highest-ranked
athletes. A sufficient amount of genetic material is readily available from each PCR swab test collected from an
individual. This massive data sweep will allow the Chinese government to embark upon an extensive analysis of the
samples, enabling it to configure the information toward applications of its own design.
Viewership
Ratings for Woke Olympics Continue to Crash. Not even the USA winning the gold for all-around gymnastics lifted
the ratings for the 2020 Woke Olympics anywhere close to respectable territory. [...] Even more disastrous for the Olympics
has been the crashing and burning of all their woketard athletes and icons. Megan Rapinoe's all-girl soccer team was
supposed to be on the easy path to Olympic gold and then lost in a major upset to Canada. [...] Honestly, who loses to
Canada? Gwen Berry, the insufferable hammer thrower who disrespected the flag during her Olympic trials and then
threatened to do so again if she won an Olympic medal, did not win anything. In fact, out of 12 competitors, she came
in 11th. [...] And then there's my all-time favorite, a 43-year-old fat guy named Laurel who competed as a woman
weightlifter. But even with all the advantages of being a guy, he still blew it.
Take
A Knee, Then Take A Seat. It was a weird position in which to find myself — actively rooting against
the United States Olympic team. Not the whole team, though I've been rather open about my indifference on that subject,
but the women's soccer team. Or should I say, the wymxn's soccer team? Who knows, and who cares? They lost
and it's glorious. [...] Led by Megan Rapinoe, the Americans lost to Canada in the semi-finals, ending their chances at a
gold medal. Excellent. I love the country, I don't support those to take it for granted or those who would
protest against it while in the midst of representing it. If it's so awful, don't play for it.
Did a terrorist
actually just win an Olympic gold medal? The woke Tokyo Olympics doesn't discriminate. No matter your
race, gender identity, or affiliation with a terrorist organization — all are welcome and celebrated! You
may have heard of a little group called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was labeled a terrorist
organization by the United States in 2019. Well, one of their members just won a gold medal in the Olympics and even
gave a military salute on the podium.
Laurel Hubbard, transgender
weightlifter, exits Olympic competition early after failing on all three attempts. Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter from
New Zealand, was knocked out of the women's 87+ kilogram competition early after failing on all three of her attempts. Hubbard failed
on her first attempt to get 120-kg above her head, bailing out early. On her second attempt at 125kg, she was able to get the weight up and
pumped her fist after in satisfaction, however judges ruled it a "no lift." She returned quickly for another attempt at 125kg only to
fail to be able to stand up with the weight above her head. Hubbard was the only one of the 13 finalists to not complete at least one lift.
The Editor says...
Go home, be a man, and accept reality. Not necessarily in that order.
Paris
2024 Olympics logo roasted for looking like a 'Karen'. The "Karen" meme is back, and it's funnier than
ever. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are currently well underway but that doesn't stop the fact that people are already
talking about the 2024 games. The next cycle of the Olympics is set to be held in Paris, and while the logo was
released back in October 2019, fans can't help but roast the design again. The logo is very reminiscent of the "Karen"
meme — a Caucasian woman with a short haircut who always "needs to speak to the manager." The Parisian emblem is
meant to depict three symbols: the Olympic flame, a gold medal and the hair and lips of Marianne, the personification of
France since the 1789 revolution. She represents liberty, equality and fraternity.
A
Disaster of Olympian Proportions. Is it wrong that I'm rooting for the U.S. Women's National Team to lose, and
humiliatingly so, this Olympics? Of course it's not wrong. The USWNT, led by America's favorite histrionic Megan
Rapinoe, protested against racism and discrimination by taking the knee before their first Olympic match. Though the
stadium was empty (certainly nothing new to the USWNT), the attending "reporters" revived each other with smelling salts to
swoon and gape at the unparalleled fortitude exhibited by these privileged virtue-signalers in what was dubbed a "social
justice reckoning".
U.S.
Olympians: gold-worthy performances in social protest; in athletic competition not so much. The U.S. Olympic
team is off to a sluggish start in Tokyo, to put it mildly. U.S. athletes failed to deliver a medal on the first day of
competition, something that hasn't happened in nearly 50 years. It's only gotten worse from there. The women's
soccer team, expected to snag the gold, got shut out in its very first match against Sweden. That shocker ended the
team's 44-game unbeaten streak, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. They beat an overmatched New Zealand squad
6-1 but had to settle for a 1-1 tie against Australia to squeak into the next round. The squad, most notably
lavender-locked team captain Megan Rapinoe, famously kneel before each game, but not during the playing of the U.S. National
Anthem. Other teams in the Olympics also kneel before games to protest racism. The formerly invincible USA
basketball squad is nothing of the sort these days.
NBC
has 33-year low viewership for Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony: 'Not a happy' benchmark. The Tokyo Olympics
opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest
audience for the network broadcast in the past 33 years, according to data from the Comcast-owned NBCUniversal on Saturday
[7/24/2021]. The TV audience dropped 37% from the Rio de Janeiro opening ceremony in 2016, when 26.5 million people
watched, and 59% from 2012, when 40.7 million people watched the London opener. The Tokyo ratings factored in both the
live broadcast early Friday morning and a primetime re-airing. Reuters described Friday's fall, the lowest since the
1988 Seoul Games, as a "steep drop."
Woke
USA Women Soccer Team Lose 3-0 at Olympics. Perhaps if they spent a little more energy on soccer skills, and a
little less energy attempting to be the woke champions of US sport, the outcome may have been different. Alas, there's
a great number of Americans who shrug because USA women's national soccer has evolved into a political assembly who happen to
play soccer. The team's egotistical, arrogant, pompous and virtue-signaling attitude is a considerable turn-off.
This is the same team that wears 'Black Lives Matter' on their uniforms, and kneels instead of stands for the U.S. national
anthem to showcase to the world just how woke they are. Team Captain Ms. Rapinoe refuses to sing the U.S. national
anthem; kneels during ceremonies to make her hatred for America visible; and grabs every microphone to tell the media about
her politics in an effort to increase her woke resistance credentials.
Deaf-blind
Paralympian quits Team USA when told she can't bring assistant to Tokyo. Becca Meyers is a six-time Paralympic
medalist with three golds from the 2016 Rio Games. She was expected to compete for up to four medals in Tokyo.
Instead she's not going. After the 26-year-old deaf-blind swimmer was told she couldn't bring her mother and personal
care assistant (PCA) Maria Meyers to help her navigate Tokyo and the Olympic facilities, Meyers informed Team USA that she
was quitting the team.
Keywords: Adultery, fornication, promiscuity, AIDS. Athletes
to sleep on 'anti-sex' cardboard beds at Olympic Games amid COVID. Lustful Olympic athletes should think twice
before making the bed rock in Tokyo. The world's best sports competitors are set to spend their nights on cardboard
beds — allegedly designed to collapse under the weight of fornicators to discourage sex amid COVID-19.
Olympic officials — who already warned 2021 Games participants to avoid two-person push-ups because of the
coronavirus — have set up 18,000 of the cardboard beds in the notoriously sex-crazed athletes' village, according
to Dezeen magazine. "Beds to be installed in Tokyo Olympic Village will be made of cardboard, this is aimed at avoiding
intimacy among athletes," American distance runner Paul Chelimo tweeted.
Everything
that's gone wrong for the Tokyo Olympics so far. With the opening ceremony just days away, the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics are off to a rough start. After being delayed a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the games are seeing
serious challenges in the days leading up to them, including COVID-19, inclement weather, and suspension for marijuana
use. Here's everything that's gone wrong at the Tokyo Olympics so far: Olympians testing positive for
COVID-19 [...] Opening ceremony composer resigns [...] Top sponsor pulls ads [...] U.S. Men's Basketball team loses members
[...] Fans banned from events after state of emergency declaration [...] Rising temperatures [...]
With
Spectators Banned, Tokyo Olympics Look Like an Even Bigger Money Pit. Spectators will be banned from all 339
events to be held during the upcoming Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin in Tokyo on July 23, after a state of
emergency was declared in that region of Japan this week. These Olympics had already been dubbed the "No-Fun
Olympics" — and by none other than the typically stoic Associated Press — due to pandemic-related
policies of testing, quarantining, and limited attendance that were expected to severely curtail the usual athletic
bacchanalia enjoyed by athletes and fans (previously, events were expected to be capped at 10,000 spectators each). Now they
will be the No-Fans Games as well. More than 30 venues, some of which predate the Olympics but many of which were
purpose-built at public expense, will be occupied solely by coaches, athletes, and judges.
The Editor says...
With no spectators, the event could be held in a big city in almost any country!
For TV coverage, the Olympic venue would have to be somewhere with satellite access and plenty of electricity,
but with no crowds on hand, there is no great demand for hotel rooms, mass transit, crowd control, sanitation, and
and many other factors.
Members
of U.S. Women's Soccer Team Turn Away from the Flag as WWII Vet Plays Anthem. Several members of the U.S.
Women's National Team (USWNT) did not face the flag as a 98-year-old WWII veteran played the national anthem. The
incident occurred Monday [7/5/2021], just before the USWNT took-on Mexico in their final tune-up before the Tokyo Olympics.
[... Update:] An account representing U.S. Soccer teams denies that the video shows any players disrespecting World War II
veteran Pete DuPré and posted a video of players, including Megan Rapinoe, greeting him and signing a ball.
Breitbart News' story never said the players disrespected Pete DuPré; rather, it said some players disrespected the
American flag.
Base
Olympic competition on biological sex, not testosterone levels. A pair of female sprinters from Namibia can't
compete in the Olympics this year, even though the biologically male Laurel Hubbard can compete in weightlifting for team New
Zealand. Sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi cannot compete in the 400-meter dash due to naturally high
testosterone levels. World Athletics requires that for women to compete in events such as the 400-meter and one-mile
runs in track, they must lower their testosterone levels to 5 nanomoles per liter. It's unclear if these athletes are
intersex and have XY chromosomes as well as internal testes instead of ovaries. However, what is clear is that these
two not being able to compete while Hubbard can compete is a failure of liberal compromise.
Olympic
Jiggery-Pokery. Jiggery-pokery is a perfect phrase to describe recent Olympic news, especially decisions on who
is allowed to compete and who is not. [...] Third is transgender New Zealand weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard. A successful
male weightlifter until age 35, Hubbard now identifies as a female and the Olympic committees think it is perfectly fair that
he competes against biologic women. Guys outlift gals by over 20 percent meaning that the guy who identifies as a gal
is a lock for a medal. Talk about performance enhancement. This makes Lance Armstrong's blood doping look like
child's play. Missing a few random doping tests or smoking a joint is disqualifying but growing up as a male, muscles,
and bones bathed in testosterone during puberty, is not a performance enhancement? Jiggery-pokery. Finally, the
woke media overlook the obvious racism and sexism at play here. [...] If anything, this confirms that transgenderism sits
higher on the intersectionality and victimhood totem pole compared to being female or Black.
Several
Women on US Soccer Team Turn Away From US Flag as 98-Year-Old Veteran Plays National Anthem. Several women on
the US soccer team on Monday turned away from the US flag as 98-year-old WWII veteran Pete DuPré played the national
anthem on a harmonica. The US Women's soccer team is playing against Mexico in East Hartford, Connecticut in a pre-Olympic
sendoff game before heading to Japan. These women should not be allowed to represent the US at the Olympics.
Photos
From Gwen Barry's Website Reveal That Her Anthem/Flag Protests Are Nothing But A PR Stunt. Hammer thrower and
activist Gwen Berry has received fierce backlash after she appeared to turn her back to the American flag as the national
anthem was being played at the U.S. Olympic Trials over the weekend. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called Monday for US
Olympic track and field athlete Gwen Berry to be kicked off the squad after she turned her back on the American flag while
the national anthem was played over the weekend at the Olympic trials in Oregon. "I don't think it's too much, when
athletes are competing to wear the Stars and Stripes — to compete under the Stars and Stripes in the
Olympics — for them to simply honor that flag and our anthem on the medal stand," Cotton, a former Army infantry
officer, told "Fox News Primetime". "If Ms. Berry is so embarrassed by America, then there's no reason she needs to
compete for our country. She should be removed from the Olympic team." Cotton's remarks echoed those of Rep. Dan
Crenshaw (R-Texas), a former Navy SEAL, who told "Fox & Friends" Monday that Berry should not travel to Tokyo for next month's Games.
Dan
Crenshaw Calls For Gwen Berry to Be Removed from Olympic Team. Rep. Dan Crenshaw called for Gwen Berry to
be removed from the U.S. Olympic team after the bronze medal-winning hammer thrower in the weekend trials expressed
frustration and appeared to protest the national anthem played while she was on the podium. As Steve Doocy explained
earlier in Fox & Friends, the national anthem is played once during the evening event, and it just so happened to play
while Berry was on the podium. Berry was displeased by the anthem and expressed her frustration by holding up a
tee-shirt that read "Activist Athlete." The hammer thrower has predictably been an immediate subject of criticism in
conservative circles, evidenced by the extensive coverage she received on just Fox & Friends alone.
Crenshaw
Calls for Olympic Qualifier Who Snubbed the National Anthem to Be Removed. U.S. Olympic qualifier Gwen Berry is
under fire for turning away from the national anthem on the podium at the Olympic Trials over the weekend. The Hammer
Thrower felt she was "set up" by having to hear the national anthem, and draped a t-shirt reading "Activist Athlete" over her
face during the anthem. [...] Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) had harsh words for Berry's unpatriotic behavior, and called
for her to be removed from the team. "We don't need any more activist athletes. She should be removed from the
team. The entire point of the Olympic team is to represent the United States of America. That's the entire
point," Crenshaw said on Monday morning. "It's one thing when these NBA players do it, okay fine, then we'll just stop
watching. Now the Olympic team, multiple cases of this, they should be removed. That should be the bare minimum
requirement: that you believe in the country you're representing."
Olympic
hammer thrower Gwen Berry [angry] national anthem was playing at Olympic trials. A US hammer thrower turned
away from the American flag as the national anthem played while she and two other athletes stood on the podium at the Olympic
trials Saturday [6/26/2021], later saying she was "pissed" that "The Star-Spangled Banner" played as she received her bronze
medal. Gwen Berry — who qualified for her second US Olympic team during the trials — shifted to
face the stands rather than the flag before holding up a black shirt that read, "Activist Athlete." "I feel like it was
a setup, and they did it on purpose," Berry said of the anthem being played.
Furious
backlash against Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry for turning her back on flag during national anthem. White
House press secretary Jen Psaki defended hammer thrower Gwen Berry's right to 'peacefully protest,' after the Tokyo-bound
athlete turned her back on the US flag during Olympic trials. Psaki told Fox News' Peter Doocy at Monday's press
briefing that while she and President Joe Biden hadn't spoken specifically about the incident, Biden is 'incredibly proud to
be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it respresents, especially for our men and women serving in
uniform all around the world.' 'He would also say, of course, that part of that pride in our country means recognizing
there are moments where we are, as a country, haven't lived up to our highest ideals, and that means respecting the rights of
people, granted to them in the Constitution, to peacefully protest,' Psaki added.
COVID
Wins Again: Olympics Bans Cheering, Advises Crowds to 'Feel Joy in Their Hearts' Instead. Japan's
released its COVID guidelines, and this year won't be a particularly uproarious affair. As reported by Agence
France-Presse, for one, alcohol is banned. So for attendees hoping to booze it up, sobering disappointment
awaits. Another thing: Due to germs, no autographs will be allowed. And affection's taking a back seat to
safety: No hugging. [...] And everyone entering will have their temperature checked. Masks will also be
mandatory. For those who don't pass muster, no refund will be issued. Once inside, Seiko explained, folks will be
forbidden from "making direct contact with other spectators."
Former
NBA star Jalen Rose says US should have sent all-black team to Olympics, calls inclusion of single white player, Kevin Love,
'tokenism'. Team USA's inclusion of white forward Kevin Love on the Olympic roster is an example of 'tokenism,'
according to retired NBA star Jalen Rose, who says black Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton would make a better choice even
though he's from the Bahamas. 'Kevin Love is on the team because of tokenism,' Rose, now an ESPN commentator, said on his
podcast. [...] Love and 11 African-American NBA players will be vying for the country's fourth-consecutive gold medal in
men's basketball at the Tokyo Games next month.
New
Zealand Sends Male Weightlifter to Defeat Women in the Olympics. New Zealand will set a transgender first by
sending a biological male to the Olympics to compete against women in weightlifting. Former Olympians have condemned
the decision. Other males competing in women's weightlifting have set new records, demonstrating the common-sense
principle that sports are sex-segregated for a reason. Laurel Hubbard, who set New Zealand junior records in
weightlifting in 1998 before he transitioned to identify as a woman in 2013, qualified for the Olympics in women's
weightlifting due to a 2015 International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule change, CNN reported. According to the Olympics
guidelines, males can compete in women's divisions so long as their testosterone levels stay below 10 nano moles
per liter for at least 12 months before their first competition.
Lola
Goes to the Olympics. Women first competed in the Olympic Games in 1900 in Paris, participating in tennis,
sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf. By 2016, 45 percent of participants were women. Men and women
competitions were separate for obvious reasons of strength and speed. Yet this summer at the Tokyo Olympic Games, these
two distinct categories may be blurred with transgender athletes competing, specifically transgender biologic males competing
against biologic females. Lola, who "walked like a woman but talked like a man" will be an Olympian. New
Zealander Laurel Hubbard, is a biologic male now aged 43, who competed as a male weightlifter until transitioning into a
female in her [sic] mid 30s. She [sic] won a silver medal at the 2017 world championships and has a serious shot at
winning a medal in Tokyo.
The Editor says...
The man is a transvestite. He has not "transition[ed] into a female," and never will, because he is a biological
male. Every cell in his body has the DNA of a man. Wearing women's clothes and assuming a woman's name
does not "transition" a man into a woman.
Report:
Athletes Told To 'Be Quiet' About Trans Weightlifter Ahead Of Olympic Qualification. A former Olympic
weightlifter claims that female athletes are being told to "be quiet" about transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard ahead of
his Olympic debut. Hubbard is a 43-year-old biological male competing as a woman. Should Hubbard pass the New
Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) fitness and performance standards, he would become the first trans athlete to compete
in the Olympics.
Olympics
ban 'Black Lives Matter' apparel, could punish athletes for political demonstrations. The IOC says athlete
protests and political messages will remain banned at the Olympics after a survey found that a majority of competitors were
in favor of keeping the ban in place. That means raising a fist on the podium or taking a knee would still risk
punishment at the Tokyo Games this year. The IOC also said that slogans such as "Black Lives Matter" will not be
allowed on athlete apparel at Olympic venues, though it approved using the words "peace," "respect," "solidarity,"
"inclusion" and "equality" on T-shirts.
Olympics
Bans 'Black Lives Matter' Apparel, Again Threatens To Punish Athletes Who Protest. Athletes will not be allowed
to wear clothing with the slogan "Black Lives Matter" at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee has
decided, reiterating that it plans to enforce the Games' "Rule 50," which bans political or social justice protests of any
kind at the international athletic event set to take place in just a few weeks. The Associated Press reported Tuesday
that the IOC's rules against "slogans" with a political or social justice meaning are "granular" this year and that the IOC
has specifically banned apparel bearing the racial justice mantra, "Black Lives Matter."
The Editor says...
The Olympics might not exist without the income generated by the sale of exclusive television rights. Those rights would be
worth a lot less if the BLM decimates the audience numbers in the same way that they've ruined the TV ratings for the NFL and NBA.
U.S.
State Department backs away from the idea of a Beijing Olympics boycott. The State Department denied Tuesday
evening that it was considering a joint boycott alongside allies of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. "Our position
on the 2022 Olympics has not changed. We have not discussed and are not discussing any joint boycott with allies and
partners," a senior State Department official wrote in an emailed statement to CNBC. Department spokesman Ned Price had
initially suggested during a press briefing earlier on Tuesday that a boycott of the Olympic Games was among the
possibilities for addressing China's human rights abuses. The Olympic Games are due to take place between Feb. 4
and Feb. 20.
China now dominates the world, thanks on large part to senile and corrupt Joe Biden. State
Department Backs Off US Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics as China Threatens "Robust Response". China has once
again beat the US into submission. The State Department backed off of talks of the US boycotting the Beijing Winter
Olympics as China threatened a "robust" response. State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday said a boycott is
something that the US wishes to discuss with our allies. "It is something that we certainly wish to discuss," Price
said, "A coordinated approach will not only be in our interest but also in the interest of our allies and partners."
Japan
bans foreign spectators for 2021 Olympic Games. Foreign spectators will not be allowed into Japan to attend the
2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games because of concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese government and Tokyo 2020
officials announced Saturday [3/20/2021]. International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee
officials were informed of the decision in a virtual meeting with Tokyo 2020, Japanese government and Tokyo Metropolitan
Government officials. "In many ways the Tokyo 2020 Games will be completely different to any previous Games," Tokyo
2020 president Seiko Hashimoto said in a statement. "
A tough-on-China
GOP is split on whether to boycott the China Olympics. President Joe Biden is under growing pressure from
hawkish Republicans to use the 2022 Winter Olympics to punish the Chinese government over its human rights abuses. But
even within the GOP, there's disagreement over how far to push. Some are calling on Biden to outright boycott the
Beijing Games, which China is hosting. Others say they oppose boycotts, arguing that only the athletes get
punished. Many are instead pressing Biden to push the International Olympic Committee to revoke China's role as host
and stage the Games in another country — or at least to delay the competition.
Breakdancing
now an Olympic sport, will debut at Paris in 2024. Breakdancing has been confirmed as an official Olympic
sport. The International Olympic Committee's pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance
battles officially added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games. The IOC executive board also confirmed
skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing for Paris. Those three sports will make their Olympic debuts at the Tokyo
Games which were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
LA told
to cancel 2028 Olympics 'privilege'. Tokyo would have begun hosting the Olympics on Friday [7/24/2020] had not
the coronavirus gripped the globe. As it turns out, the 2028 Summer Games slated for Southern California might also be
in doubt, for political not pandemic reasons. NOlympics of Los Angeles launched a campaign calling on city leaders to
scrap the competition eight years from now, boosted on Twitter by the trending hashtag #CancelTheOlympics. "We are
years away from the proposed 2028 games but we know that they'll be used not only to boost the LAPD budget but to once again
run with the recovery narrative," NOlympics LA declared in a manifesto this week.
Meet the Olympic
Athletes Who Probably Don't Belong There. The history of the modern Olympic games is littered with stories of
dreamers. These athletes work hard, sometimes in obscurity, training long hours for that moment of glory as the world
watches. Sometimes those moments end in medals, but obviously the vast majority don't make it to the podium. And
some of the athletes who finish nowhere near the gold have the most fascinating stories. And these unbelievable
Olympians have done what they've done without the left-leaning politics that seem to have permeated these games.
Guess I won't be rooting
for Poland in these 2018 Olympics. The recently enacted Media law says that it is forbidden to make public any
statement that links Poland to Germany's evil in the Holocaust. Up to three years in prison if you are caught saying
"Polish death camps" out loud, especially through the press. So let's keep this private. Make sure not to pass
this around... that the Poles were not innocent bystanders. They were horribly complicit before, during and after.
Stop
pretending the Olympics are about world peace. The Olympics are the United Nations of sports —
high-minded principles and feel-good sentiments exploited by hypocrites to the detriment of the cause of freedom. The
Olympics are great for athletes and for a network like NBC that ponied up billions for the rights to cover them.
They're sports for casual fans, and they make great television. More than that, the games thrive because of notions
about sports transcending conflicts that are essential to the Olympic myth. The reason the North Korean gambit worked
so well is because these fables have always been a load of baloney. The worst example was the 1936 Berlin Olympics
hosted by the Nazis.
The
Disgrace of the Olympics. The 2018 Winter Olympic Games have opened in the mountains of northeastern South
Korea. The next two weeks will showcase some of the finest athletes in the world: men and women who've trained
relentlessly and, whether they win a medal or not, deserve our esteem and best wishes. The United States has sent 244
competitors — 109 women, 135 men — and we have every reason to think they will bring credit to our
country. Yet we will not enjoy these games with an untroubled conscience. Stories of sexual abuse and rampant
cheating are everywhere in the news, both here and abroad — more so this year than in years past. The Olympics
have become so scandal-ridden and cynically unsportsmanlike as seriously to raise the question of why we continue them.
Maybe the Olympics should be held in a civilized country. Olympic
Venue Surrounded by Dog Meat Farms, Dog Soup on Menus Despite Protests. The South Korean government offered
restaurants serving dog-meat soup money to take it off the menu during the 2018 Olympic winter games taking place in
Pyeongchang but most refused, according to media reports.
Black
Lives Matter Goes to the Olympics. Race became the National Football League theme this year, as a bunch of
privileged young athletes, being paid millions of dollars for playing a game, supported by an organization worth $75 billion,
found it necessary to take a knee against the National Anthem. There they were, protesting the very country leaving them
on the winning end of such income inequality. The NFL season, thankfully, is in our rearview mirror for the next six
months. Ahead is the Winter Olympics.
Going
for Broke — Can Los Angeles Afford to Host the Olympics? By now you probably know that Los Angeles
has the honor, or should I say heartburn, of hosting the 2028 Olympics. Long gone are the days when such an
announcement would fill the locals with pride, as it is now generally understood that local residences will have to put up
with increased traffic, never-ending infrastructure headaches and a soul crushing financial commitment by the host city that
gets little financial return for its investment. Within moments of the announcement, the blogosphere was full of
articles of how this could become a financial boondoggle for Los Angeles.
Chicago
is still paying for its failed Olympics bid. The site of the now-closed Michael Reese Hospital on the South
Side was supposed to be where the athletes village for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago. But despite Barack Obama
flying out to Copenhagen to personally plea for the games to be held in his hometown, the International Olympic Committee
members chose Rio de Janiero. Meanwhile Chicago taxpayers are in a familiar situation--paying for the expensive
mistakes of the people they put in power.
Rio's
Olympic warm-up pool has turned a disgusting shade of orange as the village continues to fall apart. Rio de
Janeiro spent about $4.6 billion to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Six months later, four months after the end of the
Paralympic Games, the city's Olympic infrastructure is falling apart. Over the weekend, the Brazilian news outlet O Globo
published footage of various abandoned and decrepit Olympic venues. According to O Globo, limited security has resulted in
theft, and the ceilings are falling in. Other venues appear to not have received any necessary upkeep. Even the Maracana,
Rio's Olympic stadium, is without power as city officials argue about who should pay the electricity bills. Most shocking is a
warm-up pool that has turned orange.
4
months after Olympics, organizers unable to pay some bills. Almost four months after the Olympics ended, Rio de Janeiro organizers
are unable to pay some of their bills, including $3.7 million owed to the International Paralympic Committee.
Three
months after the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is broke. The state of Rio is broke. It hasn't been able to pay
its bills since long before the games. A federal bailout kept police on the streets and hospitals open while Olympics
tourists were in town. But now the money has dried up, and public employees aren't being paid. The state
government is voting on an austerity package that could slash state workers' wages and pensions by 30 percent. That's
triggered violent protests and led demonstrators to briefly storm the state Legislature last month. Meanwhile, crime is
surging across the state.
Rio
Olympic golf course eerily empty three months on. Built specially for the Olympics on what had been a nature
reserve next to the beach in western Rio, the links-style course was meant to convert Brazilians to a sport they barely know
and put Rio on the international golfing map. Instead, the $19 million facility created by star US designer Gil Hanse
risks turning into a white elephant.
Europe's
top Olympic official taken to maximum security prison. International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Pat Hickey
was sent to Brazil's Bangu maximum security prison on Friday while police investigate his involvement in a plot to illegally
resell Olympic tickets, civil police said. The elderly Irishman was arrested in his dressing gown during a dawn raid at
his luxury beachfront hotel on Wednesday, where Hickey had been staying with his wife and fellow IOC members. Police
said they had discovered evidence linking Hickey to an international scheme to illegally pass tickets to touts who were
reselling them at well above their original price.
Looks
like Rio police were the biggest liars in the Lochte drama — if anyone still cares about the truth.
You heard it all weekend: "Four American swimmers trashed a Rio bathroom in a drunken rage and then lied to
investigators about an armed robbery to cover-up their story." It's become conventional wisdom from network anchors
trying to paint a rosy picture on a troubled Olympics to journalists who embrace the narrative of "ugly Americans" taking
advantage of the downtrodden, third world Brazilians. There's only one problem with this narrative: It appears
it's completely false.
British
Athlete Robbed at Olympics, Officials Say. A British athlete was robbed in Rio during the Olympics, according
to officials. 'We can confirm there has been an incident of theft involving a Team GB athlete returning to their
accommodation. All members of our delegation, including the individual concerned, are accounted for, and are safe and
well," Scott Field, a spokesman for Team GB, said in a statement to NBC News Thursday [8/18/2016]. No other
details were provided.
Ryan
Lochte, James Feigen Indicted in Brazil After Robbery Claim. The U.S. Olympic Committee Thursday night
apologized to Brazil for the "distracting ordeal" stemming from what Brazilian authorities call a fabricated claim of a
gunpoint robbery by a group of swimmers in Rio de Janeiro. "The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does
it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members," the statement said. "We will
further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States."
Dozens
of Robberies Caught on Video in Rio — in Broad Daylight. It's actually not a new video —
it's been making the rounds for several months — but it's shocking and informative nevertheless. It shows
mostly young males (in some cases very young boys) grabbing wallets and bags from people passing through a busy intersection
in Rio. In one instance, a two thugs appear to grab the necklace right off a man's neck, attacking him several times
before they successfully get what they're after. In some cases, fearful looking individuals just hand over their things
to the robbers to avoid confrontations.
Olympics-Brazil
judge orders U.S. swimmers not to leave country — daily. A judge in Brazil has issued an order to prevent U.S.
swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country on the grounds they gave conflicting accounts of their robbery
outside the Rio Games on Sunday, a Brazilian newspaper said on Wednesday [8/17/2016].
Olympic-Sized Climate
Propaganda. XXXI Olympiad competitors are joyfully showcasing their skills and sportsmanship, while delighted
fans revel in their amazing efforts. But opening ceremonies featuring colorful history, dance, song and athletes were
rudely interrupted by an unprecedented propaganda film. As audiences around the world were getting pumped up in eager
anticipation for the upcoming events, a slick but deceitful video soured the mood by inserting partisan climate change politics.
If you're at the Rio Olympics,
you've probably already been hacked. While athletes head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to compete for medals in the
2016 Summer Olympic Games, hackers in the area have their eyes on a different prize: the personal information of unsuspecting
travelers. According to a new report from mobile security firm Skycure, visitors to the former capital of Brazil are
being targeted by malicious actors who have set up fake Wi-Fi hotspots designed to steal information from connected devices.
These phony wireless networks were spotted by Skycure around the city, but they were most prominent in locations where travelers
were most likely to look for a place to connect, like shopping malls, well-known coffee shops, and hotels.
Rio
Olympics: Green Pools Caused by Hydrogen Peroxide Dump. Olympics officials on Saturday [8/13/2016] gave what they
said was a definitive explanation why the water in two competition pools turned green this week. Someone, the officials said,
mistakenly added 160 liters of hydrogen peroxide on Aug. 5, neutralizing the chlorine and allowing the growth of "organic
compounds" that might have included algae. On Saturday, the water in the diving pool was still a murky bottle-green color, while
the water in the second pool, used for water polo and synchronized swimming, had begun to look a bit lighter and a bit bluer.
Athletes have been complaining that the water or the chemicals treating it hurt their eyes, and that murkiness makes underwater
visibility impossible.
Rio 2016: Food
and Drink is Running Out. There is not enough food and drink for visitors at the 2016 Rio Olympics, even though
the Games started just six days ago. Attendees queued for hours at food stalls, only to find that everything had run
out when they reached the counter, reported the Sydney Morning Herald. On Saturday [8/6/2016], food stalls at the Future
Arena — where handball games are played — were forced to shut early because there were no more supplies left.
America First. The
Olympics tend to be the Island of Misfit Spectator Sports, showcasing competitions that got left by the wayside of
popularity, such as volleyball and diving. So every couple of years when the Olympics roll around, there is much
grumbling about how outmoded they are. Yet large numbers of people always seem to end up watching the Olympics anyway
and having a good time. Why? Nationalism.
Olympians
officially terrified of green '[foul]-smelling' water. There's something in the water in Rio — and
it's getting worse. The Olympic diving pool was closed Friday morning [8/12/2016] as the water continues to be a disturbing,
murky shade of green. The concern for those who have been diving into the pool has grown as the problem persists.
Queasy,
being green: Olympic diving pool making the wrong kind of splash. It's primordial, this pool. You
expect a cold, dead hand to come jutting up out of it. The Olympic diving tank is dark and seemingly bottomless, and as
a rule in life, nothing good grows or happens in dark-green water. Things that are green and wet: spoiled kale.
Decomposition. Industrial subatomic runoff. Old ceiling leaks. Dead seaweedy things that clutch at your
ankle. Would you wade in that, much less put your face in it? Mothers all over the world are worried about that
pool: They know what the toddler section of a public aquatic park looks like late in the day. Anyone who has
stared at the bottom of an old fountain is worried about that pool. "The swamp pool," British gold medalist Chris Mears
called it.
Rio's infamous green diving pool
closed. The Olympic green pool saga has been through more twists and turns than the divers plunging into it.
On Tuesday [8/9/2016] the diving pool was green. Then on Wednesday, the water polo pool also turned green. Now on
Friday it appears that the diving pool has been closed to training altogether — so as not to disturb the water and
help it turn blue again.
Fake wi-fi hotspots at the Olympics.
A cybersecurity report reveals several fake WiFi hotspots have been set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to take advantage of the influx of people
attending the 2016 Olympics. Skycure, a mobile security firm, found that places like Rio Galeão Airport are unaware they were inadvertently
hosting several nefarious networks, according to Forbes. In other words, tourists arriving in the city are leaving themselves vulnerable to hackers
once they turn on their phones or turn off airplane mode. Another report, published by Kaspersky Lab, discovered that 18 percent of the
available networks were highly unsafe. Another 7 percent used antiquated encryption technology.
Judo
medalist beaten up while celebrating on Copacabana Beach. Dirk Van Tichelt probably didn't envision one of the
greatest days of his life ending in the hospital. But that's exactly where the Belgian judoka found himself Monday
night hours after winning his first-ever Olympic medal. Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on
Monday. Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement. And that's where
things went awry. Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the
face. He was taken to the hospital after the incident.
The
2016 Olympics In Rio Are A Hotbed For Hackers. A cybersecurity report reveals several fake WiFi hotspots have
been set up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to take advantage of the influx of people attending the 2016 Olympics.
Skycure, a mobile security firm, found that places like Rio Galeão Airport are unaware they were inadvertently hosting
several nefarious networks, according to Forbes. In other words, tourists arriving in the city are leaving themselves
vulnerable to hackers once they turn on their phones or turn off airplane mode. Another report, published by Kaspersky
Lab, discovered that 18 percent of the available networks were highly unsafe. Another 7 percent used antiquated
encryption technology.
Protesters
Are Legally Allowed To Ruin The Olympics. The Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro may be in danger of
constant disruption by protesters since a Brazilian federal judge ruled Monday night that protesters can peacefully voice
dissent at the Games. Brazilian Federal Judge João Augusto Carneiro Araújo decided that to block protesters
from demonstrating their discontent with the Games is to prevent them from freely expressing themselves. While
Brazilians opposed to the Olympic Games see the judge's ruling as a victory for free speech, Olympic organizers will likely
appeal the judge's decision.
Olympic
venues see thin crowds for some sports in Rio. Olympic athletes have been competing in near empty venues and
before thin crowds in other locations during the opening days of the Rio Games — a problem that can be traced to
long security lines, traffic and a lack of familiarity in some sports.
Rio
2016: Two Australian coaches robbed at knifepoint by teens near Ipanema beach. Two Australian rowing coaches
were robbed at knife-point by teenagers in Rio, just before their athletes were due to compete, as they walked back to their
hotel near the city's Ipanema beach. The pair were forced to handover their mobile phones, a wallet and even an Olympic
team jacket in the incident.
Olympic
network NBC vows full Rio coverage, woes included. Bob Costas and other top members of NBC's Olympics coverage
team veered between optimism and caution in predicting Rio de Janeiro's ability to pull off a successful Summer Games and
said NBC will cover the good and bad.
NBA
stars get mega-yacht to avoid filthy Olympic digs. Another reason the rest of the world will loathe Team USA.
As leaking pipes and exposed wiring — to name two disasters — continue to plague the athletes settling
into their digs at Rio's Olympic Village, Carmelo Anthony and his teammates will be resting their heads at night aboard a
luxurious liner. The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that the Silversea Silver Cloud will house the US men's and
women's basketball teams throughout the Games. The 196-cabin, nine-deck supership boasts 7-foot beds and access to a
pool, spa and shops.
U.S.
Deploying Over 1,000 Military, Intelligence Officials for Olympics. The United States is prepared to deploy
more than 1,000 law enforcement, special operations, military, and intelligence officials to Brazil with the Olympics set to
kick off Friday. Hundreds of personnel have already arrived in Rio de Janeiro as part of a highly classified effort to
protect the 2016 Summer Games, including American athletes and staff, according to a U.S. intelligence report obtained by NBC
News on Friday. The U.S. Special Operations Command has also sent more than a dozen highly skilled Navy and Marine
Corps commandos to Rio to work with the Brazilian Federal Police and the Brazilian Navy, senior military officials told NBC.
Huge queues and
angry fans mar the start of Rio Games. The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday [8/6/2016] as fans
queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of
eerily empty stands. Games organizers apologized for dropping the ball on the first day of full competition, the morning
after a dazzling opening ceremony, as iconic venues such as beach volleyball on the famed Copacabana beach saw only a few hundred
spectators. Outside, lines stretched for several blocks as angry fans stood in full sun, waiting as security staff struggled.
Rio
Olympic Golf Problems 2016: Capybaras, Crocodiles, Sloths All Over The Course. After a 112-year absence from
the Olympics, golf's return to the world's biggest sporting stage at the Rio games has hit a number of speed bumps. The
latest trouble: the golf course is "overrun with wildlife," as People Magazine put it in a report Tuesday night [8/2/2016].
The list of critters spotted thus far on the course is impressive. It includes sloths, mini crocodiles, boa constrictors,
mico monkeys, burrowing owls and dozens of capybaras, the world's largest rodent.
Expert
to Rio athletes: 'Don't put your head under water'. Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio
de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according
to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.
The Olympics are being Caster-ated! Intersex
athletes to take center stage at Rio. Caster Semenya is a South African runner who could emerge as one of the
most compelling figures of the Rio Olympic Games. She is favored to win gold at 800 meters while perhaps breaking
track's longest-standing world record, even as her stunning speed is leading to uncomfortable controversy at the uncertain
intersection of gender and athletics — and of human rights and athletic fairness. Semenya has never said she
is intersex — a word preferred to the stigmatizing hermaphrodite — but speculation follows her around
the globe, her private parts a mortifying matter of public debate. Track observers believe Semenya is hyperandrogenous,
meaning her body naturally produces high amounts of testosterone, the hormone that helps build muscle, endurance and speed.
Athlete
with No Womb or Ovaries but Internal Testes Will Compete with Women in Rio. With reports of dead bodies and
excrement floating in the water, the threat of Zika and the Russian doping scandal, the Rio Olympics appears the Frankenstein
of athletic events. And now Rio seems dopey in another way: owing to political correctness, a runner with, reportedly,
no womb or ovaries but internal testes will be allowed to compete with women. This person is South African middle-distance
competitor Caster Semenya.
Semenya
wins gold in the 800 as testosterone controversy simmers. The South African Caster Semenya, world champion in
800 meters in 2009, ran in 1:55.28 to become the Olympic champion with gold in Rio, as controversy still simmers over her
condition of hyperandrogenism.
Rio
Mayor Says What We're All Thinking: 'Obviously This Is a City That Has Problems'. The Olympics are now just
four days away, and the serious concerns about whether Rio is up to the task of hosting continue to mount. Rio Mayor
Eduardo Paes is already in damage control mode, blaming an international organizing committee for some of the problems in the
Olympic Village. In an interview with Matt Lauer on Today [8/1/2016], Paes finally said what we're all
thinking: "Obviously this is a city that has problems," Paes admitted to Lauer.
Australia
hit again: computer, shirts stolen at Rio Olympics. A laptop and team shirts have been stolen from Australia's accommodation at the
Olympic athletes' village while the building was being evacuated because of a small fire, the head of the team's delegation at the Rio Games said
Sunday [7/31/2016]. Kitty Chiller said other computer equipment was "rifled through" but was left behind during the theft on Friday.
She said security seems to have improved, but called the theft "concerning."
Explosion
at Rio's Olympic stadium just days before opening ceremony. An explosion has rocked the Olympic stadium in Rio
just days before it's set to host the opening ceremony after police found a suspicious toolbox. Authorities sent in a
robot to investigate the toolbox on Sunday at the Maracana Stadium as rehearsals for the ceremony were underway. The
toolbox is believed to have exploded when the robot touched it.
Corpses,
excrement, litter: welcome to Rio Olympic sailing venue. When Olympic sailors compete in Rio the cameras will
show a made-for-television scene of sparkling tropical waters and mountains. Luckily, the billions of viewers won't
catch the revolting stink. More than nine million people live in Rio and towns around the rest of Guanabara Bay.
At best only half the sewage they produce is treated before it pours into the city's watery heart.
Brazil
cuts ribbon on much-delayed $3B subway expansion crucial for Olympics. Brazil's highest officials celebrated
the completion of a much-delayed $3 billion subway expansion that will play a crucial part in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics,
holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday just days before the games are set to kick off.
Rio
Olympics security firm fired, maligned police force takes over. Less than a week before the 2016 Rio Olympics
are set to start, the Brazil Ministry of Justice terminated its contract with a private firm that was supposed to provide
security for the games. The ministry cited "incompetence and irresponsibility" from the Rio de Janeiro-based firm
Artel, and moved to strip them of their duties. It's not hard to see why the Ministry of Justice reacted so harshly.
With only a few days left until the first venues are set to open, Artel admitted that they have only hired 500 security
personnel. They were supposed to hire 3,400.
American
Jordan Spieth drops out of Rio over 'health' concerns. Jordan Spieth withdrew from the Olympics on Monday [7/11/2016], leaving golf
without its top four players when the sport returns to the games for the first time since 1904. The decision was announced by International
Golf Federation President Peter Dawson.
Armored cars, soldiers in camouflage
secure Rio Olympics. Rio's rising crime rate is at the top of a long list of problems confronting South America's first games: the
Zika epidemic, severe water pollution, a crushing recession and slow ticket sales.
'Super bacteria'
discovered in Rio's waters as Olympics near. A group of Brazilian scientists have detected a drug-resistant
bacteria growing off of some of Rio de Janeiro's most stunning beaches, one month before the city is due to host the 2016
Olympic Games. According to lead researcher Renata Picao, the "super bacteria" entered the city's waterways when sewage
coming from local hospitals got channeled into the bay.
Brazil's
Olympic Catastrophe. On June 17, fewer than 50 days before the start of the Games, the state of Rio de Janeiro
declared a "state of public calamity." A financial crisis is preventing the state from honoring its commitments to the Olympic
and Paralympic Games, the governor said. That crisis is so severe, he said, it could eventually bring about "a total collapse
in public security, health, education, mobility and environmental management." The authorities are now authorized to ration
essential public services and the state is eligible for emergency funds from the federal government. Measures like these are
usually taken for an earthquake or a flood. But the Olympics are a man-made, foreseeable, preventable catastrophe.
Body
parts wash up on popular beach near Rio Olympic venue. Authorities in Brazil said Wednesday [6/29/2016] that body parts
washed up on shore of a popular Rio de Janeiro beach near where the beach volleyball Olympic event is set to take place in
August. The latest gruesome discovery is another obstacle the city has to grapple with among the laundry list of concerns
athletes and fans will have to deal with. The finding was first reported to Brazilian media by a Rio street vendor. A
police officer standing near a security perimeter confirmed the discovery to Reuters. However, it's unclear how the
mutilated body wound up on Copacabana Beach.
Cops
and Firemen Warn Olympics Visitors Rio Won't Be Safe. When tourists arrive for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
this summer, they might be taken aback by the police and firemen who meet them at the airport. Brazil is in a state of
disarray, and the confused priorities of big government have led to fire and police layoffs. As a result, cops and
firefighters meet tourists at the airport with this sign, "Welcome to Hell." The sign adds, "Police and firefighters don't
get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe." These public servants have been forgotten in the country's
massive corruption scandal.
Rio de Janeiro's
acting governor: Olympics could be a 'big failure'. The headache for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games
organizers shows no signs of subsiding. Six weeks before the Games are set to begin, Francisco Dornelles, the acting
governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, told the Brazilian newspaper O Globo that the state has not yet received
recently-approved federal funds to beef up security and transportation for the quadrennial competition. "I am
optimistic about the games, but I have to show the reality. We can make a great Olympics, but if some steps are
not taken, it can be a big failure," Dornelles told O Globo.
The Editor says...
Next time, perhaps they should select a city that isn't saturated with criminals, that isn't going bankrupt, and doesn't have sewage in the river.
Rio
state government declares financial disaster as Olympics loom. The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro's state
government declared a state of financial disaster Friday [6/17/2016] in an effort to change budgetary priorities without
disrespecting Brazil's fiscal laws. Francisco Dornelles' move will let him adopt exceptional measures to pay costs
related to the upcoming Olympic Games as the state grapples with the country's steep economic recession. Dornelles'
office said in a statement that the decision was made because a dip in revenues from taxes and oil royalties was "stopping
the state of Rio de Janeiro from honoring its commitment to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."
He said the state is facing a "public calamity."
Studies
find 'super bacteria' in Rio's Olympic venues, top beaches. Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant
"super bacteria" off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe
athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5. The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters
concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally
found only in hospitals. They also heighten concerns that Rio's sewage-infested waterways are unsafe.
Trash creates obstacles
for Rio 2016 Olympic sailors. When Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz rip through the water aboard their racing
skiff, they are doing far more than sailing at the fastest possible speed. The two athletes from the German Olympic
Sailing team are also learning the unique currents, tides and wind patterns of Rio De Janeiro's Guanabara Bay, to try to get
an edge when they compete in the upcoming Olympic Games. And they are keeping a look-out for floating obstacles.
"Its possible you hit while sailing some plastic or you don't know what," says Jurczok, a 26-year old from Berlin.
The show must go on! UN
Health Agency Rejects Call to Postpone Rio Olympics. The assessment, in a statement early Saturday [5/28/2016],
came a day after 150 health experts issued an open letter to the U.N. health agency calling for the games to be delayed or
relocated "in the name of public health."
Corruption,
doping, instability: Is it the end of the Olympic Games as we know them? The ideals of the Olympics are noble and
worthwhile. In sports, nothing is better than the gathering of a peaceful, friendly competition, where the youth of the world can
display the best in athletics that the planet can offer. The corruption of Russia, through its state sponsored sanctioning of
doping of their Olympians, threatens the entire institution and the games themselves. Cheating and doping is nothing new.
It's been going on in Olympic competition for a long time, and it's not confined to Russia. It's just much worse there, and
now that it's unraveling, it is certain to have wide reaching effects and reverberations.
Stop
the Olympics. Discredited long ago by the very corruption and nationalism they were originally meant to
transcend, the Olympic Games are embroiled in a wave of scandal that's embarrassing even by the sorry standards of this
hypocritical "movement." It's hard to say what's more outrageous: credible new allegations of a clandestine
state-sponsored doping scheme carried out by the 2014 Winter Olympics' host nation, Russia — or the fact that the
International Olympic Committee entrusted the event to a despotic regime run by a glory-hungry former KGB agent in the first
place. Meanwhile, the integrity of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing — another dictatorship's showcase —
has been retrospectively undercut by the discovery of previously undetected doping by a reported 31 athletes from
12 countries; similar findings may be about to taint the 2012 London Games.
U.S.
Athletes Told to Skip Rio Olympics if Concerned About Zika. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has recommended that any athlete or trainer
concerned about the Zika outbreak in Latin America should consider not attending the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Two anonymous sources
told Reuters that the USOC issued the suggestion late in January on a teleconference call. President and board chairman of USA fencing Donald Anthony
said no person should travel if "they don't feel comfortable going. Bottom line."
Can
the Rio Olympics survive outbreak of head-shrinking Zika virus? Rio's Olympics are on the verge of disaster as
fear grows over the Zika virus, which has left more than 4,000 newborns with shrunken heads. Female spectators and even
athletes of childbearing age are being warned by countries and medical professionals around the world to reconsider their
plans to travel to Brazil for fear of what could happen to their unborn children after the country was overrun by the
mosquito-borne disease.
Why Boston's
Sports Fans Rejected the Olympics Boondoggle — and L.A. Said Bring It On. How Boston's rabid sports
fans rejected the Olympics — and how chumps in Los Angeles enthusiastically stepped up to potential bankruptcy —
is a tale worth understanding, especially the next time your city or state tries selling voters on a new stadium or venue for
billionaire sports team owners. The Summer Games routinely use billions of taxpayer dollars to throw the equivalent of a
three-week-long international party that ends with a trashed house and a financial hangover that lasts for years. [...] As sports
economist Andrew Zimbalist has noted, the Summer Games might generate $6 billion in total revenue, half of which goes to the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) while costing the host city $20 billion (London) or even $40 billion (Beijing).
And don't think that any new stadiums or infrastructure will have much of an economic afterlife.
AP
test: Rio Olympic water badly polluted, even far offshore. A new round of testing by The Associated Press shows
the city's Olympic waterways are as rife with pathogens far offshore as they are nearer land, where raw sewage flows into
them from fetid rivers and storm drains.
Russia
fights back after being slammed over doping. The Russian government has begun fighting accusations that the country operated a vast
state-sponsored doping program, even as the first punishment was handed down Tuesday [11/10/2015].
Russia
used spies, secret lab in massive Olympics doping: report. Russian track and field athletes could be banned
from next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after a devastatingly critical report accused the country's government of
complicity in widespread doping and cover-ups.
Terror
prep may be LA's biggest card in campaign for '24 Olympics. Los Angeles' 2024 Summer Olympics bid has a lot going for
it — ready-made venues and hotels, countless tourist attractions and a massive media market that guarantees top-notch coverage
and a huge international audience. But the ability to provide security against terror attacks may be LA's best card to play.
Audit:
Boston Olympics would have cost $970M more than estimate. A scathing independent audit of Boston 2024's Bid
2.0 ordered by state government leaders found the economic impact likely would have been lower than projected by Olympics
supporters and the costs likely would have been at least $970 million higher, according to the report released today [8/18/2015.
"Past experience suggests that Boston 2024 would have been unlikely to meet those cost estimates, and a more reasonable cost estimate
would have been over $970 million higher than reported in Bid 2.0.," the report said.
The
Winter Olympics problem — nobody wants them. Beijing has won the right to host the
2022 Winter Olympics. Now all it needs is some snow. China 's capital — a city with scant snowfall
and a limited winter sports experience — was chosen last week to host the Games, beating out Almaty, Kazakhstan.
While Beijing boasts sparkling facilities left over from its 2008 Summer Games, the International Olympic Committee's
decision perplexed many observers. But the governing body may not have had a choice. Despite the IOC's
efforts to make bidding and hosting more appealing, some of the stronger possible host cities have shied away in
recent years.
With
only one year to go until the Rio 2016 Olympics there are major concerns over construction, security
and pollution. A year to go until Rio 2016 and there are still serious issues facing
the organisers. Pollution will top the agenda this week, mainly because sailors, rowers, triathletes
and marathon swimmers are all in town for test events during August. Yet there are also major
concerns over security — London 2012 470 sailing silver medallists Hannah Mills and
Saskia Clarke were held up at knifepoint and robbed last December on a training camp.
A
Winter Olympics in a City Without Snow. China's northern plain is extremely dry, and
what precipitation that falls in the capital tends to occur during the summer. Beijing's Olympic
planners have assured the IOC this won't be a problem — the country will simply use artificial
snow to accommodate events, such as skiing, that require it.
The Editor says...
What kind of "carbon footprint" will be required to cover the Olympic Village with snow? One would think the environmentalists
would be upset about this plan, yet they are all completely silent.
WHO
and Sailing Body Seek Virus Tests in Rio Olympic Venues. The World Health Organization
has asked the IOC to analyze virus levels in Rio de Janeiro's Olympic waters, and the governing body
of world sailing says it will start doing its own independent virus tests.
Filthy
Rio water a threat at 2016 Olympics. The waters where Olympians will compete in
swimming and boating events next summer in South America's first games are rife with human sewage
and present a serious health risk for athletes, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Olympic
teams to swim, boat in Rio's filth. Athletes in next year's Summer Olympics here will
be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently
ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found.
No Countries
Want to Host the 2022 Olympics. Add Krakow to the growing list of cities who do not
want to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The Polish city withdrew its bid this week after residents
overwhelmingly voted against the plan, according to the Associated Press. Now only four cities
remain in the bidding process, and two of those may soon be ruled out — leaving only
Kazakhstan and China as contenders.
The Olympics, in my estimation, are the UN's way to candy-coat the prospect
of a unified world government, with its world-wide laws and
taxes. [1]
[2]
[3]
[4] The
UN flag flies at all competition sites of the Olympic
Games. [5] The
Olympics are an attempt to show that one country is morally equivalent to another: It's all the
same if the games are hosted by China or England or Russia or the United States. Taxpayers,
especially in the host country, end up paying the bills for the competition without the benefit
of voting on it.
Why Sochi? In all the comment about
this month's Sochi Olympics, there is bewilderment above all about Sochi itself: Why on earth would the Kremlin decide to host the Games
in an underdeveloped place where terrorists lurk nearby — a place that a front-page New York Times story this week describes
as "the edge of a war zone"?
At the Sochi Olympics, you have to be a Russian politician to know it's not raining. Ignore the attacks
from the rear by the perfidious Western conspirators and propagandists, our common enemies who falsify their reports about the Sochi Games. This great
national festival has dissolved all dissent, and every fear and problem has been resolved. The Olympics are gigantically staged, and a smiling mood
reigns. We see no evidence that it is raining here.
The Media's Most Outrageous Olympic
Outbursts: Saluting the Socialists. Sports fans checking in on coverage of Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia might
want to brace themselves for unexpected outbursts of liberal preaching from reporters covering the games. Over the years the [Media Research
Center] has documented lefty reporters and writers using the games to celebrate socialist policies, bash expressions of patriotism and even work in
jabs against Republicans, like when Bryant Gumbel, in 2006, complained that the "paucity" of black athletes "makes the Winter Games look like a
GOP convention."
Russian Village Used, Abused,
and Forgotten by the Olympics. If any one place embodies the allegations of corruption, abuse, and alarming human cost of the
Sochi Olympics, it's here. Ashtyr, a tiny, impoverished village in the foothills between the coastal and mountain parks where the upcoming
Winter Games will be held, has been used by Olympic planners for its limestone deposits, suffered from the effects of nearby construction, and
had its pleas for help ignored.
The many, many problems of the Sochi
Olympics. [Scroll down] "The Sochi Olympics are an unprecedented thieves' caper," says former deputy prime minister and
opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. He claims that some $26 billion in phony costs may have been creamed off by contractors, many of
whom are Putin cronies. Consider the new 31-mile road and railway that run from the beachfront town of Adler to the Krasnaya Polyana ski
resort, overseen by Vladimir Yakunin, a former KGB general and Putin pal who heads Russian Railways.
The Most
Expensive, the Most Corrupt, and the Most Dangerous Olympics in History. There is a good summation of the problems with the Sochi
Winter Olympics by Frances Weaver in The Week today. It's about what you'd expect from modern day Russia ruled by former KGB agent
Vladamir Putin. In fact, the Olympic movement hasn't seen anything remotely like it. First, the cost: $51 billion.
By contrast, the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 cost around $8 billion.
IOC Makes U.S. Hockey
Goalie Remove Constitution From Mask Before Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is requiring U.S. women's hockey goalie
Jessie Vetter to remove an inscription of the U.S. Constitution from her custom mask. The IOC says the inscription is propaganda which
promotes the United States above other countries.
Messiah
Obama Turns 2014 Winter Olympics into Sexuality Games. Anyone who thought the Olympics was about sports competition among nations apparently
was wrong, at least according to President Barack Obama. Just like he has tried to reinvent America off her throne of greatness, Obama uses the 2014
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia to remake the games into a forum on gay rights.
Olympic-Level Corruption in
Putin's Russia. Last week, there were two amazing, related stories out of the Putin dictatorship. In the first
one, the brilliant Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov, who specializes in watching the Russian secret police, broke the deeply
disturbing news that Putin is planning a massive campaign of eavesdropping on all attendees during the Winter Olympics to be
held next year in Sochi, Russia.
Russia
planning 'near-total surveillance' of visitors, athletes at Sochi Winter Olympics. Security measures at the Sochi winter Olympics will include such
extensive electronic eavesdropping and surveillance that the US State Department has advised Americans headed to Russia to leave smart phones and laptops at home,
an investigation has revealed. Research by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, two Russian investigative journalists who specialise in covering the security
services, reveals a picture of near-total surveillance, Soldatov said.
The IOC's Biggest Scandals.
Juan Antonio Samaranch ruled the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001. Once a youth organizer for Spain's fascists, he was considered a pioneer
in the modern Games. He wanted to be called "Your Excellency." He created bidding wars for the chance to host the Games, which also makes him the
father of modern Olympic corruption, the architect of selling committee votes to the highest bidder.
Washington DC to Bid for 2024 Summer Olympics.
The inconveniences of the daily routine in the nation's capital will be a selling point as Washington, D.C., makes a push to host the 2024 Olympics.
The Editor says...
The selection of the host city for the Olympics isn't about finding adequate sports arenas and hotels — it's
all about politics. Washington is run by left-wing Democrats, which makes it a perfect match for the Olympics, which promotes
a massive world-wide government under which any given country is equivalent to any other. The Olympics paints a picture of
affirmative action on a global scale: Obscure countries that produce nothing get the same standing as major countries that drive
of the world's economy.
Enough
with the Kumbaya Olympics. Let's keep wrestling. The International Olympic Committee issued a surprise
decision on Tuesday [2/12/2013] to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games. For a number of years, the committee
has drawn fire for its lack of transparency. With its secret vote to remove one of the original Olympic sports — one
that dates back 2½ millennia to the first games in ancient Greece — it has added another decision that
deserves scrutiny.
Faking and enhancing the sounds of the
Olympics. Ah, there's nothing quite like the serene "swoosh-swooshing" of oars in the water, as Olympic rowers glide along the
water. There really isn't, because those sounds spectators are hearing on their TVs are not live from the event, The Atlantic
reported. In order to keep sight of the boats, broadcasters must follow them with chase boats and a helicopter. The result is that
the sound of the rowing is drowned out by that noise. So, NBC elected to replace the live audio with a recorded soundtrack of rowing
practices to deliver more accurate depiction of what the sport sounds like in its pure form.
Homosexuals have special rights and privileges no one else has. Married
Olympians: We Can't Live Together During Games, But Gay Couples Can. An Australian Olympic married couple claims they have
been prohibited from sharing a room in the London Olympic Village, even though gay couples are reportedly allowed to do so.
Olympic shooters Russell and Lauryn Mark told news.com.au that they are being discriminated against by officials.
Chicago Olympics Bid Could Cost Taxpayers. The City of
Chicago's efforts to land the 2016 Summer Olympics could leave taxpayers across Illinois on the hook for
hundreds of millions of dollars, even though Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) last year vowed "not a dime" of
taxpayer money would be spent on the Olympics. The Illinois legislature is expected to throw taxpayer
support behind Chicago's bid. Gov. Pat Quinn (D), who recently took office after lawmakers impeached
and removed Rod Blagojevich from office, has already publicly committed at least $150 million in state
funds for the Olympics — and that could climb higher.
The Olympic Bible: The organizers of the 2008
Olympic Games in China have put the Bible on the list of items that athletes are banned from bringing with
them to Beijing … This would seem to undermine claims by a Chinese government official, Ye Xiaowen,
who told Reuters last month that China would accommodate the religious needs of visiting athletes.
The International
Olympic Committee's Gag Order: I'll put my cards on the table: I'm no
fan of the Olympics. The bizarre North Korean mass-games style ceremonies, the corruption, the
fakey universalist cosmopolitan brotherhood-of-man sentiments, the perpetuation of sports that no one
cares about which should have died out long ago... I think the Olympics is to sports as
the United Nations is to politics.
China's
totalitarian games: Well, the [2008 Olympic] Games have certainly had a lasting effect on one
part of Chinese society — the 1.5 million men, women, and children expelled from their
homes in Beijing to make room for the construction of Olympic facilities and urban beautification
projects. To clear them out, the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions found,
Chinese authorities resorted to "harassment, repression, imprisonment, and even violence." Demolitions
and evictions frequently occurred without due process. Many dispossessed residents were not
compensated; those who were usually received a fraction of the amount needed to make them whole.
China's
gold medals came at a high price. If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of
Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them. The
only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had
not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam. Another
gold medalist, weightlifter Cao Lei, was kept in such seclusion training for the Olympics that she wasn't told
her mother was dying. She found out only after she had missed the funeral.
China's
apologists are wide-eyed and clueless. Poor old Robert Mugabe. Do you know what that guy
needs? An Olympics. Harare 2012, he really missed a trick there. A well-run Games and
nothing else matters. Put on a show, throw up a couple of impressive buildings and the world is your
friend. The road home from Beijing is lined with wide-eyed converts who've seen the light on
totalitarianism.
China's hi-tech 'death van': After trials of the mobile
execution service were launched quietly three years ago — then hushed up to prevent an
international row about the abuse of human rights before the Olympics last summer — these
vehicles are now being deployed across China. The number of executions is expected to rise to a
staggering 10,000 people this year (not an impossible figure given that at least 68 crimes —
including tax evasion and fraud — are punishable by death in China).
Title
IX Tied Our Hands At the Olympics. U.S. athletes won in spite of Title IX regulations,
which impose gender quotas on sports for institutions that receive any federal money. Title IX has
crippled our national competitiveness. Title IX regulations have forced educational institutions to
eliminate men's teams until the number of men and women on sports teams is the same ratio as the number of men
and women enrolled in academic classes. In the numerous colleges that are now 60 percent female in
academic enrollment, Title IX requires that men's teams be eliminated until only 40 percent of the
athletes are men.
Speaking of Title IX... Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
In a mind-boggling move, NCAA president Miles Brand recently urged NCAA institutions not to blame Title IX for
any athletics cuts that they might be forced to make in the current economic downturn. ... The truth is that
Title IX is always a factor in athletic department program decisions.
Is the NCAA
Anti-Male? In 1972, Congresswoman Patsy Mink authored an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of
1964. ... The law was called Title IX. The question now is whether this admirable idea has
evolved into a law that is anti-male, and particularly anti-black male.
Enough
is enough: Here are my reasons for boycotting the Olympics. The International Olympic
Committee and the megabucks corporate sponsors of the games breathed a sigh of relief when the Beijing
Olympics got under way last week with no major boycotts or disruptions. Last spring, faced with
widespread outrage over China's brutal suppression of Tibetan protesters and stubborn support for murderous
regimes in Sudan, Burma and Zimbabwe, IOC chairman Jacques Rogge nervously insisted "a boycott doesn't
solve anything."
Massive Cheating
by China at the Olympics. There is absolutely no doubt — none, zero, zilch —
that the Chinese "women's" gymnastics team featured several little girls no older than 14 years of
age — two years younger than the international federation allows for competition. Online
registrations of these girls list one age, their passports list another. This is blatant
cheating — no other word for it.
China playing
games at Olympics. Does it get any lower than to use young girls like this to ensure your
national glory? The people of China deserve better than what has been going on at the Olympics and two
tiny singers, maybe up to four gymnasts and perhaps the whole world are deserving of an apology. Here we
were thinking the Olympics was about integrity, honesty and fair competition.
Cheating
ChiComs, Crouching IOC. I have an 8-year-old daughter. I know what 8-year-old hands and feet and
hips and teeth look like. They look a lot like the hands and feet and hips and teeth of the purported
"teenagers" on the gold medal-winning Chinese girls' gymnastics team.
The 100-Meter Gasp. The Beijing
Olympics [exposed] the environmentalist fraud that the U.S. is the world's biggest polluter. Compared with China, we
get the gold medal for energy efficiency.
Elderly Chinese women ordered
into re-education for daring to protest. Two elderly women who applied five times for permission
to demonstrate in China's Olympic protest parks against the demolition of their homes have been ordered to serve
a year of re-education through labour, according to a human rights group. It is the toughest penalty to
be reported against any of those who followed up an announcement by the Government that it would allow protests
in three Beijing parks during the Games. So far, police say that they have received 77 applications.
None has been approved.
IOC
launches probe into possible underage Chinese gymnasts. The governing body of the Olympic games
is demanding an investigation into whether China stacked its female gymnastics team with underage tumblelinas.
The probe will center on China's gold-medal winning darlings, He Kexin and Yang Yilin.
International Olympic Committee
launches probe into He Kexin's age. The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation
into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning
gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.
Hacker Uncovers Proof Chinese
Gymnast Is Underage. A determined computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet
to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold, edging Britain's Beth Tweddle into
fourth place, may indeed be underage.
Update: IOC strips
bronze medal from China for using underage gymnast at 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ten years after its
gymnastics team won an Olympic bronze medal in Sydney, China was ordered to give it back for using an underage
girl, allowing the United States to claim it instead. Acting on evidence that Dong Fangxiao was only 14
at the 2000 Games, the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday stripped the country of the women's team
bronze.
And You Thought Watching Was
Torture ... By some estimates, China has as many as 10,000,000 industrial slaves (according to
sociologist Zhou Xiaozeng). What's 10,002,200? Taking politics out of the Olympics means ignoring
the enslaved dancer who suffered paralysis in favor of the strapping American kid who's good at swimming.
If you have no problem doing that and consider the whole charade a wonderful celebration of human achievement,
you are going to love the Pyongyang games.
Olympic fakery makes plain China's
contempt for reality. Time to clear the air: That's not smog hovering over Beijing, swallowing
entire office buildings like a mighty python. It's just "a funny mist," says the city's environmental chief,
who insists that the Chinese government has eliminated air pollution in the capital.
Olympic gold medals
are made of silver. The gold medals awarded at the Beijing Olympics are mostly made of silver,
the Games' organising committee BOCOG admitted on Monday. Each medal contains only 6% pure gold, BOCOG
secretary-general Wang Wei said. The bulk is silver, he added.
Human Rights in China
Worse Since Olympics Started, Experts Say. Experts told CNSNews.com that that [John] Ray's
experience was only an example of the kind of suppression that has occurred in China during the Olympic
Games. "The human rights situation is much worse than it was a month before the games began," John
Tkacik, a senior fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told CNSNews.com. "People used to
be able to silently stand at government offices with petitions and protest against various government
transgressions, but now they have all been chased away and some put in prison."
IOC
calls for additional examination of Chinese gymnasts' ages. The International Olympic Committee
asked the international gymnastics federation Friday to reexamine whether gold-medal-winning gymnast
He Kexin and two of her teammates were too young to compete in the Beijing Games.
Olympic-Sized Racism: The Aug. 8 parade of nations
featured representatives from 204 countries and territories of varying degrees of sovereignty bearing 204 flags
and wearing 204 outfits designed to reflect the essence of the folks back home. The parade … is perhaps
the most powerful symbol of actual progress the Olympics has to offer. That's especially true when you consider
that people from several of those parading nations first competed in the Olympics at a bizarre, demeaning
borderline-freak show designed to further racial pseudoscience.
Rogge
rips the wrong guy. Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn't have
the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games. All the promises
made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident
rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts' birthdates Rogge was way too
slow to investigate.
Olympic
fans, spectators wish Beijing would stop adding oil. A large proportion of the audiences who came to
view Olympic events had never seen those sports live before or even, in many cases, on TV. A substantial number
had not been to any stadium to view sports. Thus it did not seem particularly unusual or strange that in the
lead-up to these Olympics, the government should have organised the chanting.
Earlier in the year... Unmasked: Chinese
guardians of Olympic torch. China's blue-clad flame attendants, whose aggressive methods of
safeguarding the Olympic torch have provoked international outcry, are paramilitary police from a force spun
off from the country's army. The squad of 30 young men from the police academy that turns out the cream
of the paramilitary security force has the job at home of ensuring riot control, domestic stability and the
protection of diplomats.
Rudd
says 'no' to China torch guards. Chinese paramilitary police will not be allowed to run alongside
the Olympic torch in Australia, the country's prime minister said Thursday [4/10/2008], after their heavy-handed tactics
drew criticism in earlier legs of the relay. The men in bright blue tracksuits were dispatched by
Beijing to guard the Olympic flame on its journey around the world. They sparked concern in London and
Paris, with the top official for the 2012 London Olympics calling them "thugs."
Accusations spread of
Chinese under-age Olympians. Australian media are reporting today that doubts have been raised
about the ages of Chinese medal-winning athletes as long ago as the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
Age-falsification has become a burning issue since the Beijing Games last month, where it was alleged that
Chinese gymnast He Kexin, who won two gold medals, was underage and therefore should have been ineligible
to compete in the event.
Chinese gymnasts not underage.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) had asked the Chinese federation to submit documents proving the
birthdates of five members of the gold-winning team ... The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had
specifically asked the FIG to investigate double Olympic gold-medalist He, who was registered as 16 although
online media reports suggested she may have been 14. Gymnasts must turn 16 in the year of an Olympics
to take part.
The Editor says...
So the committee is satisfied by documents produced by the Chinese government? No medical
exam? I think a good pediatric dentist could answer most of the age questions in five minutes.
The Twenty Biggest
Stories Of 2008: (#20) China hosts the Olympics: The ChiComs held the Olympics and although
most of the event has already gone down the memory hole, the massive opening ceremony, Michael Phelps winning
eight gold medals, the filthy air, and the rampant Chinese cheating in gymnastics won't soon be forgotten.
China
wins gold as protesters come to their censors. When Ji Sizun heard that the Chinese Government
had agreed to create three special zones in Beijing for peaceful public protests during the 2008 Olympics, he
celebrated. He said in an interview at the time that he believed the offer was sincere and represented
the beginning of a new era for human rights in China. ... It is now clear that his hope was misplaced.
In the end, official reports show, China never approved a single protest application — despite
repeated pledges to improve its human rights record when it won the bid to host the Games.
The
cover-up of an Olympic tragedy. As Liu Yan rehearsed her moves on the stage at Beijing's Bird's
Nest stadium one evening last July, she had no idea that it would be the last time she would ever dance.
The Obama Olympics.
Last week, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley led a delegation to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the Windy City made
its bid in front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Chicago
is competing against Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to host the games. ... While Daley was the public face
of Chicago's bid in Lausanne let there be no mistake. The true public face of Chicago's Olympic bid is
its favorite adopted son, President Barack Obama.
Chicago
taxpayers are in the deep end of an Olympic pool. We're all in — completely,
irrevocably committed to the 2016 Olympic Games — and we're ahead of other bidders, and the
question that occurs now is whether the price will seem worth it at closing ceremonies some seven
years from now. Mayor Daley this week in Switzerland did what Mayor Daley does. That is, he
committed Chicago's every last dollar to staging an Olympics no matter what the cost.
Police
given powers to enter homes and tear down anti-Olympics posters during 2012 Games. Police have been
handed 'Chinese-style' powers to enter private homes and seize political posters during the London 2012 Olympics.
Little-noticed measures passed by the Government will allow officers and Olympics officials to enter homes and shops
near official venues to confiscate any protest material. Breaking the rules could land offenders with a fine
of up to £20,000.
Obama's Olympic bid
stagecraft. Sixteen days ago, Richard Baehr noted speculation that President Obama would make a
last-minute dramatic trip to Copenhagen this week, to pitch the case for Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympics.
The publicly-announced plan had been for Michelle to represent Chicago's bid. Because other contenders were
sending their top leaders, it seemed as if Obama were letting Chicago down. Unless you took the cynical
view and saw this all as dramatic framing of an upcoming event, so as to maximize propaganda benefits.
Why is
Obama going to Copenhagen? I think I speak not only for myself but for the 295 million Americans
who don't live in the Chicago area when I say that President Obama has about as much business going to Copenhagen
to push the city's Olympic bid as he does taking up the violin.
Bidding
for the Olympics, Chicago-style. Social Security is about to run out of money to cover the monthly checks that
millions of senior and disabled Americans depend on to make ends meet. Unemployment is nearing 10 percent nationwide
and has reached its highest mark since World War II among younger Americans, 52 percent. As many as 80,000
people in California's Central Valley are out of work in part because of federal environmental policies that make fish more
important than people. These are only a few of the most important crises facing the nation today. And where is
our president? He is in Copenhagen, Denmark, to deliver a sales pitch for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics.
Obama's Olympic Spirit. It
would seem the Obama administration, which hasn't had time to hold conversations with senior military officials involved
in such a critical national security issue as the war in Afghanistan, has been spending far more time assisting President
Barack Obama's adopted hometown, Chicago, than the White House has previously divulged, using the President's and White
House senior staff's presence at global policy meetings to lobby foreign ministers, diplomats and members of the
International Olympic Committee.
The President as Pitchman:
It Isn't Pretty. Politically, economically and historically it makes no sense for the president to travel
to Denmark to sell Chicago to the Olympic committee.
Rotten in Denmark.
No other U.S. president has ever personally lobbied for the Olympics to be held in this country. Even
President Obama claimed just days ago that he would not go to the Olympics meeting, because he was so
"firmly committed to making real the promise of quality, affordable healthcare for every American."
All
the President's Olympic Cronies. When government officials play the Olympic lottery, taxpayers
lose. That has been the disastrous experience of host cities around the world. (Forbes magazine
even dubbed the post-Olympic financial burden the "Host City Curse.") So, why are President Obama and
his White House entourage headed to Copenhagen, Denmark, this week to push a fiscally doomed Chicago 2016
bid? Political payback. Bringing the games to the Windy City is Chicago Mayor Richard M.
Daley's "vision."
Obama's Olympian gamble
collapses. U.S. President Barack Obama's politically risky Olympics gamble failed to bring home
the gold on Friday [10/2/2009], with the Olympics committee's refusal to grant the 2016 Summer Games to his
hometown Chicago.
The Winter Olympics:
A Dying Proposition? Whereas the Summer Olympics dwarfs the sister Winter games in terms of
worldwide participation and popular interest, the Winter Olympics features sports that necessitate freezing-temperature
playing fields and national training programs — the Jamaican bobsled team notwithstanding — that
would be hard to implement or sustain in most of the populated world, where athletic development and training
consists of kicking first a can, and later a soccer ball.
Olympic
grumblings: The Winter Games. An opening ceremony consisting of the RCMP, Natives, k.d. lang
dressed as a man, a plump white poet with a silly beard pretending to be black and what appeared to be the cast of
Avatar all dancing about and explaining how Canada is based entirely on environmental protection and the cult of
equality. The Olympic torch carried by various people who love Canada so much that they haven't lived here in
decades and spend most of their lives pretending to be American.
Olympic Pawns: The
formation of a new and permanent White House Office of Olympics, Paralympics and Youth Sports will establish
more centralized control over "amateur" sports and over all athletes in the United States. ... When I competed
and traveled as an athlete and United States citizen, I encountered figure skating colleagues who were not
free, from nations with government structures that controlled all aspects of their sports; parents were not
welcome in the decisions of their children's involvement in athletics.
Countries behaving
badly: Every two years, the Olympics crowns a new batch of heroes: Cinderellas on ice skates,
flag-waving champions and gritty underdogs who capture hearts around the globe. There's also the blowhards,
cheaters and sore losers. With two days left before the closing ceremonies, the Vancouver games have been
more inspiring than irritating, but like every Olympics, there have been some whiners among the winners.
A few years later... Top
Chinese gymnast found begging on the street. One of China's most promising young gymnasts,
who seemed destined for Olympic glory before his career ended in injury, has been found begging on the
streets of Beijing, prompting criticism of the country's Soviet-style sports system.
Snipers,
jets and 13,500 troops on Olympics duty. Up to 13,500 British troops will protect the London Olympics
from a terrorist atrocity, it was revealed today. The figure is 4,000 more than the number who currently
serve in Afghanistan and will see bomb disposal experts, specialist sniffer dog handlers, building search teams
and regular soldiers will support the police to keep the 2012 Games safe.
Violent Anarchist Group Vows
to Wage 'Low Level Warfare' on London Olympics. The Informal Anarchist Federation, also known as the "FAI" after its initials in
Italian, has been making news across Europe recently following a string of violent and destructive crimes. Earlier in May, the group
claimed responsibility for shooting an Italian nuclear executive in the kneecaps during a drive-by attack, warning in a four-page letter
that they would strike the man's company seven more times.
I hate the Olympics.
[T]he whole business is tacky and unedifying and horrible and nationally humiliating, like being invaded by the Disney Corporation
and everyone being forced to wear mouse ears in solidarity with the Dear Leader.
akdart.com gladly
complies with this request: Olympics
bans links to its site if you're 'derogatory'. The rules of the London 2012 Olympics site seem to be somewhat
odd, if not inanely unenforceable, if not otherwise objectionable.
The Olympic Spirit and the Islamic Spirit. In a sign of the
times, the London Summer Olympics will be defended by anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles [...] G4S, the world's largest security
company, was to provide 12,000 security personnel, but has so far only managed to come up with 4,000. In another sign of the times,
not all of their security personnel speak English.
NBC
accused of deliberately editing footage of the women's team gymnastics. Controversy over the coverage of the Olympics on
American television deepened today when NBC was accused of deliberately editing footage of the women's team gymnastics in order to create
what critics called "fake suspense." Russian world champion Ksenia Afanasyeva's unexpected fall during the floor exercises, which
effectively handed a gold medal to Team USA during an early stage of the contest, was inexplicably removed from the time-delayed version
of events that NBC presented to its prime-time television viewers.
The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team's Uniforms: Made in China
Team USA Olympic uniforms not made in
USA. Not only do this year's Team USA uniforms look a little militant, but it turns out the London Olympians' duds
were made in China, which, if you didn't know, is not in the United States. Classic Americana designer Ralph Lauren stylized
the team's opening ceremony uniforms, but outsourced the actual tailoring to China.
Lawmakers
Want 'Made in China' U.S. Olympic Uniforms Burned. Lawmakers were outraged Thursday after an ABC World News report
revealed that the U.S. Olympic team's opening ceremony outfits are made in China. Some suggested making a bonfire with
the outfits, which include berets and blazers.
The Editor says...
Is every country expected to have its uniforms made within its own borders? That would be amusing as well as enlightening.
U.S. Olympic Uniforms: Made in
China by Democratic Donor's company. Lawmakers were livid to discover that the United States' Olympic team uniforms
were made in China. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) even suggested "they should take all the uniforms, put them in a
big pile and burn them and start all over again." The company who designed the uniforms, Ralph Lauren, has received less
scrutiny. Few outlets have noted that Ralph Lauren himself is a prominent contributor to President Obama and the Democratic
Party.
Obama, Reid Contributor Ralph Lauren
Outsourced Olympic Uniforms. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has raised a furor over the fact that the
uniforms for the US Olympic Team are made in China. Which is to say: outsourced. Who designed these
uniforms? Who actually did the outsourcing of these Olympic uniforms here? That would be the famous American
designer Ralph Lauren. Who has a habit of outsourcing his clothes to places like China, Sri Lanka and El Salvador.
Uh-oh. That would be the same Ralph Lauren who, according to the Federal Elections Commission, on May 7,
2012 — barely two months ago — contributed $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund 2012.
Olympic Uniform Brouhaha Shows the Imperial Democratic Emperor
Has No Clothes. What I found most striking is the attitude of many of the liberals in Congress, typified by the
statement by New York's Senator Gillibrand, as quoted by the Associated Press yesterday, that "There is no compelling reason
why all of the uniforms cannot be made here on U.S. soil at the same price, at better quality." This statement is a
microcosm of what is wrong with the thinking of many liberals in general. Unfortunately, it is obvious that there IS a
compelling reason — though not a pleasant one, and many would say not a justified one — why uniforms
were not made here on U.S. soil; unions have often rendered our goods not competitive, even with the savings of tariffs and
international shipping costs.
Transvestite athletes and the impending end of women's sports
Biolgical
Girls Refuse To Throw The Shot Put Against A Biological Male In West Virginia. Five
middle school female athletes in West Virginia refuse to throw shot put against a male, Becky
Pepper-Jackson. This comes just 2 days after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked
the WV law that says you must compete in the category that matches your sex. West Virginia's
transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil
rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.
[Video clip]
WV
Middle-School Girls Protest, Refuse to Compete With Transgender Athlete. As my
colleague Jeff Charles reported, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down West Virginia's
"Save Women's Sports" law, saying it violated transgender student Becky Pepper-Jackson's right to
compete with the school's women's track and field team. [Advertisement] [Tweet]
The ACLU brought the original suit in 2021 on behalf of Pepper-Jackson, and they are celebrating
it as a victory. Former collegiate competitive swimmer and activist Riley Gaines took to X
to speak out against the ruling and excoriate the ACLU. [Tweet] The texts from
the young female athletes expressed their fear, disappointment, outrage, and anger over this
violation of their rights and safety.
Biden
Admin's Title IX Rewrite Obliterates Female Spaces, Free Speech, And Due Process. The
Biden administration's Department of Education unveiled a sweeping set of rules on Friday that
effectively erase protections for sex-based spaces by expanding the Title IX prohibition against
sex discrimination to include "gender identity" — a term that's never mentioned in the
original law. A majority of Americans agree that males who claim to identify otherwise should
not be allowed to infiltrate girls' and women's sports teams. As of now, some 25 states
have laws or regulations aimed at keeping boys and men out of female-only spaces, on and off the
field. Yet, come Aug. 1, the Democrat regime's radial redefinition of "sex-based
discrimination" poses a threat to sex-based protections and welcomes males into female spaces
including athletic competitions, locker rooms, and sex-specific clubs such as sororities, despite
state laws.
Critics
Blast Biden's New Title IX Regulations Championing 'Gender Identity'. On Friday, the
Biden administration released its new Title IX regulations, and its strictures engendered anger and
outrage for those defending traditional values. The document, which runs over 1,500 pages,
states that the Department of Education "disagrees with the contention that including sexual
orientation and gender identity in the scope of §106.10 harms women. Recognizing these bases
of sex discrimination under Title IX in no way lessens the force of Title IX's protections
against discrimination that limits educational opportunities for girls and women. Further,
discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is typically motivated by the same
sex stereotypes that limit opportunities for women regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQI+."
Biden
Admin Adds 'Gender Identity' as Protected Class in New Title IX Rules. The Biden
administration on Friday released its long-anticipated rewrite of Title IX, but left out any
mention of transgender-identifying male athletes in women's sports. The Biden administration's
draft proposal included a radical revision that would have forced forced federally funded educational
institutions to allow men to compete on their women's sports teams unless they demonstrate it
compromises student safety. Under that rule, the burden of proof would have been shifted to
schools, which in effect would have to create separate policies for every sport. But with the
2024 contest against former president Donald Trump in full swing, the Biden administration opted to
punt on the issue of males competing in women sports. With so much litigation surrounding the
issue, it's unclear when the trans sports guidance will come down.
Federal
Court Overturns West Virginia Law Protecting Women's Sports from Male Intrusion. A
federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned a West Virginia law that prohibits male athletes from
competing in women's sports in the state, arguing that it violates Title IX, the federal law
barring sex-based discrimination in schools. In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals allowed transgender-identifying males to participate on women's sports teams in the
state. This was one of several pending lawsuits addressing the issue of male participation in
women's sports, with both sides laying claim to Title IX to support their cases.
Nadler
Claims No Men Are in Women's Sports. As leftists go about remaking reality to suit
themselves or fooling themselves into thinking they're getting away with doing so, there are still
a few pockets of resistance here and there. But Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York SSR) has
just done his part to shore up the party line, insisting that "men do not compete in women's
sports." Back in the real world, meanwhile, men who demand that the world treat them as women have
now won nearly 300 titles in female sporting events. LifeSite News reported Tuesday that
during a recent congressional hearing, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) "wanted to enter into the
record stats on females injured by male athletes as well as stolen titles." [...] If the record books
could remind the public of such distinctions, why not notify them also when the holder of a
women's sports title was really a dude?
Men
who claim to be 'transgender' have won nearly 300 titles in female sports.
Gender-confused men have won nearly 300 titles in female sports, according to the website
SheWon.org. But a leading Democratic congressman denies not just biological reality, but this
reality as well. "Men do not compete in women's sports," far-left New York Democratic
congressman Jerry Nadler claimed during a congressional hearing several weeks ago. "Transgender
women [sic] may compete in women's sports," he said. However, it is a biological fact and
moral truth that no one can change his or her gender. He said he objected to entering
"mistruths" into the congressional record. Republican congresswoman Harriet Hageman of
Wyoming wanted to enter into the record stats on females injured by male athletes as well as stolen
titles. SheWon.org has cataloged the stolen titles, proving that men, in fact, do compete in
women's sports.
WI
Dem. Gov. Tony Evers Vetoes Bill to Protect Girls' Sports from Trans
Athletes. Wisconsin's liberal Democrat Gov. Tony Evers arranged a showy veto
ceremony Tuesday to deny passage to a bill that would protect girls' sports in the Dairy
State. The bill would have banned transgender students from picking and choosing which team
aligns with their gender identity at any given time and would have restricted them to playing on
teams that align with their birth gender, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported. Evers put
his veto on the bill in the state capital in Madison surrounded by progressive Democrats and
extremist trans activists. [Tweet]
Female
Swimmers Sue NCAA over Male Competition, Demand Return of Trophies, Monetary Damages.
A group of female athletes on Thursday sued the National Collegiate Athletics Association for permitting
male intrusion into their sex-specific sports and private spaces. Spearheaded by the Independent
Council on Women's Sports, the lawsuit accuses the NCAA and Georgia Tech — the site of the 2022 NCAA
Swimming Championships, where male University Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas won the 500 meter
freestyle — of knowingly violating Title IX. That federal statute prohibits discrimination
on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive federal funding, serving as the basis for
sex-segregated school athletics. The lawsuit, first reported by the Free Press, demands
that males be disqualified from participating in women's sports. It asks the NCAA to rescind
awards given to trans athletes in women's competitions and to "reassign" them to the female players
who lost trophies and titles to the men.
Letting
trans players participate in girls' and women's sports is a ticking time bomb.
Another day, another example of how our illiberal "inclusivity" mandates are taking a jackhammer to
the integrity and fairness of female athletics. We've seen it in golf, swimming,
skateboarding, cycling, surfing and volleyball. The latest entry for the women's sports hall
of shame happened on the hardwood. During a girl's hoops game earlier this month in
Massachusetts, Collegiate Charter School in Lowell forfeited a game against KIPP Academy at
halftime because they had three players go down with injuries. The team, already battered and
bruised, wanted to preserve themselves for the upcoming playoffs, according to the school's
athletic director. An official statement from the school read, "In an effort to maintain
safety for his team, [the coach] decided to forfeit." There was no mention that KIPP's squad,
according to the Daily Item, has a biological male player standing "more than 6 feet tall with
facial hair" who identifies as female, reports Fox News.
Finally!
A swim mom speaks out about perversity in the pool!. Astute viewers of Rebel
News are no doubt aware that the Nicholas Cepeda fiasco continues to fester. Cepeda is
the 50-year-old man who "identifies" as a 13-year-old girl (his alias is Melody Wiseheart), and
claims he's a "transwoman." This charade allows Cepeda to swim and change and shower with REAL
teenage girls. It's gross. But even more gross is the fact that this gender-bending
grifter is being accommodated by the authorities. [Video clip] Apparently, Cepeda
is an example of diversity, equity and inclusion — at least according to Canada's human
rights tribunals (which identify as kangaroo courts). Indeed, swimming's international governing
body, World Aquatics, decreed last year that trans swimmers must swim in a "other"
category — not that any trans swimmers showed up to compete at the World Swimming
Championships last October in Berlin, Germany. Golly, why would that be? Maybe for some
of these creeps it's less about competing in the pool and more about getting into the changeroom
and shower? Then again, maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe there is a valid reason why a
50-year-old male should be deemed a teenage female. But Swim Ontario won't respond to our questions.
The
'Black National Anthem' Gets Almost Non-Existent Applause from Super Bowl Audience.
The "Black National Anthem" — "Lift Every Voice and Sing" — was played yet
again during Super Bowl LVIII, as it has been before during the last few Super Bowls. One big
difference between this year's edition and years past, however? This year, the "Black
National Anthem" didn't get much applause. In fact, the massive crowd in attendance at the
biggest football game of the year didn't react much at all. [...] When is the NFL going to get
wise? There is only one national anthem.
Scientists
Shocked to Discover That Male and Female Athletes are Different! It was once a
commonsense belief and universal truth that men and women, boys and girls, are different,
especially in the realm of athletics. With rare exceptions, men and women compete in their
own categories, from high school level through college to the Olympic games and professional
sports. Mixed competitions place women and men on the same team, such as mixed doubles in
tennis, or dancing, either in the ballroom, or on ice. Equestrian sports are an exception,
but the fact that a horse is a major part of the sport reduces the sex difference between
competitors. Based on strength and power, two major determinants of success for many sports,
males have a clear advantage over females. For decades, this was not in dispute with rare
exceptions, the most notable that of tennis player Renee Richards.
Florida
high school [is] punished [and] fined thousands for allowing [a] boy to play on [the] girls'
volleyball team. A Florida high school was fined and put on probation for allowing a
boy to compete in girls' sports, a violation of state law. The Florida High School Athletic
Association reportedly informed Monarch High School and its principal that the school "permitted a
biological male to participate on the girls volleyball team during the 2022-2023 and 2023-24 Girls
Volleyball seasons," a violation of the law, the Daily Signal reported. This followed an
investigation that was started approximately two weeks prior, when the Broward County Public
Schools district reassigned several staff members while the district looked into the
incident. The letter to the school's principal stated the school violated Bylaw 8.6.2,
which states that "biological males may not participate on a female team in any sport."
AOC
says preventing trans athletes from competing against women is racist against black
women. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Fatima Goss Graves during a hearing on
Title IX on Tuesday, and claimed that boys should be allowed to compete in girls' scholastic
athletics because preventing them from doing so would not only be transphobic, but racist against
black women. AOC believes men should be allowed to compete against women in order to protect
women, specifically black women, despite so many women and girls having suffered injuries at the
hands of male athletes who say they are trans and compete in women's athletics, and women losing
out on awards, prizes, or scholarships as a result of men beating them in those games.
Principal
Allegedly Removed After Transgender Athlete Discovered On Female Sports Team. A
Florida high school allegedly removed several staff members, including its principal, after a
transgender athlete was allowed on a female sports team, according to NBC6, a local media
outlet. Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) made the announcement via email Monday, stating
that Principal James Cecil of Monarch High School, who has been a principal for Broward County for
25 years, had been removed pending an investigation into "allegations of improper student
participation in sports," according to the Miami Herald. Though the statement gave little
insight into the decision, several sources with BCPS told NBC6 that the investigation has to do
with a transgender athlete on one of the high school's female sports teams.
Ontario
Museum Scrubs Female Powerlifter From Exhibit Following Her Calls For Fairness In Women's
Sports. A museum in London, Ontario, has removed a female powerlifter from an exhibit
on resilience in apparent retaliation for her vocal opposition to males participating in women's
sports. April Hutchinson said the move quickly followed her suspension from the Canadian
Powerlifting Union. Launched in October at the Museum London, the exhibition, titled
"Resilient London: Meet Your Neighbours," was intended to be an inspiration for the community
and featured a diverse panel of locals alongside obstacles they had overcome. Hutchinson was
featured not just as a local athlete, but also as a survivor of addiction.
Transgender
Soccer Player Injures Female Opponent, Threatens Legal Action After Other Teams Cancel
Games. Sometimes it's not only OK to quit. Sometimes it's necessary.
That's what some female athletes in England did when they learned they were going to have to play
against a man claiming to be a woman, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reported Monday. They refused to
play. They weren't being transphobic. They refused to play because they were
afraid. What caused the fear? A female soccer player suffered a broken knee when
blocking a shot from Francesca Needham, a 30-year-old man. They were afraid that if they took
the field against Needham, they could be injured too.
Female
pool player Lynne Pinches forfeits final against trans opponent. A female pool player
received a round of applause when she forfeited a pool tournament rather than compete against a
trans woman in the finals. Lynne Pinches opted to walk away from the finals of the English
Pool Association's 2023 Champion of Champions Ladies on Sunday rather than play versus Harriet
Haynes. A video of the moment shows that Pinches and Haynes vied to see who would
break. Pinches won and shook hands with Haynes, but then walked toward the tournament
official and apparently declared a forfeit. Pinches proceeded to unscrew her pool cue and
pack it up as Haynes raised her hands in disbelief. Realizing what was happening, the crowd
loudly cheered and applauded Pinches for walking away.
Female
Boxer Takes a Stand, Refuses to Fight After Finding Out Last Minute Opponent Was "Not a Woman by
Birth". Of all the sports where biology gives men who went through puberty as males
an advantage over women, combat sports is at the top of the list. You wouldn't stand for
watching a dude punch a girl in the face. Yet if that dude says they identify as a girl,
we're supposed to accept it in the name of equality, tolerance, and all that gay stuff. One
female Canadian boxer took a stand and said that, no, she was not going to let a guy punch her in
the face. Katia Bissonnette was set to fight in the 2023 Provincial Golden Glove
Championship. Then an hour before her fight, she learned that her opponent was born a he
while competing now as a she.
The
Power of Love. According to the left, which now controls most public schooling along
with media, corporate culture, and politics in America, there is no difference between men and
women. Those very words, "men" and "women," must be eliminated and replaced by something like
"person" or "womyn." According to those on the left, men and women are interchangeable
entities, equal and even identical in every respect. Any biological differences that do
remain can be removed by denying again and again that they exist to the point that no one dare
point out that women are biologically and psychologically intended to nurture children or that men
are better suited for some physically demanding and dangerous occupations. The inconvenient
truth that most men are physically stronger than most women is suppressed so that the "rights" of
transgender athletes — many of them male but simply professing to be female —
can be supported.
Federal
judge sides with DeSantis on transgender athletes, upholds ban on biological males on female
teams. A federal judge in Miami sided with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the
transgender athlete debate, upholding a ban on biological males competing with female sports
teams. DeSantis, now running for president in 2024, signed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act
back in 2021, championing the legislation for empowering women and girls in Florida to continue to
"compete on a level playing field" and ensuring "opportunities like college scholarships will be
protected for female athletes for years to come." Also known as SB 1028, DeSantis said the
state law was based off "biology, not based off ideology."
Florida
can ban boys from competing in girls sports: court. A judge has upheld a Florida law
that prohibits boys who identify as female from competing in girls' scholastic sports, arguing that
the measure does not discriminate against trans-identified youth. In an order released
Monday, United States District Judge Roy K. Altman, a Trump appointee, granted the state's
motion to dismiss, concluding in part that "promoting women's equality in athletics is an important
governmental interest" and that "not all gender-based classifications violate the Equal Protection
Clause." "Courts around the country have similarly held that — given the historic
(and ongoing) imbalance in the athletic opportunities that are available to male and female
students — the government has an important interest in protecting and promoting athletic
opportunities for girls," wrote Altman. Altman also rejected the claim that the law
discriminates against trans-identified students, noting that it lacks any confirmed animus in
either its text or in the stated intentions of its sponsors.
Women
Abandon Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament After Being Forced To Fight Males. Female
martial artists have come forward to reveal that male athletes claiming to be transgender have
completely overtaken the women's categories of a major grappling association, leaving them fearing
for their safety in many instances. One of the men, Corissa Griffith, took home four gold
medals in the women's category during a tournament in Georgia on October 21. The North
American Grappling Association (NAGA) is the largest submission grappling association in the world,
and facilitates standards and tournaments in various martial arts, including Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu. But while NAGA has provided competition categories for males and females since its
inception in 1995, it has recently become the subject of controversy after a number of female
athletes were found to have been matched up against trans-identified males.
Trans
Athlete Takes Title Away from 14-Time Female Fencing Champion. A biologically male
"transgender female" athlete has removed the championship title from a 14-time female fencing champ
at the 2023 FIE Veteran Fencing World Championships. American Liz Kocab beat 14-time champion
Marja-Liisa Someroja of Finland in the Women's Epee in Florida on Oct. 15, Fox News reported.
"I wanted to support USA Fencing," Kocab said after the win. "I really did. Otherwise, I was
actually thinking of stepping away. But the fact that it was in America, I thought that was
important to support the USA. This is my way of saying thanks to USA Fencing."
Transgender
world champion fencer branded 'entitled cheat'. A transgender fencer competing in the
over-70s women's category has been branded an "entitled cheat" after beating a 14-time champion for
a world title. Liz Kocab, representing America, claimed victory over Finland's Marja-Liisa
Someroja, 77, in the Women's Epee of the 2023 Veteran Fencing World Championships in Florida over
the weekend. Ms Kocab, 71, and USA Fencing came in for criticism following her [sic] victory
with critics arguing the fencer should not have been allowed to compete in the women's category.
USA Fencing implemented a transgender and nonbinary athlete policy last year which allows
competitors to participate "consistent with their gender identity", regardless of the "sex they
were assigned at birth". The sporting body said the policy was an "important first step"
towards expanding access to the sport and promoting "equality and fairness for all".
The Editor says...
[#1] This policy does not promote "fairness for all," obviously, since it allows a man to beat a woman.
[#2] A transvestite does not "represent America."
[#3] One's sex is not "assigned at birth." It is determined at the moment of conception by genetics.
The obstetrician who delivered me did not decide that I was a boy; he merely observed the evidence.
I was a boy the previous day, and had been for the previous nine months. If you are confused about matters
of this sort, you shouldn't have attended public schools.
Man
wins women's poker tournament. The latest "Florida Man" story to pop up in the news
comes with a number of twists. Typically, any story with that tag involves someone doing
something incredibly stupid and either getting arrested or seriously injuring themself. But
Dave Hughs didn't do either of those things. While visiting the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Dave wound up winning the "Ladies No-Limit Hold'em" poker
tournament. But Mr. Hughs is not a transgender woman. He's just a guy who likes to
play poker. In fact, he's "100% against" men competing in women's sports.
The Editor says...
What is the purpose of a poker tournament exclusively for women? What disadvantage do women
face while playing cards?
High
school football team forfeits game against team with 2 female players. A high school
football team in California has elected to forfeit rather than play another team with a female
player on the roster. This is despite the fact that the team forfeiting the game recently
settled a Title IX lawsuit after forfeiting another game against a team with a female player.
Valley Christian Academy in Santa Maria, California, forfeited its Sept. 30 game against Coast
Union in Cambria, California. This is not the first time Valley Christian has forfeited games
for this reason. In fact, it's the fourth year in a row they've elected to forfeit a game
because the opposing team had a female player, and it's the second time they've forfeited against
Coast Union.
Official
Ruling: Trans Competitors Banned from Women's Categories in International Fishing
Competitions. Male-born anglers have been banned from competing in women's categories
in an official ruling made by the governing body of the international angling sport
federation. The new rule revealed by Prof Ugo Claudio Matteoli, the president of the
Confédération Internationale de la Péche Sportive (international sport fishing
confederation), maintains that male-born transgender fishing contestants will not be allowed to
compete as women. [TWeet]
Coach
ousted after speaking against male athletes competing against women. Oberlin
College's head women's lacrosse coach, Kim Russell, has been "reassigned" to a desk job after she
spoke out against allowing biological men to compete in women's sports, the Independent Women's
Forum (IWF) reported. Russell shared a post on social media praising Emma Weyant as the "real
winner" when Weyant placed second after transgender athlete Lia Thomas during the 500-yard
freestyle at the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championship. Two weeks after the IWF released a
documentary about Oberlin's response to her post, the college has given her a new role as an
"Employee Wellness Project Manager," where she will have virtually no contact with students,
according to IWF.
Oberlin
College coach: 'Felt like I was burned at the stake' over opinion on trans athletes in women's
sports. Oberlin College women's lacrosse head coach Kim Russell broke her silence
about transgender inclusion in women's sports in a documentary for the Independent Women's Forum on
Tuesday. Russell, who became the head coach of the Yeowomen before the start of the 2019
season, talked about how administrators and her players ridiculed her after she posted on her
personal social media account a message about Lia Thomas winning an NCAA Championship in the 500 in
2022. In the video, Russell reposted a headline sarcastically congratulating then-Virginia
swim star Emma Weyant for the victory over Thomas, a transgender female.
Dare
to acknowledge reality at your own risk. David Bloch, a high school snowboarding
coach, has filed a lawsuit against his former employers alleging that he was fired for intimating
that men can typically outperform women in sports. The federal lawsuit, against the leaders
of Woodstock Union High School, was filed in Vermont and states that Bloch was wrongly accused of
violating the school district's harassment and bullying policy — for referencing a
student "in a manner that questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of [a] student competing on
the girls' team." Yes, because that student is a boy.
What
did they expect? For many months now, the transgender movement has defied biology,
sociology, and logic, and yet it seems to barrel forward, a locomotive crashing through
longstanding social mores with the false authority of the stubbornly ignorant. Even though we
are at last seeing some glimmers of hope in the resistance movement, it is utterly astonishing that
matters ever got this far. It is as if the Royal Astronomical Society were to have declared
that Planet Earth is flat and that any dissent from that "fact" is a form of bigotry.
Evidence for a round Earth would be forbidden in the discussion. Even those who are pushing
back seem to have buckled under the pressure of that locomotive. The recent women's
power-lifting competition in Canada illustrates the point. As if it were some sort of
surprise, a male weightlifter dominated the event by a Canadian mile, leaving all the women in the
dust. He was allowed to enter the event simply by declaring himself a woman. The
appalling audacity of that policy is apparently entirely unnoticed by the social left, which
insists that "trans-women are real women." Even those who oppose the policy often do so only in
tepid terms. They focus on the details, such as testosterone levels and bone mass, instead of
the elephant in the room. Discussing blood chemistry is not going to win this vital
confrontation. The elephant is the moral issue, and any attempt to frame the matter as
anything else is doomed to failure.
Wisconsin
Parents Pulling Daughters From Sports Team After Transgender Player Leaves Them With Welts and
Bruises. Parents are pulling their daughters off a sports team in the Green Bay Area
Public School District in Wisconsin after a transgender biological male player left them with
"welts and bruises" during practice. The biological male student has reportedly left girls
with bruises and welts during summer practices. The names of the students involved and the
sport have not been revealed for privacy reasons. "They're just not used to the ball coming at
them that hard," said Ryan Gusick, one of the parents, according to a report from WTAQ. "A lot
of these girls are specifically quitting this team because they're concerned for their safety."
Disc
golf org to cancel female divisions after trans activist pressure. On Friday, Disc
Golf Pro Tour announced that it would relocate the Female Professional Open (FPO) division at some
of the largest events of the season to other states while canceling other FPO divisions completely
in order to avoid more legal troubles as a result of lawsuits from Natalie Ryan, a male disc golfer
who identifies as a female and has sued DGPT in California and Minnesota over gender eligibility
policies that restricts him from competing. In disc golf, players use plastic discs instead
of balls and attempt to throw discs into baskets or targets situated on a golf course.
Mayo
Clinic professor suspended after saying testosterone improves athletic performance. A
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine professor was recently suspended — and remains under the
threat of termination — after he told a news outlet his stance on trans-athletes in
women's sports and plasma treatments for COVID-19. Administrators suspended Professor Michael
Joyner without pay for a week, citing his "use of idiomatic language" and comments he made in a
June 2022 New York Times article as justification for the disciplinary actions, according to
a March 5 disciplinary letter that recently came to light. The memo also told him to refrain
from speaking to the media unless given permission.
'Fastest
girl in Connecticut' Chelsea Mitchell suing state after losing to trans athletes. "At
the end of the day, this is just about fairness," Chelsea Mitchell told The [New York] Post.
"This is about biology." The 20-year-old is fighting for the integrity of women's sports after
she lost more than 20 races over the course of her high school career — thanks to a
Connecticut policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports. Now,
Mitchell, who has declared herself "the fastest girl in Connecticut," is challenging her state's
policy in court. Mitchell is teaming up with fellow Connecticut residents Selina Soule, 20,
Ashley Nicoletti, 19, and Alanna Smith, 19, who ran high school track in the state at the same time
she did.
It
Was Always Only About Power With the Left. Title IX was an addendum to the 1964 Civil
Rights Act that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex. Through liberal lawsuits and
the intervention of activist courts, the statute soon was transmogrified into a sports equity
act. Title IX then began to revolutionize high school and college sports programs by
demanding equity — in the sense of mandating equal budgets and facilities for women's
and men's sports. The rationale was that women's athletics could only achieve parity with
male sports if they were gifted the same sorts of budgets, infrastructure, and institutional
support. Whatever the intent of the original statute, whatever the effects of activist court
intervention, the result was that women's sports did achieve a much higher social and
cultural profile. So how ironic, then, that a half-century of athletic transformation has
been completely undermined by the current ritual takeover of the sport by biological men declaring
themselves transgendered women. The transgendered have done more damage in three years to
women's sports than a century of chauvinist pigs.
British
Cycling Bans 'Transgender' Males from Women's Competitions. So-called "transgender"
males are to be banned from women's cycling competitions in the UK, the country's regulatory body
has announced. British Cycling, the regulatory body in charge of the eponymous sport in the
country, has confirmed that it will be banning "transgender" males from taking part in women's
events, which will now be limited to biological females only.
Transgender
high school athletes no-show state track championships following backlash. Two
transgender female high school athletes were no-shows for their race at the California State
preliminary Track and Field Championship on Friday — a week after they clinched a spot
in the elite race. Athena Ryan, from Sonoma Academy, and Lorelei Barrett of Sherman Oaks
Buckley, opted not to participate in the scheduled girl's 1,600-meter run at Buchanan High in
Clovis, Calif., according to The Los Angeles Times. "The CIF is disappointed for two of our
student-athletes and their families because due to the actions of others, they found it necessary
to withdraw from the State Track and Field Championships out of concern for the student's well
being," the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in
California, wrote in a statement to the outlet.
The Editor says...
Notice that the school bends over backwards to express their disappointment that the two men chose not to
compete with the girls. That shows you whose side they are on. The school is actively
promoting mental illness.
Jill
Biden Praises "How Far Women's Sports Have Come" as Biological Males. This is
unbelievable gaslighting. Joe and Jill Biden on Friday hosted a ceremony for the Louisiana
State University Tigers Women's Basketball team to celebrate their 2022-2023 NCAA Championship
season. Dr. Jill told the female athletes how proud she was of how far women's sports
have come. Biological males posing as 'transgenders' are destroying women's sports. The
Biden Regime is also waging a war on women's sports with a proposed change to Title IX which would
make it illegal for schools to ban transgender students from sports teams that so-called align with
the gender they 'identify with.'
Cycling
Champ Who Lost To Trans Competitor Speaks Out About Being Silenced. A 35-time
cyclocross champion said Wednesday that she retired after losing a podium place to a biological
male competitor in a championship race. "I was on form, did all the training right, been doing
this for many years, so I've honed in the skills, but it was just not enough," Hannah Arensman, who
retired at the age of 25, told Fox News host Dana Perino. "It didn't matter that Austin couldn't
ride a lot of the sections that were pretty technical. He could run a lot faster than most
women and it turned out that power that day won over skill and power honed over many years."
Arensman finished fourth in the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in December behind
Austin Killips and ahead of Jenna Lingwood, both of whom are biological males who identify as
female, Fox News reported.
The
demise of fairness in women's sports. In 1972, thanks to the efforts of many, mostly
women, a follow-on to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a clause in the 1972 Federal Education
Amendment, known as Title IX, was created to protect people from discrimination based on sex in
education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. On the day
President Biden took his oath of office, he signed Executive Order (E.O.) 13988, adding new wording
to the Title IX law to prohibit "discrimination based on gender," which effectively opened the door
for males who identify as females to compete in women's sports. Then, on March 8, 2021,
President Biden released E.O. 14021 "Guaranteeing an Educational Environment Free from
Discrimination on the basis of ... Gender Identity." Elections have consequences! These
orders and directives have effectively ruined women's sports. Now genetic males can declare
themselves females for the purpose of participating in women's sports. Keep in mind that
Biden's E.O.s were implemented without congressional concurrence, debate, or approval, and they
amount to the establishment of policies, "laws," and rules via administrative action. The
rising number of these actions creates an administrative state that denies appropriate
accountability to Congress and all of us voters.
Robert
Kennedy Jr. opposes allowing trans women to compete in female sports. Presidential
candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a new interview that he does not support transgender
females participating in women's sports. The Democrat told CNN on Saturday that "biological
males" threaten the integrity of women's athletics. "I am against people participating in
women's sports who are biologically male," Kennedy, 69, said, "I think women who have worked
too hard to develop women's sports over the past 30 years I watched it happen and I don't think
that's fair."
ESPN
and the Democrats Throw Women Athletes Under the Bus. ESPN in recent years discovered
a new sport, wokeness, in keeping with most of corporate America. From the usual America
bashing to playing Chinese genocide apologist, sports has become a sideshow for ESPN with their
main event competing with CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times in the woke world series.
Women's sports have come a long way over the past decades, with most sports having both men's and
women's divisions, including world championships and the Olympic Games. But wokeness and
leftist groupthink is threatening to send women athletes to the back of the bus to favor male
athletes who choose to "identify" as women.
The
Religion of the Left. [Scroll down] Accordingly, the Left's rhetoric is
couched in the name of freedom, justice, charity, and so forth. A biological male wants to
play on the women's sports team. They are all for it, since. It is the height of
morality to support the biological male; it is, they say, only fair. But there is nothing
fair about it: to go along is to dismiss and ignore the effects, all negative, upon the women and
girls. Presumably they are not second-class citizens; but no, there is a choice made between
the biological males and the females, and it is supposed to go against the females with no
consideration for them whatsoever.
Female
Athlete Injured by Fake Female Competitor Calls for an End to the Madness. The funny
thing about waging war against reality is that reality always wins. There is simply no way
around it. Leftists will never prevail in their quest to claim that men can become women and
women men. Even if technology advances to the point where every single cell of an individual
can be transformed, that person will still have a male or female mindset that will manifest itself
in all manner of unexpected ways. And the real-life downside of the transgender madness has
still only partially emerged. Another aspect of it became clear in North Carolina recently,
when a female high-school athlete was seriously injured in competition against a male she should
never have been forced to face.
High
school volleyball player details 'severe' injuries she received during game with trans
opponent. Payton McNabb, a North Carolina high school volleyball player, is calling
for a ban on transgender athletes after one spiked a ball into her face last fall allegedly causing
a concussion and long-term physical and mental injuries. The transgender athlete was able to
compete on a girls' team at Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, NC, because of a policy put in
place by the state's high school athletic association. McNabb spoke at a press conference on
Wednesday, calling on state legislators to pass the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, HB 574, that
would ban biological males from competing on girls' sports teams.
House
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Says Men in Women's Sports is an Issue 'That Doesn't
Exist'. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries claimed today that men in women's
sports is an issue 'that doesn't exist.' He said this after House Republicans passed a bill
to protect girls and women in sports with zero votes from Democrats. The whole country is
talking about this issue. For Jeffries to claim that it doesn't exist is a blatant lie.
[Video clip] Note how Jeffries talks about 'trans kids' as if that is a totally normal
thing. It isn't.
Zero
Democrats Vote For House Bill To Protect Women's Sports. The House of Representatives
passed legislation on Thursday to protect women's sports leagues by banning male athletes who
identify as females from competing. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023
would amend Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 such that recipients of federal financial
assistance which operate sports leagues cannot "permit a person whose sex is male to participate in
an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls." The legislation passed with
219 affirmative votes, all of which came from Republicans, and 203 negative votes, all of which
came from Democrats.
Democrat
Left Goes All in on Hate, Disruption, and Violence. A gang of thugs at San Francisco
State University who objected to swimmer Riley Gaines's opposition to having to compete against
biological males forced her to take refuge in a classroom for three hours while some demanded money
to let her leave. A man, and I use the term loosely, allegedly used his fists on this woman,
which normally constitutes misdemeanor assault. I cannot give legal advice, but my
understanding is that a demand for money backed up by a threat of physical force constitutes
robbery or extortion. False imprisonment, which can be charged as a misdemeanor or felony
depending on the circumstances, also comes to mind. SFSU's President, Lynn Mahoney, said of
these events, "Last Thursday, Turning Point USA hosted an event on campus that advocated for the
exclusion of trans people in athletics. The event was deeply traumatic for many in our trans
and LGBTQ+ communities, and the speaker's message outraged many members of the SF State community."
The President of SFSU is of course lying about anybody wanting to exclude trans people from
athletics. Nobody is going to stop Lia Thomas from competing against other men in a sport in
which upper body strength conveys an advantage.
University
Athletics Director Claims There's No 'Competitive' Difference Between Men And Women.
The San Francisco State University athletics director claimed there is no "competitive" difference
between men and women following the alleged assault of University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines,
who spoke on campus in favor of sports being separated on the basis of biological sex, according to
the Golden Gate Express. Stephanie Shrieve-Hawkins said that believing men have an athletic
advantage over women in sports is a common "mistake," according to the Golden Gate Express.
Shrieve-Hawkins' comments come after Gaines was allegedly "ambushed and physically hit" on campus
after speaking out against transgender athletes on April 6.
US
Supreme Court Rules Transgender Students (Males) in West Virginia Can Compete Against Female
Athletes. The US Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that transgender students
(biological males) can compete against female sports teams. The high court rejected an
emergency request from West Virginia to lift an appeals court's injunction. The transgender
athlete will be able to compete against females until the appeals court makes a decision.
Biden
administration's Title IX changes would prevent broad bans on transgender athletes.
Blanket bans on transgender athletes participating on school sports teams consistent with their
gender identity would constitute a violation of Title IX under a set of proposed changes unveiled
Thursday by the Biden administration. Under the administration's proposal, schools would be
prohibited from adopting or applying a "one-size-fits-all" policy that categorically bans transgender
students from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Megyn
Kelly Loses It After Man Wins Women's Professional Golf Tournament: 'It's a Fraud, It's
Immoral...'. Megyn Kelly is making her feelings clear after a man claiming to be a
woman won a women's professional golf tournament. Over the weekend, Breanna Gill won the
Australian Women's Classic in the city of Bonville in New South Wales, according to WPGA
Australia. While little has been reported on Gill's personal history, Golf Monthly and others
have noted his transgender status. Many on the left, naturally, will celebrate this as
another momentous victory for the LGBT community. But sane-minded people will have a rather
different take on the whole affair.
NPR
Issues Correction, Admits There Is Evidence Proving Male Athletes Have Advantage over
Females. NPR issued an official correction following a story published Friday which
argued "there is limited scientific research" supporting the idea that males have a "physical
advantage" over females in competitive sports. "Correction: An earlier tweet incorrectly
stated there is limited scientific evidence of physical advantage. Existing research shows
that higher levels of testosterone do impact athletic performance. But there's limited
research involving elite trans athletes in competition," the outlet's official Twitter account
noted on Sunday afternoon. [Tweet]
Girls
Basketball Team That Refused to Play Against a Transgender Athlete Banned From Sporting
Events. A private Christian school in Vermont that forfeited a girls' basketball game
against a team with a biological male "transgender" player has been banned from participating in
upcoming sporting events. The Vermont Principals' Association, which oversees school sporting
events, announced on Monday that Mid Vermont Christian School would be ineligible to participate in
sporting events and other activities done through the organization. "The VPA again reiterates
its ongoing support of transgender student-athletes as not only a part of building an inclusive
community for each student to grow and thrive, but also as a clear expectation by Vermont state
law(s) in the Agency of Education Best Practices, and in VPA Policy regarding transgender student
athletes," the announcement said.
USA
Powerlifting forced to allow biological males to compete against females following court
order. Women will now be forced to compete against gender dysphoria-suffering men
after a Minnesota judge ruled against USA Powerlifting (USAPL) in favor of pseudoscience and
progressive legislation. Since 2019, JayCee Cooper, a male weightlifter who wants to compete
as a woman, has undertaken a legal challenge against USAPL that began as a complaint to the
Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Late February, that challenge that had grown into a
2021 lawsuit turned into a loss for women competitors as District Court Judge Patrick Diamond ruled
in favor of Cooper.
Court
rules men may compete as women in powerlifting. A Minnesota state court ruled that
USA Powerlifting must permit men to compete as women in its industry. [Tweet] In 2019,
powerlifter JayCee Cooper, a man who identifies as a woman, filed a complaint with the Minnesota
Department of Human Rights, stating that USA Powerlifting violated the state's Human Rights Act by
prohibiting him and other athletes from competing in the female division. Cooper then filed a
lawsuit against the organization in 2021.
A
Minnesota judge has issued an order that will destroy women's powerlifting. One of
the most disgusting things about so-called "transgender women" is their insistence that they should
be able to have their cake and eat it too. It should be enough that these disturbed men get
people to go along with the pretense that they are women. However, in today's environment,
that's never enough. In addition, they must destroy actual women. And thanks to a
Minnesota judge, USA Powerlifting, a national powerlifting organization, will soon be forced to
enact policies that will effectively erase women's accomplishments.
Christian
high school girls' basketball team takes a stand, forfeits playoff game rather than compete against
male opponent. A varsity girls' basketball team at a Christian high school in Vermont
has forfeited a playoff game rather than compete against a team with a male participant. On
the evening of February 21, the No. 12 Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles of White River Junction
were scheduled to take on the No. 5 Long Trail Mountain Lions of Dorset in the first round of the
Vermont Division IV girls' varsity tournament. However, the Eagles dropped out of the
tournament and therefore forfeited their chance to compete for a state title after they learned
that one member of the Mountain Lions is actually a male. "We withdrew from the tournament
because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of
the game and the safety of our players," MVCS head of school Vicky Fogg stated in an email to Fox
News Digital. "Allowing biological males to participate in women's sports sets a bad precedent
for the future of women's sports in general."
Jiggery-Pokery
Wokery. The woke love to destroy whatever they touch — culture, infrastructure, social
cohesion, rational thought. To be woke is to embrace chaos and injury as a philosophy. From an
anthropological perspective, wokeism is fascinating because its practitioners believe they are creative freethinkers
while they act as lobotomized sheep. Whatever the woke wizards posing as priests tell their needy followers, the
woke herds accept as truth. [...] If deception, violence, and obedience are all part of the woke creed, then
contradiction is its life-force. [...] We must believe all women unless those women are speaking out against men
pretending to be women — in which case, we must first believe all men pretending to be women, no
matter how much they do not appear to be women at all. Biological sex is nothing more than a social construct, yet
a man who wears a dress and wig and demands society treat him as he desires is somehow a demonstration of objective
reality. Women's and men's sports divisions and the separation of their locker rooms recognize the reality that
women and men are physically different, yet physically different men who mentally pretend to be women are miraculously
physically indistinguishable from women and should be allowed to compete against them. Furthermore, any woman who
objects to the imposition of men competing in her sport or undressing in her locker room is bigoted for acknowledging a
fact out loud that can no longer be acknowledged as politically correct. Science demands that
reality be based on emotion.
The Coup We Never Knew.
Did someone or something seize control of the United States? [...] Was some state or federal law passed that allowed
biological males to compete in female sports? Did Congress enact such a law? Did the Supreme Court guarantee
that biological male students could shower in gym locker rooms with biological women? Were women ever asked to
redefine the very sports they had championed?
All
normal girls banned from locker room because one cross-dressing boy demanded it. They're coming for you
next: This story, which broke on September 28, 2022, is so absurd that at first glance it is hard to believe:
Officials running Randolph High School in Vermont have banned from the girls locker room all girls from the school's volley ball
team because one cross-dressing boy was using it and the girls had the unmitigated nerve to express strong discomfort
changing clothes in the presence of a male. The quote below tells the tale, but in order to make it more precisely
describe reality, I have replaced the meaningless words ("trans", "transgender" "they") that our queer dictators have
imposed on mainstream news sources with words that actually describe the facts. [...] This story illustrates perfectly
the real goal of the queer agenda, all part of the larger critical race theory movement. These goons aren't
interested in "equity". What they want is power. In Randolph High, this one cross-dressing unstable boy
now rules. Don't you dare challenge him or question him in any way, for if you do, the school will punish you.
Vermont
girls' high school volleyball team are barred from their OWN locker room after complaining about transgender
student. Members of a Vermont girls high school volleyball team have been banned from using their own
locker room and now have to change in a single bathroom stall after they complained about a transgender teammate.
Some teammates allege that the transgender player at Randolph Union High School made an 'inappropriate remark' to some
of them while they were changing in the locker room. They now want the school to relocate the transgender player,
who hasn't been named.
People
still want boy-girl divide in school sports. When hundreds of Virginia students this week left classrooms
to protest Gov. Glenn Youngkin's effort to scale back pro-transgender policies in schools, it was heralded by some
media outlets as a slam-dunk sign that teenage LGBT rights have won out. But coming on the anniversary of when
former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe blew his chance in the 2021 election battle with Youngkin by suggesting
parents shouldn't tell schools what to do, it reminded others that the issue is far from closed. In fact,
Youngkin's office sent Secrets a handful of stories about parents walking out of school board meetings across the
commonwealth to protest proposed policies to give transgender students new rights, such as the right to enter bathrooms
or participate in sports as their desired sex, not the one "assigned at birth."
The Editor says...
One's sex is determined by immutable genetics at the moment of conception. It is not "assigned at birth," or assigned at any other time.
Most
Americans Less Likely To Vote For Candidates Who Let Biological Males Compete In Women's Sports. More than
60% of voters are less likely to back candidates who support allowing biological men to compete in women's sports,
according to a September CRC Research poll obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Approximately 49% of
voters are "much less likely" and 13% of voters are "somewhat less likely" to choose a candidate who is in favor of
permitting biological men to compete in women's athletics, according to the poll. About 86% of Republicans, 65% of
Independents and 37% of Democrats said they were less likely to vote for a candidate who support transgender
athletes. Of the voters, 57% believe the transgender movement undermines "significant opportunities and essential
protections for women," the poll showed. Nearly 45% of Democratic voters and 69% of Republican voters believe this
statement to be true.
Nonbinary
Nonsense: Boston Marathon Creates New Division For 2023. Boston Marathon Registration began Monday for
next year's Boston Marathon, with a new pronoun category for nonbinary runners. They, them and their will compete
in a separate division for the first time and will no longer have to suffer the agony of checking the box for male or
female upon registering. Aiming to please demanding LBGT fascists, the Boston Athletic Association is "currently
working on expanding opportunities" for nonbinary athletes in the Boston Marathon and other road races, according to
Huffington Post's Sanjana Karanth. "While we do not currently have qualifying standards for non-binary athletes, we
are working on ways nonbinary participants are accepted into the event," the Boston Athletic Association said.
"Discussions are ongoing with non-binary athletes in an effort to further promote inclusion at all BAA events."
Biden's
New Title IX Proposals Will Codify the Gender Derangement of the Left. If there is anything that has
advanced American society, you can be sure that 'woke' leftists will destroy it. So it is with
Title IX — a one-sentence statute of the Education Amendments of 1972 that ended sex-based
discrimination in educational institutions, opened the doors for women aspiring to become doctors, engineers, or experts
in any field of choice, brought parity to college sports, and launched the battle against sexual harassment. In
this fiftieth year of that landmark law, the Biden administration wants to rewrite it to suit the radical leftist
ideology of gender identity and fluidity. This is dangerous because it codifies the spreading gender derangement
of the left. Worse, it will immerse young minds in learning environments that condition them to believe, without
critical thinking, that the biological idea of sex is false. It will unleash other complications as well.
WaPo
Op-Ed Claims Trans Athletes Will Help Girls Learn to Lose Gracefully. An op-ed in the
Washington Post has argued that men in women's sports could actually be a good thing for
young girls by teaching them the art of losing gracefully. According to Alyssa Rosenberg, the
aim of school athletics is not to teach children the art of achieving excellence but rather to
build character, and what better way to build character in a teenage girl than having her
experience the frustration of losing that championship title to a biological male? Her
argument largely hinges on the unicorn of "sports-crazed parents" who will theoretically use
transgender athletes in women's sports as an excuse in the event their daughter loses.
A man is competing
in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Before going any farther with this, I
have a major complaint about conservative outlets: they keep referring to people as "transgender."
There is no such thing. It's like calling people "unicorns." You can say that Jill Biden is
a unicorn, but that doesn't make her one because there is no such thing. When you use the word,
you're accepting the delusional premise. There are definitely transvestites, because that refers
to a real phenomenon: men who sexually fetishize women's clothing by wearing it. Some are gay men;
some aren't — but they are real. However, there is no such thing as crossing over from
one sex to another. There is no medical literature supporting this. There are no studies saying,
aside from the minute number of people born genetically intersex, that a man can be a woman simply because
he wants to be or vice versa. What we call transgenderism is a form of mental illness called
dysphoria, and it's identical to the person whose weight is normal but nevertheless insists she is obese.
Another
Biological Male Dominates in Women's Sports, This Time It's Women's Golf. In another
women's sport, another biological male competes with women. As we saw with Lia Thomas, the
transgender who dominated in women's swimming but lost badly in men's swimming, and as we saw with
Laurel Hubbard, the transgender who competed in the women's Olympic weight lifting competition.
Hubbard lost, but the media turned it into a "historic" achievement because Hubbard became the
first transgender to compete in the Olympics. Hubbard won the University of Otago "sportswoman of
the year award." Thomas was nominated for NCAA "Woman of the Year." Now, transgender golfer
Hailey Davidson is competing at The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) as the professional
women's golf qualifying school tournament is underway. Davidson finished the first round at
2-under, which puts the golfer in a strong position to win. Davidson is competing against 310
biological females.
Federal
Judge Blocks Biden Admin's Guidance Allowing Biological Males In Girls' School Bathrooms. A federal judge has
temporarily blocked the Biden administration's Title IX guidance on gender identity and sexual orientation. U.S.
District Judge Charles Atchley in the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled last week that the administration's guidance
misquoted the Supreme Court to equate sex and gender identity, likely violating federal law. The administration's
guidance effectively forced states to allow biological males to use girls restrooms, forbade states from barring males from
participating in female sports, and forced employers to use employees' preferred pronouns, all at the risk of losing federal
funding, according to the state attorneys general who sued the administration. The guidance was released last year by
the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Rationalizing
Transgender Sports. Much has been said about categorizing transmen as men and transwomen as women for purposes
of sport competition. Many oppose this vehemently. Many support this vehemently. Just about any system of
categorizing will have some weakness. Hence, the exception to the rule. The idea is to make a system of
categorization as solid as possible. My modest proposal is to categorize athletes according to the presence or absence
of the Y chromosome. This will assist in making athletic competitions fairer, as in like competing against like.
In essence, athletes can be divided into Ys and Y-Nots. Such a system would avoid the current tensions in the
Men-Male/Women-Female system.
Federal
Judge Blocks Biden Administration's Effort to Allow Males to Compete in Women's Sports. A federal judge has
blocked the Biden administration's recent rules giving gays and transgender people extended rights in schools and the
workplace because Biden's regulators bypassed a critical requirement of federal law that must be satisfied before issuing
such a regulation: giving the public notice of the regulation, time to file comments, and forcing the agency to respond to
those comments. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. agreed with 20 state attorneys general that the regulations may
infringe on states' rights and could be seen as having been improperly drawn. Atchley blocked the implementation of the
rules until a lawsuit addressing the changes could be resolved, the Associated Press reported.
Will
Transgendered Athletes Now Give Back Their Medals and Titles? A decade or two ago, who would have thought a
topic such as this would be newsworthy or relevant? Athletic competitions and sports leagues were always separated by
age, gender, weight class, or other physical attributes which could convey an unfair advantage to some athletes, with a goal
of creating a "level playing field." Yet here we are today, in the age of wokeness and virtue-signaling, with biologic
males, under the guise of transgenderism, competing against biologic females, putting the latter at a huge and often
insurmountable disadvantage.
This used to be called bullying. Trans-Identified
Adult Male Takes First Place Against 13-Year-Old Girl in Women's Skateboarding Event. Netizens are expressing
outrage after an adult man beat out a 13-year-old girl for first place in a women's skateboarding competition held today
[6/25/2022] in New York. Ricci Tres, also known as Ricci And Tres, took top spot in the women's division of The Boardr
Open today held in New York City, taking home a $500 prize for a first place win. Tres, a 29-year-old trans-identified
male, came in first place against 13-year-old Shiloh Catori. Of the 6 competitors, 4 were under the age of 17, with the
youngest being 10-year-old Juri Iikura.
Biden
Administration Moves to Expand Title IX to Eliminate Gender-Exclusive College Facilities, Sports Teams. The
Biden administration on Tuesday proposed changes to the federal civil-rights statute banning sex discrimination in federally
funded education programs, including expanding protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. One proposed
change "would make clear that preventing any person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with
their gender identity would subject them to more than de minimis harm on the basis of sex and therefore be prohibited, unless
otherwise permitted by Title IX or the regulations." If adopted, the rule change would bar universities any other
federally funded institutions from maintaining men and women's sports and sex-segregated spaces like locker rooms and dormitories.
US
women's soccer legend Megan Rapinoe says she is '100% supportive' of including transgender women in women's
sports. US women's soccer hero Megan Rapinoe has come out strongly in favor of including transgender women in
women's sport, labelling the arguments against 'cruel and disgusting'. The veteran soccer star, who co-captained the
United States Women's National Team in 2019 as they won a second successive World Cup, was dismissive of the notion that
trans women are dominating women's sports and thus need regulating. Instead, she argued that excluding them from
competing at lower levels is cruel, as people value their 'kid's high school volleyball team' ahead of the lives and
wellbeing of transgender people.
This battle is all about creating "rights" which have never existed before. Title
IX's next battle: The rights of transgender athletes. When the gender equity legislation known as Title IX
became law in 1972, the politics of transgender sports was not even a blip in the national conversation. Today, it
is one of the sharpest dividing points in American culture. As the transformational law heads into its second
half-century on the books, the Biden administration wants transgender athletes to enjoy the same protections Title IX
originally gave to women when it was passed 50 years ago. That stance is at odds with efforts in states across the
country. "We're at a time where Title IX is going to be exploited and celebrated," said Donna de Varona, the Olympic
champion swimmer who heads the Women's Sports Policy Working Group, which seeks a "middle way" to be inclusive of transgender
athletes while also not "forcing" what it sees as unfair competition.
International
Swimming Federation Will Ban Some Biologically Male Athletes from Women's Competitions. The international
swimming federation FINA announced a new policy on Sunday to ban biologically male athletes who have gone through male
puberty from competing in women's competitions. To qualify for women's competitions, the swimmers must either have
never gone through male puberty or had male puberty suppressed at the stage when physical changes begin to appear or before
the age of 12, whichever occurred later, according to the policy. The athletes also have to prove that they have
continuously suppressed their testosterone levels since that time. "We have to protect the rights of our athletes to
compete, but we also have to protect competitive fairness at our events, especially the women's category at FINA
competitions," FINA president Husain al-Musallam said in statement. The policy also includes proposals for an
additional open competition category. FINA is set to form a new working group that will spend six months studying
the most effective ways to set up the new category.
Teammate
Says Trans UPenn Swimmer Lia Thomas is 'Mentally Ill'. A teammate of Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer who
upended college swimming last season, says that Thomas is "mentally ill." According to an interview the University of
Pennsylvania swimmer anonymously gave to the Washington Examiner, Thomas spent the 2021/22 swimming season refusing to
come to terms with the damage he was doing to his "real" female opponents and teammates.
The Editor says...
All transvestites are mentally ill.
Republicans
Introduce a Bill That Defines What a Woman Is. Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko is doing something for women, and
not the kind no one can define. The Republican has sponsored a "Women's Bill of Rights" to provide ladies legal
protection against gender ideology. "[T]here are important reasons," H.Res.1136 asserts, "to distinguish between the sexes
with respect to athletes, prisons, domestic violence shelters, restrooms, and other areas, particularly where biology,
safety, and privacy are implicated." The initiative goes so far as to claim it knows what a woman is.
Indiana
Lawmakers Override Governor's Veto to Enact Law Banning Males from Girls Sports. GOP lawmakers in Indiana voted
Tuesday [5/24/2022] to override a veto by Governor Eric Holcomb (R) and enact a law banning male athletes identifying as
female from competing in girls' sports. Indiana joins at least a dozen other U.S. states in enacting similar
laws. "State senators voted 32-15 in favor of overriding Gov. Eric Holcomb following the same action in a 67-28
vote by the House earlier in the day," the Associated Press reports. "Holcomb had said in his veto message that bill
did not provide a consistent policy for what he called "fairness in K-12 sports" when he unexpectedly vetoed it in March."
Dozens of pro-trans activists protested at the state capitol but to no avail.
New
South Carolina law bans biological males from women's sports. Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) signed a bill
that bans biological males from participating in women's sports into law. The Save Women's Sports Act was passed by the
South Carolina General Assembly on May 10 and signed by McMaster on Monday [5/16/2022]. The law seeks to "ensure that fair
opportunities are preserved for all children to compete in sports" based on "a student's biological sex on the student's
official birth certificate." "Athletic teams or sports designated for males, men, or boys shall not be open to students
of the female sex, unless no team designated for females in that sport is offered at the school in which the student is
enrolled," the bill reads. "Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to
students of the male sex."
World
Swimming Coaches Association Announces Stance on Transgender Athletes. On Friday, the World Swimming Coaches
Association (WSCA) released its official position on transgender athletes. This comes after biological male swimmer
Will "Lia" Thomas made headlines for competing on the women's swim team at University of Pennsylvania after competing on the
men's team for three consecutive years. At the NCAA women's swimming championships in March, Thomas came in first place
in a race against female swimmers, as Townhall covered. The WSCA's position is that the "grounds of fairness" in
swimming cannot be maintained with the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. This was published in a
lengthy statement on the organization's website.
Don
Quixote and the Trans Madness. The Spanish novel, written by Miguel de Cervantes, El ingenioso hidalgo don
Quixote de la Mancha, is often credited as the first modern novel in Western literature. [...] In short, Alonso Quixano
is delusional, and, in throes of his madness, he is bent on imposing his own self-perception upon the world around him.
[...] Alonso Quixano imagines himself to be the wealthy and revered Don Quixote, and he makes efforts to look, dress, speak,
and act in a manner that the society around him would recognize as authentic. Similarly, a perfectly average male
collegiate varsity athlete named Will Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania imagines himself to be a woman named Lia
Thomas, making some efforts to look, dress, speak, and act as the society around him would expect of an authentic woman.
Both fail at that task in the eyes of the audience and onlookers, of course, and both appear as caricatures rather than
authentic. But both have people around them that find the delusion fascinating, and who are eager to take part.
LGBTQ+:
Leftism's corruption of God's sacred gift to humankind. In other news, one Lia Thomas, a twenty-two-year-old
man masquerading as a woman, finished first in a freestyle swim race. This unsurprising result seems readily explained
as deriving from Thomas's masculine physique, easily outclassing the feminine physiques of the other competitors. The
only thing actually surprising is that a substantial number of officials and observers see this outcome as the result of anything
other than overt, deliberate fraud. Or maybe, in this current age of sexual confusion, it's not so surprising anymore.
Oklahoma
Governor Signs Bill Barring Male Students from Girls' Sports. Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed legislation
that bans transgender athletes from participation in girls' high school or college sports on Wednesday [3/30/2022]. The
Save Women's Sports Act passed the Oklahoma House by a 79-18 vote last week, and was subsequently approved by the state
Senate. "This bill... to us in Oklahoma is just common sense," Stitt, a Republican who is running for reelection this
year, said at the signing. "When it comes to sports and athletics, girls should compete against girls. Boys
should compete against boys. And let's be very clear: That's all this bill says."
Utah
legislature overrides veto of transgender sports bill. The Utah State Legislature has voted to override the
governor's veto of the bill banning transgender children from participating in school sports. The House voted 56-18,
while the Senate voted 21-8 for House Bill 11 on Friday, overturning the governor's veto of the bill. It came after
some passionate debate in both chambers. Outside the Utah State Capitol, people for and against the bill demonstrated
at times shouting over each other "trans rights" and "girls rights." "It preserves the integrity of women's sports," said
Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, who sponsored HB11. The bill, which was amended in the final hours of the legislative
session, now bans transgender children from middle and high school sports. In the event of a lawsuit, however, the bill
defaults to a special commission that would evaluate transgender children's eligibility to play a sport that matches their
gender identity.
The Editor says...
"In the event of a lawsuit," they say. That's amusing. Of course there will be a lawsuit.
Arizona,
Oklahoma pass bills banning transgender youth in girls' sports. Arizona and Oklahoma passed bills on Thursday
that would ban transgender youth from participating in girls' sports, the latest in a flurry of state legislation passed by
Republicans on the hot-button, election year issue. In addition to the Republican-sponsored "Save Women's Sports Act,"
Arizona lawmakers passed legislation that would prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming surgery to minors.
Both bills are now headed to the desk of Governor Doug Ducey, also a Republican. The votes largely fell along party lines.
Call Him William Thomas.
[Scroll down] You'll know exactly how we got here by how every mainstream media outlet, even the ones that feign
rage, has reported on the man who, pretending to be a woman, has secured a position in the NCAA Women's swimming finals this
year. That man's name is William Thomas. He was ranked in the mid-500s when he competed as a man —
after being recruited as a man to swim for the University of Pennsylvania. Naturally now, he ranks first among women.
But even as, say, Fox News (with the exception of Tucker Carlson), makes noise in opposition to the unfairness of it all,
even as they opine the physiological differences between men and women, they call him "Lia Thomas." They call him "her."
They bring on Bruce Jenner and call him Caitlyn and nod enthusiastically as he, too, says this is a bridge too far.
If sex differences matter, they matter. If they don't, they don't. Actions speak louder than words: by
conforming to the delusion of transgenderism by any degree, the issue is lost completely.
4
Reasons Why Lia Thomas Is Not the New Jackie Robinson. In an op-ed piece for NBC News, Cheryl Cooky, professor
of American studies and women's, gender and sexuality studies at Purdue University, likened "Lia" Thomas (formerly Will) to
Jackie Robinson. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Prof. Cooky's editorial is a slap in the
face to female athletes and an insult to the legacy of Jackie Robinson, who courageously broke the color line in professional
sports. Yet, according to Cooky, and with reference to Thomas's blow-out victory in a national swimming competition
last week, "For anyone who cares about the advancement of sports, and women's sports in particular, her win should be
celebrated." To repeat: nothing could be further from the truth. To the contrary, and in the words of Haley
Tanne, a female, college athlete (herself a runner), "My teammates and I are watching our records, our scholarships and our
competitive opportunities slip away... wondering if anyone in authority is going to have the courage to step up and save
women's sports." This is a travesty, and it must be stopped.
Men Now Dominate
Women's Sports. Last week University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly William Thomas, became the
first transgender athlete to win the NCAA title in the women's 500-yard freestyle. During the award ceremony, Thomas
towered over the biologically female runner-ups, including University of Virginia's Emma Weyant, a silver medallist at the
Tokyo Olympics who finished 1.75 seconds behind Thomas. [Podcast]
Lia
Thomas saga highlights instances of biological men winning women's sports. University of Pennsylvania swimmer
Lia Thomas is only the most recent and most visible example of biological men competing and winning against female athletes,
with examples now dating back several years. Thomas, who is biologically male, finished first in the women's 500-yard
freestyle event at the NCAA championships last week over three swimmers who had each won silver medals at the last
Olympics. The result capped the collegiate swimming season with a shadow of controversy while providing the most
high-profile image of a biologically male transgender athlete competing in women's sports.
DeSantis
Dismisses Lia Thomas, Declares NCAA Women's Swimming Event Winner the Second Place Finisher. Many may have to
play along with declaring Lia Thomas as one of the greatest female athletes of all time, but everyone else lives on planet
Earth where dogs bark, the sky is blue, and men can't suddenly be women because they said they were. Thomas is
definitely a man and there's no escaping that fact. It's why when he was declared the winner of the NCAA women's
swimming championship, many people immediately rejected his first-place victory and focused on the girls who finished below
him. In one stunning moment, the girls did the same. [Tweet]
DeSantis
Turns the Tables on the Gender-Bending NCAA Women's Swimming Wokesters. We've got quite a post-modernist
culture war on our hands over transgender issues. Former Navy SEAL and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just went kinetic
with fiery remarks about the NCAA. On Tuesday, DeSantis issued a proclamation announcing that native Sarasota, Fla.,
athlete Emma Weyant, who swims for the University of Virginia, logged "the fastest time among all women swimmers" at the NCAA
championship in the NCAA Division I final over the weekend. He accused the NCAA of "destroying opportunities for women"
and perpetuating "a fraud on the public," and berated them for "putting ideology ahead of opportunity for women athletes."
GOP
Indiana governor vetoes transgender girls sports ban. Indiana's governor on Monday vetoed a bill banning
transgender females from participating in girls school sports. Opponents of the transgender sports bill argued it was a
bigoted response to a problem that doesn't exist, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana saying it planned a
lawsuit against what it called "hateful legislation." Republican sponsors of the bill said it was needed to protect the
integrity of female sports and opportunities for girls to gain college athletic scholarship but pointed out no instances in
the state of girls being outperformed by transgender athletes. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signaled support for
the bill last month but said in his veto letter that the legislation "falls short" of providing a consistent statewide policy
for what he called "fairness in K-12 sports."
Social
Media Users Congratulate Emma Weyant for Winning 'First' Instead of Lia Thomas. University of Virginia swimmer
Emma Weyant won second place in the women's 500-yard freestyle championships, losing to a man, Lia Thomas. Many viewers
took to social media to congratulate Weyant for actually winning first place. A tweet by the University of Virginia
(UVA) Swimming and Dive account, which congratulated Weyant — who attends UVA — for winning second
place, "with the third-fastest time in UVA history." Weyant also won a silver medal in last year's Summer Olympics.
Congratulations
to Emma Weyant, the real woman who won the NCAA 500-yard freestyle event. Until sanity is restored in our
country, records will show that Lia Thomas was the winner of the 2022 women's NCAA 500-yard freestyle event. However,
we all know the story behind Thomas by now. Lia is not a woman, but a man identifying as a woman. Anyone
interested in the sanctity of competition, biological integrity, and saving women's sports, should celebrate Emma Weyant, the
actual woman who won the 2022 women's NCAA 500-yard freestyle event on Thursday night. The records will show that
Weyant finished in second place behind Thomas. But Weyant is the actual she who should be recognized as
champion. Thomas's victory represents everything that detractors feared would happen in the national championships:
that females would not be able to compete against a man claiming to be a woman.
Rep.
Vicky Hartzler's account locked for tweet criticizing transgender athletes in women's sports. Rep. Vicky
Hartzler, Missouri Republican, was locked out of her Senate campaign account for a tweet declaring that "men pretending to be
women" don't belong in female sports. Hartzler campaign manager Michael Hafner posted a shot Monday of the Twitter
message saying that his boss' account had been "locked for violating the Twitter Rules," specifically for violating prohibitions
on "hateful conduct." Her tweet said: "Women's Sports are for Women, not men pretending to be women."
UPenn,
Philly DA ignore complaints about Lia Thomas's male nudity in women's locker room. Imagine you are a parent to
a female college student-athlete. Now, imagine, what would you do if your daughter told you that someone who was a man
and still had male genitalia was frequently naked in front of your daughter every day after practice. How would you
feel as a parent? That is a current predicament at the University of Pennsylvania. A letter was sent to city and
school authorities addressing the vast concerns over the situation. It appears to have been ignored by all those
addressed in the letter.
Lia Thomas is a bad man.
I don't hate Lia Thomas because she's a transsexual; I hate her because she's a cheat. At the Ivy League Championship
Swim Meet last weekend, Thomas easily won four events, setting pool and league records. She may be the most-improved
swimmer in history. She was ranked 462nd in the country a few years ago, and is now ranked Number 1. The
difference is not that her swim times have gotten better. It's that her competition has gotten worse. Her
Number 462 ranking was against men, while her Number 1 ranking is against women.
The Editor says...
I don't hate Will Thomas. He is obviously a confused young man. But he should keep that confusion
to himself, instead of using it as a weapon.
Dude
Looks Like a Lady — Ivy League Swimming Style. Rock group Aerosmith released a song in 1987
entitled, "Dude looks like a lady" about a man with an effeminate appearance who could be mistaken for a woman. Today
the inverse is playing out in the athletic world, where a lady who looks like a dude — a male who has transitioned
to a female as much as basic biology permits — is making a mockery of women's sports. I speak of Lia Thomas,
a transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer who last week, "Dominates 200 yard freestyle at Ivy League swimming championships
and sets a new tournament record." But Lia wasn't always a woman swimmer. In fact, not too long ago she was a dude,
but she looks more like a lady these days, yet she still swims like a dude, and that is where the problem lies.
Lia
Thomas Has Exposed The Fallacy Of The LGBTQ Narrative. Guys competing in girls' sports is becoming a real
thing. Lia Thomas is all over the news these days. [...] Lia is the male swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania
women's swim team, who stuffs his man parts into a girl's Speedo, and struts out onto the pool deck — while the
crowd is expected to pretend as if it's all perfectly normal. Never mind that as a male swimmer he was mediocre at
best. On the female team, he's the star — both of the media and the statisticians. He's in the news,
and he's breaking all of the collegiate swim records — for women. It seems sex is no longer defined by
anatomy or genetics. It is defined by wishful thinking. Of course, wishful thinking is the definition of fantasy,
not reality.
16
Penn Swimmers Say Trans Teammate Lia Thomas Should Not Compete. Is the dam finally breaking on maintaining the
fantasy that trans women do not have an inherent advantage over biological females in competitive sports? Sixteen
members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team sent a letter to the school and to the Ivy League, asking them
not to take legal action that would challenge the new NCAA rules for transgender athletes to compete. The new rules
would make it very difficult for their trans teammate, Lia Thomas, to compete as a female. The 16 swimmers —
out of 39 on the team — are asking that Thomas be sidelined.
The Editor says...
It is impossible to "transition" from a man to a woman or vice versa. The DNA in every cell in your body shows you're male or you're female — permanently.
But today's college students have been indoctrinated for years already, and badly mis-informed about homosexuality, individual expression, and "inclusion."
You can't have it both ways: You can't insist that it's okay for a male transvestite to claim he's a woman, and then be offended when he shows up in the women's
locker room — or restroom, or dormitory, or anywhere else. This can of worms will remain open indefinitely, so now you have to decide
if swimming is really that important to you. Or, for that matter, a college degree.
I
Will Stop Crying Out When the Transanity Stops. One of my colleagues has been combating LGBTQ extremism for
several decades, working tirelessly for almost no money, and with constant vilification as his main reward. I asked him
one day on the air, "Why don't you just stop?" He answered, "I'll stop when they stop." That is exactly how I feel.
When I no longer have to read headlines like this, I'll stop: "'We're uncomfortable in our own locker room.' Lia Thomas'
UPenn [female] teammate tells how the trans swimmer doesn't always cover up her male genitals when changing and their
concerns go ignored by their coach." Seriously? Her male genitals? What kind of madness is this? And
the fact that a biological male with male plumbing (who, by the way, is attracted to females), shares a locker room with
women — where they disrobe and shower — is absolute insanity, not to mention terribly unfair. In
fact, it is outright abusive.
Female
Swimmers Complain Trans Teammate Lia Thomas Exposes Male Body Parts in Locker Room. There are plenty of
legitimate objections raised against allowing transitioning transgender athletes to compete as a gender other than the one
they were assigned at birth. But it's the practical objections that resonate the most with the rest of us. And
for those objections, trans activists have no good answers. One such practical objection is the locker room
situation. Anyone who has ever competed in any sport — either as an individual or as a member of a
team — knows that segregating the sexes in a locker room is necessary to maintain a comfort level for
everyone. And comfort is vitally necessary to aid in creating an atmosphere that allows for peak performance from an
athlete. But what if a transitioning male athlete is allowed to walk around naked in a locker room full of women?
That's the situation that is facing members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swim team who are forced to share a
locker room with transitioning male Lia Thomas.
Lia-bility
Issues and the Dictatorship of the Subjunctive Mood. "Penn swimmer Lia Thomas came away with wins in the 100
meter and 200-meter freestyle races against Harvard on Saturday," Fox News reported last week. [...] Based on the new NCAA
policy, "there is nothing that would preclude Lia from racing in March at the NCAA Championships." Michael Phelps, who won 13
individual Olympic gold medals, has problems with the policy. "I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who
we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field," Phelps told reporters. "I
don't know what it looks like in the future. It's hard. It's very complicated and this is my sport, this has been
my sport my whole entire career, and honestly the one thing I would love is everybody being able to compete on an even
playing field." The Olympic champion might rethink the "very complicated" part. The pool is already perfectly
level, and the disparity belongs to Thomas. This swimmer transitioned from the Penn men's team to the women's team,
where Thomas now demolishes the competition. That could send a signal to other athletes.
Lia
Thomas' UPenn teammate tells how the trans swimmer doesn't always cover up her male genitals when changing.
Sharing a locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has become a point of contention for some of her University of
Pennsylvania teammates, who feel uncomfortable changing in the private space with someone undergoing gender transition, the
DailyMail.com can reveal. 'It's definitely awkward because Lia still has male body parts and is still attracted to
women,' one swimmer on the team told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. Lia has told her teammates that she dates women.
The Editor says...
Fifty years ago, a man caught in the women's locker room would have been immediately expelled from any university in the U.S.
Five years ago, what newspaper editor would have permitted the phrase, cover up her male genitals? Wake up,
fools! It's a man! This problem will persist until you get rid of the people who caused it.
Maybe that's because he's a man. Teammates
say they are uncomfortable changing in locker room with trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas. A member of the
University of Pennsylvania women's swim team said some team members are uncomfortable changing in the locker room with
transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, according to a teammate. Thomas, 22, who spent the previous three years swimming with
the men's team before she began transitioning to a woman, has created an uneasy environment in the locker room, as she still
retains her biologically male genitalia — which are sometimes exposed — and is attracted to women, one
teammate told the Daily Mail in an interview.
The girl is a man.
Our insane world has hit woke bottom. This is from Fox News: ["]Penn swimmer Lia Thomas came away with
wins in the 100 meter and 200-meter freestyle races against Harvard on Saturday. The victories came days after the NCAA
updated its policy for transgender participation and how it will be determined on a sport-by-sport basis.["] What
did Thomas do? He, and he is a he, shattered women's records. Who knows what women were denied scholarships
because of this? The answer is for men to compete with men and women with women. It's not discrimination.
It's common sense.
NCAA
changes transgender athlete participation policy amid calls for reevaluation. The NCAA changed its policy
regarding transgender athletes, it announced Wednesday. The new approach to allowing transgender athletes will follow a
sport-by-sport model similarly adopted by the U.S. and international Olympic committees, Sports Illustrated reported.
The NCAA said if there was no international federation policy then the "previously established IOC policy criteria would be
followed." "We are steadfast in our support of transgender student-athletes and the fostering of fairness across
college sports," John DeGioia, Georgetown University's president and the NCAA board's chairman, said in a statement
Wednesday, announcing the change.
Lia
Thomas Is Guilty of Institutional Cheating and Gender Eugenics. You were born a biological male. You have
XY chromosomes that irrevocably designate your sex as male. You began to identify as either non-binary or female around
two years ago. You are currently a member of the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim team where you recently were
victorious against Cornell University women's team. As a transwoman with the physical advantages of still being a
biological male, you have broken several of the University of Pennsylvania's women's swim records. In your 1,650-meter
freestyle win, you beat second-place finisher and teammate Anna Kalandadze by 38 seconds. Because of you, women
such as Kalandadze who held records no longer hold them. You, as a biological male, have unfairly stripped
them of their hard-fought honors.
USA
Swimming official who resigned over trans swimmer Lia Thomas says athlete is 'destroying women's swimming'. A
USA Swimming official who resigned in protest of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas told Fox News on Monday that she can't stand
by and watch as girls are "thrown under the bus" by "biological" male competitors. Cynthia Millen stepped down last
week after officiating USA Swimming meets for over three decades. Her decision came days before the U.S. Paralympics
Swimming National Championships in Greensboro, N.C. "The fact is that swimming is a sport in which bodies compete against
bodies. Identities do not compete against identities," Millen said in an appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
"Men are different from women, men swimmers are different from women, and they will always be faster than women."
It's
Time to Stop Denying Reality About Transgender Athletes. A transgender athlete, Lia Thomas, dominated during a
Nov. 20 women's swim meet with athletes representing Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania. [...] Just a few
weeks after Thomas trounced biologically female teammates, President Joe Biden's Department of Education announced plans to
amend Title IX regulations to conform to the president's executive order on what it calls "Preventing and Combating
Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation." Such amendments by the Education Department would
allow biological males to compete against women in the name of "equality" and "preventing discrimination." But the truth
is, these amendments would contradict reality, equality, and popular opinion. Hormone levels alone don't make someone a
woman. And no amount of cross-sex hormones can undo the biological benefits of male genetics and development.
Kristi
Noem Advances Bill Requiring Trans Athletes to Compete According to Their Birth Gender. South Dakota
Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has advanced a bill in the state legislature that would codify her executive orders limiting
transgender athletes to competing only in categories that correspond to their birth gender. Noem filed the bill on
Tuesday to limit K-12 girl's school sports and state-funded colleges to allowing only natural-born girls to compete in girl's
categories, according to the Argus Leader. The governor issued her two executive orders in March after the
legislature rejected her revisions of House Bill 1217.
The
Real War on Women is From the Left. Remember how the left not long ago went on and on and on about the supposed
"war on women" from the right? The irony is that according to current leftist dogma, women no longer exist. After
all, the Biden Administration's Department of Health and Human Services is insisting in referring to mothers (once understood
as a significant subset of beings known as "women") as "birthing persons," because current leftist dogma says men can have
babies, too. Which means women no long have anything naturally distinctive about them. [...] Which brings me back to
the story I've commented on before of Lia Thomas, the "woman" swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania who is shattering
women's swim records after having competed for three years as an average male swimmer for Penn.
Men
Make the Best Women. There is no difference between men and women, we're told by leftist activists, none
whatsoever. We're also told by these same people that there's nothing a man can do better than a woman, [...] We've all
heard about the high school sprinters who were not very good as boys, but mopped up the track when they started competing as
girls. I couldn't care less how someone chooses to live in their personal life, my problem with the idea of "trans" is
when I'm forced to deny reality to make someone else feel comfortable. If you're a man and you want to wear a dress and
be called Betty, I'll call you Betty. But if you want me to pretend you can get pregnant or have to worry about
cervical cancer, you've lost me. In the UK, they are spending good money reminding women to get screened for prostate
cancer and other absurd things that simply are not real. Forcing me to pretend they are is when you lose me, and you're
not getting me back.
Why
I'm celebrating news that a man is breaking women's swimming records. Will Thomas is a strapping 22-year-old
man who swam competitively at the University of Pennsylvania for three years. This year, though, Will announced that
he's a woman named "Lia" and, thanks to Biden's executive orders regarding so-called "gender identity," got a place on
UPenn's women's swim team where, to no one's surprise, he swam faster than the women. Frankly, I think it's
wonderful. That's not because I've gone woke; it's because this is so blatantly unfair to women, and Will is so
obviously a man, that Americans are finally saying that the emperor is wearing the wrong dress. I will never,
absolutely never, use female pronouns for a man who claims to be "transgender." He is either mentally ill, which is sad,
but does not make him a woman, or he's a sleazy, skeezy opportunist. It's amazing how many of these so-called
"transgender" men who suddenly get to compete in women's sports and use women's locker rooms and restrooms (and women's
prisons), have kept their original biological equipment and are "lesbians," rather than real women who like men. Let me
say this as clearly as possible: There is no such thing as "transgenderism."
Boys
Replacing Girls in Sports — Feminists Yawn. Women's sports are again under attack. Decades
ago, it was due to tradition and patriarchy, with funding and attention lavished primarily on men's sports. Title IX
came in 1972, leveling the playing field. At the time, there were just over 300,000 women and girls participating in
high school and college sports. Female athletes only received 2 percent of college athletic budgets and few if any
women received athletic scholarships. Forty years later in 2012, great progress was made with 3 million girls
participating in high school sports and 190,000 in college sports, a sixfold increase since 1972. But instead of continued
progress, our new woke culture is turning back the clock on women's sports, all in the name of equity, tolerance, and
diversity, setting female athletes back decades.
Male
Swimmer Dominates UPenn's Women's Swim Team. Will Thomas was a moderately successful swimmer on the University
of Pennsylvania's men's swim team for three years. But then he took a year off, reemerged as transgender, and started
dominating the women's swim team.
The
'Equality' blues: Feminists cry foul when boys' netball team wins girls' tournament. The Queensland Suns
won the Nissan State under-18 netball tournament last month, and the wrath of many, by easily defeating seven other
teams. The issue? The Suns are sons — not daughters like the rest of their competitors. Netball
is a variation on basketball played in many Commonwealth countries. The game also apparently doesn't have many male
competitors in Australia, which is why the Suns were allowed to compete with the lasses. As Netball Queensland, the
organization running the Nissan tournament, stated, it was choosing "inclusion over exclusion."
Texas
Senate Passes Bill Requiring Athletes To Compete On Team That Matches Birth Gender. The Texas Senate passed a
bill on Friday night [10/15/2021] that requires student athletes to play on sports teams that match their birth gender and
not the gender with which they identify. "The legislation is primed to become law after the state Senate voted 19-12 on
Friday to pass House Bill 25, authored by state Rep. Valoree Swanson, R-Spring," The Texas Tribune reported. "The
Senate floor vote followed a swiftly held committee meeting where a 24-hour notice rule was suspended and the Senate's Health
and Human Services Committee voted to advance the legislation. Under HB 25, students would only be permitted to compete
on sports teams that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificate that was assigned at or near the time of birth."
The Texas House must now approve an amendment that the Senate added before it heads to Governor Greg Abbott's desk.
Texas
House Passes Bill Banning Students from Competing against Opposite Sex in Sports. The Texas House of
Representatives passed a bill on Friday [10/15/2021] mandating that transgender athletes participate in school sports teams
corresponding to the biological sex listed on their birth certificate. The bill passed 76 [to] 54 after failing to
advance on three previous attempts, and will now be sent to the state Senate for deliberation. Representative Valoree
Swanson, the bill's sponsor, said it would protect women and girls from unfair competition.
Christian
Schools Join Fight To Protect Female Athletes From Transgender Competitors. A coalition of Christian schools
and female athletes are fighting back against President Joe Biden's efforts to redefine sex to be based on "gender identity,"
not biological sex. If successful, female athletes would have to compete in sporting events against biological men who
"identify" as women and force them to share private spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms. The Alliance Defending
Freedom (ADF), a nonprofit Christian legal organization, filed a motion on Monday asking a federal district court to allow
the Association of Christian Schools International and three female athletes in Arkansas to intervene in the case, State
of Tennessee v. United States Department of Education.
Piers
Morgan: Transgenders in women's MMA will get someone killed. It's no longer a surprise when Piers Morgan
weighs in on hot-button cultural issues in favor of the conservatives, as he does today in the question of transgender access
to women's sports. Today, he writes in the Daily Mail that such crossovers in MMA are likely to get someone killed, and
uses one bout this weekend as a prime example: [...] Morgan makes his pitch against transgenders in women's sports on a
broader basis than safety. It's not only "incredibly dangerous" in the context of MMA, but also unfair and unequal for
all women forced to compete with biological males.
Leftists
cheer as a violent man assaults a woman. Mixed Martial Arts took a serious hit the other day when the sport
allowed a man to beat a woman brutally and then claim a victory for having done so. ESPN, others in the leftist
establishment, and the Combate Global competition were all incredibly excited about this violent, misogynistic event.
Worse, the man had trained for years in the United States Army's Special Forces. Why was this all condoned, indeed,
applauded? Because the man suffers from body dysphoria which has led him to believe that he's a woman. I feel
sorry for him but — and this is the important point — he's not a woman and it's a travesty that people
pretend he is.
Transgender
MMA fighter who used to be in US Army special forces wins debut — reigniting debate over trans women in sports.
The second openly transgender MMA fighter in the US has won her debut match — reigniting the debate over trans women in
sports. Alana McLaughlin, 38, won her first professional fight in the Combate Global prelims Friday against Celine
Provost, ending the match with a rear-naked choke 3 minutes and 32 seconds into the second round. McLaughlin, from
South Carolina, began her transition in 2010 after spending six years in the US Army special forces.
Reporter
Asks Women Weight Lifters About Trans Competitor, Room Goes Completely Silent. During their press conference
after medaling in the women's +87 kg weightlifting competition, the three medalists gave a very telling reaction when a
reporter asked them about the "historic" participation of transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a biological male.
If
They Can Make You Believe a Big Strong Man Belongs in the Women's Division, They Can Make You Believe Anything.
Today, Monday, August 2, 2021, a big strong man bombed out of the superheavyweight class of the Women's division of the
2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Read that sentence again: We are living in a post-truth society. The
best that can be done with it is to finely hone your cynicism, question everything you are told, and learn to
appreciate dark humor. Gavin Hubbard is 6'1" at 285 pounds. He was most assuredly born a physical male and
competed somewhat successfully in the Men's Division of Olympic weightlifting up until 2001. Psychological issues caused
him to reevaluate his gender identity, previously based on his physical sex, and he was reportedly "surgically re-assigned"
in 2012 to reflect his commitment to his new gender identification as "Laurel." All of this is entirely his own personal
business and has nothing to do with the rest of humanity. If a guy wants to castrate himself and have cosmetic surgery,
he should have the freedom to do so. But being born a male — having developed in utero under male levels of
testosterone exposure — makes you forever and always different from having been born a female, whose congenital
development took place without testosterone at those levels.
Olympic
Medical and Science Official Says "Everyone Agrees" That Trans Women Are Real Women. International Olympic
Committee (IOC) Medical and Science Director Dr. Richard Budgett recently made some eyebrow raising comments when he
claimed that "everyone agrees" that trans women are real women. The comment came during a press conference on Friday
[7/29/2021] when Budgett was praising male-turned-female New Zealand trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard for their "courage and
tenacity." "To put it in a nutshell, the IOC had a scientific consensus back in 2015," Budgett explained as he came up
with an excuse for the IOC's decision to let a man compete with women. "There are no IOC rules or regulations around
transgender participation. That depends on each international federation."
We
Are Doctors. Here's the Truth About Transgender Females' Bodies and Athleticism. The International
Olympic Committee ruled in 2015 that transgender athletes "who transition from male to female are eligible to compete in the
female category" so long as their testosterone level has been below a certain threshold for at least 12 months. At
least two recent peer-reviewed studies challenge this rule. One published in the journal Sports Medicine found "the
muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women [men on estrogen] is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed"
for 12 months. A second review article found the male strength advantage to remain even after three years of
testosterone suppression. Even if the strength advantage could be eliminated, however, to reduce the definition of
female human being to having a certain level of testosterone in your body for a certain amount of time completely ignores the
scientific reality that genetics — not testosterone — is at the root of all that makes the two sexes
different. When males are allowed to compete in athletic leagues designed for females, they deprive female athletes of
the opportunity to safe and fair participation in sports. As Vanbellinghen said, "Life-changing opportunities are
missed for some athletes — medals and Olympic qualifications — and we are powerless."
Judge
blocks West Virginia law banning transgender students from girls sports. A federal judge blocked a West
Virginia law banning transgender athletes from competing in girls sports, saying the legislation likely runs afoul of the
Constitution. Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, said if West Virginia wants to treat people differently,
there must be a compelling reason to do so. "I have been provided with scant evidence that this law addresses any
problem at all, let alone an important problem," the judge wrote in a 15-page opinion.
Biden administration
'erasing the borders' of biological sex, women's sports activist says. The first half of 2021 has been marked
by a series of fierce cultural and legal battles over policies relating to transgender athletes participating in girls' and
women's sports. More battles loom as the Biden administration and some states take significantly divergent positions on
the hot button issue. One of the first actions President Joe Biden took following his inauguration was to sign an
executive order preventing discrimination against people based on gender identity, which said children "should be able to
learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports."
Opponents — including leaders in states such as Florida, Tennessee, and Idaho, and activists including Beth
Stelzer — insist that female-identifying biological males playing against women is unfair to biological females.
The
Problems with Laurel Hubbard's Qualifying for the Olympics as a Woman. Weightlifting has always been an Olympic
sport, practiced in Ancient Greece. At the modern revival of the Olympics in 1896, and for the next 100 years, only men
were allowed to compete. But since the Sydney Games of 2000, there have been women's events too, in weight categories
like the men's events. Equity of the sexes is important to the Olympic movement nowadays. The International
Olympic Committee (IOC) says that inclusion is important, too. To that end, it has decreed that males who feel
themselves to be women may compete in the women's events. The only stipulation, besides declaring their commitment to
their desired "gender," is that such athletes take a pill daily to lower their testosterone to below 10 nanomoles/Liter
(nmol/L). The typical female testosterone range is below 1 nmol/L. So, we have Laurel Hubbard, born male
43 years ago, and now presenting as part of the New Zealand women's weightlifting team for Tokyo 2020, to be held this summer.
Laurel
Hubbard is the beginning of the end of Women's sports. The decision to allow Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old
weightlifter who transitioned from male to trans woman in 2012, to compete in the forthcoming Olympic Games against female
competitors is the beginning of the end of women's sport. Why does women's sport exist at all? Because biology in
sport matters. Separate categories give females equal opportunities of sporting success. Australian Weightlifting
Federation's chief executive, Michael Keelan has spoken out about how unfair Hubbard's inclusion is to female
competitors. We all know it is unfair, even those speaking out in support of Hubbard's inclusion in the
Olympics — they just don't care about women.
Cece
Telfer, Champion Transgender Hurdler, Ruled Ineligible For US Olympic Trials. Cece Telfer, a transgender woman
who won an NCAA Division II championship in 2019, was ruled ineligible Wednesday [6/23/2021] to compete in the U.S. Olympic
trials. USA Track and Field (USATF) said in a statement Telfer failed to meet the World Athletic requirements to be
eligible for trials. She had initially been on the list for Friday's opening heats but an updated list Wednesday did
not include her name. World Athletics' guidelines, released in 2019, stated that female athletes' testosterone levels
were at 5 nanomoles per liter or more were barred from events between distances of 400 meters and a mile.
Telfer was readying to compete in the women's 400-meter hurdles at Olympic trials.
The Editor says...
A man who wears women's clothing is not a champion. A man with low testosterone levels is still a man.
Women's
Olympic Weightlifters Should Take a Knee if Trans Athletes Are Allowed to Compete. The International Olympic
Committee has laid the groundwork for the destruction of the women's divisions in Olympic sports by permitting New Zealand to
enter a congenital male in the women's division of Olympic weightlifting in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. And as odd as
this sounds, the only way to save women's sports is for the female competitors to boycott the event in its entirety. [...]
It is why we have men's and women's divisions in all sports, with no sport allowing direct competition between men and
women. It has been apparent throughout human history that the sexes are different in terms of physical capacity,
that this is true from birth, and I shouldn't have to point this out to anybody.
I
Am Woman, Hear Me Roar, Just not at the Olympics. Helen Reddy sang a Grammy Award-winning hit in 1972 called "I
Am Woman," an ode to the newly blossomed feminist movement. [...] Remember a time when major sporting competitions, like the
Olympic Games, separated men from women, perhaps not in the Olympic Village, but on the track, in the pool, and in the
gym. One time, this was commonsensical as men and women differ greatly in terms of size, strength, and power due to a
hormone called testosterone, abundant in growing boys, but not so in girls, leading to higher bone density, larger muscle
mass, and more efficient power generation. In last week's Olympic Trials, these differences were quite evident.
NFL
legend Brett Favre blasts transgender Olympian as 'unfair': 'It's a man competing as a woman'. Former NFL
quarterback Brett Favre built a legendary career out of being on target when it counted. But he was never more on
target than when he nailed the issue of transgender "women" competing against true females on the biggest stages in
sports. Liberals are going to hate it, but no sane, honest person — man or woman — could
disagree. "It's a man competing as a woman," Favre said with characteristic bluntness. "That's unfair."
The issue arose during Tuesday's [6/22/2021] episode of Favre's podcast "Bolling with Favre," co-hosted by former Fox News
personality Eric Bolling.
New
Zealand weightlifter to become first trans athlete to compete in Olympics. A New Zealand woman has become the
first transgender athlete to be selected to compete in the Olympics — a decision that is expected to launch debate
about gender identity in sports. Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, 43, who was born male but transitioned to female, was
picked to participate in the upcoming summer games in Tokyo, New Zealand Olympic Committee chief Kereyn Smith said in a
Monday [6/21/2021] statement. "We acknowledge that gender identity in sport is a highly sensitive and complex issue
requiring a balance between human rights and fairness on the field of play," Smith said in a statement. "As the New
Zealand team, we have a strong culture of manaaki (caring) and inclusion and respect for all."
Law
banning trans athletes from women's sports unconstitutional: DOJ. The Department of Justice is mounting a
case arguing that laws in West Virginia and Arkansas that bar transgender athletes from competing in women's sports are
unconstitutional, despite the overwhelming majority of Americans supporting biological gender segregation in sports,
according to a report citing court papers. "The United States has a significant interest in ensuring that all students,
including students who are transgender, can participate in an educational environment free of unlawful discrimination," the
DOJ said in court documents filed in a West Virginia court case Thursday [6/17/2021], according to a report by the Daily
Mail. The DOJ asked a judge to overturn the West Virginia rule — signed into law by Republican Gov. Jim
Justice in April — which blocks transgender athletes from playing in women's sports from middle school through
college, the outlet reported.
San
Francisco Giants Become First MLB Team to Wear Pride-Themed Uniforms. The San Francisco Giants told fans
Tuesday that the team will add gay pride colors to its hats and uniforms in recognition of Gay Pride Month. "The 11
colors of the new Pride logo are emblematic of the Progress Pride Flag and signify inclusion and progression with the six
pride colors," the team said in a statement, "red (life); orange (healing); yellow (sunlight); green (nature); blue
(serenity); purple (spirit); and black and brown to recognize LGBTQ+ people of color and light blue, pink and white to
recognize people who are transgender."
Our Increasingly
Unrecognizable Civilization. Over the same period as the pandemic lockdowns, we have seen an escalation of
so-called wokeness. And if you look at one of the most startling manifestations of this, transgender
fanaticism — which involves, after all, the abolition of biological sex and, I'm sorry to have to say it, the
physical mutilation of children — one notices that America is farther down this road than any other country in the
Western world. In other words, at this moment of crisis for Western Civilization, or for what we used to call
Christendom, the leading country of the free world is pulling the wrong way. Think of it. Your daughter has been
training since she was a little girl to run in school sports. Now at 17, she's in the state high school track
championships, and you are forbidden even to notice that she's competing against a woman who is 6'2" with thighs like
tugboats, a great touch of five o'clock shadow on her face, and the most muscular bosom you've ever seen. You're not
supposed to notice the craziness of this, and the craziness is at its craziest right here in America.
Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill barring transgender athletes from female sports. Florida Gov. Ron
DeSantis on Tuesday signed legislation barring transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, joining
seven other states in what he described as an effort to protect female sports. Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave
the Fairness in Women's Sports Act his signature flanked by teenage athletes at Trinity Christian Academy in
Jacksonville. "I can tell you that in Florida, girls are going to play girls' sports, and boys are going to play boys'
sports," Mr. DeSantis said at the event.
Trans
Golfer Who Played On Men's College Team Wins Women's Title, Eyes LPGA. Hailey Davidson, who is biologically
male but identifies as female, played in women's golf last week and won a professional title after competing against
biological women. The transgender golfer, who previously played in men's college golf, now hopes to qualify for the
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) for female golfers. According to a Golkweek report, Davidson beat LPGA
player Perrine Delacour to win the women's title at Providence Golf Club in Orlando, Florida last week.
The
NCAA Was All Threats and Bluster Against Non-Trans Athlete States, But It Just Crumpled Like a Cheap Suit. The
NCAA was threatening states that if they didn't allow men to compete in women's sports then they would pull tournaments from
those states. The entire issue even caused a once-loved Republican governor, Kristi Noem, to lose her support within
the party after she bent the knee and refused to sign a bill banning biological men from declaring themselves women and
signing up to compete against them out of fear of losing the revenue. As it turns out, the NCAA was totally bluffing
and picked three states for their tournaments to happen in. According to Breitbart, the NCAA has announced that
Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee will be host to the Women's College World Series softball regionals.
So
much for fairness: Transgender woman golfer wins mini-tour event, aims for LPGA. Last week, Hailey
Davidson, a transgender woman, won her first professional title in Florida, topping LPGA player Perrine Delacour for the
win. The same day, she was sent an email by the USGA saying she's met the organization's Gender Policy eligibility
criteria and can now compete in its championships and she's hoping to hear similar news from the LPGA via a reciprocity
agreement, according to Golfweek. So much for fairness in women's sports. In January, Ms. Davidson underwent
gender reassignment surgery, and she's been undergoing hormone treatments since 2015. Since transitioning, Ms. Davidson
said she hits shorter and swings slower — yet she still was born a man, and obviously, has a physical advantage
over biological women.
NCAA
Caves, Will Allow States [Which] Place Restrictions on Trans Athletes to Host Events. The NCAA made loud
proclamations in April that it could pull events from states with limits on transgender athletes. Still, now the
college sports governing body has caved and will allow tournaments in states including Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas despite
their laws restricting trans athletes. The NCAA sided with transgender athletes only last month, saying they may cancel
events in states that aren't "free of discrimination" against transgender athletes.
Transgender
Female to Compete as Weightlifter in Olympics — Never Competed in Weightlifting as a Male. Tell me a
story about how it's just about letting little boys compete in sports using the gender identity that they are most
comfortable with. New Zeland transgender female weight lifter Laurel Hubbard, who lived life for 35 years as a man,
will likely participate in this summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo as a 43-year-old female weightlifter. Hubbard finished
2nd in the 2017 World Championships in the Women's Super Heavyweight division, but a serious elbow injury in 2018 put his/her
career in jeopardy. Under the revamped qualifying rules announced earlier this week due to the inability of most
countries to have qualifying competitions, Hubbard will automatically be included as New Zealand's only entry in the Super
Heavyweight Division if New Zealand decides to nominate Hubbard to be part of its Olympic Team. At 43 years old,
Hubbard would be the oldest weightlifter competing in Tokyo.
Weightlifter
Laurel Hubbard set to make history at Tokyo Olympics. History and controversy is expected to be made at the
Tokyo Olympics this summer after the transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard was effectively guaranteed a place in the
women's super heavyweight category. While the 43-year-old has not yet been named in the New Zealand team, an
International Weightlifting Federation insider confirmed to the Guardian that she [sic] would automatically qualify because
of amended rules approved by the International Olympic Committee.
Alabama
Enacts Law Banning Transgender Athletes From Participating in Biologically Inconsistent Public School Sports.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law a bill that bans transgender student-athletes from competing on K-12 public
school single-sex teams that match their gender identity, making her state the second in the nation to enact such a
ban. House Bill 391, which was overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-controlled state legislature last week,
mandates that those who aren't biologically male or female won't be able to participate in school-sponsored sports events
that are inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth. "A public K-12 school may not allow a biological female to
participate on a male team if there is a female team in a sport," the bill reads. "A public K-12 school may never allow
a biological male to participate on a female team."
The Editor says...
One's sex is determined by genetics at the moment of conception. It is not "assigned at birth."
This newspaper article reeks with bias: Texas
Senate passes transgender sports bill that critics decry as another 'bathroom bill'. The Texas Senate approved
a controversial transgender sports bill Thursday [4/15/2021] that would force young athletes in Texas to compete in sports
that align with the sex designated on their original birth certificate rather than with their gender identity. The
18-12 vote followed a marathon March 26 hearing that featured emotional testimony on the bill, which foes decry as
discriminatory and anti-LGBTQ.
USA
Today Beats Up On 'Hateful,' Ignorant Red States For Opposing Trans Athletes. USA Today ultra-leftist
Nancy Armour swung a big bat Tuesday [4/13/2021], verbally bludgeoning hateful, ignorant conservative state lawmakers working
to protect women's sports. She accused them of trying to "otherize" trans athletes and open a new front in the culture
war, repeated LGBT talking points and urged the NCAA to hurt conservative states in the pocketbook. Nearly half the
state legislatures are trying to protect women's sports from the intrusion of confused males competing with females.
Armour accused them of passing bills that aren't based on scientific facts. It's bigotry that comes with a price, and
she exhorted the NCAA to inflict financial pain on conservative states.
NCAA
backs biological males competing in women's sports, as showdown looms with Florida over pending law. The
National Collegiate Athletic Association, a cartel controlling the multibillion-dollar college athletics business, may be
painting itself into a corner. Probably because it is a creature of the higher education industry that has gone off the
deep end in its commitment to far-left politics, the NCAA is taking an extreme position on transgenderism and apparently
seeking a confrontation with the State of Florida if it passes a law currently under consideration that would limit
participation in women's sports to women.
NCAA
Upholds Policy of Transgender Women Competing in Women's Sports. The NCAA reaffirmed its decision to refuse to
hold college championships in states where laws "discriminate" against male athletes who identify as female. The board
of governors issued a statement that "firmly and unequivocally" supports the inclusion of transgender athletes in college
sports. The statement comes after several states have passed laws preventing biological males from competing in girls'
athletics. Apparently, the NCAA, which governs rules on competition in college sports, thinks it's OK for biological
males to compete against biological females. The only way they can allow this is if they ignore the biology in favor of
being fashionable.
NCAA
issues stern warning as Texas Senate prepares to debate transgender sports bill. Amid all the talk of boycotts
and corporate criticism of election bills going through the Texas Legislature, major resistance is shaping up to another top
priority of Republican state lawmakers. With the Texas Senate set to debate a bill to ban transgender girls from
competing in girls' interscholastic sports, the NCAA recently issued a warning that it is watching the legislation.
NCAA policies allow transgender athletes to participate without limitation. "The NCAA continues to closely monitor
state bills that impact transgender student-athlete participation," NCAA officials said in a statement to the Houston
Chronicle. "The NCAA believes in fair and respectful student-athlete participation at all levels of sport. The
association's transgender student-athlete participation policy and other diversity policies are designed to facilitate and
support inclusion."
America's creation
of the transgender child. [Scroll down] One might imagine the locus of concern would be the ethics of
medicating and operating on children physically to alleviate mental distress, but it is the impact on sport which has
captured the public imagination. The repeated triumph of biological males who identify as girls over actual girls in
athletics has left the "transwomen are women" mantra looking a little flimsy. There has already been one legal case
challenging the fairness of allowing competition on the basis of "gender identity." In some states, laws are coming into
effect to ensure that girls are given a fighting chance and that events are divided by physical sex. The evidence is
clear, as developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton explained in a 2019 review of the International Olympic Committee
guidelines: "Males can run faster, jump longer, throw further and lift heavier than females. They outperform
females by 10 percent on the running track to 30 percent when throwing various balls... Males have around
40 percent more muscle mass, even when height is taken into account, and 40 percent less body fat."
TN
governor signs transgender sports bill, will require students to prove their sex before playing. Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee on Friday [3/26/2021] signed a bill into law that will prohibit transgender students from playing on the
team of the sex with which they identify, one of numerous such bills currently working their way through statehouses around
the country. Tennessee's H.B. 3 directs that "a student's gender for purposes of participation in a public middle
school or high school interscholastic athletic activity or event must be determined by the student's sex at the time of the
student's birth, as indicated on the student's original birth certificate." The rule effectively bars transgender
athletes from selecting a team based on their internal sense of "gender identity."
SD
House Speaker to Reject Gov. Kristi Noem's Request to Rework Bill on Transgender Athletes. The battle over
legislation in South Dakota to prevent biological men from competing against biological women in school sports will come to a
head on "Veto Day," which takes place on Monday [3/29/2021] — also the last day of the state's legislation
session. And now House Speaker Spencer Gosch, a Republican, announced he would recommend lawmakers reject Gov. Kristi
Noem's controversial stance to not veto House Bill 1217 but to ask for revisions to it, including removing the language
to eliminate the ban in collegiate sports and removing the requirement for birth certificate sex to be proven annually.
Governor
signs bill barring transgender athletes from female sports in Arkansas. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
signed Thursday [3/25/2021] legislation barring transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, an issue
gaining steam in Republican-led state legislatures despite pushback from LGBTQ and business groups. The Republican
governor signed SB 354, the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, shortly after it passed both chambers by wide margins. The
bill was delivered to his desk Tuesday. "I have studied the law and heard from hundreds of constituents on this issue,"
Mr. Hutchinson said. "I signed the law as a fan of women's sports from basketball to soccer and including many
others in which women compete successfully. This law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a
sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women's competition."
Cancel
the 'Cancel Culture' Defense of Terrible Republicans. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem claims she's a victim
of "conservative cancel culture." After vetoing a popular bill to defend women's sports from the transgender lobby, Noem
insists she did no such thing. She claims she only rejected the bill because legendary (but unnamed) conservative legal
scholars told her she would lose a fight with the National Collegiate Athletic Association. "If any number of
conservative pundits are to be believed, that same governor who refused to cave is now caving to the NCAA and Amazon on the
issue of fairness in women's sports. What? Apparently, uninformed cancel culture is fine when the right is eating
their own," Noem spokesman Ian Fury said in a press statement. "Furthermore, the bill picked a fight with the
NCAA — a fight that renowned conservative legal experts advise Governor Noem that she will lose, especially
considering South Dakota's unfriendly federal bench." Apparently, if the NCAA threatens a lawsuit, you get a pass to
betray your constituents.
The
Worst Thing About Kristi Noem's Sports Capitulation Is Her Lies. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem raised some
valid concerns when she returned House Bill 1217 to the state legislature for "style and form" changes. But two of the
proposed amendments to the bill that legislators drafted to prevent males from competing as females in athletic events,
coupled with the spin since Noem announced she would not sign H.B. 1217 as written, give the governor's game away: She
caved. As I explained earlier this week, H.B. 1217 originally consisted of four sections, with Section 1 providing
that elementary, secondary, and collegiate athletic teams must be defined as male, female, or coeducational, then further stating
that teams or sports designated as female are "available only to participants who are female, based on their biological sex."
Oh
Noem, Not Another Squish! You know who is laughing right now? Nikki! Haley is, because Kristi Noem
may have derailed her own electoral freight train as it rolled down the conservative governortrix tracks toward the GOP nom
in 2024. [...] What did she do? She vetoed a bill defending women athletes from the insanity of letting men dominate
them, a "style and form" veto, and then offered the most weaksauce weasel word explanation imaginable. Here tweet
thread trying to explain it was lame; her appearance on Tucker was condescending gibberish. Watching it, woke cons
started out disappointed with her and ended up infuriated at her.
Alternative viewpoint: Have
We Lost Nuance? What did [South Dakota Governor Kristi] Noem do that upset so many of my fellow
conservatives? She didn't sign a bill banning boys from playing in girls' sports in South Dakota. That sounds
simple enough, it's something she's said she's for and she went against it. But, like everything in life, it's more
nuanced than that. But nuance isn't allowed anymore. If Noem had signed the bill, it would have been immediately
tied up in court and there would have been years of litigation, likely blocked by a court throughout. Noem didn't veto
it, she sent it back to the legislature to be revised. How? She wants the part about the law applying to colleges
removed. That might sound bad, and it's certainly not what most people want, but it's important to avoid that
injunction and long legal battle because the governor has little to no say over college sports. State governments have
enormous influence over public schools K-12, but very little over private schools and universities.
Dakota
Gov. Noem says she'll sign legislature's transgender sports bill after minor fixes made. South Dakota
Republican Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday she'll sign a state legislature bill that would ban transgender athletes from
competing in women's sports — after creating a conservative uproar last week by vetoing the measure. Noem,
considered a top potential 2024 presidential candidate, said at a press conference that she'll sign the bill after
legislators make what she considers minor changes — limiting the ban to high school and elementary schools for
male athletes who identify as female athletes. The governor does want such a ban on college athletics at this time, she
said, over concerns about the National Collegiate Athletic Association's standing on the matter.
Kristi Noem v.
NCAA. Kristi Noem should have paid attention to some of the history behind her own name rather than the listen
to the advice of attorneys and lobbyists. She didn't realize that she had the power to wreck the NCAA if it didn't bow
to her wishes. If she had signed the "women's protection" legislation she would have stayed on the path to the
presidency. Now, that future has almost certainly vanished. [...] By standing firm she would have directed a brilliant
and withering light onto the power-mad cowards that run the NCAA. She could have easily created the coalition against
men-in-women's-sports that she desires. Maybe she still can. But now, all perceive her as weak. Will she
recover politically? Maybe. Probably not.
Bowing
To Corporate Demands For Watered-Down Bill, Gov. Kristi Noem Sells Out Women's Sports. On Friday
[3/19/2021], South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem balked on signing House Bill 1217 when the bill to promote fairness in
women's sports crossed her desk. But instead of vetoing the legislation, Noem returned the bill to the House with what
she called "recommendations as to STYLE and FORM." The Republican governor's spin, however, cannot withstand
scrutiny — most specifically her claimed reasoning for removing collegiate athletics from the bill's
protections. As finalized by the South Dakota legislature, Section 1 of H.B. 1217 provided that athletic teams and
sports in the state, including at institutions of higher education, must be expressly designated as male, female, or
coeducation. It also stipulated that teams or sports designed as female must be "available only to participants who are
female, based on their biological sex."
Gov.
Kristi Noem Sends Transgender Athletes Bill Back to Legislature for Changes. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
(R) returned a bill designed to prevent biological men from competing in biological women's sports back to her state
legislature on Friday for changes. Noem cited in a public letter changes she is requesting to the bill, specifying they
are revisions of "style and form." The changes include removing collegiate athletics from the bill, thereby limiting its
application to K-12 athletics, and modifying language about civil liability and performance-enhancing drugs.
Track
star's dream dashed by transgender rules. The Louisiana State University Lady Tigers have won 25 national
championships in track and field, and Alanna Smith dreams of contributing to another someday. She just doesn't think
she should have to beat guys to get there. "When I didn't have to run against biological males, I felt I had a chance,"
said Alanna, 17. "Whether I came in first or fifth place, I knew that was the spot I deserved. Now it's dispiriting
to know who is going to win."
Where
Are All the Girls In Boys' Sports? It's probably a question I'm not allowed to ask, but I honestly don't
care. And the fact that it will upset a bunch of pearl-clutching leftists and gender fascists just makes me want to ask
it more, and louder. But with all the talk from the left about transgender rights and how boys who believe they are
girls should be allowed to compete in any sport they so choose, why aren't there any stories of the opposite happening?
Where are the girls in boys' sports? It's pretty easy to find stories about boys competing in girls' sports,
particularly track and field events, largely because they tend to win... by a lot. Records are being broken, record
books rewritten, and scholarships awarded to boys who "identify" as girls, but has there been one case of a girl identifying
as a boy, not only competing in boys' sports, but dominating? I can't find one.
Tate
Reeves Signs Bill To Ensure 'Young Girls Are Not Forced To Compete Against Biological Males'. Mississippi
Governor Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Fairness Act into law on Thursday so that "young girls are not forced to compete
against biological males." "This is an important day for the women and girls of Mississippi," Reeves said. "This
important piece of legislature will ensure young girls in Mississippi have a fair playing field in public sports." "I
never imagined dealing with this, but POTUS left us no choice," Reeves wrote on Twitter. "One of his first acts was to
sign an EO encouraging transgenderism in children. So today, I proudly signed the Mississippi Fairness Act to ensure
young girls are not forced to compete against biological males."
Mississippi
Governor Bans Transgenders From Participating In Female Sports. Not everyone is bowing down to the Biden
regime. The Governor of Mississippi has just banned transgender athletes from competing in female sports.
Gov. Tate Reeves's new ban defies Biden's Executive Order that called on schools to allow students to participate in
athletics under their chosen gender identity. Hats off to Gov. Reeves for standing up for woman's rights!
Arkansas
Advances Bill Protecting Girls From Having To Compete Against Biological Males In Sports. The Arkansas state
Senate will vote on the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act" after the state's Senate Education Committee endorsed the measure
with a 5-3 vote at the start of the week. "Senate Bill 354 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, would allow
students 'deprived of an athletic opportunity' or suffering 'direct or indirect harm' as a result of a
kindergarten-through-12th-grade school or higher-education institution not maintaining separate teams for cisgender female
students to seek injunctive relief against the school, as well as monetary damages," the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.
Saying 'No'
to the Cancel Culture. [Scroll down] On second thought, don't laugh. If there's one thing we've
learned from chronicling the inimical antics of the cultural-Marxist left for more than half a century, there's no idea too
stupid or malignant for them to advocate and then channel into public policy. Notions too absurd for words just a few
years ago — such as allowing biological males in sports bras to compete with real women in various sports,
including wrestling and boxing — are now mandated in some places. Meanwhile, the breach of the Capitol on
Jan. 6 has become an "insurrection" and supporters of former president Trump have become "far-right extremists."
And if you object, you're a "bigot" or a threat to "our democracy."
Biden
Celebrates International Women's Day by Forcing Girls to Share Bathrooms, Sports Teams, With Boys. President
Joe Biden pulled out all the stops for International Women's Day on Monday, but he arguably undercut women's advancement
while paying lip service to it. He issued a glowing statement about women's empowerment, launched a Gender Policy
Council, and signed an executive order barring "sex discrimination" — including discrimination on the basis of
gender identity — in public schools. On one hand, Biden celebrated women's advancement, and on the other, he
forced schoolgirls to share bathrooms and sports teams with biological boys.
These
girls are hurt by transgender competition. Alanna Smith's dedication to her sport is profound. Just
listening to the elite high school track star explain her training schedule is exhausting. Yet no matter how hard she
trains, if she has to compete against biological males, she stands no chance of winning. "There is simply a biological
advantage that males have over females," explained the daughter of baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Lee Smith. "Here is a
perfect example," Smith told me. "I have a twin brother who is an athlete but does not run competitively for his
sports. We raced against each other recently, and he beat me. Not because he trained harder, but because there
are biological and physical advantages boys have over girls in some sports."
I Refuse to Play
Make Believe Any Longer. Unfortunately we have tens of millions of people still playing make believe,
pretending that something is true when it absolutely isn't. The simplest example on this is this whole idea that a
teenage boy can declare himself a girl and now join the high school girls track team. This requires everyone around him
to suspend belief and pretend that he isn't a boy. In fact, they DEMAND that we do so. Even when it is patently
obvious that it is simply not true. Think about it. If they can make you go along with the idea that a human body
with a penis is actually a girl, in spite of all science saying otherwise, they can make you believe anything. The make
believe is designed to destroy the concept of absolute truth.
Judge
Rules Miss USA Can Exclude Transgender Women. A federal judge on Thursday [2/25/2021] dismissed a lawsuit
brought by a transgender woman who accused Miss United States of America of discriminating against her after they denied her
the right to compete because she was not a biological female, according to reports. Pageant contestant Anita Noelle
Green sued Miss U.S.A in December of 2019 after she alleged the pageant denied her application and refunded her entry fees on
the day she applied. The Miss U.S.A pageant only allows "natural born biological females" to compete, according to a
Motion to Dismiss filed by the pageant. The pageant argued that under the First Amendment it has rights to free
association. The pageant argued that the pageant is meant for biological women and that allowing Green to participate
would "undermine its vision" and that had the court ruled in favor of Green it would be undermining the pageants "message
about empowering only biological women."
Connecticut
girls lose support from Biden administration in transgender athlete case. The Biden administration has
withdrawn from a Connecticut lawsuit that aims to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' high school sports.
A group of three female runners sued state and local education officials after losing state titles to transgender athletes in
2018. Backers of the lawsuit contend that athletes who were born male have a natural and unfair advantage over competitors
who were born female. Supporters of the transgender athletes in the case argue that once hormone therapies take effect,
the male genetic advantage fades away — although those effects aren't immediate, and many teens don't begin taking
such drugs until after puberty.
DOJ
withdraws from transgender athletes case. The Biden administration has withdrawn its support for a federal
lawsuit in Connecticut that seeks to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls' high school sports.
Connecticut allows high school athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity. The lawsuit was filed
a year ago by several cisgender runners who argue they have been deprived of wins, state titles and athletic opportunities by
being forced to compete against two transgender sprinters. The Justice Department and the Education Department's Office
for Civil Rights withdrew their support for the case ahead of a hearing scheduled for Friday on a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Governor:
Transgender athletes will 'destroy women's sports'. Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday
[2/10/2021] that transgender girls should be banned from playing on middle and high school sports teams or they will "destroy
women's sports." "I do believe that transgenders participating in women's sports will destroy women's sports," Lee, who
is up for reelection next year, told reporters. "It will ruin the opportunity for girls to earn scholarships. It
will put a glass ceiling back over women that hasn't been there in some time. I think it's bad for women and for
women's sports."
Psaki
When Asked About Biden's EO Forcing Girls to Compete Against Biological Males: Transgenders are More Important Than
Your Daughters. What about the rights of young girls? When asked about the White House's message to young
girls being forced to compete against biological males, Psaki said Biden's belief is trans rights are human rights. In
other words, Joe Biden believes biological males who identify as transgender, are more important than your daughters.
Psaki then deferred the reporter to the schools that are forced to allow biological males to compete with biological
females — because of Joe Biden's executive order.
Girls
will be Boys, and Boys will be Girls. [Biden's] January 20 executive order, "Preventing and combating
discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation" means that women's sports are now open to males who
"identify" as females, [...] Not only sports, but also restrooms, locker rooms, and any school sports. If members of
the boys' high school soccer team decide to identify as girls, they can join the girls' soccer team and shower with them
too. What could go wrong? Joe Biden instinctively knows there are biologic differences between boys and
girls. There are multiple photos and videos of Biden inappropriately touching and sniffing girls and women, but not
boys or men. He is disregarding his own executive order by discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Rand
Paul Denounces Biden Transgender Sports Policy. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) challenged President Joe Biden's
Education Secretary nominee on his statement it is "appropriate" to allow boys to compete in girls' sports by asking, "What
planet are you from?" During a confirmation hearing Wednesday [2/3/2021] of the Senate committee that oversees
education, the Kentucky senator asked Miguel Cardona if he thinks it is "fair" to allow boys claiming to be transgender to
participate in girls' sports, and about how it affects girls competing in these athletic events. "I think it is
appropriate," Cardona replied. "It is the legal responsibility of schools to provide opportunities for students to
participate in activities and this includes students who are transgender."
Be a tribe of one.
Suppose you're a die-hard Democrat. What do you do about such issues as: Transgenderism in women's sports.
Do you side with persons having male chromosomes but identify as women when they want to compete in sports against women,
simply because such persons are overwhelmingly Democrats? Or do you side with genetic women — who are also
predominately Democrats — who are concerned that subjecting genetic women to competition from persons who've spent
most of their lives developing height, girth and muscle mass as a man with male chromosomes and testosterone levels will
destroy women's sports?
Retired
NFL Player Calls For Separate Transgender Category Of Sports After Biden Executive Order. Retired NFL defensive
end Marcellus Wiley suggested a separate category for transgender athletes after President Joe Biden recently issued an
executive order allowing males who identify as female to participate in women's sports. [...] Biden's executive order
mandates that any school that receives federal funding must allow males who identify as females to play on girls' sports
teams or face repercussions from the Department of Education.
So much
for Joe Biden, moderate. [For example,] allowing men in women's sports. My guess is that Biden's day-one
executive order that vastly expands the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision will come back to haunt
both him and Democratic political candidates. The order's language with respect to public schools says, "All persons
should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation." Schools will likely
interpret that as saying boys who simply identify as girls must be allowed to compete in girls' sports. Ironically, the
Supreme Court's 6-3 Bostock decision specifically excluded the Biden approach. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the
majority, "we do not purport to address bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind." — which is exactly
what Biden's order does. Given the undeniable additional strength, speed, size and stamina of most male athletes when
compared to their female counterparts, it means that male athletes who identify as females will dominate their respective
sport. There are perks to being the top athletes in a class, including college scholarships and high-paying
professional opportunities.
Kamala
Harris undermines her historic vice presidency by supporting policies ruinous to women. Kamala Harris made
history when she became our country's first female vice president. While electing the first woman to a nationwide
office serves as an important milestone, Harris's policy positions themselves provide little comfort to women. On
numerous issues, Harris will undermine, rather than advance, causes that are important to women. Take, for instance,
Harris's support for the Equality Act. This legislation, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation as protected
categories to the Civil Rights Act, would be bad for those born biologically female. If enacted, the Equality Act would
functionally give individuals born biologically male federal approval to enter sporting competitions previously reserved for
those born biologically female. It could also subject parents who prohibit their underage children from undergoing
gender transition procedures to potential civil rights enforcement actions.
On
Day One, Biden Destroys Women's Sports With Anti-Science Executive Order. President Joe Biden issued an
executive order on his first day in office, mandating that any schools that receive federal funding must function as if
biological males who claim to be females are the same, and vice versa, or risk losing that funding. This
pro-transgender policy extends to male athletes who claim their gender identity as a female should allow them to compete on
women's teams, receive women's scholarships, and be admitted in women's locker rooms. "Children should be able to learn
without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports," the executive
order reads, promising that the Biden administration is committed to "prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of
gender identity or sexual orientation."
Activists:
Biden's Embrace of Transgender Athletes [is] a Blow to Women's Rights. President-Elect Joe Biden's promise to
embrace transgender ideology will likely include supporting biological men who say their gender identity is female to compete
in sports against biological women. Attorneys representing transgender athletes and women athletes expect Biden's
Department of Education to reverse course in two lawsuits in Idaho and Connecticut that the Trump administration had backed
to protect women's rights.
Equality
Laws Should Protect Biological Women, Not Those Claiming to Be. Title IX is landmark legislation that was
passed to ensure that women would have the same opportunities as their male counterparts in any education program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance. While Title IX did not explicitly mention athletics, it's come to be known for
its impact on women and their participation in collegiate sports. Fast forward a few decades. Whereas it was clear
that Title IX would apply to women, it has become increasingly difficult to define what, exactly, qualifies as a
"woman" or more specifically, a female. That is because the trans rights movement has made biological certainty less
important than "identification." Now we have biological men identifying as women, even though they were born with male
genitalia, and may in fact still have that genitalia. We have individuals who have all of the biological attributes of
males, including their strength and innate athletic abilities, who present themselves as females.
Keeping Male
Bodies Out of Women's Rugby. From November 2015 until February 2020, World Rugby, rugby's global governing
body, incorporated guidelines established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on transgender participation in
sports. According to these rules, males who wish to self-identify into women's rugby could do so if they committed to
reducing their testosterone levels to 10 nmol per liter or lower for at least 12 months. (The average level
for men is about seven times that level.) During this period, instances of biological males playing in the women's game
increased, and some participants began to express alarm. One rugby referee posted on the website Fair Play for Women, for
instance, that "being forced to prioritize hurt feelings over broken bones exposes me to personal litigation from female
players who have been harmed by players who are biologically male. This is driving female players and referees out of
the game."
New
Bill Would Ban Biological Males From Women's Sports. There is a reason why, even when discrimination based on
sex is outlawed, we still allow separate sports teams (not to mention separate bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers) for
males and females. That reason has nothing to do with their psychological "gender identity." Instead, it has
everything to do with the fact that males and females have different anatomies from birth, with those differences accentuated
after puberty. The average man is larger, stronger, and faster than the average woman, so women would simply have no
chance of reaching elite levels of competition if forced to compete against men. Female high school track athletes in
one state alone (Connecticut) have lost 15 medals to biological males in state competition in the last two years —
reducing their chances for college athletic scholarships in the process.
Judge Blocks
Idaho Law That Prevents Transgender Women From Participating In Female Athletics. U.S. District Judge David Nye
of Idaho ordered a preliminary injunction on Monday temporarily halting a state law that prohibits transgender girls and
women from competing in female athletics, The Idaho Statesman reported. Nye's ruling will allow transgender girls and
women to participate in women's sports this upcoming fall at colleges and in secondary schools as the lawsuit proceeds, the
Statesman reported.
High
School Runner Who Lost to Transgender Athletes Will Compete in College. By now, millions know the story of
Selina Soule, the high school track star from Connecticut who missed qualifying for the New England track and field regionals
by two spots in her top event. Those two spots were taken by biological boys who identify as girls. Soule, who is
wise beyond her years, was well aware that she could face consequences for speaking out about being forced to compete against
biological males. But she recognized a greater need. Little did Soule know that she would do more than speak
out. She became one of the most well-known faces of the movement to protect women's sports from being erased.
Ted
Cruz: Biological Males Should Not Be Allowed to Compete in Girls' Sports. When asked whether biological
males who identify as females should be allowed to play girls' sports, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, "no," and explained
that it would undermine girls' sports and be unfair to be millions of female athletes. At the Capitol on Wednesday
[6/24/2020], CNS News asked Senator Cruz, "When the House Judiciary Committee considered the Equality Act it rejected an
amendment that said the act would not require biological females to face biological males in sports competition. Should
biological males who say they identify as females be allowed to play girls' sports?" "No. I think it is unfair to
girls to force them to compete against biological males," the senator said. "And we're seeing a serious undermining of
girls' sports — as state championships, state records in locations across the country, one after the other, after
the other, are falling and being taken by biological males. And I think that's unfair to millions of female athletes."
Congressional
Dems Sign Letter Demanding Education Dept. Allow Males in Girls Sports. A group of congressional
Democrats signed a letter on Wednesday demanding that the Department of Education allow males to participate in girls
sports. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and 27 other Democratic members of Congress signed the letter, which
stated that the department's order "discriminates against transgender youth" by ruling that it is a violation of women's
access to education and athletics for public schools to allow biological males who identify as female to participate in
female sports.
I'm
a female student athlete. Please protect women's sports from transgender athletes. A female athlete at
Idaho State University who is seeking to defend Idaho's new Fairness in Women's Sports Act has shared her story in the pages
of the Idaho Statesman. The law bars biological boys from participating in girls' sports and it faces a challenge
from the ACLU.
Connecticut
transgender sports policy discriminated against biological girls, feds conclude. The U.S. Education
Department's Office for Civil Rights has determined Connecticut schools' transgender athletics policy improperly
discriminated against biological girls. The finding was contained in a Letter of Impending Enforcement Action dated May
15 that concluded biological females were negatively impacted because the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and
public schools allowed biological males to compete against them. "For the aforementioned reasons, OCR also determined
that the CIAC, Glastonbury, Bloomfield, Hartford, Cromwell, Canton, and Danbury treated student-athletes differently based on
sex, by denying benefits and opportunities to female students that were available to male students," the letter states.
Idaho
Bars Biologically Male Athletes From Competing in All-Female Sports. Idaho governor Brad Little (R.) on Monday
[3/30/2020] signed the Fairness in Women's Sports Act to prohibit biologically male students from participating in all-female
sports. "Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male
sex," the bill states. The law cites differences in male and female physiology that results in distinct athletic
capabilities. "Under this bill, boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it
is not fair," state representative Barbara Ehardt told Reuters.
Trump
DOJ defends female athletes. The Justice Department has filed a statement of interest in a case challenging a
Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) policy that enables biological males to compete against biological
females. [...] From a legal standpoint, it's important to note that Title IX of the Civil Righs Act and its implementing
regulations prohibit discrimination "on the basis of sex," not on the basis of transgender status. Therefore, the law
neither requires nor authorizes CIAC's transgender policy. Moreover, as the Attorney General explained, one of Title
IX's core purposes is to ensure that women have an "equal athletic opportunity" to participate in school athletic
programs. This purpose is fulfilled by the establishment of separate athletic teams for men and women and by ensuring
that those teams are on equal footing.
Transgender
sports: Trump's Justice Department weighs in on the side of science. Title IX says that, in the education
setting, people cannot be discriminated against based on their sex. Congress passed Title IX in 1972, at a time when
people had the old-fashioned idea that there were two sexes, one with XX chromosomes and the other with XY chromosomes.
Fast-forward almost fifty years, and you have Connecticut government entities insisting that if a boy claims to be a girl
(and there's no requirement that he actually believes this false notion), schools must allow him to compete in girls' sports
events. That's how these two boys ran away with the Connecticut High School track championships and, in all
probability, with the college scholarships that could go with them.
Ohio
Joins Fight To Keep Boys Out Of Girls' Sports. The battle lines are still being drawn in the effort to save
women's and girls' competitive sports in the United States and the fight has now moved on to Ohio. In the Buckeye
State, legislators have introduced a new bill with the appropriate name of the Save Womens' Sports Act. Much like
similar legislation being debated around the country, this measure would bar boys who "identify" as girls from competing in
girls' sports for all of the usual and obvious reasons. This measure would apply to all public schools and colleges, as
well as private schools and colleges that are members of a state or national athletic association. As I'm sure you've
already guessed, the proposal is drawing howls of protests from the usual suspects.
Arizona
House passes ban on transgender females in women's sports. Arizona House Republicans passed a controversial
bill that would ban biological males who identify as transgender females from participating in women's sports.
Supporters say the "Save Women's Sports Act" is intended to prevent young girls and women in K-12 schools, community
colleges, and state universities from being forced to compete against biological males, but opponents argue it allows for
discrimination. House Bill 2706 passed along party lines 31-29 and is headed to the state Senate, FOX 10
reports. The bill is strongly opposed by Democrats.
Feminists
Created the Monster Now Devouring Women's Sports. [Scroll down] They ought to point the finger at
Equality Dogma, at whose altar moderns worship and which has been preached, incessantly, to advance an agenda. The idea
was that if you could convince people the sexes were basically equal in worldly capacities, no one would think there was any
reason to keep women out of what traditionally had been male realms. Voila! Goodbye, discrimination! This
was convenient when girls/women wanted to join police forces and fire departments, enter military academies such as the
Citadel or Virginia Military Institute, join boys' sports teams and Little League, and previously all-male clubs. It's
not so convenient now that the thinking is being taken closer to its logical conclusion. But the point is this:
If because the sexes "are basically equal in capacities" there's no reason to keep women out of men's arenas, there's also no
reason to keep men out of women's arenas. In fact, not only is this turnabout an imperative of equality, there isn't
even a good reason to have separate, sex-specific arenas in the first place.
Should Transgender
Athletes Compete Against Women? On February 12, three female high school students in Connecticut filed a
federal lawsuit against the participation of transgender athletes (with male anatomy) in female track and field events.
The three students, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, have a fairly simple and straightforward argument:
They claim allowing biologically male students to compete against biologically female students is unfair and runs afoul (no
pun intended) of their basic civil rights. They also argue, quite convincingly, that allowing biologically male
students to compete against them has undermined their ability to win races as well as opportunities for scholarships.
Alanna Smith, who is a sophomore at Danbury High School, described her frustration running against males who identify as
women, "Mentally and physically, we know the outcome before the race even starts."
Summertime
Blues for the Olympics. Although we are currently in the dead of winter, summer will be here before we know
it. Democrats may be singing the Summertime Blues along with Eddie Cochran, "I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a
holler" when they are forced to nominate a socialist to represent their party in the upcoming presidential election. Or
alternatively alienate half of their base. There will also be a bit of fussing and hollering over the 2020 Summer
Olympics in Tokyo. Assuming the coronavirus outbreak doesn't turn into a science fiction movie leading to a near
extinction event, gender politics and intersectionality are likely to provide a healthy dose of dyspepsia for Olympic
committees and organizers. As a preview of coming summertime gender wars, a biological male was invited to the US
Olympic track and field trials to compete against American women.
Biologically
Male Runner To Compete In USA Women's Olympic Trials. A biologically male marathon runner who identifies as a
transgender woman is set to compete in the USA Olympic trials later in February. Megan Youngren "is set to make history
on Feb. 29 as the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials," Sports Illustrated
reported. Youngren qualified for the trials after a strong performance on Dec. 8, 2019 in the California International
Marathon. [...] The International Olympic Committee requires transgender athletes in women's sports to keep their testosterone
levels below a certain threshold, but scientific research suggests that suppressing testosterone isn't enough to neutralize
biologically male athletes' inherent physiological advantages.
Three
female students file lawsuit against Connecticut transgender-athlete policy. Three female high school athletes
filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging Connecticut's prep sports rules that allow biological males to compete against
girls, arguing that the policy robs them of competition and scholarship opportunities. The lawsuit argued that teen
track athletes Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell and Alanna Smith have been deprived of "honors and opportunities" after losing
track-and-field races to biological males who identify as females, thanks to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic
Conference's policy allowing students to compete based on their gender identity.
Families
Unite to Prevent Transgender Athletes From Competing in Girl's Sports. When men compete against women in
sports, men compete with an advantage over their female opponents. Denser bone and muscle structure, more lung capacity
for extra oxygen, and more lend to a physical advantage that usually makes it easy for a man to come out on top. This
is why transgender athletes, specifically biological men competing as women, tend to easily win competitions meant for
women. It's unfair, and three families are doing something about it. According to ABC News, these three families
from different high schools are coming together to file a federal lawsuit that would block transgender athletes from
competing in competitions not meant for them.
NH
bill limits women's sports to girls born female. Legislation to prevent students born male from competing on
female sports teams drew passionate testimony Tuesday, with supporters defending it as a way to ensure fairness and opponents
decrying it as a violation of state anti-discrimination law. Victoria Galla of Chesterfield told the House Education
Committee she moved from Massachusetts and New York City to get away from the gender-identity politics she believes are
destroying the lives of confused young people.
Georgia
Introduces Bill to Make Transgender Students Compete as Assigned Birth Gender. The Georgia legislature is set to
debate a bill that would require students to compete in the category of their birth gender. The bill was filed by Philip
Singleton, a recently elected Republican State Representative from Sharpsburg, Georgia. Singleton said that his bill aimed
to eliminate the "unfair advantage" transgender athletes might have, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Male
Transjacking Will Ultimately End Women's Sports. This Friday, the top four NCAA Division III women's soccer
teams face off in the national semifinals. One of the final four teams' goalkeepers, Isa Berardo, is a male transgender
playing as a female for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges. Not surprisingly, the male goalie has dominated the field against
opposing female players, giving his own a chance to win the national championship thanks to his physical advantages in a key
position. This is increasingly happening throughout women's sports, at all levels from elementary school through
professional competitions. It's creating not equality, but inequality.
Transgenderism
and the Olympics. Next year's Tokyo Summer Olympics may spell the swift death of the transgender movement as a
dominant politically-correct touchstone. Biological men, self-identifying as women, are poised to make a clean sweep of
the Women's Olympics, triggering a very public debate on this third-rail subject.
Rachel
McKinnon Is a Cheat and a Bully. Rachel McKinnon — the so-called defending "world champion" of
women's track cycling — is a man. I'll repeat that so my meaning cannot be misconstrued. He is
a man. Maybe my kind-hearted reader is offended by this blunt phrasing. Why am I calling McKinnon a
man — when, perhaps for complicated reasons, he would rather be called a woman? Why don't I compromise and
call him a "trans woman," as others do? Or be polite and address him by "she/her" pronouns, like everyone else in the
media? Well, I'll tell you why, since you asked. This is precisely the well-meant, tragically naïve logic
that has enabled a structure of lies and tyranny to be erected around us, a structure that most cannot opt out of without
incurring an enormous social cost. It is a structure in which cheating and viciousness are rewarded while civility and
truth-telling are punished.
Male
Runner Wins NCAA Conference's 'Female Athlete of the Week'. Earlier this week, the Big Sky Conference named a
male runner as the female cross-country athlete of the week. Jonathan Eastwood (yes, I'm deadnaming, sue me) previously
competed on the men's team but joined the women's cross-country team at the University of Montana this fall. By joining
the women's team and competing under the name June Eastwood, he became the first "transgender" athlete to compete on an NCAA
Division I women's running team — which is likely the only reason he was given the honor.
Biologically
Male NCAA Runner Named Conference Female Athlete Of The Week. The Big Sky Conference named University of
Montana runner June Eastwood, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, the cross-country female athlete of
the week. "June Eastwood finished second in a field of 204 runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational," helping
"Montana place seventh as a team," the conference noted in its announcement Tuesday. Eastwood previously competed on
the University of Montana's men's team.
Transgender Woman Wins 'Female
Athlete of the Week' in NCAA Conference. The Big Sky Conference named University of Montana runner June
Eastwood, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, the cross-country female athlete of the week. "June
Eastwood finished second in a field of 204 runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational," helping "Montana place seventh as
a team," the conference noted in its announcement on Tuesday. Eastwood previously competed on the University of
Montana's men's team.
Feminist
Democrat: Media Won't Let Us Speak Out Against Transgender Agenda. In an interview on his Fox News show
Wednesday night [10/23/2019], host Tucker Carlson spoke with Women's Liberation Front board member Kara Dansky — a
self-described "lifelong" Democrat — about the controversy swirling around the latest championship won by a
biological male in a women's sports competition. In response to Carlson's questions about transgender cyclist Rachel
McKinnon — a biological male who just set a world record in a women's track cycling championship —
Dansky said that many on the Left strongly oppose the transgender agenda but are "subjected to a media blackout."
Transgender
cyclist Rachel McKinnon dominates as competitors raise questions. Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon keeps
dominating women's cycling. And she keeps creating controversy all the way. Last weekend at the Masters Track
Cycling World Championships in Manchester, England, the 37-year-old Canadian first set a world record in qualifying for the
35-39 age category 200-meter sprint, then went on to defend her title in the finals.
Transgender
Cyclist Wins Female Cycling World Championship, Claims Only Objections Come from 'Losers'. Cyclist Rachel McKinnon,
a biological male who presents as a woman, won the women's world championship on Saturday, and set a women's world record in the
qualifying event. McKinnon, a Canadian philosophy professor at the College of Charleston, won the same event in 2018.
In a Friday [10/18/2019] interview with Sky News, McKinnon said that attempts to level the playing field for women's sports by
discriminating against transgender athletes was the equivalent of "denying their human rights." "All my medical records
say female," McKinnon said. "My doctor treats me as a female person, my racing license says female, but people who
oppose my existence still want to think of me as male...["]
Democrats Are
Making Girls' Sports A 2020 Campaign Issue. Establishment Media Aren't Telling You. Democrats have made
girls' sports a 2020 campaign issue, but establishment media outlets are keeping their viewers and readers in the dark.
Every Democratic frontrunner has pledged their support of the Equality Act, which would make "gender identity" a protected
characteristic under federal anti-discrimination law. Among other things, the bill would force public schools to expand
female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls. Every Democratic frontrunner for
president has pledged their support for the bill, which passed the House in May with unanimous Democratic support. But
when establishment media outlets have covered the Equality Act in relation to the 2020 election, the girls' sports issue has
gone missing.
Transgender
athletes deserve compassion, but not the right to transform women's sports. Since the advent of Title
IX — a federal law that expanded athletic and educational opportunities for women — millions of girls
and women have benefited from their own teams and chances for growth. But these opportunities risk being redefined and
obliterated, because of a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes
v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will be argued this October. The case centers on the question of
whether the meaning of the word "sex" in employment law (Title VII) also covers gender identity. While its outcome
obviously matters for the people immediately involved, the Supreme Court's ruling on the meaning of the word "sex" has direct
and profound implications for other parts of federal law. It matters for the millions of girls and women affected by
analogous laws such as those that ensure equal opportunities for education and athletic opportunities "on the basis of sex."
Dems'
Transgender, Sexual Assault Policies Wage War On Both Sexes. A new ad supporting Republican Kentucky
Gov. Matt Bevin, who is in a tight race with his Democratic opponent Andy Beshear, shows female track athletes being
left in the dust by a male competitor who identifies as female. The looks on the faces of the girls watching the male
athlete celebrating are unforgettable. "Andy Beshear supports legislation that would destroy girls' sports. He
calls it 'equality.' Maybe. But is it fair?" asks the ad's female narrator.
Liberals
Embrace Anti-Feminism in Transgender Sports Debate. Anti-feminists continue their unapologetic efforts to
destroy women's sports at all levels. Not satisfied to just ruin high school girls' athletics, they are setting their
sights higher. This week's headline indicated that Juniper Eastwood, a University of Montana cross-country runner, will
become the first transgender (i.e. biological male) athlete to compete as a female in division I cross country. Anyone
want to bet against him completely dominating his sport?
Is
It Trans Discrimination or Legitimate Concern for Women? The landscape of women's sports has changed
drastically in the last few years. Natural-born males who now identify as women can compete athletically against
natural-born women simply by stating they identify as a woman. This includes quite masculine males who have long since
passed the age of puberty before their purported "transition." What has been buried under the identity politics cacophony are
facts of biology, and the indisputable differences between the two sexes. Those who have spoken out against the sudden
turn of events say they are being censored; some professionals have been fired for not following the trans activist narrative
that prevails in public discourse.
This
Is What LGBTQ Organizations Are Doing to Society. Last month, a transgender weightlifter won multiple gold
medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa. Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand won two gold medals and a silver in the three
heavyweight categories for women weighing more than 87 kilograms, or 192 pounds. Hubbard is physically male.
Last year, two biologically male sophomores at different Connecticut high schools competed in the female division of the state
open track and field competition. They came in first and second place in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Because
the Western world cowers before LGBTQ demands, no matter how unfair they are to women athletes, men who deem themselves
female must be allowed to compete against women. They almost always win.
Democrats
Denied Transgender Athletes Have Advantages In Women's Sports. Science Says They're Wrong. Suppressing
testosterone levels in male athletes isn't enough to eliminate their natural advantages over female athletes, according to a
recently published paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics. The paper's findings contradict congressional Democrats'
claim that male athletes who identify as transgender don't have an inherent advantage over their female competitors.
The paper, "Transwomen in elite sport: scientific and ethical considerations," concluded that male athletes who identify as
transgender women have an "intolerable" advantage over their female competitors.
Democrats,
Transsexuals, and Women's Sports. The gradual subversion of women's sports by the LGBTQ movement could receive
a steroidal-like boost with a victory by Democrats in the 2020 elections. All Democratic presidential candidates have
pledged their support for the Equality Act, which declares one's sex to be whatever he or she self-identifies as, regardless
of the "designated sex at birth." House Democrats voted overwhelmingly in May to approve the measure. Joe Biden
says getting the act passed would be his top legislative priority. Critics say it could devastate girl's and women's
sports. It comes down to a numbers game. Transgenders are just now coming out, much as gays came out
40 years ago.
Transgender
weightlifter wins two gold medals in women's competition. The transgender conquest of women's sports continued
over the weekend as a New Zealand weightlifter took home multiple gold medals at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.
Laurel Hubbard won two gold medals and a silver in the three heavyweight categories, for women weighing more than 87 kilograms,
or 192 pounds, finishing first in the snatch-lift and combined categories and second in the clean-and-jerk. The
41-year-old weightlifter was born as Gavin Hubbard and reportedly transitioned while in the mid-30s.
Sorry,
Ladies: It's Just Biology, Psychology, and Economics. The "inequality" that exists in women's sports is
nothing new, and in spite of what many on the left would have us believe, it involves nothing nefarious. The fact that
consumers overwhelmingly prefer men's sports to women's sports is merely a matter of biology and psychology and not due to
some mythical misogynistic plot. The facts and the data clearly bear this out. [...] Unless the Left continues down
this road, where gender-deluded (or financially savvy?) men are allowed to compete as women, there will never be "equal pay"
or "gender equality" when it comes to athletics, because human sexes are not — and will never be — equal.
Female
athlete alleges retaliation by coach because her mother complained about transgender policy. Boys are competing
in girls' track and field events in Connecticut, at the direction of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, so
that transgender students don't feel invalidated. They are often winning, and the girls are afraid to publicly object
for fear of "retaliation," according to Selina Soule, one of the female competitors. That's why Soule and two of her
unnamed female peers are asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate CIAC for Title IX violations.
Understanding
Leftists in Three Easy Steps. America is fighting a culture war and the Progressive Left is the aggressor. The
latest front was opened on June 21 when the House of Representatives passed the so-called "Equality Act," which would allow boys
who self-identify as girls to compete in school sports as girls. Conservatives point to the Democrats' embrace of transgender
ideology as further evidence the party has gone off the rails, but typically left unexplained is how and why Leftists get to the
positions they hold. Here is an attempt to do that.
Hey,
'Trans' Men in Women's Sports: Good Luck, Fellas — Go for the Gold!. "Equality" cries were
cherished by feminists when they gave females entry into military academies, boardrooms and the ranks of police; prize-money
parity in some sporting events; and access to boys' athletics. But with these appeals now putting sexually confused men
in women's sports, well, feminists' cries are a tad different. Equality can be a real downer when it's principle and
not ploy.
Survey:
1 in 4 okay with trans athletes competing in women's sports. The survey, conducted by ScottRasmussen.com, was
conducted in mid-April 2019 — and according to the findings, less than a quarter of respondents (23%) believe men
should be able to compete in women's competitive sports events. But Steve McConkey, president of 4 WINDS Christian
Athletics, is concerned that individuals under 35 are evenly divided on the question (41% yes, 44% no).
"[The poll] showed that the younger generations ... are not opposed to transgenders in sports — [whereas] the
older adults ... are more situated in their belief, thinking there are two sexes," he summarizes.
High
School Track Star Who Lost Race to Transgender Athletes Explains Why She's Fighting Back. The female high
school athlete who was forced to sit on the sidelines at a major track tournament because two transgender runners landed the
No. 1 and No. 2 spots isn't just speaking out about the unfairness of her situation — she's fighting
back. Hours after filing a complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, Selina Soule and her
attorney, Christiana Holcomb of Alliance Defending Freedom, sat down with Kelsey Bolar on this week's edition of "Problematic
Women" to discuss the latest developments in her case.
Transgender
Policy Forces Catholic Girls School Out Of Athletic Conference. ConservativeHQ.com has obtained exclusive
information that Oakcrest School, an independent Catholic school for girls in grades 6-12, has withdrawn from the Potomac
Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) due to the athletic conference's decision to allow boys who "identify" as girls to compete
in the conference's girls athletic programs. According to information shared exclusively with CHQ, back in March the
Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) voted to amend its constitution to allow students to participate in athletics in a
manner that is "consistent with their gender identity."
High
School Girl Who Lost Race to Transgender Athletes Files Federal Complaint. A female high school athlete who
didn't qualify for a track event because two boys who identify as girls ran faster filed a complaint Monday with the
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. "No one in the state of Connecticut is happy about this, but no one
has enough courage to speak up," Selina Soule said during an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired Monday night [6/17/2019]
on his Fox News Channel show.
Girls
file federal discrimination complaint after transgender track wins. Three Connecticut girls who have run high
school track have filed a federal discrimination complaint saying a statewide policy on transgender athletes has cost them
top finishes in races and possibly college scholarships.
Female
Track Runner Sidelined By Male Competitors Petitions The Department Of Education For Justice. It's striking how quickly the
culture can change. Just a short time ago, surely few would've believed that a common viewpoint — that it would be unfair
to let guys take away athletic victories from girls by allowing them to compete in women's sports — would be labeled the result
of an irrational fear. Yet here we are: What was considered common sense and common goodness is now a symptom
of mental illness. "Transphobia" has gotten so much traction, in fact, that Brazil just criminalized it — it's punishable
by a half decade in prison.
Run-of-the-mill
as a man, champion as a 'woman'. Last year, Craig Telfer (pictured, center) was a solid but not dominating
athlete competing in men's track and field at Franklin Pierce University. But this year, Telfer — now
identifying as a woman — competed in women's events, setting numerous school and conference records, and ended up
qualifying for the Division II NCAA championships in two events: 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. Steve
McConkey of 4 WINDS Christian Athletics says that's unfair because "the physical characteristics of this athlete ... are
far superior than women — the length of the joints, the top parts of the leg are far superior than women for hurdling,
[the event] in which this person was successful in doing." McConkey is opposed to this trend, claiming it will ruin women's
sports. However, he says that some notable female athletes are beginning to speak out.
Finally!
A poll on transgender athletes competing as women. The concerted push for the public to accept the notion that
men can become women by an act of will, perhaps with the aid of hormones and surgery, has always struck me as a measure
intended to ratify mind control by means of institutional pressure and ostracism of non-compliant people. The fact that
transgenderism is blatant scientific nonsense makes the exercise all the more important. A subject population that can
be made to assent to such nonsense will accept totalitarianism as it creeps up. That's why until now I have not been
able to find any poll asking the public what it thinks. The danger in mass mind control exercises is that people will
recognize they are not alone in [questioning] what the media, the deep thinkers, and the activists tell them. But, as I
expected, it turns out that a majority of the public isn't buying the party line that the media, the education establishment,
Hollywood, and the entire arts and culture establishment fanatically push.
Transgender
hurdler easily wins NCAA women's national championship. A hurdler who competed as a man last year won an NCAA
championship in women's hurdles over the weekend. CeCe Telfer of Franklin Pierce University easily won the 400-meter
hurdles at the NCAA Division II outdoor track-and-field championships Saturday, winning the final race by more than a
second. Telfer also finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles, earning All-America honors.
"It is better to deserve honors and
not have them than to have them and not deserve them."
Transgender
Woman, Who Remains A Biological Male, Wins NCAA Women's Track Championship. A biological male won the first
Women's Track and Field NCAA title, even though she was previously competing as a man named Craig as recently as 2018.
CeCe Telfer, a transgender woman from New Hampshire attending Franklin Pierce University, won the first ever NCAA title for
the sport, and also made history as the first biologically male competing on a woman's team to do so.
The Editor says...
EVERY "transgender woman" remains a biological male. You can make drastic surgical alterations to your body,
but you cannot change your chromosomes.
Liberals
Are At War With Science In The Transgender Athlete Controversy. [Scroll down] Nowhere is this disconnect
between science and modern liberal ideology (and its harm to those the party claims to champion) so evident as in the dispute
over transgender athletes who demand to compete in women's sports. On one side of the debate you have people like
Jaycee Cooper, a transgender woman who is in a dispute with USA Powerlifting because the federation doesn't allow biological
men to compete with women. USA Powerlifting says Cooper has an unfair advantage over them as a biological male, but
Cooper says it's discriminatory to ban transgender people from competing with the sex they identify with. "I really do
love this sport, and it's not fair to genetically eliminate an entire group of people," Cooper told NBC News.
The federation rules do allow transgender athletes to compete freely in competition with people of their biological sex,
with the exception of biological women who use testosterone. But more importantly, Cooper's discrimination argument
disregards the fact that women's sports are designed to exclude an entire group of people — men — from
the competition in order to level the playing field.
Trans
Powerlifter Stripped Of Titles In Women's Championships. This is the latest in our apparently endless series of
stories covering the destruction of competitive women's sports by the introduction of "transgender women" into the
events. This time we're back to the sport of weightlifting. A transgender powerlifter named Mary Gregory recently
"dominated" the field at a Powerlifting Federation competition last month, smashing four world records for that weight class
in the process. This had the actual women competing in the event understandably upset and protests were lodged.
But after an investigation was conducted, the federation chairman posted an announcement saying that the record lifts were
being taken off the books.
Sports
League Rejects Transgender Athlete's Claim to Female Weightlifting Records. A weightlifting league has revoked
awards to a transgender weightlifter who claimed to have broken several women's weightlifting records. "Our rules, and
the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather thana identification," said
a statement from Paul Bossi, president of 100% RAW Powerlifting Federation.
8th
Place: A High School Girl's Life After Transgender Students Join Her Sport. When two high school athletes
who were born male but identify as female took first and second place at Connecticut's girls indoor track championship this
year, it wasn't just a local news story. To some, it was a story of triumph and courage. The winner, a junior from
Bloomfield High School, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and went on to win the New
England titles in both the 55-meter dash and the 300-meter dash. To others, it was a story of shock and disappointment:
Is this the end of women's sports?
Girls
and Women Deserve Single-Sex Sports. Our culture is so steeped in the idea of equality (in most ways, a very
good and noble commitment) that we lose sight of obvious but important facts that we must acknowledge if we are to create a
truly level playing field and make functioning equality possible. Take sports. Today, most people recognize that
participating in athletics is associated with positive benefits for both males and females. It's just as important to
encourage our daughters to join a team as it is to encourage our sons. Individuals of both sexes have the capacity to
be great athletes.
Man
Competes In Women's Powerlifting, Sets Four World Records. Do people no longer realize the extreme difference
between XX and XY muscle? Reality keeps rearing its ugly head in sports, as a liberal position eliminates women from
competition like Dolly Parton crashing a Men's Largest Chest championship. Case in point: Mary Gregory. On
Sunday [4/28/2019], Mary — who's a man — shattered four women's division powerlifting world
records. Due to his dominance in girls' deadlift, squat, and bench press, he set a Masters total record.
Transgender
Athletes Dominate at Connecticut Girls' Track State Meet. According to FairPlayForWomen.com, a nonpartisan
grassroots campaign based in the UK dedicated to fighting for the sex-base rights of women and girls, there are a number of
skeletal and muscular differences between men and women. Women are, on average, 9 percent shorter than men, and have
shorter and weaker bones. Women also have shorter arms and legs relative to body size — one can easily see
where longer legs might benefit males in track sports. As for muscles, women "are around 30-35% muscle by weight, while
men are 40-50% muscle." Women's ligaments are also thinner and softer than men's. The impact these biological
differences have when it comes to competitive sports is undeniable — and there are victims whose concerns are not
being heard.
Every
House Democrat But One: 234 Elected Officials Demand The Extermination Of Women's Sports. Sarah Warbelow of the
left-wing Human Rights Campaign testified before a House subcommittee Tuesday [4/9/2019] that the notion of men having an
athletic advantage over women is not "rooted in fact." Here's a secret: The very much "rooted in fact" fact
that men have an advantage is the very reason there's such a thing as women's sports in the first place. If
there's no advantage, then just eliminate women's sports. Which, effectively, they're doing.
All
but one Democrat in the House co-sponsors a bill to allow males to compete on female athletic teams. It may be
counterintuitive to rationally examine an irrational proposal, but it's the only way to defeat it. Not all male
athletes will be able to beat all female athletes. This is especially true at the highest levels of competition.
But it is also true that the best male athletes will defeat the best female athletes every time. And in some sports — field
events in track — even average male athletes will have a competitive advantage over females. This hardly matters to female
athletes who train for years, bringing their bodies to peak conditioning, only to find that their best wasn't good enough because a
biological male who might be an average or above average male athlete was allowed to compete against her.
Former
Olympic medalist: Female athletes afraid to speak out about males competing as women. British former
Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies said Monday that she knows of "quite a lot" of female athletes who are afraid to publicly
share their concerns about biological males who identify as transgender women competing in women's sports. Davies told
Sky News that she's had "many" conversations with female athletes who are afraid to speak out, especially "people who are
competing at the moment." "They're worried that their governing bodies will frown on it, they're worried that their
sponsors will think it's not PC and that they're not allowed to do this," said Davies, who won a silver medal at the 1980
Summer Olympics.
First
They Came for the Catholics, Then for the Christians, and Then for the High School Kids. [Scroll down] Meanwhile, in Colorado,
they now have disqualied Brendan Johnston from the state's high-school wrestling championships. Johnston is a Christian teen boy
who politely, as a matter of religious principle and personal conscience, refused to wrestle a girl. As he explained, "There is
something that I really do find problematic about the idea of wrestling with a girl, and a part of that does come from my faith and my
belief. And a part of that does come from how I was raised to treat women. I don't think that I am looking at them as not
equal. I am saying that they are women, and that is dierent than being men, because I do believe that men and women are
different, and we are made differently. But I still believe that women are of equal value to men. I don't think that
seeing men and women as different... [opposes] the idea of equality."
Girls'
sports being decimated by biological males claiming to be females. There are only two genders in this world of
ours, male and female, and it doesn't matter how someone "identifies," that biological fact is established and unalterable.
[...] With that being said, the Left is nevertheless hard at work trying to convince us that gender is a 'fluid' thing and in
some cases, an outright choice, so old societal constructs like "male" and "female" sports are no longer necessary or
relevant. That's why they go along with allowing biological males to participate in (and dominate) all-female events
simply because they 'identify' as a girl, claiming — remarkably and unbelievably — that there are no
physical differences between the sexes.
If
You're A Biological Man Competing In A Women's Sport, You're A Cheater. It's one thing to have someone shout
that they are female when they're really male. If they just kept it to that, then that's not something I particularly
care about. You do you, just don't force everyone else to pretend along with you and we're good. However, it's
another to not only force everyone else to agree with you but then applaud you as you put women down. That's exactly
what's going on in the sports community, as headline after headline comes out detailing victories by transgendered "women" in
women's sports as highlighted by my colleague Elizabeth Vaughn on Tuesday [2/26/2019]. These are only being celebrated
today as triumphs because the current trend says people not only should cheer it on, but they have to. Any talk to the
contrary evokes the wrath of the mob, and God have mercy on your soul if you become their target.
The Testosterone-Fueled
He-Men of Women's Sports. Female sprinters (good ones) tend to have broader shoulders and narrower hips, but
still cannot match the anatomical advantages that a biological male does. In addition, all females, even masculine
ones, have a wider Q-angle. That's the hip to knee ratio. And here, that difference is again obvious. Finally,
look at the muscle density. The biological girls could work out their whole lives and not build that muscle naturally.
Boys
Will Be Boys, Except When They Are Girls. In the recent Connecticut girls' state indoor track championships,
two men calling themselves women finished first and second place in the 55-meter sprint, one of them setting a state
record. Connecticut is one of 17 states allowing high school athletes to compete without restriction with members of
the opposite sex. States, in an effort to be diverse, tolerant, and woke, have passed anti-discrimination laws requiring
students who so desire to be treated in school as members of the opposite sex. Interestingly, the sporting competitions
are binary: male or female. If these school administrators were true to their intentions, they would have separate
sporting events for each of the 60 genders in order to make things fair.
Trump-Hating
Lesbian Tennis Champ Destroyed for Saying Men and Women Are Different. Navratilova defected from communist
Czechoslovakia in 1975 and became a U.S. citizen in 1981. That same year, when there was still a price to be paid for doing
so, she came out as a lesbian and has since engaged in a long career of LGBT activism. She lent her name and support to
ballot initiatives, spoke at LGBT marches, and in 2000 was the recipient of the National Equality Award from the Human Rights
Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group. She is active on Twitter and firmly in the Orange Man Bad
camp. No one could ever accuse Martina of not being down for the cause. All this was not enough to protect
Navratilova from ostracization and accusations of bigotry last week when she questioned the wisdom of allowing men pretending
to be women to compete in women's sports.
Martina
Navratiola Removed From Board of LGBTQ Organization. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was officially removed
Wednesday from the advisory board of a prominent LBGTQ organization after making comments about transgender athletes.
Navratilova released an op-ed in The Sunday Times on Feb. 17 discussing her opinion on why transgender athletes should not be able
to compete against female athletes. She wrote that having men compete as women is unfair because of the physical advantage.
Political Correctness
Is Ruining Sports. For the second consecutive year, Mack Beggs, an 18-year-old transgender wrestler, has won
the Texas girls' Class 6A 110-pound division. Born a female, Beggs is in the process of transitioning to a male, or so
she thinks. Beggs, who takes a low dose of testosterone, had wanted to compete against boys, but Texas public high
schools, which have yet to get with the progressive times, require athletes to compete under the gender on their birth
certificate. Last year two girls, not wanting to risk being injured by her, forfeited against Beggs. So did a
girl this year. Whether they were compelled to undergo empathy training I don't know. [...] Transgenderism is a problem
in the Olympics, too. Per the latest rules, transgender "women" must test below a specified level of testosterone for
more than one year in order to compete. But while this is doubtless somewhat effective, aren't these athletes, with
their still bigger, still stronger, and still more durable bodies, out of place even so?
Man
"Identifying" As Woman Wins Women's World Cycling Championship. Having covered the topic of transgender
athletes extensively here, this is a story I've been expecting to cross our path for quite a while now. At the 2018 UCI
Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles this weekend, the winner of the women's 35-39 age bracket was
Canadian competitor Rachel McKinnon. McKinnon is a male who identifies as a female.
The Editor says...
If a heavyweight boxer "identified" as a middleweight, and then beat his opponent to a pulp, would that be unfair? Yes,
because there are pragmatic ways (involving a calibrated scale) to determine (before the contest begins) who's a heavyweight
and who's not. Similarly, there are ways to determine if one has XX chromosomes or XY chromosomes; and indeed, there are
no others.
World
cycling bronze medalist cries foul after transgender woman wins gold. The American bronze medalist who lost a
world-championship cycling race to a transgender woman from Canada has criticized the results as unfair. "First transgender
woman world champion...ever," Rachel McKinnon, an assistant professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston in South
Carolina, bragged Sunday in a tweet that set off a massive debate.
Biological
Male Wins World Championship In Women's Cycling. A biological male who identifies as a transgender woman won a
women's world championship cycling event on Sunday [10/14/2018]. Rachel McKinnon, a professor at the College of
Charleston, won the women's sprint 35-39 age bracket at the 2018 UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Los
Angeles. McKinnon, representing Canada, bested Carolien Van Herrikhuyzen of the Netherlands and American cyclist
Jennifer Wagner to take home the gold.
It's
time to end women's sports. It's time to end women's sports — especially since they're not just
"women's" sports anymore. A case in point is "Rachel" McKinnon, Ph.D., a man masquerading as a woman (MMW), or a
"transgender," as the enlighteners say, who just won a women's masters cycling event. As The Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft
(almost) put it, he "whooped them little girls." McKinnon isn't alone, as many MMW have won women's sporting events
during the last decade. To name just a few, a 55-year-old MMW won a women's long-drive competition (golf) in 2008.
Last year, a 39-year-old MMW won a women's weightlifting event. Then there were the Connecticut's State Open track and
field championships in June; the top two finishers in the 100-meter dash were both MMW (okay, being boys, they were BMG),
with one of them setting the girls' state record in both the 100- and 200-meter runs. Hey, you go...uh...girl.
State
of Modern Sports: Boy Identifies as Girl, Boy Competes as Girl, Boy Wins Everything. A high school in
Connecticut has accepted a new boy on their track team. Except, he won't be going to the boys track team, he'll be
going to the girls team. Andraya Yearwood, a freshman and biological male from Cromwell High School in Connecticut,
identifies as a girl and recently received permission to join the girls track team after competing as a boy in middle
school. Not surprisingly, Yearwood has been extremely successful as a male competing against females.
NFL:
Hey, you know what would really improve our ratings? A transgender bathroom bill fight. You may have
missed it in the rush of "other news" last month, but Texas is considering implementing their own transgender bathroom bill
similar to the one in North Carolina which we spent most of 2016 fighting over. [...] One unexpected entrant into this
particular field of battle seems to be the National Football League. For reasons which currently baffle me, the NFL
decided to weigh in on the subject this week and issue what sounds something like a warning to the Lone Star State, hinting
that Texas may not be hosting any more Super Bowl events if they follow such a path.
NFL
more forceful on Texas 'bathroom bill' after Super Bowl. The NFL sharpened its warning to Texas on Friday [2/10/2017] about
a "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people, suggesting for the first time that the football-crazed state could miss out
on hosting another Super Bowl if the proposal is enacted.
NFL
Warns Texas There Could Be Consequences for 'Bathroom Bill'. Days after the Super Bowl in Houston, the NFL is
warning Texas that legislation requiring individuals to use public bathrooms in accordance with their biological sex could
cost the state future opportunities to host the big game.
Trans-thinking:
When 98 Percent of Students Would Let Men in Women's Sports. Imagine a fairly muscular, athletic young man,
acting like a man and dressed as a man, tells you he identifies as a woman and asks you to sign a petition supporting his
effort to play on his college's women's basketball team. Your response? If you're like 49 out of 50 students
approached at the University of Maryland recently, you may sign and say "You go, (girl?)!" And, no, according to Campus
Reform's Cabot Phillips, who masqueraded as the aspiring woman, he didn't show just the eyebrow-raising responses. He
says that he asked only 50 students for support, and 49 offered it.
Wrestler forfeits rather than fight a girl. Iowa's
girl wrestlers: Some drama, some sport. The crowd cheered as Cassy Herkelman's hand was
raised, but the historic moment of the first girl to win a match at the traditional state wrestling
meet comes with an asterisk. Her opponent, Joel Northrup of Linn-Mar of Marion, forfeited.
Not Wrestling Girls.
It's so easy to look at teenagers in general today and sigh. They're more than a bit lazy, a bit
spoiled and more than a bit morally compromised. Two teenagers made national news. One showed
common decency and sportsmanship, two virtues seemingly uncommon in that generation. Hope is restored.
Should Boys
Be Wrestling Girls? This year's Iowa state championships attracted attention nationwide when
the promising high school sophomore Joel Northrup (the fifth-ranked wrestler in the state) defaulted on his
first match. He had drawn Cassy Herkelman, a female freshman, as his opponent, and he could not, in
good conscience, wrestle a girl. ... Had he not declined to wrestle Herkelman, he might have won it all.
The New York Times, the AP, and other national news organizations noted that Northrup's father is a minister —
the suggestion being that such peculiar and backward views as the young man expressed must be chalked up to a
religious sensibility. Most of the coverage stressed the "girl against the old boys network" angle.
7 Reasons Why the
Equality Act Is Anything But. [#4] It would allow more biological males to defeat girls in sports. Two biological males
who identify and compete as women easily defeated all of their female competitors in an event at the Connecticut State Track Championships.
Transgender athlete Terry Miller broke the state record in the girls'100-meter dash. Andraya Yearwood, also transgender, took second place.
Selina Soule, a female runner, not only lost to the biological males in the championships but also lost out on valuable opportunities to be seen by
college coaches and chosen for scholarships. Soule said about the 100-meter event: "We all know the outcome of the race before it
even starts; it's demoralizing."
Opera
singer becomes first transgender woman to sing national anthem at professional sporting event. History was made
at the Oakland Athletics stadium this week when a transgender woman sang the national anthem at a professional sporting event
for the first time ever in the country. Classically-trained opera singer Breanna Sinclaire took the mic at the O.co Coliseum
for a sold out game between the A's and the San Diego Padres on Wednesday [6/17/2015]. Sinclaire had a 30,000 audience at
the A's LGBT Pride Night as she belted out the Star-Spangled Banner, and that wasn't counting the people who were watching the
game on television.
The Editor says...
I'd be at the ticket counter demanding a refund before the first batter took a swing.
Men will now compete against women: Olympics
Loosen Rules to Allow Pre-Op M-to-F Transsexuals to Compete with Women. There's great news for adventurous male Olympic
hopefuls: if they declare themselves women and reduce their testosterone below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to
competition, they can compete against ladies. There's even better news for these men; according to transgender guidelines approved
by the International Olympic Committee, genitalia does not serve as a prerequisite. The guidelines state: "To require surgical
anatomical changes as a pre-condition to participation is not necessary to preserve fair competition and may be inconsistent with developing
legislation and notions of human rights."
Activist athletes, teams, and leagues (and politicians) inject politics into sports
It
Would Have Been Super to Have One National Anthem at the Super Bowl! Did you
watch the game? If you said yes and you're a MAGA Patriot, the question is WHY? Why did
you support the National Football League (NFL)? The NFL has included the black national anthem
since 2021, following the "mostly peaceful" George Floyd 2020 Riots that resulted in 500 million
"mostly peaceful" dollars lost to looting and burning. Florida Republican Representative Matt
Gaetz, who is every MAGA's favorite in Congress, explained on X/Twitter why he did not plan to watch
the Super Bowl: ["]They're desecrating America's National Anthem by playing something
called the 'Black National Anthem.'["]
'Shame
on the NFL': Performance of 'Black National Anthem' Sparks Backlash. As they have
done for the past several Super Bowl broadcasts, the NFL opened the Super Bowl with a performance
of the song Lift Every Voice and Sing, the so-called "black national anthem." But not every voice
appreciated the left-wing gesture. The song was performed by R&B singer, Grammy Award winner,
and actress Andra Day: [Tweet] The reaction was immediate and many were not enthused. [Tweet]
The Editor says...
The last big football game is supposed to be a distraction from politics and nation-wide
problems. Dragging race-based politics into it at the outset of the game is not what the fans
paid big money to see.
The
Things We Love Are the Things They Claim. We have just had the US Superbowl. As
a Brit, even one long interested in the US, its never been of much interest to me. But this
year British mainstream TV has acted as if every single Brit cares. It's been plastered over
our TV screens and reported in our news in a way that previous Superbowls never were. [...] Look
what has been done to what was once a shared and unifying piece of fundamental Americana.
Look at what they did to the thing you loved. They, meaning progressive-globalists, took it
away from ordinary Americans. They purchased it and they soiled it. They made the
national sport into a place where national self-hatred was raised up and worshiped.
They ditched the National Anthem for the Black Anthem. They asked white working
class sports fans to take a giant [...] dose of anti American, anti white, anti male propaganda
with their favorite leisure activity, with what had been their most American and most
male and most patriotic cultural experience.
NFL
fans show the proper disdain for the so-called 'Black National Anthem'. The
Star-Spangled Banner is America's national anthem. This isn't a traditional position.
This is per American law, passed in 1931 and codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301(a). There is one
United States of America and one legal national anthem, which applies to all people regardless of
race, creed, sex, etc.. Long ago, America's sports teams began the tradition of playing the anthem
before games began. [...] But then there's that hymn. As I said, it's a very nice hymn
celebrating God and liberty, and the melody is lovely. It is an essentially American
song. The problem is how the left is using it. By focusing on its title as "the Black
National Anthem," leftists are essentially saying that Black Americans are a nation within a
nation. There is, of course, no such thing. Even playing it at the Super Bowl right
before the National Anthem itself isn't going to make it an actual national anthem. Instead,
it just takes a beautiful piece of music and makes it divisive.
'Hey
NFL, the United States only has one National Anthem'. Outrage is brewing over the
NFL's decision to play what many refer to as "the black national anthem" at the start of this
year's Super Bowl game. Called "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the song was originally written
as a poem in 1899 by James Weldon Johnson, then the NAACP's executive for 10 years, according
to Today. "The poem became a song when Johnson's brother John Rosamond Johnson composed an
instrumental arrangement for it. The song was first performed in 1900 during a celebration of
former president Abraham Lincoln. It was sung by a choir of 500 children at their segregated
school in Florida," Today notes. In times past, the song "became a rallying cry against the
realities of lynching, segregation and discrimination," but these days, it's mostly viewed as
divisive and unnecessary given that lynching, segregation and discrimination are mostly gone, save
for on the "woke" left. [Tweet]
The
NBA Sells Out To Middle East. The NBA has announced what some view as a questionable
partnership with Emirates Airlines that would change the name of the league's in-season tournament
and also add sponsored jersey patches on referee's uniforms. In a statement released today,
the NBA boasted that it would be renaming its newly announced in-season tournament the "Emirates
NBA Cup," with all NBA, WNBA and G League referees donning the Emirates patch on their outfits.
"Emirates NBA Cup," rings right off the tip of your tongue, no? If the NBA thought that
people didn't care about its pointless in-season tournament before, naming it something that sounds
like some sort of soccer event sure as hell isn't going to solve the problem.
NFL
keeps pushing the LGBT agenda, announcing another 'Night of Pride with GLAAD'. The
NFL is continuing to promote the LGBT agenda, announcing that it will host "A Night of Pride with
GLAAD" just days ahead of the Super Bowl next month. GLAAD is a pro-LGBT advocacy group.
"The NFL family and partners will gather to spotlight advances in the future of LGBTQ inclusion in
professional sports as well the NFL's commitment to LGBTQ former and current players," the NFL
announced. "Sponsored by Smirnoff, A Night of Pride with GLAAD also includes a panel discussion
on how inclusion in sports advances acceptance for LGBTQ people, featuring NFL Legend Carl
Nassib. Additional partners for the evening include Starter and Google." This is not the
first time the NFL has held such an event.
NFL
Plans an Incredibly Ridiculous 'Night Of Pride' Super Bowl Event. This year's Super
Bowl is being held in Las Vegas, and though the Super Bowl is always glorious, it's a little bit
more special in 2024 with it being held in Sin City. So why is the NFL ruining it with a
"Night of Pride?" That's right, the league is hosting their third "Night of Pride" event
during Super Bowl week, and though I guess LGBTQ+ (or whatever they're named today) and a city of
sin mixes well, I don't want them to have this one. NOT VEGAS. This event is more
for a boring city like Minneapolis, where the first "Night of Pride" was held in 2018. In the
official press release from the NFL, they say they're hosting this event with GLAAD (Gay, Lesbian,
Alliance Against Defamation) and that Smirnoff is sponsoring the social justice
shindig — it's being held Feb. 7.
Utah
Jazz Order Rabbis to Remove Pro-Jewish Signs. The Utah Jazz is facing national
backlash after they ordered four rabbis to remove signs that read, "I'm a Jew and I'm Proud."
Rabbi Avremi Zippel was at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday night to see the team face
the Dallas Mavericks. "He and three other rabbis took the signs to protest the involvement of
Kyrie Irving, now a Mavericks player, who was suspended from the Brooklyn Nets in 2022 for tweeting
a link to a movie widely considered to be antisemitic and for initially failing to disavow it," NBC
News reported. The Jazz said in a statement that the signs were in breach of the team's
audience code of conduct, which maintains games must be played "without distraction or disturbance."
Georgia hasn't changed. MLB is in business to make money. Good
News: MLB Says Georgia Is No Longer Racist! Throughout the Peach State, people
are breathing a huge sigh of relief. On Thursday, Major League Baseball (MLB) finally decreed
that Georgia is no longer racist when the league awarded the 2025 All-Star Game to Atlanta. [...]
The announcement came three years after MLB removed the 2021 game from the city over Georgia's
voter integrity law, which Stacey Abrams tricked MLB and certain corporations into believing
disenfranchised black voters.
Fans
Note That Only MLB Team Not to Celebrate 'Pride' Just Won World Series. The Texas
Rangers, who won their first World Series in 63 seasons Wednesday night, is also the only team in
Major League Baseball not to hold a "Pride Night"-style event celebrating LGBTQ individuals.
The Rangers bested the Arizona Diamondbacks in four out of five games to take the series.
Baseball fans who don't think professional sports teams should devote money and resources to
"Pride" events were among those noting the Rangers' lonely stand on X, formerly Twitter, and other
social media. [Tweet]
NHL
bans Pride stick tape months after getting rid of Pride jerseys. So apparently some
genius thought it'd be a good idea for NHL players to "show their solidarity" with the LGBTQIA2+
community by throwing rainbow tape on their sticks. Unfortunately for the flamboyant person
who thought this up, the NHL is not going to do it, and they've in fact banned the tape altogether. [Tweet]
Foreign
NBA Player Complains About Americans Owning Guns, Wants Them Banned. Phoenix Suns
player Jusuf Nurkic isn't a fan of Americans owning guns. Owning firearms is enshrined in the
Bill of Rights with the Second Amendment, and the United States of America has a very proud gun
culture. At the same time, the issue is incredibly divisive. Some people love the
Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, and some people absolutely despise the fact regular
citizens have access to firearms. The Suns center from Bosnia and Herzegovina definitely
falls in the latter category, judging from some comments made Monday.
Kansas
City Chiefs Fans Rain Down Boos After the NFL Plays the "Black National Anthem" BEFORE the Real
National Anthem. The Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl title defense got off to an
inauspicious start Thursday night after falling to the Detroit Lions 21-20. But an arguably
bigger story before the contest has Americans across the country up in arms. The National
Football League (NFL) made the decision to play "Lift Every Voice and Sing," which is considered
the "Black National Anthem." To add insult to injury, they decided to do so before the "Star
Spangled Banner" as Fox News reported. In the NFL's eyes, pandering to woke radicals is more
important than promoting simple racial harmony
Megan
Rapinoe and Necessary Schadenfreude. Megan Rapinoe is a hard person to like. [...]
Rapinoe felt like she deserved more because she was the best women's soccer player in the world and
she wasn't making as much as men were. So what? Women's sports don't bring in nearly as
much as men do, so the pay should be less. Draw a crowd, sell some merch and the cash
follows. She didn't want to earn it, and it turns out she didn't have to. The US Soccer
governing body caved to the demands and now offer the equivalent of socialism in pay to both
teams. Of course, Megan was already raking in the cash — probably the highest paid
player with all her endorsements, bringing in an estimated $7 million. Can you imagine a
world where she is worth $7 million? Megan Rapinoe might have been worth that much when she
was good, but she's not good and hasn't been for a long time. She had no business being on
this team this year, let alone on the field when they finally lost.
Here's
the Real Game Colin Kaepernick Is Playing. It's Not Football. It's NFL training
camp season again, and that means it's time for us to hear yet again about how far-left race
hustler and former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, despite having derided the NFL for years as a
racist enterprise that treats its employees like slaves, is trying to get back into the league yet
again. If you're tired of Kaepernick's cynical act, you're not nearly as tired of it as is
Terence Garvin, a former NFL linebacker who had a few choice words for the attention-seeking
apparatchik this time around.
NASCAR
Driver Noah Gragson Suspended for 'Liking' a Meme About George Floyd. Legacy Motor
Club and NASCAR have suspended driver Noah Gragson. This comes after the driver allegedly
"liked" a meme about George Floyd, the man who died in police custody in May 2020. The death
of Floyd resulted in mass riots around the country then went on for several months despite Covid
and well into election season. Gragson apologized but it didn't keep him his place to drive.
[...] Josh Berry will drive the #42 car on Sunday's race in Michigan instead. No one
knows if the suspension will be permanent or not. While everyone is aware of the delicate nature
of the George Floyd subject, it seems like "liking" a meme is something that many would not expect to
have such a ripple effect, especially since it's easy to accidentally like the wrong thing
sometimes or perhaps like something you haven't fully looked at.
You
don't have to play if you don't like the anthem. Once again, we have athletes making
fools of themselves. The latest episode from the ingrates comes from the Women's World Cup
soccer match. For the record, I am not a big soccer fan but it's always nice to cheer for the
home team. In my case, it's the nice country that adopted my family years ago. In the
case of these young women, it's the country that gave them this opportunity.
Fans
blast USWNT over silence during national anthem at World Cup. The US Women's National
Soccer team was victorious in its opening match of the 2023 FIFA World Cup — but they're
not winners to fans left fuming after the most of the athletes stayed silent during the national
anthem. Before the reigning women's World Cup champion team went on to crush newcomer Vietnam
3-0, many of the players stood quietly as the "Star Spangled Banner" blared through New Zealand's
Eden Park arena.
USWNT
players largely silent during national anthem in 2023 World Cup opener against Vietnam.
Most members of the US women's soccer team stayed silent during the national anthem before its
World Cup opener Friday against newcomers Vietnam — who passionately belted their
nation's tune. The majority of the reigning women's World Cup champion team stared stoically
ahead as the "Star Spangled Banner" blasted across New Zealand's Eden Park arena. Only five
of the 11 players who stood on the field for the anthem — with young, aspiring players
standing before them — placed their hands over their hearts, while their six teammates
kept their digits clasped behind their backs, video shows.
Megan
Rapinoe Announces Retirement — Good, and Good Riddance. No one loves Megan
Rapinoe like Megan Rapinoe loves Megan Rapinoe. She's been in the spotlight for years
now — with ESPN's social justice warriors clambering over themselves to pat her on the
back and forward her agenda. She was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden,
because why not? That award has no meaning any longer. Barack Obama gave one to Joe
Biden at the end of his presidency. It was supposed to be his "go-away" gold watch.
Like Obama's Nobel and Biden Medal, Rapinoe was given one of the nation's highest citizen awards
because of her big mouth. And because of what side she is on: the obnoxious left.
Is
the NBA Going the Way of Bud Light? Over the past several months, we've seen
corporations take big financial hits for embracing wokeness. Disney took a massive blow to
the bottom line after going woke, while Target and Ben & Jerry's have seen their market values
tumble following far-left stands. But the, umm, gold standard for the "go woke go broke"
model is Bud Light, whose fortunes continue to tumble after it partnered with Dylan Mulvaney for a
marketing stunt. The sports world is notorious for embracing wokeness in recent years as
well. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have recently been under fire for
pride month antics, and let's not forget how MLB moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta based on lies
about Georgia's voter integrity law. But the godfather of wokeness in both sports and
business is the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA embraced wokeness when embracing
wokeness wasn't cool, and Outkick's Clay Travis asserts that the NBA's downward slide over the past
few years is a slow-burn version of what's happening with corporations like Bud Light.
Corporate
America Doesn't Hear Anybody. [Scroll down] But the people are listening
and are fed up. Bud Light still shows no signs of recovering, nor does Target. Threats
against Target which the media tried to blame on conservatives actually came from LGBTQ+ groups,
claiming betrayal of that community. Major League Baseball, while not eliminating "Pride"
events, has scaled back on them. There was a huge protest at the LA Dodgers "Pride Night"
event where the Dodgers were honoring a hate group that denigrated and mocked Catholicism.
The silent majority appears to be finding its voice. We are learning that we can
impact the bottom line of corporate America. And that may be the only way to make them
listen, that they should concentrate on business and not politics.
NHL
Teams Will No Longer Wear LGBTQ Pride-Themed Jerseys. National Hockey League (NHL)
teams will no longer wear rainbow-colored LGBTQ-themed jerseys during pregame warmups for Pride
nights. NHL Pride Nights became a hot topic of conversation earlier this year when
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to participate in his team's Pride Night due
to his orthodox Christian faith, sparking outrage from leftists who proceeded to accuse him of
bigotry and homophobia. However, the Philadelphia Flyers kept him in the lineup, and the team
even went on to win the game against the Anaheim Ducks.
Dodgers
Swept, Suffer Worst Home Loss in 125 Years After Honoring Anti-Catholic Drag Queens.
Not that this had anything to do with anything, but the Los Angeles Dodgers were humiliated by
their archrival this weekend after deciding to host and honor a group of anti-Catholic drag queens
at their Pride Night event on Friday. The weekend began as awfully as it ended for the
Dodgers. On Friday, the team bestowed the "Community Heroes" award on the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence, a group of drag queens who routinely mock the Catholic faith by performing
grotesque sexual acts while using religious imagery, garb, and symbolism.
Kaepernick
Hooks up With 'Prominent Black Marxists,' Says 'White Supremacy Persists' Because of
Capitalism. Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco quarterback turned out
to be a disappointing enigma to an untold number of NFL fans. Despite earning nearly $40
million while playing football and $20 million from Nike, "Kap" not only intentionally threw away
his career; he hypocritically now blasts capitalism. More precisely, Kaepernick believes
"black liberation" isn't "possible under capitalism." And whose fault is that, according to the
quarterback-turned-racial-activist? Two words: "White supremacists," who else?
Empty
Stadium as LA Dodgers Honor Anti-Catholic Group 'Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence' Amid
Protests. Opposition is in full swing to the Los Angeles Dodgers' on-field ceremony
honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an organization of "drag nuns" that the Catholic
League calls an anti-Catholic hate group. Thousands of Catholics, other Christians, and even
some people of the Jewish faith gathered in a parking lot near the Dodgers' stadium on Friday
afternoon to pray ahead of the game. Later, the religious groups marched to Dodger Stadium,
shutting down one entryway on Vin Scully Avenue. Weeks of momentous opposition led to the
drag nuns being announced on-field to a mostly empty stadium, while receiving some boos from
baseball fans in attendance.
The
Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is facing a Bud Light-style boycott. The Los
Angeles Dodgers baseball team is facing a Bud Light-style boycott after inviting a controversial
LGBTQ group of drag queen 'nuns' to a Pride Night ceremony — enraging the Catholic community and
sparking protests on Friday. The group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, was invited to
appear before the Dodgers' game against the San Francisco Giants, and receive an award for their
community work. The ceremony to award the Community Hero Award to the 'nuns' was held before
an almost-empty stadium, ahead of the game — but outside, protesters gathered.
What
if the Dodgers honored the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and nobody came? Well,
they did it. The Dodgers went ahead with their plan to honor the Catholic- and Christian-mocking
bigot group known the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as community "heroes" last night ... and just
about nobody showed up. The bleachers were almost empty — and among the few who did come,
there was nothing but booing — loud enough to be reported. The photos are astonishing.
MLB
quietly tells teams to drop use of Pride uniforms. Major League Baseball has quietly
ordered its teams not to wear any Pride uniforms throughout their Pride events. The decision
comes amid several companies and organizations facing consumer pushback for promoting LGBT
acceptance. News of the MLB directive gained recognition last week when the Tampa Bay Rays
reportedly announced its Pride festivities would have a different look, with players not sporting
jerseys and hats featuring Pride rainbow patches and logos. The league reportedly announced
its decision at an owners meeting in February.
Major
League Baseball panics, tells teams to kill Pride logos. Anheuser-Busch teamed with a
female-identifying man to promote its Bud Light beer to cowboys, truck drivers, suburbanites,
NASCAR fans and more. It lost some $27 billion in corporate value, and analysts predict
the brand never will regain its customer base. Target plunged head-first into promotions of
transgender clothing and other LGBT ideology even for children, and lost some $15 billion in
value. One analyst called the losses, triggered by pushback from American consumers against
the "woke" ideology, "staggering." Now, it appears, Major League Baseball is trying to avoid
any such collapse.
Red
Sox Pitcher Cut Loose After Offending the Thought Police. Many people are warning
these days that the jaw-droppingly corrupt weapon of partisan vengeance known as the "Justice"
Department, with its indictment of Donald Trump after steadfastly ignoring the crimes of Hillary
Clinton and Hunter Biden, is taking the nation down the road to dictatorship. And while that
is a very real concern, some of the hysteria is overblown, not because the Biden regime actually
respects loyal opposition and free discourse, but because the freedom of speech is already so
severely eroded. The Boston Red Sox just showed that anew in their treatment of a pitcher who
dared to utter unapproved ideas. Yeah, in America we have the First Amendment that supposedly
protects the freedom of speech, but just try saying something publicly that goes against what the
Leftist elites want you to believe.
The
Devouring of a Christian Baseball Player. [Scroll down] [Toronto Blue Jays
pitcher Anthony] Bass threw them all a curve. When asked by the media on Thursday [6/8/2023]
if the video he shared was "hateful," he refused to oblige them. "I do not. That's why I
posted it originally," he said. "When I look back at it, I can see how people would view it
that way, and that's why I was apologetic." This failure to capitulate only infuriated the
Canadian Maoists. They had expected Bass to reject his Christian beliefs or at least renounce
them out of expedience, but Bass's faithfulness rescued him from any further degradation. As
Nick Ashbourne of Yahoo News reported, "GM Ross Atkins ... might've been surprised by the degree to
which Bass stuck to his guns." Ashbourne adds without even a hint of self-awareness, "The team
appeared to be attempting to rehabilitate the pitcher's image." "Rehabilitate," right.
Next stop, re-education camp! On Friday, Atkins, the Pontius Pilate of the story, chose to
wash his hands of the affair by designating the 35-year-old Bass for assignment, a euphemism for
cutting him from the roster. "Performance was a large part of this decision," he lied.
"Distraction was a small part, but it factored in."
Conservatives
Need to Support Boycotts. Recently the LA Dodgers scheduled an event for one of their
"Pride Month" celebrations featuring a group called the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" (SPI).
This vile and blatantly anti-Catholic (and anti-Christian) group should be classified as a hate
group, but instead the Dodgers wanted to celebrate them. Normal people were up in arms and
protested, resulting in the Dodgers cancelling the Sisters. Then the LGBTQ+ community whined
loudly and the event is on again. A number of Dodger players have made statements objecting
to their endorsement by the Dodgers organization including future Hall of Famer Clayton
Kershaw. So far, the Dodger management have not changed their minds to honor this hate
group. I gave up professional sports years ago, thanks to the has-been Colin Kaepernick, a
former pro quarterback who decided to kneel during the playing of the national anthem. My
advice for all of the Christian players in Major League Baseball (MLB) would be to refuse to play
in any game involving the Dodgers. As for fans, I would refuse to watch any Dodgers
game. Those numbers are important as they determine ad revenue among other things.
Our
Descent into Clown World. I once naïvely thought that men's professional sports
would remain a small redoubt from the insipid idiocy of "political correctness." Stadiums where
rowdy fans cheer on strong men engaging in physical acts of confrontation — and sometimes
bloody violence — seemed like sturdy cultural ramparts capable of keeping leftist
indoctrination at bay. Alas, owner-imposed ideology across leagues and organized intimidation
campaigns against individual players have combined with enough force to crash through the gates.
Now grown men who have spent their lives training for battle meekly embrace ever-changing Marxist
planks before millions of spectators, who likewise are allowed to watch only if they implicitly
accept the State's woke dogma. Will players and fans be forced to kneel during the National
Anthem this week? To reject their religious faith as an expression of "hate"? To applaud
child-grooming and predation? To cheer the World Health Organization's dictatorial control over
their lives? Stay tuned. The sports leagues will let you know what to believe just
as soon as the Marxist brigades lay down new marching orders.
One
by one, the ball players are coming out against that Dodgers plan to lionize the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence. One by one, major league ball players are coming out to express
their opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers' management's decision to honor anti-Catholic bigot
group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, with its "Community Hero Award." [...] That the first
three players have stepped forward and thus far have not backed down is a very good sign,
though. It also indicates to fans that ball players and their corporate bosses are not the
same thing, which is good for baseball itself. The fact that the ball players are on the
public's side suggests that their fans will stay loyal to them. That's doing the Dodgers a favor.
To
Beat The Dodgers' Anti-Christian Hate, MLB Stars Must Refuse To Play Ball. The Los
Angeles Dodgers' appalling decision to honor an anti-Christian hate group called the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence during their "Pride Night" on June 16 has been met mostly with a deafening
silence from the vast majority of Major League Baseball players. Even Catholics, whose faith
is particularly singled out for mockery by this LGBT hate group, have been largely mute. As
of this writing, only four players in the entire league have said anything about it, and one of
those four has already caved to the rainbow mob. The only Catholic player to come forward has
been Trevor Williams, a starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. Williams denounced the
Dodgers and called on his fellow Catholics "to reconsider their support of an organization that
allows this type of mockery of its fans to occur."
Toronto
Blue Jays Player Looks Like He Just Got Out Of A Reeducation Camp After Being Forced To Appologize
For Supporting Target And Bud Light Boycotts. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass
apologized on Tuesday for sharing a social media post that explained why Christians should
participate in boycotting companies like Target and Bud Light, who have been at the height of
national scrutiny over their failed marketing campaigns chalked full of LGBTQ propaganda.
Bass briefly shared the faith-based video to his Instagram stories on Monday evening, which called
on Christians to stop patronizing US companies that go against biblical teachings, but quickly
deleted it following backlash. [Video clip]
Toronto
Blue Jays pitcher apologizes for offending alphabet crowd. There is only one approved
line of thinking in the West, and you know exactly what it is. Blue Jay pitcher Anthony Bass,
who apparently is a conservative Christian, made the serious mistake of siding against the alphabet
people in the brand wars. He cut a video siding with the people who are boycotting Target and
Bud Light, and apostasy on this issue is apparently not allowed.
Dodgers'
Clayton Kershaw disagreed with the organization's decision to honor Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence. The Los Angeles Dodgers have faced immense backlash for the decision to
honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence before the team's Pride Night game on June 16.
Their star pitcher is not on board with the decision. Clayton Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young
Award winner, announced last Friday that the team will relaunch its Christian Faith and Family
Day. The veteran pitcher said it was in response to the organization's decision to honor the
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
No
Dodging the Democrats' Degradation, or, "We're All San Francisco Democrats Now". You
would think a team named "Dodgers" would know how to dodge a culture war battle they can't win
(see: Target, Bud Light), but no, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to get picked off in the most
embarrassing fashion in a pickle-style rundown entirely of their own ineptitude. Surely the
conservative (and Catholic) O'Malley family that used to own the Dodgers — before the
onerous estate tax forced the family to sell the team back in the 1990s after Walter O'Malley
died — are rolling in their graves. But there's a larger lesson here. [...] I
predict that next year's Democratic Party platform (if they have one at all) will see a similar
fight over two issues: an embrace of unlimited transgenderism and "gender-affirming health care"
for children, and reparations for slavery. I doubt Democrats can dodge these self-generated
impulses of their most vocal base any better than the LA Dodgers have.
CatholicVote
calls Dodgers 'faith and family' night a 'band-aid' amid anti-Catholic group fallout.
On Friday, nine-time MLB All-Star Clayton Kershaw announced a "relaunch" of another themed day at
Dodger Stadium — Christian Faith and Family Day. "Excited to announce the relaunch of
Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th," Kershaw wrote in a tweet. The
Dodgers later confirmed the event and said more details will be released at a later time. "Join
us at Dodger Stadium on 7/30 for Christian Faith and Family Day. Stay after the game to
celebrate and be part of a day of worship." the Dodgers official Twitter account wrote. "Stay
tuned for more details." The announcement comes after the Dodgers invited, then uninvited, and then
re-invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
CatholicVote
launches $1M campaign calling for LA Dodgers boycott over anti-Catholic drag queens.
One of the nation's largest Catholic advocacy organizations has issued a letter to the Los Angeles
Dodgers announcing an upcoming ad campaign calling for a boycott of the baseball club.
CatholicVote President Brian Burch addressed the letter to Dodgers principal owner Mark Walter and
CEO Stan Kasten. "I represent the nation's largest lay Catholic advocacy organization," Burch
wrote. "We are supported by millions of devoted Catholics across America who believe that the
time-honored values of life, family, and freedom — which the Dodgers used to
celebrate — are demonstrably good for America, and worthy of respect, not ridicule."
"We wrote to you last week with a reasonable ask: Please do not honor this anti-Catholic hate
group," Burch told the Dodgers' administrators. "There is no place for anti-Catholic bigotry,
mocking of religious sisters, or celebrating a perverse activist group whose identity is marked by
blasphemy and mockery of Catholics."
The Editor says...
"Ask" is not a noun.
It's
About Time Christians Educated Themselves! The Los Angeles Dodgers' apology letter
re-inviting the anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to Pride Night reads like the
unwinding of a grueling struggle session. And it ends in a predictably pitiful way, with the
reactionaries promising "to better educate" themselves in the future. In contemporary
parlance, to "educate" oneself means allowing intellectually and morally stunted
clowns — literally, in this case — to bully you. Because LGBT
activists, like BLM activists, never need to be "educated" about anything. They have achieved
enlightenment. No, it's the slack-jawed yokels who cling to thousands of years of
intellectual and theological tradition who need lessons from the geniuses who spend Easter Sunday
dressed in Virgin Mary drag, passing out condoms on a 13-stop bar crawl mocking the Stations of the
Cross. The Dodgers are merely celebrating diversity by sponsoring a group that
simulates sex scenes on crucifixes. Why are you fanatics starting another culture war?
I'm
Boycotting Major League Baseball. I truly love baseball. But more than
baseball, I love God. Given the decision between being a fan of any sports team and
supporting my religious beliefs, I know that God is my real captain and I will always choose my
faith. And I believe that when push comes to shove, most people feel the same. I also
recognize that it is my religious obligation to support other people of faith in their
journey. Which is why I am so sad that I will not be attending baseball games thanks to the
irresponsible management of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball, following the team's
blatant attack on Catholics by deciding to honor one of the most public anti-Catholic fringe groups
in the country, "The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence."
The
Anti-Christian Los Angeles Dodgers Deserve The Bud Light Treatment. In a predictable
act of cowardice, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced on Monday they are reinviting a radical,
anti-Catholic LGBT group to the organization's "Pride Night" next month. Originally, the
Dodgers invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a radical LBGT organization whose
drag members mock Catholicism by dressing up as so-called "queer and trans nuns" — to
its June 16 "Pride Night" game. The MLB team was slated to present the group with a
"Community Hero Award." After receiving much-deserved backlash from fans, Catholic groups, and
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the Dodgers announced last week the Sisters would no longer be
honored at this year's "pride" celebration "[g]iven the strong feelings of people who have been
offended by the sisters' inclusion." As it turns out, the Dodgers were just throwing faithful
Christians a curveball. Capitulating to a bunch of mean tweets from Twitter bots and unhinged
leftists, the team reversed course on Monday, reinviting the organization to take part in the
June 16 event.
Dodgers
Re-Invite Anti-Catholic Drag Group To Pride Night, Issue Apology to LGBTQ+ Community.
After "much thoughtful feedback from Los Angeles' diverse communities" the Dodgers have decided to
re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to its 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night. They
also issued an apology to the drag group, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and their friends and
families. The decision to reincorporate the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence comes less than
seven days after the team chose to remove the group from the event. Los Angeles was initially
set to give the group an award as part of its Pride Night celebration. The "Sisters" of
Perpetual Indulgence use "go and sin some more" as their motto, and frequently dress as Jesus, Mary
and other religious figures.
LA
Dodgers condemned for honoring anti-Catholic transgender drag nuns: 'Blasphemous'.
The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is facing accusations of anti-Catholic bigotry after the team
announced it would honor a gay and transgender group that uses Catholic imagery in sexualized
contexts. The Dodgers and LA Pride announced earlier this month that the team would be
marking "Pride Night" on June 16, 2023, and that the celebrations would include the presentation of
the Community Hero Award to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a self-described "leading-edge
Order of queer and trans nuns." In a letter to Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred,
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) noted that the group has "mocked and degraded Christians, and
especially Catholics, since its founding on Easter Sunday in 1979." He also noted that the group's
motto is "go and sin some more," which perverts the words of Jesus Christ, who said "go and sin no more."
Muslim
Player Fined For Refusing to Wear Rainbow Flag, Still Won't Submit. Mostafa Mohammed,
an Egyptian footballer (soccer player) for the French side Nantes, was fined by his club for
refusing to wear a gay pride rainbow flag on his arm during a game against Toulouse on Sunday
[5/14/2023]. Nantes announced on Monday, May 15, that Mohamed was fined an undisclosed amount,
with the money going to a French LGBT charity called SOS Homophobia. On Sunday, "[t]he
numbers on shirts of all players in France's top two divisions, as well as armbands worn by
captains and officials, were rainbow-coloured as the French league staged a campaign against
homophobia," reports Insider Paper. Mohamed made a statement regarding the matter on
Twitter, "I respect all differences. I respect all beliefs and all convictions.
This respect extends to others but my personal beliefs must be respected as well."
We've
won the culture war, but that's not enough. The NFL and NBA have discovered that
their brands soured horribly as they insulted their audience by kneeling and wearing rainbow
colors. Only after the NFL gave up virtue signaling for football has their audience
returned. They'd probably hire a woman to play if that woman could do the job better than a
man. But somehow, genetics has proven its superiority over gender. The NBA hasn't
learned its lesson yet.
Legendary
Coach Phil Jackson Blasts the Woke NBA, Says He Doesn't Watch Games Anymore. Eleven-time NBA
champion coach Phil Jackson has lost interest in the basketball league because it's simply gotten too
political. The former coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers appeared on the
"Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin" podcast earlier this month and said he didn't stop watching the game
immediately after stepping away from coaching — it was the league's woke messaging during
the 2020 COVID lockdowns that turned him off.
Goalie
declines to wear jersey celebrating LGBTQ community on Pride Night, takes heat. The
San Jose Sharks recently hosted a Pride Night celebration, as nearly all professional sports teams
have done. Moreover, they tweeted pride-themed information throughout the game. Yet
this was not enough to please the ungrateful mob that constitutes the hard-core activists in the
LGBTQ community. You see, one player, Sharks goalie James Reimer, declined to don a
rainbow-colored jersey, citing his "religious beliefs." [...] Why should a professional athlete be
mandated to wear a jersey celebrating any group other than the team for which he or she
plays? Yet, Reimer — and a handful of other NHL players who have chosen not to wear
pride-themed jerseys this season — have been the victims of vitriolic attacks from many of those
who otherwise routinely plead for "acceptance," "tolerance," and "inclusion." Transgender
activists, in particular, can be brutal to those who have the audacity to believe in the existence
or primacy of just two sexes or genders.
The Sweater. A couple
of National Hockey League players have refused to be bullied into wearing pride jerseys during
pregame warmups and much of the response has been madness — and worse. It's
another sign that Western culture is in a steep decline. [...] But even in 2023, when so many among
us are either part of the social bullying culture or so fearful of it that we've surrendered to it,
there are still men of strength and principle. On Jan. 17, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman
Ivan Provorov declined to wear a pride jersey in warmups, citing his Christian (Russian Orthodox)
beliefs. So he sat in the locker room, banished, while his teammates took their pre-game skate.
San
Jose Sharks goalie boycotts pregame warmups over NHL pride jerseys. A Christian
goalie for the San Jose Sharks boycotted pregame warmups over the weekend, saying the team's
decision to wear NHL pride-themed jerseys went against the teachings of the Bible and his "personal
convictions." Canadian James Reimer, 35, did not play in Saturday's game against the New York
Islanders after the team released a statement on his behalf in which he said that while he has "no
hate in my heart for anyone," he would not "endorse something that is counter to my personal
convictions which are based on the Bible, the highest authority in my life."
Dallas
Mavericks Donates $25,000 to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz. Woke celebrities,
businesses, and now professional sports teams are lining up to support the largest abortion
business in the United States, Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas posted
on Twitter Tuesday photos of the Dallas Mavericks honoring the abortion giant with a $25,000 check.
[Tweet] Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood cannot commit elective
abortions in Texas but has kept its Texas clinics open, functioning as abortion "travel agencies"
to send pregnant women out of state so abortionists can kill their preborn children.
The
"national divorce" comes to Vermont women's sports. Not too long ago, Marjorie Taylor
Greene raised a lot of eyebrows when she began teasing the possibility of a "national divorce."
While nobody wants to see another disastrous civil war (with much better weapons), she posited that
the nation is splitting in two along social lines with the two sides embracing ideas and morals
that are so far apart that there may not be any compromise left to be found. I'm still not
entirely sold on that concept, but one example that might support the phenomenon has popped up in
Vermont and it brings us back to the ongoing debate over males who "identify" as females competing
in girls' and women's sports.
Raptors
delete video recognizing Women's History Month as it goes horribly wrong. Why is it
so hard to state the definition of a woman? March is Women's History Month. The Toronto
Raptors quickly found out that pandering to women by using a lame video tribute doesn't always work
out so well. The Canadian basketball team released a 13-second video on Twitter this week
that features three of the team's players answering a question — "Beyonce said girls run the
world. Why do you think that's true?" The result is so lame it is cringe-worthy. [Tweet]
Woke
NBA Enters New Strategic Partnership — With a Chinese Company, Naturally. The NBA has been
insufferably woke for a few years now. They love to virtue signal for Black Lives Matter and everything else the
left embraces. And now they're entering into a new partnership with a company in China, a country that uses slave
labor, poisons the environment and even has what are effectively concentration camps. It's all about money.
The NBA wants those dollars that come from selling jerseys and sneakers in China.
NBA
Boycotted North Carolina Over Transgender Bathroom Bill, but Ignores Utah. The NBA may be quietly
acknowledging that their commitment to woke ideology may be slipping. That's the implication of their actions on
transgender legislation, anyway. Due to legislation on transgender bathroom use, the league decided to move their
All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time, the league issued a statement saying they did not
believe they could "successfully host' the game there because of the "climate" created by the bill. "While we
recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not
believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2," the statement
read. With profound hypocrisy, just a few years later, the league hosted preseason games in the United Arab
Emirates. The UAE criminalizes homosexuality, and has previously detained transgender individuals attempting to
enter the country.
'Black
National Anthem' at Super Bowl Divides NFL Fans. NFL fans on social media were divided over the
performance of the so-called Black National Anthem for the first time on-field during Sunday's championship game.
While it's the third time "Lift Every Voice and Sing" made an appearance in some capacity during the Super Bowl, actress
and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph's performance was the first time it was on the Super Bowl field, according to The Hill.
[Numerous tweets]
NFL
to Play 'Black National Anthem' at Super Bowl LVII. This year's Super Bowl will feature the singing of
Lift Every Voice and Sing, otherwise known as the black national anthem, before the start of this year's
game. The song will be sung before the U.S. national anthem.
Super
Bowl Protests on Chiefs' Name Continue Politicization of Society. "People think they're honoring us with
these mascots and logos, but they're mocking us," complained Michael Spears, an actor from a South Dakota tribe, as
leftists take the opportunity of the upcoming Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs to
continue their practice of using sports — as they use everything else that they can — to advance
their narrative that our society is full of oppressors and the oppressed. The name "Chiefs" was chosen by Kansas
City's team owner, Lamar Hunt, after the team moved there from Dallas — where they were the Texans in the old
American Football League. The name was picked after it proved quite popular in a pick-the-name contest. In
fact the Kansas City Chiefs played in the very first Super Bowl in January 1967, losing to the Green Bay Packers, and it
was Hunt who first used the term "Super Bowl" to refer to the pro football championship game.
You
Will Be Forced to Care — Gay Hockey Edition. The Pride Police are on the prowl again, this time
in the National Hockey League. One of the more tedious aspects of the woke crusade for "inclusivity" is that we
now have to be bombarded with radical messaging in what used to be escapist activities, like sports fandom.
Hardcore sports fans like me watch games to get away from the regular world for a while. We don't want to be
preached to. About anything. I don't even care if it's something I support, I don't want it polluting my
gametime. But the pollution is happening, much to the chagrin of those of us who find it difficult to break our
sports addictions. The latest heavy hand of wokeness has fallen upon the NHL, and it perfectly illustrates all
that is wrong with the overwrought efforts to make us care.
Media
Loses It Over New York Rangers Not Wearing Special Jerseys on Pride Night. Here at the sports desk [it's]
time to look at the newest sports non-controversy. Namely, the New York Rangers not plastering rainbows on their
practice jerseys prior to their home game against the Vegas Golden Knights on January 27th. [...] Let's turn this
on its side. If an NHL team held a Faith and Family Night, as part of the event placing an ichthus on the team's
warm-up jerseys, and a player said I'm not wearing that, how would the sports media world respond? The columns
would write themselves. "How DARE a team push religion!" Plus a plethora of laudatory prose on behalf of the
player's heroic stance, never mind that the brave atheist cliché grew stale sometime around 1967.
The Editor says...
Why is "pride night" necessary if there is a "pride month" later in the year? Why is it necessary to acknowledge
either one? Why do sports teams have to promote passing fads that most of their audiences probably abhor?
Flyers'
Ivan Provorov skips warmups over refusal to wear Pride Night jersey. Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov did
not participate in warmups before the team's home game against the Ducks on Tuesday night because he refused to wear a
Pride Night jersey and use sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape. Provorov, who said he is Russian Orthodox, cited
his religious beliefs as why he chose not to partake in the warm-ups. [Tweet] "I respect everybody. I
respect everybody's choices," Provorov told reporters after the game, declining to get into any further detail.
"My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion." The Flyers released a statement on the matter but did not
mention Provorov by name. "The Philadelphia Flyers organization is committed to inclusivity and is proud to
support the local LGBTQ+ community," the statement said.
NHL
Backs Down After Gov. Ron DeSantis's Office Calls Out 'Discriminatory' Job Fair. The National Hockey
League (NHL) has backtracked on the participation requirements of a job fair it is hosting in Florida after
Gov. Ron DeSantis's office slammed the event as "discriminatory." The league is set to host the "Pathway to
Hockey Summit" job fair event on February 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the NHL All-Star Game will take
place two days later in nearby Sunrise, Florida. However, one week ago, the league shared a now-deleted LinkedIn
post promoting the event but specified participation was only open to certain groups of people.
DeSantis
Admin Demands NHL Remove 'Discriminatory Prohibitions' from Minority-Only Hockey Summit. The National
Hockey League is hosting an upcoming conference for "diverse" job-seekers looking to pursue careers in the sport that is
open only to racial and gender minorities. On February 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the NHL — a
professional association composed of 32 teams in the United States and Canada — will hold a new diversity,
equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative called the Pathway to Hockey Summit. The event is exclusive to female,
black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled registrants. In a separate
line on the advertisement, the NFL writes, "Veterans are also welcome and encouraged to attend."
Judge
Approves Lawsuit by Ex-Virginia Tech Soccer Player Allegedly Benched for Refusing to Kneel During National
Anthem. A former Virginia Tech soccer player who says she was benched for refusing to take a knee during
the national anthem has been given to go-ahead to sue the school for violations of her freedom of speech. U.S.
District Judge Thomas T. Cullen gave former Hokies midfielder Kiersten Hening the OK to sue coach Charles Aidair on
First Amendment grounds after Hening says the coach benched her for refusing to join in with the team's kneeling in 2020
as a "unity statement."
'I
feel gay', FIFA chief attempts to empathise with marginalised. FIFA President Gianni Infantino raised
eyebrows on Saturday when he attempted to show empathy with marginalised groups by telling reporters in Qatar 'I feel
gay ... I feel like a migrant worker'. Infantino opened the traditional pre-World Cup news conference on Saturday
with a lengthy monologue lambasting the critics of Qatar hosting the tournament because of the country's human rights record.
USA
make a statement at the World Cup in Qatar. The United States' men's national team have made a huge
statement at the World Cup in Qatar by redesigning their crest to incorporate the rainbow flag, in a bid to show
solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. The tournament, which starts on Sunday and sees the US play their opener
against Wales on Monday, has been hugely controversial in its build-up, given Qatar's human rights record and attitude
to homosexuality. As recently as this month, a Qatar World Cup ambassador told a German TV broadcaster that
homosexuality was 'damage to the mind', and it remains illegal to be gay in the conservative Muslim country.
Woke
Sports — Why Do We Still Watch? The slippery slope wins again — the Disease of
Wokeness is consuming sports top to bottom. [...] Canadian broadcasts are unwatchable, though admittedly I still tune in
occasionally. It's always with a measure of penance. First, I'm treated to the Indigenous Land
Acknowledgement, where I'm told I'm a horrible person and I live on stolen land. It used to be one sentence.
Lately it's part of an extended ceremony. Finally — blessedly — the game starts, but
the lecturing is by no means over. White Man Bad incidents are a regular feature.
So Long
as Fans Acquiesce, Very Little Will Change. The National Hockey League (NHL) recently joined the "woke
train" after an internal review found that the league was "too white." By "going woke," the NHL joined the NFL and the
NBA, both of which continue to unapologetically promote woke, anti-American policies, as described here, here, and
here. Unfortunately, these professional leagues, and others like them, will continue to engage in such conduct
because fans are enabling them to do so. [...] It goes without saying that, without punishment (primarily in the form of
lost revenues), there is nothing compelling these leagues to slow down, stop, or reverse course. If people
continue to watch/attend games, purchase league merchandise, and/or otherwise support the various leagues, the leagues
will continue to push forward, and other businesses/companies will follow their lead. It is not enough for
Americans to voice their discontent with the various policies and practices. Rather, they should stop watching the
games, buying merchandise, and supporting the players. Only then will the various leagues learn that decisions
have consequences.
Why the left
went after sports. The Cleveland Indians are the most exciting team in baseball. They have 10
rookies on their 26-man roster. Six others were rookies last year. They play small ball and win. They
are managed by Tito Francona Jr., a grandpa who led the Boston Red Sox in 2004 to their first World Series championship
in 86 years. Fans in Cleveland shun the Cleveland Indians this year. That's because the team is not the
Cleveland Indians. Management caved in to Woke Know Nothings and changed the name to Guardians this year.
Attendance was 25th among the 30 major league teams. [...] Clevelanders shun the team because it is not the
Indians. It is the Guardians, named for four stone carvings on a bridge near the ballpark. The name change
came because the left deigned naming a team the Indians to be an insult to Indians. [...] Why do left propagandists
screw around with team names? For the same reason they get players to kneel. They want to undermine the
social fabric that draws people together rich and poor, young and old, black and white, East Side-West Side.
NBA
Will Not Schedule Games on Election Day. The NBA will not be scheduling any games on the midterm election day,
but all 30 teams will play the night before on November 7, the Associated Press stated. The league looks to use this
as an opportunity to encourage its fans to get out and vote to "amplify the need for civic engagement."
The Editor says...
It doesn't take all day to vote. The polls are open for twelve hours on Election Day. Anybody who really wants to vote can do so.
Christian
female soccer player chooses to sit out match rather than wear LGBT jersey. A professional female soccer player
chose to boycott a recent game instead of wearing an LGBT pride jersey. Jaelene Daniels, a defender for the North
Carolina Courage team, chose to sit out during a July 29 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) game rather than don the
"Pride" jersey her team was scheduled to wear.
Jaelene
Daniels is forced out of North Carolina Courage's game against Washington Spirit after refusing to wear a Pride
jersey. Jaelene Daniels refused to play for North Carolina Courage in the NWSL game against Washington Spirit
on Friday because her team were wearing a Pride jersey. The Courage held its first ever Pride Night on Friday around
the game but a spokesperson for the team told WRAL-TV in North Carolina that the 29-year-old Daniels, a devout Christian, had
chosen not to participate. 'Jaelene will not be rostered tonight as she has made the decision to not wear our Pride
jersey,' the spokesperson said. 'While we're disappointed with her choice, we respect her right to make that decision
for herself.
Australian
Rugby Players Revolt After Being Told to Wear Gay Pride Jersey. Up to seven players from the Manly rugby league
club in Sydney, Australia, are threatening to boycott their match Thursday after a decision was made without consultation for
them to wear a gay pride jersey in the fixture. Management of the Sea Eagles, as they are known, announced on Sunday
night [7/24/2022] players would wear an LGBTQIA+ jersey for the match, with a rainbow design replacing the strip's
traditional white hoops. That decision has caused unrest among some players unhappy they were not consulted by club
management, ABC News Australia reports.
Conservatives
need to stop supporting people who hate them. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe
v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the corporate and entertainment world have joined the pro-abortion chorus
in denouncing the decision, the Court, and the pro-life movement. Their reaction has been swift and predictable. [...]
Not to be outdone, the NBA and WNBA released a statement saying in part: "We stand in solidarity with those who fear
for the repercussions of the Supreme Court decision." NBA star LeBron James, who plays nice with the Chinese Communist
Party, says the Dobbs decision is about "power and control." Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. national soccer team described the
decision as "cruelty." Former Tennis star Billie Jean King said, "It is a sad day in the United States."
Sports
Illustrated says SCOTUS ruling for praying coach 'erodes democracy'. Sports Illustrated is taking heavy fire
over a tweet suggesting that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a former high school football coach who was fired for
kneeling in silent prayer after games would be a blow against democracy, the latest example of the sad decay of a magazine
that was once an American institution before it became a propaganda vehicle for radical leftist ideology. The nation's
highest court will decide the case of Joe Kennedy, a retired USMC gunnery sergeant and combat veteran who in 2015 was fired
by the Bremerton School District in Washington State for honoring God at the 50-yard-line at the completion of games.
He was unceremoniously dumped from his job after refusing to obey orders to cease and desist resulting in a long legal battle
that has made its way to the SCOTUS. SI, which has celebrated cop-hating, anti-American heel Colin Kaepernick as its
sportsperson of the year and specializes in evangelizing for the "woke" left, has a serious problem with the bedrock
principle of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution and decried a ruling in Kennedy's favor as a danger to
"democracy" — a term that has been hijacked by power-drunk Democrats and the cultural revolutionary left.
Washington
Commanders coach fined $100,000 after calling Jan. 6 a 'dust-up'. Washington Commanders defensive coordinator
Jack Del Rio was hit with a $100,000 fine Friday for calling the Jan. 6 Capitol riot a "dust-up." Commanders head coach
Ron Rivera made the announcement in a statement posted to social media. "This morning I met with Coach Del Rio to
express how disappointed I am in his comments on Wednesday," the statement said. "His comments do not reflect the
organization's views and are extremely hurtful to our great community here in the DMV. As we saw last night in the
hearings, what happened on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 was an act of domestic terrorism. A group of citizens
attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election, and as a result, lives were lost and the Capitol building was damaged."
The Editor says...
Almost every aspect of Mr. Rivera's statement is either untrue or misleading. There was no "free and fair election."
The 2020 presidential election was stolen, and the proceeds given to Joe Biden, who is just venal enough to accept the position to which
he knows he was not genuinely elected. There was no "domestic terrorism," except on the part of the FBI agitators placed in the
otherwise harmless crowd. The televised circus last night proved no such thing. Why do football teams have political positions, anyway?
Coach's
comments deal another blow to Commanders reputation. The NFL's Washington Commanders once again find themselves
at the center of an off-the-field issue that has nothing to do with football, dealing another blow to their rapidly sagging
reputation as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in professional sports. The fallout from the latest misstep
requiring an explanation or apology — assistant coach Jack Del Rio comparing the protests in the wake of the
police killing of George Floyd to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — could have far-reaching
consequences beyond the locker room. It immediately scuttled the team's best opportunity to reach a deal to build a new
stadium, which was the most important long-term project facing owner Dan Snyder amid a lengthy drought without a playoff
victory and a dearth of fan enthusiasm.
The
NFL fines a Redskins coach for failing to take January 6 seriously. Jack Del Rio, the defensive coordinator for
the Washington Redskins (and yes, I'm deadnaming a football team originally named to honor the Native American fighting
spirit), very politely suggested that, if the Democrats are going to get hysterical about January 6, they also need to take
seriously the summer of BLM riots. For his temerity in failing to respect Saint George Floyd, the drug-addicted ex-con,
and not taking sufficiently seriously the worst day in American history since Southerners fired on Fort Sumter in 1861, the
Redskin's head coach fined him $100,000. It all started when Del Rio tweeted out that he cannot understand why so much
attention is being paid to January 6, a day of minimal destruction and only one death (at the hands of a Capitol police
office), and so little to the BLM riots, which caused dozens of death and billions of dollars of damage across America:
[Tweet] In a subsequent press conference, Del Rio doubled down on his query, stating it calmly and respectfully, while
reminding assembled reporters that free speech is an American right.
Commanders
NFL Coach Fines Assistant $100K Over 'Dust up' Remarks, Comparison of BLM Riots and Jan. 6. [Scroll down]
Unfortunately, as we have seen happen time and again in these high-profile situations, Jack Del Rio decided he had better
bend the knee, take his lumps — and keep his high-paying job. Later on in the day, he made his mea culpa
through an obviously forced press release, via social media: [Tweet] On Friday, the coach of the Commanders, Ron Rivera
released his own statement — not only highlighting his employee's apparent failure as a good enough soldier for
the left's narrative du jour about what happened on January 6 in D.C. — but fining Del Rio $100,000, to
boot. When this is the obvious result of apologizing to the mob, I can't feel much sympathy for Del Rio. He made
his own bed.
Baseball
players attacked for not wearing 'Pride Night' special uniforms. [The Tampa Bay Rays] recently decided to
engage in a little shameless virtue signaling by literally wearing their support for the LGBTQIIA+ Community on their
sleeves. [...] Rays' president Matt Silverman stated, "Our Pride Nights continue to grow both in terms of visibility and
participation. By doing this, we extend an invitation not just for this game but for all of our games that the LGBTQ+
community is invited, welcomed, and celebrated." Apparently, heterosexual Christians need not apply, so to speak.
However, not every Rays player was eager to be used in this manner. The Times reported that at least five members of
the squad removed the rainbow burst logos from their jersey sleeves and donned the team's standard cap instead of the Pride
cap sporting a rainbow-colored "TB" on the front.
At
least five Tampa Bay Rays players refuse to wear uniforms with LGBTQ rainbow logos for Pride month. A number of
Tampa Bay Rays players decided not to wear rainbow-colored logos on their uniforms as part of the team's annual 'Pride Night'
on Saturday [6/4/2022]. In the buildup to Saturday's MLB game against the Chicago White Sox, which also marked the
franchise's annual 16th Pride Night celebration, the Rays added rainbow-colored logos to their uniforms, caps and on the
right sleeve of their shirts. 'Our Pride Nights continue to grow both in terms of visibility and participation,' Rays
president Matt Silverman told the Tampa Bay Times. 'By doing this, we extend an invitation not just for this game but for all
of our games that the LGBTQ+ community is invited, welcomed and celebrated.'
The Editor says...
Homosexuality is nothing to celebrate. Neither is pride.
Milwaukee
Brewers to Host Drag Queen Night. It's Pride Month again, and that means corporations all over are busy
virtue-signaling. In Milwaukee, the Brewers baseball team is getting into the spirit of the season by hosting Pride
Night next Wednesday at their ballpark, a place whose name has taken on a new irony: American Family Field. The
family fun Wednesday will include at least four drag queens, and hey, if they already strut their stuff on a routine basis in
public libraries and elementary schools (and even Taco Bell), featuring them at baseball games at this late date just shows
how hidebound and conservative the Grand Old Game is. The first thing that Pride Night (no word yet on when the Brewers
are hosting Anger Night, or Lust Night, or Sloth Night) at American Travesty of the Family Field is about, of course, is
making money. Drag queens have never, to my knowledge, been big baseball fans, but now that we're all woke and love the
LGBTQ alphabet soup, the Brewers are clearly hoping to attract a new fan base that, if it doesn't care anything about the
game, can at least ogle the players.
NASCAR
continues to abandon its customer base. Last Sunday NASCAR held its All-Star Race at the Texas Motor
Speedway. There's a big NASCAR fan base in Texas. If you go to the list of NASCAR tracks, you'll notice that the
seating at the tracks is, on average, bigger in conservative states than in progressive states. Thus, the Texas Motor
Speedway seats 137,000 fans while the Watkins Glen International in New York seats 33,000 fans. The biggest track, in
Indiana, seats 257,325 fans, while the track in Portland, Oregon, holds only 30,000 fans. It's not a perfect political
alignment but it's plenty close. NASCAR fans are male, older (over 45), White, and live in the rural South or
Midwest. Oh, and they're much more likely to be Republicans. These are, on average, people like me who neither
want to punish nor celebrate the LGBTQ+++ crowd and who support Texas's willingness to define as child abuse surgical and
chemical "gender" treatments performed on children. NASCAR, though, has been having a bit of a problem keeping fans.
'Woke'
NASCAR Apologizes to LGBTQ Community After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Waves Green Flag at Event. NASCAR issued
an apology Wednesday for "recent actions" that are "not aligned" with its mission after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) waved
the green flag ahead of last week's All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. The world-famous auto racing and operating
company, headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, marked the first day of LGBTQ+ "Pride Month" with a unique version of the
pride flag along with a message apologizing for actions it deemed uncharacteristic of its mission. "As we celebrate the
LGBTQ+ community, we acknowledge that recent actions have not aligned with NASCAR's mission to be a welcoming sport for all,"
the company wrote.
The Editor says...
This is a huge marketing mistake on the part of NASCAR. What percentage of NASCAR fans are
homosexuals — particularly in Texas? If I were to pick the nearest whole number, I'd select ZERO.
MLB's
Detroit Tigers to funnel ticket sales to 'gender-affirming' procedures for kids. The Detroit Tigers will send
money to organizations that pay for so-called "gender-affirming surgeries" for minors and adults as part of its "Pride Night"
game on Wednesday. Fans who buy tickets for Wednesday's game can donate a portion of the proceeds to a number of LGBT
organizations, including the Ruth Ellis Center, as first reported by National Review.
San
Francisco Giants Manager Boycotting National Anthem Until He Feels Better About Direction Of America. San
Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters prior to his team's Friday night game against the Cincinnati Reds that he
will not be taking the field for the national anthem and will not be doing so until he feels better about the direction of
the country in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting that occurred earlier this week. Journalist Andrew Baggerly
tweeted, "Gabe Kapler told reporters in Cincinnati that he doesn't plan on coming out for the national anthem and that will
be his plan going forward 'until I feel better about the direction of our country.'"
Miami
Heat blatantly politicize Texas tragedy. Decent people — and organizations — do not
politicize a tragedy. They do not use a tragedy to further their own aims or agenda. Nor do they take advantage
of a calamity in a blatant, public attempt at virtue-signaling. There is no virtue in that. Prior to Wednesday
night's NBA playoff game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, the stadium announcer stated: "The Heat
organization, the Boston Celtics and the NBA family also mourn those who lost their lives in the senseless shooting that took
place yesterday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas." [...] A moment of silence was then observed for the 19 children
and two teachers who were slaughtered by an apparently mentally ill 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos. And then the Heat
broadcast the following announcement: "The Heat urges you to contact your state senators by calling 202-224-3121 to
leave a message demanding their support for commonsense gun laws. You can also make change at the ballot box.
Visit Heat.com/vote to register and let your voice be heard this fall." This is unprecedented and deeply
disturbing. So now major league professional sports teams are going to urge fans attending games to contact their
representatives to lobby for or against specific causes, policies and bills in a manner that fits their political agenda?
MLB
teams go political over gun control on social media accounts. Two Major League Baseball teams announced a
collaboration on Thursday to use their social media accounts to post facts about gun violence instead of posting updates from
their game. The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays cited recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde. [...] The
Tampa Bay Rays donated $50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety, billionaire Michael Bloomberg's pet project promoting gun
control. [...] The teams shared gun violence statistics on their Twitter and Instagram accounts. Sorry, legit baseball
fans looking to catch the score. You're being lectured by baseball teams on the evils of gun ownership.
Activist Who Renounced US Citizenship
Knocked Out of French Open in First Round. Naomi Osaka, the leftwing activist and former tennis champion who
renounced her American citizenship to represent Japan at the Tokyo Olympics, suffered an embarrassing loss in the first round
of the French Open on Monday. New Jersey native Amanda Anisimova, 20, defeated the four-time Grand Slam winner 7-5, 6-4
at Roland Garros. Osaka, 23, said following the match that she didn't know if she would be "motivated" enough to take
part in next month's Wimbledon tournament. "I'm not 100 percent sure if I'm going to go [to Wimbledon]," Osaka said.
Muslim
soccer player refuses to wear rainbow jersey backing LBGTQ, sits out game — now leftists smell blood: 'Homophobia
is not an opinion but a crime'. Idrissa Gueye — a Muslim soccer player for French team Paris
Saint-Germain — refused to wear a jersey adorned with rainbow-colored numbers in support of an LBGTQ agenda and
sat out his team's 4-0 Saturday win against Montpellier, the Daily Mail reported. Now, one activist group wants an
investigation, and others want Gueye punished. The Daily Mail said players across France wore the special jerseys over
the weekend in solidarity with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, which takes place Tuesday
[5/17/2022]. Gueye's manager Mauricio Pochettino said the player's absence from the match was for "personal reasons, but
he is not injured," the outlet added.
America-Hating
WNBA Player Brittney Griner's Russian Nightmare Goes From Bad To Worse. Brittney Griner had been one of the
premier players in the WNBA. She is undeniably a blessed athlete, standing at 6'9" tall with remarkable coordination and
agility for such a large athlete. She's an Olympic gold medalist, a league champion, and has received scores of
individual awards honoring her athletic achievements. And along with those physical blessings have come financial
rewards as well, with Griner reportedly worth in excess of $3 million. One might assume that someone like Brittney
Griner would have been grateful for her gifts. For her natural size and abilities. For her good fortune in being
able to stay healthy despite a rigorous athletic schedule. And considering that Griner is both gay and a racial
minority, we certainly might expect Griner to have been thankful for being an American and living in a country that provides
unequaled opportunity and tolerance. But that wasn't the case.
Megan
Rapinoe Hardest Hit as Finger-Pointing Begins After 'Subway' Releases Dismal 2021 Numbers. Women's soccer star
Megan Rapinoe is in the news again, and this time around the story doesn't involve any goals she's hit or missed (though the
NWSL's 2022 regular season started Friday) or any complaints from her about alleged gender pay gap issues but rather the
finger-pointing that has begun in her direction after public filings from the Subway fast-food franchise revealed some pretty
dismal 2021 numbers. Per the New York Post, Subway had to close "1,043 more outlets across the US than it opened in
2021," which diminished "Subway's total footprint by nearly five percent." It lost more in 2020 (1,609), presumably in
part due to the coronavirus pandemic. But as for what's at the root of the 2021 closures, there are a number of issues
potentially to blame, including "tougher" efforts from the company's CEO to get locations stay open more days during the week
and work more hours to cover all meal shifts, and also how some customers turned their backs on Subway after they ran several
ads in 2021 featuring Rapinoe, a prominent woketivist known for kneeling during the national anthem and being a lousy
spokesperson for "women's equality."
Woke
Company Still Suffering After Featuring Angry, Far-Left Megan Rapinoe In Ads. I don't really know anyone that
eats at Subway anymore — it offers stale bread, tasteless lunch meats, and soggy vegetables. At least back
in the day you could get full for $5, but even now a basic sub runs almost double that. The sinister Covid lockdowns
didn't do much for Subway's business, either. Of course, no analysis of Subway's futile decline would be complete
without accounting for their hair-brained hiring of pink-haired ingrate Megan Rapinoe. [...] Megan Rapinoe is tanking the
Subway brand, but her embarrassments don't stop there. Just a few months ago, she was snubbed by her coach and program,
being left off the next internationally-competing squad. The thirty-eight-year-old self-centered brat is closing in on
the tail end of her career, and not a moment too soon.
ESPN
Host Goes On EPIC Rant, Torches Colin Kaepernick For Four Whole Minutes. Stephen A. Smith is someone with whom
sane people rarely agree. He is loud, obnoxious, and intentionally controversial. Rational dialogue doesn't get
clicks, and credit to him for carving out a niche where people love to hate him. I mean, I don't know who can stand
watching him and he's absolutely part of the corporate media problem, but he gets paid by ESPN for doing his schtick, so
there's that. The free market works. On the subject of the enslaved millionaire Colin Kaepernick, ingratitude
personified, Smith has had some of the worst takes. [...] Somehow, though, this raving leftist lunatic saw the light.
It was dimmed, because he still threw in hackneyed lines about Kaepernick getting screwed over and the system being rigged,
but overall, his rant is on point. Credit where credit is due, this guy nailed what we've been saying for years.
Colin
Kaepernick reveals he's desperate to return to NFL. Colin Kaepernick has claimed his decision to take the knee
during the national anthem was good for the NFL's bottom line. Speaking in a newly-released interview, the former San
Francisco 49ers quarterback also took issue with claims made by league executives that re-hiring him would be 'bad for business'.
NY
Hockey Fans Show Their Gov Hochul What They Think Of Her By Booing Her Mercilessly. Gov. Kathy Hochul was
met with loud jeers as she donned a New York Rangers jersey for the ceremonial puck drop before the team's Tuesday night home
game against the Anaheim Ducks. The chorus of jeers rang down from the rafters as Hochul walked to center ice to kick
off the game and she was introduced over the PA. The state's first female governor was honored as part of "Women's
Empowerment Night" at the Garden, announcers told fans over the loudspeaker, according to footage shared to social
media. [Video clip]
The Editor says...
[#1] Is it no longer possible to attend a hockey game without having to listen to a political speech delivered by the
PA announcer? [#2] Politicians attend events like this for their benefit, not yours.
There are very few cases where this is not necessarily true, and the only one that comes to mind is the long-standing tradition
of the President of the United States throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at the beginning of the baseball season.
MLB
players who refused COVID shot won't get paid for missed games in Canada: report. Major League Baseball (MLB)
players who have chosen not to take one of the abortion-tainted COVID shots will likely not get paid for missed games due to
Canada's vaccine passport system. The latest collective bargaining agreement reportedly does not protect players who
cannot travel to play the Toronto Blue Jays due to Canada's restriction on visitors who have declined to get jabbed.
The MLB season starts April 7.
Brittney Griner Hates America
and Deserves to Languish in a Russian Prison. Despite allegedly happening a few weeks ago, news is now
circulating that WNBA standout Brittney Griner is being detained in Russia for the reported crime of traveling with hashish
oil. The charge comes with a possible sentence of up to ten years in prison. [...] In the summer of 2020, following the
drug overdose by George Floyd, Griner explained that she would be protesting the playing of the national anthem before games
by remaining in the locker room. She went on to say that: "I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem
during our season. I think we should take that much of a stand." Before that, Griner felt called to social
activism when Republican-led states sought to restrict male pedophiles from entering women's restrooms. Desite her
young age and limited impact anywhere, one article even promoted her to one of the "most influential social activists" in
sports history because of it.
Toyota
Ad Says Kaepernick Anthem Protest Was 'Sign of Respect to the Military'. A new Toyota commercial featuring
Colin Kaepernick claims the former NFL quarterback's controversial national anthem protest was a "sign of respect to the
military." The ad, which aired Friday morning on Howard University's radio station, says Kaepernick's decision to go "on
one knee" during the national anthem "came as a sign of respect to the military" and "changed the world." The commercial also
calls Kaepernick a "two-time Super Bowl quarterback," which is false. Kaepernick appeared in one Super Bowl, a 34-31
loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Woke
Soccer Player Megan Rapinoe Left Off U.S. Women's Team Roster. The wokest of all U.S. national sports teams
just got a little less woke. U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) head coach Vlatko Andonovski has called up a roster
that features youth and players the team will rely on in the future. It does not, however, feature noted USWNT
anthem-protester Megan Rapinoe.
As
the Racing Season Opens, NASCAR Finds Itself With Some Political Engine Trouble. [Scroll down] There is a
difference, however, between the political actions with NASCAR, and those seen in recent years in other sports, as the energy
behind the issues seems to be flowing in the opposite direction. Unlike, say, in the NFL with national anthem protests,
or the NBA going all-in with Black Lives Matter activism, NASCAR has repeatedly been in the position of having to act against
the intents of its fan base, rather than attempting to foist a message onto those watching the sport. The governors
have repeatedly taken action seemingly in an effort to appease those outside the sport — and in opposition to
those who support racing. It began years ago, when the sport's offices put out a message imploring fans to refrain from
flying the Confederate flag at NASCAR events.
Brandon
Brown signs '8-figure' LGBcoin sponsorship despite NASCAR ban. [Brandon Brown, the] NASCAR Xfinity series
driver has inked a two-year sponsorship deal worth with the cryptocurrency worth a reported "eight figures," even though he
has been banned from advertising it on his race car. The exact dollar amount of the deal was not announced, but LGBcoin
said Brown is now a "holder" of the currency and his spokesperson confirmed to FOX Business that he is being paid in "both
cash and coin."
NASCAR
driver reverses stance on 'Let's go, Brandon'. NASCAR driver Brandon Brown has turned a corner and decided to
completely and outwardly embrace the political slogan inadvertently inspired by his namesake, "Let's go, Brandon" after
previously trying to distance himself from the phrase. The 28-year-old racecar driver unveiled a new racecar that uses
the popular acronym for the phrase, "LBG," [sic] as part of a cryptocurrency promotion for LBGCoin [sic] which promotes
itself on Twitter as a "meme coin inspiring patriotism."
The Editor says...
It's LGBcoin, not LBGcoin. I suppose LGBTcoin is something else altogether.
Xfinity
Driver Brandon Brown Unveils Anti-Biden-Themed Cryptocurrency As 2022 Partner. NASCAR Xfinity driver Brandon
Brown tweeted that he has a primary partner for the 2022 season — LGBCoin, a "cryptocurrency meme coin" whose
first three letters stand for "Let's Go Brandon." However, NASCAR has not approved it nor has the approval process begun as
of Thursday evening despite Brandonbilt Motorsports' announcement. "We are thrilled to partner with Brandonbilt
Motorsports and Brandon Brown for the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season," said James Koutoulas, LGBcoin HODLer and founder of
Typhoon Capital Management, in a news release. "Brandon is not only an incredibly talented driver, but also a
thoughtful individual wise beyond his years. His commitment and singular focus on his profession is inspiring and his
personal story is one that we can all be proud of — an American story of success and perseverance. Brandon
is truly America's Driver."
NASCAR Caves!
'Let's Go Brandon' Race Car Put on Hold. As Joe Biden's popularity and approval rating continue to fall, the
popularity of the "Let's Go Brandon" slogan continues to rise. However, NASCAR driver Brandon Brown was told by NASCAR
authorities that his "Let's Go Brandon"-sponsored car will have to be re-evaluated. Is NASCAR caving to the left?
[Video clip]
NASCAR is throwing away one of the best marketing opportunities in its history. NASCAR
rejects Brandon Brown's 'Let's go, Brandon'-themed car. NASCAR has officially rejected Brandon Brown's "Let's
Go Brandon" sponsorship deal. According to multiple news reports, the auto-racing giant told Mr. Brown's team that
cryptocurrency firm LGBCoin cannot sponsor his car. The company's first three letters are an allusion to "Let's Go,
Brandon," the coded form of a vulgar insult of President Biden.
Does
NASCAR have a death wish? A pair of reports yesterday lead me to question the sanity of the management of
NASCAR, the privately held giant of the sport of stock car racing. While I am far from an expert on auto racing, and
have never been to a NASCAR race, I have a rough idea of who attends their races and what the political preferences of the
fans are. [...] The entire "Let's go Brandon" craze began at a NASCAR track when an NBC reporter pretended the crowd chanting
"F--- Joe Biden" were instead chanting "Let's go Brandon," in celebration of the victory of Brandon Brown, whom she was
interviewing live on-air. So, we have pretty good idea that NASCAR fans tend to be political conservatives. If
the sport's Southern origins and male, blue collar atmosphere were not clues enough.
Background information: Linguistic
Weaponry and the Rhetorical Mechanics of "Let's Go Brandon!" For those who are unfamiliar with the phrase,
"Let's Go, Brandon!" has become a rallying cry for those opposed to Biden and his agenda. Only a few months after the
inauguration, as the nation sat in stunned awe of the new administration's remarkable ineptitude, crowds across the nation
began impromptu chants of "[...] Joe Biden" at public events. Personally, I use very little profanity and I still hold
to the old idea that even if you can't respect a particular President, some respect is owed to the office. But over the
course of decades, the left has worked aggressively to normalize the practice of telling the President to [get lost] (when he
isn't a Democrat). Their victory was consolidated when Trump's ascendancy brought with it a 4-year tsunami of vulgarity
from leftists of all stripes, bravely "speaking truth to power" by inexplicably telling others to do to Trump what Stormy
Daniels did. But only months after Trump's exit, leftists lamented the new norm they created: they were aghast at
Americans' lack of decorum in speaking of the President. Wherever calls of "[...] Joe Biden" arose, there were efforts
undertaken to distract from them, avoid broadcasting them, or otherwise silence them. Then, in the aftermath of an
October auto race, as the victor Brandon Brown was interviewed on a television broadcast, the crowd began the familiar chorus
of "[...] Joe Biden." In a predictable effort to redirect attention from Biden's failure to the matter at hand, the
interviewer said "And you can hear the chants from the crowd: 'Let's Go, Brandon!" In that moment, a meme was born.
The
NFL is funding 'defund the police' groups. The NFL funds groups that openly advocate for defunding the
police. Through the Inspire Change program, funded by the League, the NFL backs the Vera Institute of Justice, the
Oregon Justice Resource Center, and the Community Justice Exchange. Each of these support defunding or even abolishing
police. Fox Business uncovered that the NFL gave $300,000 to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, which has called for
police defunding as well as other social justice measures. [...] The Vera Institute of Justice advocates for the abolishment
of prisons, and for language changes to be put into effect in order to not "dehumanize" criminals.
NFL
funding 'defund the police' groups through 'Inspire Change' program. The National Football League's "Inspire
Change" partners, which receive financial backing from the multibillion-dollar league, include multiple groups that have
openly advocated for defunding the police, a Fox News Digital review of the program found. Groups who have received
funds as part of "Inspire Change," the NFL's social justice initiative, include the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon
Justice Resource Center and the Community Justice Exchange. All three of those groups support defunding or abolishing
the police, a review of their public statements shows. While the NFL's general support of social justice causes is
widely known, the fact that the league is propping up groups trying to defund police departments has not been previously reported.
A
Brief Guide to Leftist Destruction. Until last year, sports was a great American unifier. It was one
place Americans could go and, leaving politics behind, Left and Right, Democrat and Republican could root for the same
team. No longer. The Left has ruined it by radically politicizing baseball, football and basketball.
Perception
is Not Reality. Television ratings for sports, cable news, entertainment and children's programming are all
nose-diving in direct proportion to the amount of agenda-driven ideology being pumped into the content. No amount of
denial, self-deception or spin among the left can change the fact that the public wholly rejects their nightmarish
fever-visions for humanity. What was once a subtle and nuanced bias in the media has become a sledgehammer of over-the-top
propaganda, and the viewers are voting with their wallets and TV remotes to reject such indoctrination tactics.
NBA coach
compares Christopher Columbus to Hitler. The coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, actually compared
Christopher Columbus to Hitler today in a manner of speaking as he was trashing schools in San Antonio for not getting rid of
the holiday altogether: As Popovich expressed dismay that any school in his city would honor Christopher Columbus at
all, he also dismissed his anti-Columbus hate as an attack on Italian Americans: "It's no knock on Italian
Americans. That's a silly argument. It's like saying, 'We should be proud of Hitler because we are German.'
It makes no sense. It's about Columbus. It's not about Italian Americans." Popovich calls Columbus a genocidal
monster, when that's the furthest thing from the truth.
College
Football and the NFL: Two Different Americas. Football is back — and so are the fans. America
no longer sees empty stadiums on TV, as people return to watching the games in person. But Americans will notice sharp
differences between college and professional football, and it's not just the skill of their players. The pros seem to
embrace Biden's New America, while college ball still evokes the old America. The pros embrace social justice messages,
while college ball steers clear. Unlike other pro leagues, the NFL decided to carry on wokeness for the 2021
season. The NBA famously painted Black Lives Matter on its courts and encouraged players to turn their jerseys into
social justice billboards. The basketball league suffered a ratings decline and consequently decided it would be unwise
to continue this practice. The NFL also saw its ratings drop, but league officials wouldn't let that get in the way of
their BLM advocacy.
The Editor says...
If you watch a football game on TV, and the game is about to start, and some BLM ceremony breaks out, the so-called Black National Anthem
is played, or some other repugnant insult is hurled your way, don't just turn the sound off. Switch to another TV channel for
a few minutes. If your "smart" TV is connected to the internet, and it probably is, this will send a clear message to the Nielsen
ratings people (and thus to the networks) that you won't put up with that stuff.
NFL will allow
social justice phrases on helmets this season. The NFL will allow players to choose from six different social
justice phrases to wear on the back of their helmets for the 2021 season as the league re-ups its efforts in their Inspire
Change initiative. The league also said teams will be allowed to have the phrases "It Takes All of Us" and "End Racism"
emblazoned in their end zones.
New
Texas Law Requires Pro Teams In The State To Repay Money If They Don't Play The National Anthem. Pro sports
teams in Texas refusing to play the national anthem will be making a very expensive decision. According to Outkick, a
new Texas law took effect September 1 that requires all pro sports teams to play the national anthem or repay any government
money received. [Tweet] Seeing as how most pro sports arenas are at least publicly funded in part, teams that refuse to
play the national anthem could be on the hook for an outrageous amount of money. For those of you who might not remember,
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tried to stop his team from playing the national anthem and his choice caused massive backlash.
Biden
Takes a Knee During Photo-Op With WNBA Champions. The WNBA champions apparently do have time for losers.
Even as thousands of Americans have been left stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the Seattle Storm came to the White
House for a photo-op with Joe Biden to celebrate their victory. The Storm are the first NBA or WNBA team to visit the
White House since the Cleveland Cavaliers came in 2016. But their return to the White House came with an awkward,
cringeworthy moment, when Biden, during a photo-op, bizarrely kneeled in front of the team as he showed off a jersey that
read "Biden 46"
Time to
Convert to Soccer? A lifelong baseball fan, I abandoned the game this year after MLB sided with the Democratic
Party in its campaign against ballot integrity in Georgia. It wasn't just that: my home town team has put a "Black
Lives Matter" sign and a memorial to George Floyd in right field. If I can't escape politics at a baseball game, I'd
rather go somewhere else. For the first time in decades, I haven't seen a major league baseball game this year.
Not only that, I haven't watched or listened to a single pitch on radio or television.
Losers, in more ways than one. U.S.
Women's Soccer Team Takes Stunning Loss After Kneeling For BLM At Olympic Opener. The U.S. women's soccer team
took a devastating 3-0 loss to Sweden early Wednesday morning in their Tokyo Olympic opener, breaking their 44-game winning
streak. All 22 players on Team USA took a knee in solidarity with the radical leftist group Black Lives Matter before
the game, a major point of contention with U.S. fans.
Joe Biden's Misery
Index Rises. [Scroll down] Other highlights in this week of continuing political disappointment include
[...] the news that the National Football League will play what is generally regarded as the African-American anthem "Lift
Every Voice" prior to the national anthem at their games this year, and have "social justice messaging" interspersed among
other diversions at the games and on the players' outfits. If one looks hard enough, the social justice of an NFL game
is probably not found in the affront to the U.S. flag and anthem of obscenely overpaid athletes milking their natural gifts
through 20-hour week/seven-month work years. Instead of rolling over like poodles, the NFL owners should have
contracted the league, expelled the most demonstrative malcontents, and chucked the invertebrate commissioner, Roger
Goodell. If they had done that and asked the fans for support they would have received it, and the anti-American
players would have straggled back eventually. At least, unlike the National Basketball Association, they haven't yet
been suborned by the Communist Party of China.
NFL
launches new ad proclaiming 'football is gay, football is lesbian...' The National Football League (NFL)
recently joined virtually every other American institution in lauding — and marketing to — the LGBTQ
Community during Pride Month in June. It did so by releasing a new 30-second commercial proudly proclaiming that
"football is gay, lesbian, queer, transgender, bisexual and exciting." The ad begins by stating "football is gay" to the
sound of drums rolling and people cheering. [...] "Football" is pandering. Football is pathetic. Football will
say or do anything to chase down the very last potential viewer/customer. I'm surprised the ad didn't also state,
"Football is Chinese."
NFL
'will play the black national anthem 'Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing' before the Star Spangled Banner at its 2021 season games'.
The NFL plans to play the 'black national anthem' before every game in the first week of the 2021 season, according to a new report.
Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing, will be performed before The Star-Spangled Banner to kick off each game in Week 1, beginning with the
September 10 season opener when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans. A source familiar with the league's discussions
confirmed the controversial change to ESPN's The Undefeated on Thursday.
Report:
The NFL Will Have More Social Justice Messaging During The 2021 Season. The NFL reportedly plans on ramping up
social justice messaging during the upcoming season. According to Front Office Sports, the league "will introduce more
social justice messaging on fields and player helmets during the upcoming 2021 season, following up on initial efforts from 2020."
MLB
All-Star Game Limps to Second Lowest Ratings in History. Any Guesses Why? Go woke, go broke. Major
League Baseball is learning the hard way that catering to the far left isn't remotely helping their desperate attempts to
resurrect what once was America's proud pastime. MLB's All-Star Game, played Tuesday night [7/13/2021], predictably
tanked in the Nielsen ratings, delivering the second-lowest official total in the sport's history. According to The
Hollywood Reporter, the game narrowly avoided "a third straight all-time audience low" with 8.24 million viewers, "about
100,000 more than the 2019 game's 8.14 million." Except, it's quite possible that this could indeed be the game's
lowest ever viewership. Why? According to THP, "It's also worth noting that the Nielsen figures for Tuesday
include out of home viewing and 2019's do not." Ouch!
Get
Ready for the Wokest Olympics Ever! [Scroll down] Those earlier athletes never took a knee during the
National Anthem. They were Americans first and always. Finally, when those athletes took to the field, they
understood that fans came to watch a sporting event, not a protest. When it came time to play, they let their talent do
the talking. That concept is lost on the modern day woke activist-athlete and the enablers in social and sports
media. Today, you don't even have to be that good to get noticed, so long as you openly align yourself with a cause
supported by the political left. It's often difficult to understand even what the cause is, as many of woke can only
speak in platitudes.
Most
Black People Oppose Olympic Protests Like Gwen Berry's: I&I/TIPP Poll. When hammer thrower Gwen Berry
decided to protest the national anthem at an Olympic trials event last month, she raised the prospect that athletes will try
to use the Tokyo Olympics to disparage their own nation. If they do so, they will get precious little support at
home. The latest I&I/TIPP poll finds that the public overwhelmingly rejects athletes showing disrespect for the
American flag at international games. The poll found that 79% of the public say it's important "for professional
athletes to publicly respect the American flag on the international level," with 60% saying it is "very important."
Just 16% of the adults surveyed think it's not important.
How
Barack Obama Begot Gwen Berry. "I never said that I hated the country," said Gwen Berry, the world's most
famous hammer thrower — male, female or non-binary. "All I said was I respect my people enough to not stand
or acknowledge something that disrespects them. I love my people point blank, period." Berry, who finished third
in the female hammer throw at the U.S. track and field Olympic Trials, was attempting to explain why she turned her back on
the National Anthem. If her subversive pout appalled half of America, it surprised no one. In the year 2021,
sports fans have come to expect athletes, black and white, to disrespect symbols of national pride. It didn't use to be
this way. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, race relations were better than they had ever been. As
to athletic protests, it had been forty years since any Olympian grabbed the kind of attention Berry got.
I
Shouldn't Be Forced Into Politics To Play College Sports. "Black Lives Matter is not political, it's basic
human rights," my coaching staff and teammates heading our new "Call to Action Committee" told me and the other team members
after practice. They were responding to some of the concerns I had expressed prior to the team meeting. By the
next game, while running out of the tunnel 10 of my 13 Davidson College teammates and all four of my coaches were wearing
T-shirts with "Black Lives Matter" bannered across the front. When the national anthem played and with our U.S. Army
veteran team doctor behind us, most of my team dropped to one knee in protest of America's "institutional racism." The
virtue signaling was clear: those wearing the T-shirt and those on their knees supported basic human rights, and the rest of
us simply did not. Political messaging in sports isn't new, but the grip and scale this possesses over sports is.
Biden
BACKS anthem tantrum athlete. White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended hammer thrower Gwen Berry's right
to 'peacefully protest,' after the Tokyo-bound athlete turned her back on the US flag during Olympic trials. Psaki told
Fox News' Peter Doocy at Monday's press briefing that while she and President Joe Biden hadn't spoken specifically about the
incident, Biden is 'incredibly proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem and all that it respresents,
especially for our men and women serving in uniform all around the world.' 'He would also say, of course, that part of
that pride in our country means recognizing there are moments where we are, as a country, haven't lived up to our highest
ideals, and that means respecting the rights of people, granted to them in the Constitution, to peacefully protest,' Psaki added.
Psaki
defends Gwen Berry's anti-America Olympic tantrum as right to peaceful protest. As if the Biden administration
couldn't sink any lower than it already has, in comes White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki to dig the hole deeper. [...] Is
there any other leader on the face of the planet who endorses a position like that? It almost suggests [Biden]'s not in
the White House legitimately, given the contempt he holds for the flag of the nation he supposedly represents. It's
really incredible. This is the man who sends men into battle and expects them to die for that flag. Now he's
defending an athlete who lived a cosseted existence yet who was able to develop her talents only courtesy of the United
States of America, in self-centered ingratitude that insults every other American who has fought and died for the flag of her
freedom and opportunity? He doesn't care. All he cares about is his own power by fair means or foul. The
country is optional to him. So is the flag.
Gwen
Berry, Flag-Snubbing US Track And Field Star, Defended By The White House. White House press secretary Jen
Psaki Monday defended U.S. track and field star Gwen Berry's decision to turn her back on the nation's flag, saying Berry was
seeking to "peacefully protest" the moments that Americans "haven't lived up to our highest ideals." Berry, 31, placed
third over the weekend in the hammer throw during the U.S. Olympic trials, earning her a spot on the team. As the
National Anthem was played, she turned from the flag.
NFL
says 'Football is gay' in new commercial that makes clear its support of LGBTQ+ community. As Pride Month comes
to a close, the NFL has released a new commercial that makes clear its support and embrace of the LGBTQ+ community. The
30-second spot begins with the line, "Football is gay" as light cheering plays in the background. "Football is
lesbian. Football is beautiful. Football is queer. Football is life. Football is exciting.
Football is culture. Football is transgender. Football is queer. Football is heart. Football is
power. Football is tough. Football is bisexual. Football is strong. Football is freedom.
Football is American. Football is accepting. Football is everything. Football is for everyone."
'Pride'
Night at the Old Ballpark. Major League Baseball teams have been celebrating "Pride Month" via Pride Nights at
ballparks across the Majors. June is Pride Month, in case you've missed the hype. Outdoing itself, the MLB is
partying "all season long." One wonders why there needs to be a month of any celebration. Should October be refashioned
as "Halloween Month?" Is there an "Irish Month," which St. Patrick's Day is the capstone? And why limit Groundhog
Day to a day? Yet gay pride is now LGBTQ+ (the plus is currently optional) pride because being homosexual isn't enough.
Every sexual variant not heterosexual and practiced by a tiny minority of people is to be granted a month's worth of recognition and
celebration. The Grand Old Game has no reprieve from being rainbowed.
Hate
to break it to you, but Major League Baseball just got even worse. Coming off the All-Star Game P.R. debacle,
where they moved the game out of Atlanta, MLB is upping its radical chic several notches with its latest political
advocacy. On the anniversary of George Floyd's death, MLB highlighted its social justice initiatives, which are a
series of suggested readings, video viewings, and social justice activities that it recommends people do. Nothing like
giving your customers a homework assignment. And they wonder why people find baseball less fun these days. As you
can imagine, the suggestions they give are real humdingers. For instance, they advise we read Dr. Ibrahim X
Kendi. Kendi is a totalitarian utopist who is popular on the P.C. lecture circuit. He believes that capitalism is
inherently racist and advocates for a Department of Anti-Racism.
Major
League Baseball Team Becomes First in the League to Wear 'Pride' Uniforms. Baseball just got brighter.
This Saturday, fans of the San Francisco Giants will get a multicolored treat to the tune of commemorative uniforms. As
hailed by NBC Chicago, the Giants will "become (the) first MLB team with Pride Month hats (and) jerseys."
Eugene
Chung claims NFL team said he's 'not the right minority' in job interview. NFL assistant coach Eugene Chung
says he was told Asians are not the "right minority" when he interviewed for a job this past off-season. Despite a
resume that includes 55 games of experience as an NFL offensive tackle — the first Asian American first-round
draft pick in history — and 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Super Bowl winners Andy Reid and Doug Pederson,
Chung was turned away. "It was said to me, 'Well, you're really not a minority,[']" Chung told The Boston Globe.
Chung is Korean, as are both of his parents.
Virginia
Little League Coaches Must Attend 'Antiracist' Training. Little League baseball coaches in Alexandria,
Virginia, will be required to take a diversity, equity, and inclusion course this month. In an email to coaches on
Thursday, Alexandria Little League board president Sherry Reilly announced the league's partnership with the Positive
Coaching Alliance. All Little League coaches and board members were asked to cancel practices in order to attend the
Sports Can Battle Racism workshop on May 24. Virginia school districts have mandated similar training for their
teachers. Arlington County schools required teachers to participate in an equity training program in which they were
taught how to create an "actively antiracist learning environment." Loudoun County schools spent hundreds of thousands
of dollars on teacher training sessions based on critical race theory — the idea that American institutions are
inherently racist.
New
Kaepernick book: 'To eradicate anti blackness, we must also abolish the police'. A new book from controversial
former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick calls for the absolute abolishment of all police departments and prisons in the
United States, positions that are not popular with the vast majority of Americans, according to polling data. "In order
to eradicate anti-Blackness, we must also abolish the police," is the thesis of the book, which is a collection of 30 essays,
one of which is written by the former San Francisco 49ers starter, TMZ reported Wednesday.
Did they do this on Easter Sunday? I must have missed it. Miami
Dolphins Partner with Radical South Florida Mosque for 'Drive-Thru' Ramadan Meal. Given all the community food
drives the Islamic Center of Greater Miami (ICGM) has conducted, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the
testing and vaccinations it has co-sponsored, one could be fooled into thinking that the center is a civic minded
institution. It is easy to understand why the NFL's Miami Dolphins would want to be a part of such "charitable"
endeavors. However, there is a dark side to ICGM — a side linked to terror and bigotry — which
overshadows its "charitable" activities, and this makes it incumbent upon the Dolphins or any other group which has chosen to
associate with ICGM to sever ties with the Islamic center.
Talladega
Superspeedway offering free laps to those who receive COVID-19 vaccine on site. On Saturday [5/15/2021], the
Talladega Superspeedway will be hosting a free drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination and testing site from 9 a.m. until
5 p.m. All participants will be asked to review educational material about COVID-19 vaccine and sign a consent
form. Vaccines will be administered by members of the Alabama National Guard, with a public health nurse present.
After receiving the vaccine, people will wait 15 minutes to be observed for any rare allergic reactions. Registration
is not required, but encouraged.
The Editor says...
If the vaccine is so helpful, and the disease is so terrible, why are incentives necessary? The answer is obvious:
The disease has been inconsequential to the overwhelming majority of those who have had it, and serious questions are now
being asked about what's really in that vaccine and why so many people have had adverse reactions to it.
Woke
Takeover: NFL Hires Katie Hill, Former Obama Comms Director. The NFL continued its trend of hiring
liberal former White House communications and public relations people this week by making former Obama communications
director Katie Hill their senior vice president of communications. "As Senior Vice President, Hill will be responsible
for leading the NFL's day-to-day communications operation, aligning the League's communications strategy with its
priorities," the NFL wrote in a press release.
Nike,
NBA Silent After LeBron James Tweets 'YOU'RE NEXT' at Columbus Cop. Lakers star LeBron James' sponsors and the
league he plays for have remained silent in the wake of his tweet targeting an Ohio police officer. On Wednesday
[4/21/2021], James tweeted a photo of a white Columbus police officer with the caption, "You're next, #Accountability."
But after suffering a major backlash, the player deleted the tweet and attempted to claim that he deleted it to stop people
from "creating more hate" over his message. The explanation for his removal of the tweet did not satisfy many.
But regardless of whether the fans have accepted James' reasoning, his sponsors seem unconcerned by his tweet targeting a
police officer. Thus far, sponsors and partners including Nike, 2K Sports, AT&T, Beats Electronics, Blake Pizza,
Coca-Cola, GMC, KIA Motors, Nike, RIMOWA, Upper Deck, State Farm, and Walmart have remained silent over James' threatening tweet.
Ex-Virginia
Tech soccer star sues coach, claims he forced her off team because she wouldn't kneel. Kiersten Hening, a
former Virginia Tech women's soccer player, is suing her former coach after she was allegedly benched and forced off the team
because she didn't want to kneel during a pregame demonstration last September. Hening, 21, was a midfielder/defender
for the Hokies from 2018 to 2020. In a federal lawsuit filed last month, Hening said that her former coach, Charles Adair,
wasn't a fan of her political views. According to the documents obtained by TMZ Sports, Hening said during the peak of
the Black Lives Matter movement last summer, she often had a difference of opinion from her teammates on social justice topics.
Trump
Savages LeBron James For Threatening a Police Officer's Life. On Wednesday [4/21/2021], NBA Lakers star LeBron James
tweeted something that looked very much like an incitement to murder a police officer. James rushed to conclusions
about the shooting of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, a black girl who appears to have been lunging at someone with a deadly
knife when the cop shot her. James later took down the tweet, but he claimed that this shooting represents yet more
evidence of systemic racism. President Donald Trump took him to task on Thursday night. "LeBron James should
focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television
RATINGS, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the League," Trump said in a statement. Recent ratings
are indeed at an all-time low after the NBA painted the politically-charged slogan "Black Lives Matter" on its courts.
LeBron
James Incited Millions to Murder a Police Officer. Will It Cost Him Anything? As America learned that a
Columbus, Ohio, police officer shot and killed a teenage girl while she was in the act of wielding a knife at two other
girls, NBA star LeBron James took to Twitter and incited his followers against the police officer. James has 49.6 million
Twitter followers and is a hero to millions for winning basketball championships. He is very influential.
American
Businesses can be Woke, or they can be the Best, but they can't be Both. The fallacious ideas driving the
corporate push for diversity, equity, and inclusion are not even the most problematic thing about it. The push for DE&I
is a cancer that results in organizational atrophy for corporate America, not strength or progress. Consider what it
would do to the NBA as a simple example. Black men account for more than 80-percent of the league's talent.
That's problematic, of course, because only 27-percent of the NBA's fans share those players' skin color. Shouldn't the
product on the court look more like the fans buying the tickets and watching at home, as many corporations now insist should
be their basis for hiring talent? To ostensibly make the product better for fans, imagine that the league decided that
only 50-percent of the players entering the league over the coming decade would be Black men. The other 50-percent
would, in an effort to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion, be comprised of other identities that are underrepresented
in the NBA, such as whites, Hispanics, and women, the latter of whom currently represent a shocking zero percent among
the NBA's players.
Former
MLB Star David Wells: Major League Baseball Losing a Lot of Fans over Political Stance — 'They Don't Want to
See That'. Monday [4/19/2021] on FNC's "Fox & Friends," former Major League Baseball pitcher David Wells
sounded off on polling, showing a drop in MLB popularity among Republicans after the league decided to move its All-Star Game
out of Georgia. The move came in response to new election integrity laws. The two-time World Series champion said
changes brought on by "knucklehead" Commissioner Rob Manfred have already turned him off of watching MLB but said the
All-Star Game change "put the icing on the cake."
How
corporations conspire with Democrats to hoard power at the public's expense. Georgians adopted voter-integrity
measures supported by a large majority of Americans, that are in the mainstream of state regulation and in fact are less
stringent than the rules in Delaware, President Joe Biden's home state, and New York. By more than a 2-1 margin,
Americans think such rules are not unfair or discriminatory. Nonetheless, these measures have produced an unprecedented
effort by large corporations to interfere in the workings of a democratic government. Major League Baseball moved its
All-Star Game out of (majority-black) Atlanta to (majority-white) Denver in protest. Coca-Cola's president weighed in
against the changes. And in a statement organized by Kenneth Chenault, former chief executive of American Express, and
Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of Merck, hundreds of CEOs voiced opposition.
It
Sure Looks Like the MLB Made a Big Mistake by Getting Political. One of the dumbest things a company can do in
the corporate world is alienate a large portion of their consumer base. Appealing to the widest swath of people is just
good business because it maximizes the pool from which you can draw profit. That fact is also true for sports teams,
which are still businesses at the end of the day. You especially don't spit in the face of one of your strongest
demographics. That's exactly what Major League Baseball did, though, and they are learning that lesson the hard way as
new data shows just how dumb their decision to get political was.
MLB's
favorability rating plummets. Major League Baseball has suffered a massive loss in popularity among Republicans
due to its intervention on the side of Democrats in the political dispute over Georgia's voting law. According to a
poll by Morning Consult, MLB's net favorability rating (the difference between the percentage of those who view the sport
positively and those who view it negatively) among Republicans has dropped from 47 points to 12 points in the past
month. Until commissioner Rob Manfred moved the all-star game, MLB was the big-time sports league viewed most favorably
by Republicans. Now, it is viewed less favorably than the NFL and the NHL. It's still viewed more favorably than the
NBA, though.
MLB
Is Latest US Pro Sports League to Upset Republicans. Following Major League Baseball's decision to pull the
All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to Georgia's new voting law, Republicans are now out on MLB. MLB's net favorability
rating among Republicans was 47% in the middle of March, the highest rating amongst the four major U.S. sports leagues.
Since then, it has crashed to 12%, dropping the league below the NFL (15%) and NHL (26%), according to new data from Morning
Consult. (The NBA has a favorability rating, which is calculated by taking the difference between the share of respondents
with a positive opinion of the league and the share with a negative opinion, of -5 among Republicans.) In general,
Republicans have been becoming increasingly dissatisfied with pro sports in the U.S. due to players kneeling during the
national anthem, messaging about social justice issues and the relatively recent embrace of the Black Lives Matter
movement. "As a result, Republicans now have a less favorable view than Democrats of all four major U.S. sports
leagues," according to Morning Consult's Alex Silverman.
Brett Favre Wants
Sports, Politics To Be Separated: 'I want to watch the game'. Brett Favre thinks politics are hurting sports
and would like to see both things go back to being separate. Favre made comments earlier this week, saying sports are
better off being something to unify the country rather than used as a tool to further divide people. "I think both
sides, for the most part, want to see it just remain about the sport, not about politics," the Hall of Famer said. "At
least, that's my interpretation. I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch the game. I want to watch players
play and teams win, lose, come from behind. I want to watch all the, you know, important parts of the game, not what's
going on outside of the game. And I think the general fan feels the same way." Favre's comments came days after
Major League Baseball moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta to Denver over Georgia's new voting laws. He said he's
heard fans tell him they don't watch sports anymore because it has gotten too political.
Timberwolves
honor Daunte Wright in pregame ceremony. The Minnesota Timberwolves honored Daunte Wright before the NBA team's
game on Tuesday night [4/13/2021]. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by a police officer Sunday in
the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park. Body camera footage of the incident has sparked racial justice protests across
the city and renewed calls by activists for police reform measures. The Timberwolves wore special T-shirts during
pre-game warmups before their game against the Brooklyn Nets and held a moment of silence on the court prior to the playing
of the national anthem.
Fixing
Racism by Being Racist? If diversity is such a good thing at Princeton [University] or United [Airlines], how
about professional sports? 59 percent of NFL players are Black, compared to only 13 percent of the US population.
And no women play in the NFL. If professional sports leagues are to be sufficiently woke, reflecting the diversity of
America, then half of all players should be women, and only 13 percent black, 18 percent Hispanic, 6 percent Asian, and so
on. Why are woke news networks, Ivy League universities, and professional sports leagues not practicing the diversity
that they preach? Major League Baseball thinks the new Georgia voting laws are racist. They should look in the mirror
at their owners, managers, and players and see how they compare to American diversity and admit their own racism and sexism.
Fans Are Tuning Out on Woke Sports.
Last Friday, after President Biden, left-wing activists, and the national media spent weeks peddling lies about Georgia's new
voting law disproportionately impacting people of color, Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred caved to the
radical mob and decided to move this year's All-Star Game out of Atlanta. In the name of equality, Manfred's decision
will cost Atlanta, a city with a 50 percent black population, an estimated $100 million in economic losses. The game
will now be held in Denver, Colorado, a city that is only 10 percent black. As nonsensical as Manfred's decision was,
no one should be surprised by it. Over the past few years, it has been fairly obvious to any impartial observer that
the higher echelons at MLB, along with those in charge at the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball
Association (NBA), have made a conscious decision to alienate a large percentage of their fanbase by conceding more control
of their sports to the demands of social justice warriors and the tyrannical Left.
Baseball strikes
out. [Scroll down] Hopefully I've established my baseball bona fides, so now I'll get to the point:
I condemn Major League Baseball, especially its spineless Commissioner Rob Manfred, for pulling the annual All-Star game from
Atlanta. Like so many other useful idiots, Manfred bent over for the left-wing mob and its lies, this time regarding
Georgia's new voter ID law. Sporting events are a diversion and should never be used as a political prop. My
response? I'm unequivocally boycotting Major League Baseball. If I can do it, so can you! Yeah, I'm a
lifelong baseball guy, but first and foremost I'm a patriot. I love our Republic, for what it was before the communist
cancer metastasized, and for what it can be again! But we have to take a stand against the Marxist bullies.
Baseball is just one example of a major corporation that went "woke."
In
Defense of Major League Baseball — An Explanation That Makes Sense and Seems Rational. The MLB
All-Star game over the past 20 years has become an event where some of baseball's biggest stars decline to play in order to
have a 4-day break in the middle of the grind of 162 game schedule. But the prospect of having a large number of the
sport's best players publicly decline to participate because of where the game was being played was a potential PR nightmare
that would last for weeks, and continue right up to the start of the game — if there was a game. As more and
more players would likely announce their intention to boycott the game under pressure from media and players in other
sports — like LeBron James — a cascading effect would have like developed where the outcome might have
ultimately have been that no players agreed to play. If some players did agree to play — say some white
players — the potential for conflict inside the locker rooms of MLB clubs between boycotting players and non-boycotting
players would escalate. The fallout for the sport in the aftermath of such a development would be disastrous.
Fire
Manfred and return the All-Star Game to Atlanta. If Major League Baseball team-owners don't act fast, the MLB
will experience a hemorrhaging of fans that might damage the pro game for years. The way to repair the damage is to
fire Commissioner Rob Manfred and return the All-Star Game to Atlanta this summer. An April 7 report from Fox News
(via Becker News) says Manfred decided to pull the game from Atlanta after consulting with Stacey Abrams and a voting rights group
associated with LeBron James and the always sketchy Al Sharpton. The timing of Manfred's decision caught owners off-guard,
reports Fox. Manfred's decision should not only incense team-owners, but serve as grounds to dump the commissioner.
Thanks,
Captain Obvious! NBC Realizes MLB Move Hurts Black-Owned Atlanta Businesses. After a campaign of
disinformation over the Georgia voter bill that helped pressure Major League Baseball (MLB) to move the All-Star Game from
Atlanta to Denver, Colorado, Wednesday's [4/7/2021] NBC Nightly News stumbled onto the truth once they poisoned the
well, which was the decision will have a negative economic impact on Atlanta businesses and especially Black-owned
establishments. Anchor Lester Holt stated the obvious in an opening tease that there was "unintended fallout from the
MLB moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta on local businesses."
Jake
Tapper strikes out over MLB moving All Star game when reminded CNN has its HQ in Atlanta. CNN anchor Jake
Tapper's so-called inside information about the "simple facts" behind Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star
Game from the Atlanta area is turning out to hardly be a home run. That's because those Twitter users —
those who apparently are able to evaluate the Georgia voting law on its substance and free of the one-sided narrative pushed
in Tapper's industry — are reminding him of an additional simple fact: CNN's headquarters just happens to be
located in Atlanta. Shouldn't CNN also boycott Atlanta, too, they wonder?
Major
League Baseball stupidly falls for Democrats' partisan game. There's no defense for MLB's action pulling the
All-Star Game out of Georgia. A corporation based in New York, which has more restrictive voting laws than Georgia's,
has moved the Midsummer Classic to Colorado, which, like Georgia, has the supposedly objectionable voter ID
requirement. It did so at the request of President Joe Biden, who is from Delaware, which also has more restrictive
voting laws than Georgia. Why? Because Georgia passed a bill that generally expanded access to voting. As
Gov. Brian Kemp pointed out, when MLB issued its anti-Georgia announcement, the league didn't bother to cite a single
provision of the law it was supposedly objecting to. That's easy to explain: MLB doesn't actually care that much
about voting laws — otherwise, it wouldn't have its headquarters in New York.
Ex-MLB
commissioner Fay Vincent slams successor Rob Manfred's decision to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to
Denver. Former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent has slammed successor Rob Manfred over the
'mistake' of moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to the new voting law in Georgia that many believe
to be racist. 'Major League Baseball can't become a weapon in the culture wars, a hostage for one political party or
ideology,' the 82-year-old Vincent wrote in The Wall Street Journal's opinion section. Georgia's new law limits mail-in
voting and allows for more legislative control over the election process following former President Donald Trump's baseless
claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Critics of the law, including Delta and Coca-Cola, say it unfairly targets
minority voters in metropolitan areas.
Report:
MLB Commish Pulled All-Star Game from Atlanta After Talking to Stacey Abrams. According to a report from Fox
Business Network's Charles Gasparino, sources inside Major League Baseball claim that Commissioner Rob Manfred "blindsided"
MLB owners with "at least" the "timing" of his decision to pull the All-Star Game from Atlanta. Moreover, Gasparino's
report claims that Manfred spoke with defeated 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams before he decided to move
the game.
MLB
commissioner decided to move All-Star Game after pressure from Stacey Abrams on voting issues: sources. Major
League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Robert Manfred decided to move the All-Star Game on his own after holding extensive
discussions with voting rights groups associated with Lebron James, Stacey Abrams and Rev. Al Sharpton, sources familiar
with the move tell Fox News. Abrams and Sharpton told the commissioner players would boycott the game if not.
Sources say that Abrams' current stance, that she is disappointed about the Georgia boycott, is suspect as she was a key
player in the decision. James has publicly supported the Georgia boycott. Abrams' group and Sharpton also urged
the commissioner to support other issues, including voter drives and H.R. 1, the For the People Act — sweeping
election reform that recently passed the House. Manfred decided the easiest way to deal with the matter was to leave
Georgia, according to a source.
Things
We Can Live Without. The NFL was an early casualty. The sight of players, coaches, even owners kneeling
to protest demonstrably nonexistent "systemic police racism" sent me to the sidelines. Colin Kaepernick's socks,
featuring pigs wearing police hats, revealed his true feelings as the leader of that movement. A lot of fans like me
make other plans on Sundays now. For decades I suffered with the fickle fortunes of the Boston Red Sox. [...] The Sox
lost me when they plastered "BLACK LIVES MATTER" on the marquee at Fenway, in the iconic typeface used on their
uniforms. BLM organizers are Marxists who support the dismantling of the nuclear family. Marxists perpetrated the
greatest evils ever visited on mankind. It's so hard to cheer for those who pander to them. I stopped.
Major League Baseball has yanked its All-Star Game from Georgia because that state made a modest effort to prevent fraud in
future elections. Joe Biden expressed support. [...] Can liberals alone fill baseball stadiums?
MLB
strikes out with proposed All-Star Game relocation. Major League Baseball officials are mulling relocating the
All-Star Game from Atlanta to Coors Field in Denver, though Colorado has the same voter ID requirement and fewer early voting
days than Georgia. Several outlets reported the development Monday, noting that the Colorado Rockies would be hosting
the annual game on July 13 instead of the Atlanta Braves. The league moved the game out of Georgia following an outcry
by Democrats, corporations headquartered in Atlanta, and left-wing pundits that a new voter reform law unfairly targeted
minorities.
MLB's
new All-Star Game location — Denver's Coors Field — is steeped in its own history of discrimination.
By moving the All-Star Game from suburban Atlanta to a stadium in Denver, Major League Baseball may have gone from the frying pan into
the fire in the controversial case of cancel culture. MLB ignited a firestorm last Friday — with the support of President Joe
Biden — when it announced it was moving America's pastime's biggest game next to the World Series because it disagreed with a new Georgia
voting law that liberal critics say helps Republicans and hurts minorities. But the new venue, Coors Field, in Denver, comes with its own
dark cloud of controversy, and may ignite even more problems.
The Woke Left Ruined
Baseball. Is Golf Next? On Friday, Major League Baseball announced they will move the 2021 All-Star Game
and 2021 MLB draft out of Atlanta in response to Georgia's Election Integrity bill. [...] Corporations are now rushing to
cave to the woke Left, with Major League Baseball joining the ever-growing list of organizations who decided that folding was
easier than making a stand. There was a time when sporting events were a wonderful way to get away from it all.
It gave us a short reprieve from days filled with doom and gloom headlines and nasty political disagreements with
neighbors. Those days are long gone. Sports, athletes and politics are now tied together at the hip. From
athletes kneeling during the national anthem to Black Lives Matter commercials at every turn, political statements during
sporting events have become our "new normal."
Biden
Encourages Masters to Move Out Georgia by Continuing to Lie About State's New Election Laws. First baseball,
now golf. Joe Biden delivered remarks from the White House on Tuesday [4/6/2021] and encouraged Americans to continue
to cower in fear over a virus with a 99.98% survival rate. Joe Biden was asked by a reporter if he supports moving the
Masters Tournament out of Georgia after the MLB decided to move its All-Star game from Atlanta to Denver. "That's up to
the Masters," said Biden before he nudged corporations to bludgeon American citizens based on debunked claims about Georgia's
election laws.
Stacey
Abrams [is] to blame for costing Georgia $100 million in lost All-Star Game revenue: Rand Paul. Former
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has urged people not to boycott Georgia, but Sen. Rand Paul says she
and other Democrats are squarely to blame for Major League Baseball's decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta.
The founder of Fair Fight, Ms. Abrams led the charge against Senate Bill 202, the Georgia election law that requires
identification for absentee ballots, expands early voting and bans electioneering within 150 feet of polling entrances,
calling it "Jim Crow 2.0." "There's all these people who are woke, but now even the woke like Stacey Abrams, are starting
to see, oh, no what have I unleashed? I just lost my state $100 million in revenue," said Mr. Paul on Fox's
"The Story." "Stacey Abrams and the Democrats cost Georgia $100 million in revenue because they complained about
something they didn't read and they said something about it that wasn't true."
Strike
Out Major League Baseball. Woke pro baseball, strike one. A cowardly MLB commissioner, strike two.
Corporate sanctimony, strike three. Major League Baseball pulling the 2021 All-Star game and this year's amateur draft
from Atlanta is batter out, game over. As a lifelong baseball fan, I take no pleasure in declaring that I won't spend
another penny on the Grand Old Game this season. And that might turn into many seasons. The MLB is against
Georgia's sensible election reforms. Election reforms that better ensure honest, fairer contests are critically more
important than my pleasure. They should be more important than yours. Over the weekend, President Trump called
for boycotts. As usual, Trump hit the nail on the head.
Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott Throws Fastball at MLB's Virtue Signaling. The Texas Rangers baseball team had asked
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to throw out the first pitch at their home opener. Major League Baseball then took a stand
against sensible voting reforms in Georgia, reforms that include extending early voting days making it easier to Georgians to
cast votes. After Joe Biden shamelessly and repeatedly lied about that law, MLB moved the All-Star game from
Atlanta. MLB's leadership evidently did not read the law before launching an economic war against the state of
Georgia. Texas is considering similar reforms, and American Airlines is among corporate America's partisans taking
shots at the law without bothering to read it first. Gov. Abbott has decided enough is enough. He released a
letter Monday telling the Rangers that he will not support the politicization of baseball and therefore will not throw out
the first pitch.
White
House Spins Biden's All-Star Game Remarks: He Didn't Definitively Say He Supported Moving All-Star Game From
Georgia. On Monday [4/5/2021], White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to mitigate the effect of comments
President Biden made last week in which he stated that he supported major league baseball players who wanted to relocate the
All-Star game from Atlanta because Georgia GOP Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a bill that dealt with voting law.
Biden stated, "I would strongly support them doing that." At the White House press briefing on Monday, a reporter
asked, "I just wanted to ask you a question about Major League Baseball. The league decided to move its All-Star Game
out of Atlanta. That's something that the President said he supported before. Does he then agree with their
decision to move that game out of Atlanta because of the voting law? Psaki framed Biden's answer as being supportive of
the players' capacity to make a decision rather than the decision itself.
MLB All-Star
Game to be played at Coors Field after league strips event from Braves: reports. The Colorado Rockies will host
the 2021 MLB All-Star Game after the decision to move the event from Atlanta over Georgia's restrictive voting law, according
to multiple reports. ESPN and Altitude TV reported the game was going to be moved to Coors Field in Denver on July 13.
[...] MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement to strip the Braves of the event on Friday in response to the
mounting pressure to change the location of the July game in response to Republican-backed election reform legislation
recently signed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
MLB
relocates All-Star game to state with voter-ID laws, and fewer early-voting days. That'll show 'em!
After caving to a boycott of Georgia over its new election law, Major League Baseball has relocated its All-Star Game event
from Atlanta to Denver. [...] However, let's not overlook the blow that MLB has struck for solidarity with the black
community. They moved the All-Star Game from a state where 31.2% of the population is black, and moved the $100 million
business opportunity to a state where 4.1% of the population is black. This is what's known as "redistribution of
wealth," at least to progressives and the MLB.
Why did baseball capitulate? Jim
Geraghty wonders why Major League Baseball pulled its all-star game from Georgia, but major sporting events are still scheduled to take place in that state.
He cites the Masters Golf Tournament, as well as all home games for professional Atlanta teams and Georgia's collegiate athletic programs. In addition, the
following events are still a go, as of now:
The 2021 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games in Atlanta
The 2021 SEC Championship Game
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
The PGA Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in September
The USTA Atlanta Open
Why, Geraghty asks rhetorically, if there is a moral imperative to move the baseball all-star game, is there no obligation to move other sporting events to a
different state? The answer, of course, is that there is no such obligation. That, I take it, is Geraghty's point. But why has baseball moved the
all-star game, while comparable events will still take place in Georgia?
Oops:
Chuck Schumer Invites MLB All-Star Game to NY, but Then Facts About the State Get Dropped. As we've previously
reported, President Biden, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and other Biden officials are outright lying about
Georgia's new voting law, so much so that even Democrat-friendly fact-checkers are not letting them get away with it.
The Biden administration's falsehoods and those of failed 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams have
now cost the state the Major League Baseball All-Star game, which was yanked Friday just two days after Biden said he would
"strongly support" them doing so.
Georgia
County That Voted For Biden To Lose $100+ Million Over MLB Relocating Game After Biden Remarks: Report.
The Georgia county that was set to host the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game said over the weekend that it will lose
more than $100 million after the league pulled the game and draft out of the state — a decision that comes after
Democrats Madeline number of false claims about the state's new election law and signaled they would support the league
boycotting the state. Holly Quinlan, president and CEO of Cobb Travel and Tourism, said that the "estimated lost
economic impact" for the county was more than $100 million.
(Censored)
Major League Baseball. [Scroll down] I am also, like most conservatives, not a big believer in
boycotts. I even wrote a newspaper column several years ago arguing against them. But once again, there is a time
for everything. And once again, this is that time: time for every conservative in America, along with anyone else who
cares about the future of our republic — who cares that it has a future that doesn't include full-on
totalitarianism — to utterly abandon Major League Baseball. Don't go to a game. Don't watch games on
TV or listen to them on the radio. Don't buy any official gear. Just pretend like MLB no longer exists.
A
Biden Advisor Is Asked About the MLB Boycott of Georgia, Her Response Is Mind-Boggling. With the MLB pulling
the all-star game out of Georgia, the questions for Democrats are piling up. Specifically, what exactly did they
accomplish by lying about the election reform bill except costing Georgia business owners over $100 million in revenue?
Stacey Abrams has been the least self-aware in the aftermath, claiming that she's not to blame despite clearly being to blame.
Others like Raphael Warnock haven't even tried to pretend they don't the result. Of course, it wasn't just Georgia-centric
figures in the mix here. Joe Biden also voiced his support for the boycott, and one of his advisors was asked about it this
morning [4/4/2021]. [...] This is what being out of touch looks like.
Boycott
boomerang: Genius Dems start to realize Georgia boycott will cost them votes in the Peach State.
Democrats thought they had a brilliant plan to force Georgia to permit widespread voting fraud by getting their woke pals in
corporate America to bully the state into repealing its brand-new voting integrity law that mandates voter ID and other
commonsense measures. Two Atlanta-based corporate giants, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, denounced Georgia's new voting
integrity bill, and Major League Baseball announced it was moving the All-Star Game away from Atlanta. Oops!
Guess who gets hurt in the estimated $100 million impact from the loss of the MLB showcase. That would be the little
guys who work at hotels and restaurants, who are vendors at the game, and who work in other service industries. The
local Dem pols realized this quickly.
The Democrats' rash behavior is due to a lack of foresight. Boycott
boomerang: Genius Dems start to realize Georgia boycott will cost them votes in the Peach State.
Democrats thought they had a brilliant plan to force Georgia to permit widespread voting fraud by getting their woke pals in
corporate America to bully the state into repealing its brand-new voting integrity law that mandates voter ID and other
common-sense measures. Two Atlanta-based corporate giants, Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, denounced Georgia's new voting
integrity bill, and Major League Baseball announced it was moving the All-Star Game away from Atlanta. Oops!
Guess who gets hurt in the estimated $100 million impact from the loss of the MLB showcase. That would be the little
guys who work at hotels and restaurants, who are vendors at the game, and who work in other service industries. The
local Dem pols realized this quickly.
MLB requires photo
ID to pick up tickets from Will Call, but boycotts Georgia for voter ID law. Major League Baseball responded to
calls to boycott the state of Georgia over a controversial new voter-ID law by moving the All-Star game out of the Peach
State. But teams still requires fans to show photo ID to pick up their tickets from the Will Call booth. South
Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace called the league out on Twitter.
What's
More American than Coke and Baseball? [Scroll down] The immediate target of these corporate actions was
efforts by Georgia and Texas to revise their election laws, laws which in many states have resulted in widespread disbelief
that the 2020 elections were conducted on the up and up. When people believe election procedures are untrustworthy, it
shatters voluntary acceptance of the election results. Under pressure from racist propagandists of the left and using
COVID as an excuse, jurisdictions in several states so loosened the election rules that widespread fraud was made
easier. One state in particular was Georgia, where asleep at the switch (or corrupt — your choice) officials
permitted the sloppy, untrustworthy, opaque, and disputed election procedures. In an effort to prevent a repeat,
Georgia enacted a new election law. (In pdf form it's 104 pages, and that makes it unlikely to me that any of
the corporate bleating about it was made with knowledge of its contents.)
Baseball
is the last straw. Time to start boycotting. Under the influence of racist organizations such as BLM, and
in response to ignorant denunciations of Georgia's new election integrity bill by an ignorant president, it [major league
baseball] has thrown in with the woke mob that would judge the worth of individuals on the basis of the color of their skin
rather than on the content of their character. In the process it has begun to unravel the progress made in the
preceding half-century. Now, not even baseball, the all-American game, is a haven from the culture wars unleashed by
the ruthless left. It would not have been hard for Rob Manfred and the big businessmen who run MLB to resist the
demands of the radical left to take sides in a political dispute. All they needed to say was that the business of MLB
is baseball. Not politics. But that would have taken courage — courage that they do not have.
Major
League Baseball and the Voting-Rights Con. It has been years since I've watched the All-Star Game, the
can't-miss event of my youth. When I learned that the woke Left had gotten the woke commissioner to accede to the woke
White House's instruction that the game be moved out of Atlanta — part of the campaign to slander Georgia's voting
law as racist — it was the first time I'd even heard that the game was scheduled to be in Atlanta. They
could play it on Mars for all I care, or, better yet, not play it at all.
Major League
Baseball's Cowardly 'Stand'. Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred announced that it would not
be holding its 2021 All-Star Game or draft in Georgia as originally planned because of the state's much — and
unfairly — maligned new elections law. [...] What a humiliating spectacle for the league and the country.
Manfred doesn't state what the MLB's problems with the bill are because he either can't or is embarrassed to have to
articulate them out loud. The move comes after President Biden — who called the law "Jim Crow on
steroids" — said he agreed with the suggestion that the MLB move the All-Star Game, and as he continues to deceive
the public about the legislation's contents.
Georgia
Democrats stare down a mob of their own making. Leftist activists are busy whipping up a national boycott of
Georgia-based businesses over the state's new election integrity law. The boycott has the support of Hollywood and the
White House, with President Joe Biden saying this week that he would support moving the MLB's All-Star Game out of the state
as a sign of protest. Georgia Democrats are now left trying to talk the mob down. "I absolutely oppose and reject
any notion of boycotting Georgia," Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff said in a statement on Thursday [4/1/2021]. "Georgia
welcomes business, investment, jobs, opportunity, and events. In fact, economic growth is driving much of the political
progress we have seen here." Stacey Abrams, who, having lost Georgia's governorship in 2018, rebranded herself as a voting
rights activist, agreed and reminded Democrats that economic boycotts would hurt the very communities they claim to represent.
LeBron
James, Liberal Elites Celebrate After MLB Takes All-Star Game from Georgia. On Friday [4/2/2021], Major League
Baseball decided to take its All-Star Game away from Atlanta's Truist Park in response to the state's new voter integrity
law. Liberal supporters exploded with delight after the MLB announcement. [...] Unsurprisingly, the baseball player's
union supported the move. After all, they had already been pushing for it. [Numerous tweets]
MLB
is fine with ball games in Cuba and training in China, but Georgia is the human-rights problem. You could tell
that the Major League Baseball (MLB) decision to pull its All-Star game out of Atlanta was a deeply unpopular one, based on
the ambivalent reaction of far-left failed gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams. [...] After all, isn't she the one who
pushed through most of the fraud-enabling laws on the books in Georgia which triggered the recent legislative action?
The blacks-are-too-dumb-to-have-voter-ID idiotic notion, so by extension, nobody should have to show voter ID to vote, even
though everyone needs to show ID to buy a beer at a MLB ball game, or buy a ticket to one? She needs to make up her
mind. So which is it? Not wanting to see families hurt, or being all-in for the boycott of Atlanta, which
certainly should affect the city tax base? She wants to have it both ways, boycott but nobody hurt. That's
because unlike MLB, she wants to win public office, and knows that screwing over black businesses, which will get it in the
teeth with this MLB maneuver, is going to make her unpopular.
This
is How To Do It — President Trump Calls for Boycott of Major League Baseball. This is exactly how to
fight back against the insufferable leftist politics that is infecting everything. Today President Trump has called for
a boycott of Major League Baseball. If these corporations realize their actions will cause 80 to 100 million people to
stop using their products, they will feel the scale of their financial position being crushed. Keep in mind MAGA
supporters are the people who economically represent the largest audience with a greater percentage of their income available
for recreational purchasing decisions.
GOP
Senators Propose Revoking MLB's Antitrust Status. Republican lawmakers, including Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and
Mike Lee (Utah) have called for an end to Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption after the league announced it would
pull the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta. The league's decision came in response to a Georgia voting law that critics
claim makes it more difficult for individuals, particularly black voters, to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Joe
Biden might just have killed Major League Baseball. One of the highlights of the baseball season is the
All-Star Game, which was set to be played on July 13 in Atlanta. Since 1933, midway through the MLB season, fans pick
their favorites from the American League and the National League and then the chosen stars compete. I'm not a baseball
fan but I'm willing to bet that, in terms of ad revenue and merchandise sales, it's an important part of the business end of
pro-baseball. And it certainly brings revenue to the city hosting it. On Thursday [4/1/2021], Biden made one of
his little scripted appearances, this time on ESPN. It's worth noting that ESPN, which Disney owns, long ago transferred its
allegiance from sports to leftism with a serving of sports on the side. [...] Remember, there are only 30 baseball teams but
there are around 80 million Trump voters. We can make the franchise hurt for its decision to weaponize America's game
against the integrity of America's elections.
The Editor says...
The quickest and easiest thing you can do about this issue is to turn off ESPN. Step two: Don't watch another baseball
game this year. (Do you have nothing else to do?) The Democrat fans may be able to keep the politicized sport afloat,
but I doubt it.
Woke
to Broke: Moving All-Star Game Costs Atlanta Tens of Millions in Revenue. Major League Baseball announced
this year's All-Star Game would be relocated out of Atlanta, Georgia, costing the city as much as $190 million in revenue,
according to official estimates. Bill Volckmann, Finance Director for Cobb County, appraised the All-Star Game's
economic impact to fall somewhere between $37 million and $190 million in his 213-page agenda packet. While some
dispute the high-end of those projections, it's safe to say the city — especially lower-wage workers who would
have worked the event — would have benefited greatly.
Atlanta
Braves Fire Back After MLB Moves All Star Game. Major League Baseball has been under intense pressure from
Democrats to move the annual All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia's election integrity law and on Friday [4/2/2021], the league
caved. On the second day of the 2021 season, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred sent a clear message to all MLB fans that his
league takes its marching orders from activists and politicians.
The Editor says...
Throw the ball. Hit the ball. Catch the ball. Big deal. Play your big game somewhere else.
Or don't play at all. Who cares?
Trump
Calls For Boycotting Major League Baseball After They Cave To 'Radical Left Democrats'. Former President Donald
Trump called for people to boycott Major League Baseball (MLB) on Friday night after the league caved to pressure from
leftists to cancel the All Star Game, which was scheduled to take place in Atlanta, after Georgia passed a law to tighten up
voting security around the state. Trump's statement comes after MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced
earlier in the day that the league was moving both All-Star Game and MLB Draft to a new host city following a misleading
pressure campaign from leftists about the state's new laws. "Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and
now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter
I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections," Trump said in a statement. "Boycott
baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke,
Delta, and all!"
Et tu, baseball?
I can easily overlook the flamboyance and over-the-top showmanship of many of today's players in the interest of letting them
have a bit of fun while they play. But I can't go along with this calculated, political move on the part of the
owners. The commissioner works for the owners, and the possibility that a move like today's could have been made
without a majority of owners going along with it is more than unlikely. It is impossible. So baseball has joined
the NBA and NFL in their wokeness. Politics has contaminated every form of entertainment in our country. I am
beyond sad and beyond furious for this latest insult. I have never before been so upset with "my" game that I have been
tempted never to watch another inning. I may get over it, but then again, I may not.
Remember
when baseball brought us together? My guess is that there is going to be a huge backlash against this
decision. I trust that the commissioner understands that. It would have been wiser for the commissioner to have
responded to the wokes by saying we play baseball, not get involved in partisan politics. Twenty years ago, baseball
brought us together. Now it will add to the growing polarization in the land. Sad but true.
MLB
yanks All-Star Game out of Atlanta over Georgia's new voting law. MLB is taking its ball and leaving
Georgia. The league announced on Friday that it is moving the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta as backlash grows over
a new Georgia law that is seen as an attack on voter access. "I have determined the best way to demonstrate our value
as a sport is relocating this year's All-Star Game and MLB Draft," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "MLB
fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box." The Braves, in a
statement, opposed the move.
Biden
'strongly supports' moving MLB All-Star game over new Georgia voting law. President Joe Biden said he would
"strongly support" moving the Major League Baseball All-Star Game out of Atlanta because of Georgia's new voting law that
critics say may suppress turnout at the ballot box. Biden spoke to ESPN's Sage Steele in an 11-minute interview
Wednesday night, saying he would back the MLB if the league decided to move the July 13 game out of Georgia in response
to the GOP-backed election reform signed last month by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
After promoting this behavior for decades, now they say it's forbidden. Cleveland
Indians prohibiting fans with redface, Native American headdresses into Progressive Field. In a long list of
what fans can expect at Progressive Field for the 2021 season, the Cleveland Indians announced it will not allow fans into
Progressive Field with "headdresses and face paint styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures
and traditions." Anyone wearing inappropriate or offensive images, words, dress or face paint must be covered or
removed, and failure to do so will constitute grounds for ejection or refusal of admission, the organization stated.
The Editor says...
The professional baseball teams derive their income by selling tickets to baseball games; and to a certain extent, by selling
the television rights to those games. (I suspect that every major league game is attended by a TV crew, whether the
entire game is televised or not, just in case something extraordinary happens.) The fans come to the game in person,
expecting to have an enjoyable experience. In Cleveland, for the last several decades, part of that experience has been
the opportunity to root for the Indians while dressing and acting like stereotypical cartoon Indians. Until very
recently, nobody thought for a moment that such behavior was offensive to Indians in general. But the fans don't like
to have their traditions uprooted, and they don't like to see leftist politics injected into their favorite sports, after
paying to attend the game (and park the car). If specific teams or the MLB organization put a wet blanket on the fans'
enthusiasm, they can expect to make less money.
Because the game is more important to them than their country: U.S.
soccer will now allow players to kneel for national anthem. The U.S. Soccer Federation will no longer require
players to stand for the national anthem, voting to repeal a 2017 policy that called on national team players to "stand
respectfully" during the Star Spangled Banner before national team games. During a virtual conference of the group's
annual general meeting on Saturday, 71.34 percent of National Council members voted to repeal the policy which had already
been nixed by the USSF board of directors last summer. Hundreds of voters make up the National Council, including
representatives for youth, adult amateur and professional populations, in addition to the athletes' council.
If
College Basketball Players Don't Want to Stand for the National Anthem, Yank Their Scholarships. The men's
basketball team at East Tennessee State University disrespected the national anthem by dropping to a knee on Feb. 16th.
That act of defiance led state lawmakers to fire off a letter to every public university in the state. "We expect all
those who walk onto the field of play representing our universities to also walk onto the field of play to show respect for
our National Anthem," read a letter written and signed by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally along with 26 Republican state
senators. [...] Unfortunately, many student athletes cannot be persuaded to do the right thing because of patriotism or human
decency. It's all about dollars and cents. So lawmakers should present the basketball players an offer they
cannot refuse.
No
Kneeling: Scotland And Wales Players All Remain Standing Before Rugby Game. Players for Scotland and
Wales all remained standing ahead of their Six Nations rugby match on Saturday, defying uproar over many players not kneeling
to Black Lives Matter at the earlier Scotland vs England fixture. While players for England — with some
notable exceptions — decided to "take a knee" for Black Lives Matter before facing off against the Scots team in
their home stadium, only a handful of Scottish players followed suit.
Virginia
College Forfeits Basketball Game After Suspending Players For Kneeling During Anthem. Bluefield College, a
small Baptist liberal arts school nestled in the Appalachian mountains in Bluefield, Virginia doesn't seem to be a likely
place to make national news. But when players on the men's basketball team took a knee during the playing of the
national anthem — after being warned several times it was against school policy — the school president
promptly suspended the players and forfeited a game. The players had knelt several times before games in January and
February, at both home and away contests. After being warned about the practice, the players decided to stay in the
locker room during the playing of the national anthem before an away game.
College
suspends basketball players for kneeling during anthem because of how 'it's perceived by some'. The dean of a
small Baptist liberal arts college in western Virginia suspended basketball players after they repeatedly knelt before games
during the playing of the National Anthem in violation of the institution's rules. The suspension of several Bluefield
College players by President David Olive led to a forfeit against NAIA rival Reinhardt on Thursday [2/11/2021], the New York
Post reported. Olive, who is white, said in a statement he made the decision to suspend all the team's players after
discovering that they had knelt prior to several games this season.
The Editor says...
If Mr. Olive were a man of some ethnicity other than white, would that have been mentioned in this article? Of course not!
Minnesota
colleges adapt as 'Star Spangled Banner' stirs dissimilar emotions. When it comes to the national anthem and
sports, Americans remain divided. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reignited the issue last week when he said he had
stopped playing the anthem at games. The mention of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who last played in the league
three years ago, still angers people upset by his choice to kneel during the anthem. But some schools, including
St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota, are incorporating social justice messages into their pregame anthem
presentations. The Tommies' statement is one of several new anthem introductions developed by the Minnesota
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for use by its teams. The Gophers are playing "Lift Every Voice and Sing," often
called the Black national anthem, before "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Mark
Cuban Insists The Dallas Mavericks Won't Play National Anthem Anymore. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said
Tuesday [2/9/2021] that his franchise would no longer play the national anthem prior to his team's NBA home games. It's
a long-standing tradition to play the anthem before home games in all major professional sports, and even all the way down to
high school athletics. Cuban said that will come to an end with the Mavericks. The national anthem hasn't been
played at any Mavericks games so far at the American Airlines Center this season — preseason or regular-season
games. Cuban told ESPN that he consulted with NBA commissioner Adam Silver before letting the rest of the world know
about his decision, ESPN reported. A team source told ESPN that no players, coaches or referees have mentioned the
anthem's absence so far.
The Editor says...
If you hate America, don't play the National Anthem before the game. Your customers will let you know if they concur.
Jen
Psaki: Mark Cuban's attempt to ditch national anthem educates people on U.S. failures. White House press
secretary Jen Psaki says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's attempt to ditch the national anthem was an acknowledgment of
U.S. shortcomings. The White House spokeswoman was asked about the billionaire's move, which was quickly torpedoed by
the league as the news went viral. "I haven't spoken with the president about the decision by Mark Cuban or the Dallas
Mavericks," Ms. Psaki said of the plan to omit the national anthem from the Mavericks' first 13 home games. "I
know he's incredibly proud to be an American, and has great respect for the anthem, and all that represents, especially for
our men and women serving in uniform around the world."
The Editor says...
Now you know where Psaki stands — as an official representative of the President.
White
House Supports Mavericks Scrapping The National Anthem Because America Fails 'Often'. White House press
secretary Jen Psaki expressed support for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's decision to remove the national anthem from the
team's home games because they "feel [the anthem] doesn't represent them." During the Wednesday [2/10/2021] press
briefing, Fox News's Peter Doocy asked Psaki about the Biden administration's stance on Cuban's decision. While the
press secretary acknowledged that President Joe Biden is "proud to be an American and has great respect for the anthem," she
also said he would support the Mavericks for calling out the frequent times when "we as a country haven't lived up to our
highest ideals."
The Editor says...
Cuban, Psaki, and Biden have made it clear: They are annoyed by the National Anthem, apparently because they hate America.
Update: NBA
Responds after Mark Cuban Skips National Anthem for Home Games. The National Basketball Association announced
on Wednesday [2/10/2021] that all teams would play the national anthem before games. The announcement marks an apparent
rebuke of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who decided he would not mandate the playing of the anthem before the team's
home games. The Mavericks have already played their first home games without the anthem, including their first home
game with fans in the audience.
But at least now you know where Mark Cuban stands. Dallas
Mavericks PLAY national anthem before home game against the Hawks - just hours after owner Mark Cuban relented.
The Dallas Mavericks have played the national anthem before a home game against the Atlanta Hawks, just hours after
billionaire team owner Mark Cuban relented to the NBA's demand that the song be played at all games. A recorded version
of the Star-Spangled Banner was played before Wednesday night's game at American Airlines Center, while Mavericks and Hawks
players and staff stood lined up on the court. As the anthem concluded, the smattering of fans in attendance broke out
in applause and cheers. The Mavericks are currently allowing 1,500 fans at home games, with tickets available to
vaccinated healthcare and essential workers.
Did
Biden Get Booed? Bidens Make Creepy Video Appearance at Super Bowl, Tell Americans to Wear Masks and Get Vaccinated.
Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs v. Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked off Sunday [2/7/2021] at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa,
Florida. According to reports, 22,000 fans attended the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Bidens barged in and made a creepy
video appearance before kickoff to lecture Americans about "social distancing." Americans just can't get on with their
lives because the Democrats have to drone on and on about Covid every second of every day. Joe Biden and his
handler wife Jill made a video message from their Delaware basement bunker that played on the
jumbotron — as if people watching football and drinking beer want to hear from Dementia Joe.
The Editor says...
The attendance at the big game might have been 24,835, which is less than 40 percent of
the previous year's attendance.
Super
Bowl LV Kicks Off with' Black National Anthem'. Super Bowl 55 kicked off Sunday with recording artist Alicia
Keys singing the so-called black national anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," along with a poem. Hitmaker Alicia Keys
was tasked with a virtual performance of the 121-year-old spiritual song that has come to be known alternately as the "black
national anthem" after being introduced in 1899 for Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The poem read in 1899 was set to music
in 1900.
Roger
Goodell Praises Colin Kaepernick — Says He Deserves 'Our Recognition And Admiration'. NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell praised former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during his annual state of the
league address. Fox News reported that Goodell said that Kaepernick deserves "our recognition ... and our appreciation"
for talking about systemic racism in 2016, when he began taking a knee during the national anthem before his games in
protest. "I said very clearly back in June that we wish we had listened to our players earlier, and we had a lot of
players that were coming and bringing these issues to us," Goodell told reporters. "It didn't start last summer; it
started over two years ago and we've been working with the Players Coalition over that period of time."
The Thirty Tyrants.
A decade ago, no one would've put NBA superstar LeBron James and Apple CEO Tim Cook in the same family album, but here they
are now, linked by their fantastic wealth owing to cheap Chinese manufacturing (Nike sneakers, iPhones, etc.) and a growing
Chinese consumer market. The NBA's $1.5 billion contract with digital service provider Tencent made the Chinese firm
the league's biggest partner outside America. In gratitude, these two-way ambassadors shared the wisdom of the Chinese
Communist Party with their ignorant countrymen. After an an NBA executive tweeted in defense of Hong Kong dissidents,
social justice activist King LeBron told Americans to watch their tongues. "Even though yes, we do have freedom of
speech," said James, "it can be a lot of negative that comes with it."
Megan
Rapinoe rips woman wearing USWNT hoodie and Trump mask: 'That is not the kind of fan we will welcome'. Megan
Rapinoe had a clear message for any so-called fans of the U.S. women's national soccer team who support the Trump
administration: "Don't bring that [...] here." Rapinoe, 35, the national team's outspoken leader and social
justice activist, watched in horror from the team's January training camp in Orlando as white supremacist and domestic
terrorists wreaked havoc on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Their purpose? Trying to undermine democracy and overthrow
a government at the behest of President Trump, who was unhappy he lost re-election to Joe Biden. A photo was snapped
and shared of someone trying to return home after the insurrection wearing a USWNT sweatshirt while also dawning a TRUMP 2020
face mask, which of course caught the attention of the team and Rapinoe, who stand against the man who has continued to lie
and spew hatred about non-white, BIPOC.
The Editor says...
[#1] I really doubt if there were any "white supremacist(s)" in the DC crowd last week, and the only "domestic
terrorists" were from the political left. [#2] At least 9,999 out of every 10,000 people in the crowd
were assembling peacefully, which the Constitution guarantees their right to do. [#3] Nobody was "trying to
undermine democracy [or] overthrow a government at the behest of President Trump." That is a vicious canard. Trump
never asked encouraged anyone to engage in violence. [#4] President Trump is not just "unhappy he lost re-election to Joe
Biden." He is justifiably indignant because his re-election was stolen, and the counterfeit victory given to Biden, by
means of wholesale voter fraud. Joe Biden is one of the few people who is corrupt and venal enough to accept such a
gift. [#5] One can easily imagine that the rest of the article above — and the entire web site —
is replete with further lies and disinformation.
Confessions of a
Sports Dropout. [Scroll down] Common sense still mostly prevails at the amateur level. I've not
seen a Black Lives Matter banner at a Little League game yet. But it's early days, and we all know what rolls
downhill. The NFL, MLB, and NBA are now adjuncts of Black Lives Matter, complete with banners, sweatshirts, and sappy
and misleading television commercials. League executives have given no indication whether their loyalty is to the
sentiment — which is unassailable but irrelevant, as no one ever said black lives don't matter — or to
the Marxist organization, which has a much more toxic agenda than racial peace and equity. In fact, racial peace is the
last thing BLM wants. It would put them out of business. The price of attending or viewing one of these
now-political leagues' games, in addition to the usurious ticket or cable package tariff, is to see America insulted by
kneeling athletes, indulged young prats whom America has made rich and privileged beyond their wildest dreams.
NBA coach Stan
Van Gundy calls white people 'racist,' says he's a 'poster boy for white privilege'. New Orleans Pelicans head
coach Stan Van Gundy said white people are "racist" and need to change to help African Americans. "We're the ones that
are racist," Van Gundy told ESPN's The Undefeated in an interview. "It's a white person's problem that affects people
of color, and so we're the ones who have to change. ... Certainly you want to promote Black voices, right? But if
they're the only ones speaking out, a lot of people just push it aside. There needs to be people saying, 'No, wait a
minute. This is wrong, and we need to correct these things.'" Van Gundy said that he is part of the problem,
calling himself a "poster boy for white privilege."
Soccer
Team Bans Fans From Booing Team Members Taking A Knee. Cambridge United have handed a stadium ban to fans who
booed players taking a knee before their home game against Colchester. Other fans have been asked to undertake
education around discrimination and equality before they are allowed back into the Abbey Stadium. A handful of fans
could be heard booing ahead of kick-off in the League Two fixture on December 15, even though it was quickly drowned
out by applause. [Video clip]
BLM
Leader Who The Red Sox Honored On The Field Is Arrested For Punching An 80 Year Old Woman On Video. A
32-year-old Black Lives Matter leader who was honored by the Boston Red Sox during an August "Hats off to Heroes" ceremony,
normally used to honor members of the military, was arrested Saturday in Swampscott, Massachusetts for punching an
80-year-old female Trump supporter in the chest. Jacques Jr., who was released on $550 bail, can be seen in a video
posted by Trump supporter Dianna Ploss unloading a right to the 80-year-old woman. According to his Facebook page,
Jacques Jr. was approached by the Red Sox back in August. The team planned to honor the BLM leader on a night normally
reserved to honor members of the military. [Video clip]
NFL
Honors Gunman Killed While Trying To Murder Cops. The National Football League (NFL) has chosen to honor a
gunman who was killed while shooting at police by allowing players to wear his name on their helmets. Protesters have
demanded that Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) Officer Dejoure Mercer be sent to prison for murder for
returning fire after 21-year-old Dreasjon Reed shot at him on May 6, The Indianapolis Star reported at the time.
Special Prosecutor Rosemary Khoury announced in November that a grand jury determined the shooting was justified, according
to The Indianapolis Star. The Indiana State Police (ISP) said evidence in Reed's phone indicated he was involved in two
drive-by shootings prior to livestreaming the police chase and gun battle with Officer Mercer, The Indianapolis Star reported.
Thanks for representing our country so well. U.S.
Olympic Committee Will Allow Athletes To Kneel In Protest, Raise Fists. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic
Committee (USOPC) announced Thursday that it won't sanction athletes who raise a fist or take a knee on the medal stand at
the Tokyo Games in 2021. USOPC said on Dec. 10 that it agreed with the calls from American athletes that asked the
committee to change the rule prohibiting inside-the-lines protests at the Olympic Games, according to ESPN. The provision
known as Rule 50 in the Olympic Charter has been under scrutiny and International Olympic Committee (IOC) has told its
athlete commission to explore other options, according to The Washington Post.
Social
Justice Bowl?: Ad Agency Predicts 'Black Lives Matter' Theme for Super Bowl LV. TV advertisers may be preparing
to turn the NFL's biggest game into the "Social Justice Bowl" with hours of woke commercials and messaging. If reports
on the ads coming for Super Bowl LV are to be believed, the funny and heartwarming ads, the cute kids and heroic animals will
be running alongside Black Lives Matter themes. Along with social justice activism, advertisers may be preparing
commercials filled with coronavirus messaging as well, according to Front Office Sports.
U.S.
Women's Soccer Team Wears Black Lives Matter Jackets to International Match. The U.S. Women's National Team
(USWNT) wore Black Lives Matter Jackets to their international friendly match against the Netherlands on Friday. In a
message posted before the game, USWNT star Alex Morgan said the team chose to wear the jackets as a way to "affirm human
decency," and as a stand against "racial injustice and police brutality."
The
Colin Kaepernick spectacle needs to end now. Last week, the man who has made millions stirring racial anxieties
and allying himself with massive corporations that profit mightily from slave labor, decided to use his voice not to promote
harmony and unity, but to once again stoke discord. One would think that a man who has profited so handsomely by
turning a blind eye towards the human rights abuses that fund his underwriters would experience at least a modicum of shame
before attempting to lecture humanity on matters of "justice." But Colin Kaepernick has proven he is nothing if not
shameless. So at a virtual conference last Monday [11/23/2020], the Nike millionaire zoomed in to lend his voice to the
cause of freeing Wesley Cook, the former Black Panther who, after shooting white police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981 for
daring to pull his brother over for a routine traffic stop, changed his name to Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Colin
Kaepernick goes full radical with call to free cop killer. It had to happen. This day had to come.
For an attention-seeking activist, the worst scenario is to lose the limelight. It means the death of influence.
So [Colin] Kaepernick — who's already run the course on calling for police reform, who's already spent his media
capital on aligning with Black Lives Matter and crying racism when NFL teams, surprise, surprise, failed to rush to extend
lucrative offers — Kaepernick had to ratchet the cries. He had to find a new rally call. He had to
grab a hold of a new campaign. From police reform to "let my cop-killing people go" — it's the predictable
next step.
Colin Kaepernick
calls for release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, former Black Panther convicted of killing police officer. Activist and
free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick called for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther who was
convicted of killing a White Philadelphia police officer in 1981. He made the comments during a virtual conference with
supporters fighting for his release on Monday [11/16/2020]. "We're in the midst of a movement that says 'Black Lives
Matter.' And if that's truly the case, then it means that Mumia's life and legacy must matter," Kaepernick said in a video
statement.
NFL releases
National Coming Out Day PSA. In honor of National Coming Out Day, the National Football League (NFL) released a
video celebrating former LGBTQ+ players and encouraging those still in the closet to come out. The heartwarming clip
features former out gay and bisexual athletes Wade Davis, R.K. Russell, Jeff Rohrer, and Ryan O'Callaghan encouraging current
athletes to live freely and speak their truth. They collectively announce: "To all current players who are
thinking of coming out, when you are ready, so are we."
NFL
to Air 'National Coming Out Day' PSA During Sunday Night Football. The NFL is set to celebrate the LGBTQ
community's "National Coming Out Day" during its Sunday Night Football broadcast this weekend. The campaign,
labeled "It Takes All Of Us," will feature a 30-second video starring openly gay or bisexual NFL players including Ryan
O'Callaghan, Jeff Rohrer, R.K. Russell, and Wade Davis. The ad encourages gays to come out and be proud of their
sexual proclivities, according to CNN.
NBA
caves! No 'Black Lives Matter' on courts and jerseys next year. NBA commissioner Adam Silver casually let
drop the bombshell news that the NBA will remove the name of the Marxist revolutionary organization Black Lives Matter from
its basketball courts and player jerseys next season. This comes following catastrophic ratings declines to all-time
lows for the league's playoff games.
The Progressive Medusa.
Sports was once a place to escape work, politics, and family tensions — a unifying experience where grudges,
feuds, and vendettas disappeared for a few hours. Not now. Franchises became self-acclaimed woke ministries, in
which poorly educated athletes — almost exclusively multimillionaires and without much knowledge or appreciation
of where their seemingly limitless salaries derive — have become preachers. And they are poor preachers at
that. The more a LeBron James remonstrates with America, the more NFL athletes refuse to honor the national anthem, the
more all professional sports display glitzy politicalized logos, so all the more fans who pay their salaries tune out.
The problem is not just that half the country is at odds with the politics of professional sports, but also that it watches
them to see athletic excellence and root for favored teams — not to hear adolescent rants about their own moral
shortcomings from supposedly victimized elites, some of whom have less than sterling characters. Worse still, the
monotonous anti-American fantasies of half-educated players are cynically predicated on their own careerist realities —
and more than just constructed to appeal to woke 20-something consumers with cash for sneakers and downloads.
Utah
Company Gives Up Suite at Jazz Games Over Anthem Kneeling, BLM Promotion. A Utah company is giving up its suite
at Jazz games, citing the players' decision to kneel during the national anthem. The company, Salt Lake County-based
SME Steel Contractors, is asking the NBA franchise to "put a stop to all disrespectful actions during the anthem and remove
the Black Lives Matter logo from the arena." "The recent actions of the NBA — including the owners, coaches
and players of the Utah Jazz — have converted a beloved entertainment venue into a forum for dissemination of
political propaganda which is divisive and completely out of step with our company and its values," a Sept. 9 letter
sent from Salt Lake County-based SME Steel Contractors to Jazz owner Gail Miller states.
Company
Gives Up Its NBA Suite, Fires Off Letter to Franchise Owner Over the Ruining of Sports. If you've paid much
attention to NBA games as of late, you know one thing for sure: Black Lives Matter. With large letters labeling
the court, it's hard to miss the message. [...] Unsurprisingly, not everyone's on board, and you can count SME Steel
Contractors among them. In a September 9th letter to Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller, the Salt Lake County-based company
made that clear. In fact, SME's giving up its suite at the arena. And it's asking the NBA franchise to "put a
stop to all disrespectful actions during the Anthem and remove the Black Lives Matter logo from the arena."
The
NFL gets woke and goes broke. The woke crowd is putting pressure on us to believe we are a racist
country. From 2016 to 2019, a few NFL players took a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner to say this country is
racist. The pressure became so intense that the NFL now accommodates them. This year, the Black National Anthem
is played before games. Most players either kneel or stay in the locker room during the real National Anthem.
These players must believe that this country is racist. Since we are citizens, they must believe we are racist.
Almost all of them are millionaires. They worked hard at their profession and rose to the top. They are a typical
American success story. They now get money and fame. We enjoy watching them play and contributing to their
wealth. They should be grateful that they live in this country. Instead of gratitude, the players are using their
fame to call attention to their low opinion of the fans, their customers. The natural fan response is to boycott the games.
Steelers'
Star: I should have done more research before honoring drive-by shooter. I wrote [elsew]here about how
the Pittsburgh Steelers will be honoring Antwon Rose, a drive-by shooting participant and probable shooter, by wearing his
name on their helmets this season. Only one player — Afghan war vet Alejandro Villanueva —
refused to go along with this nauseating decision. He will wear the name of a fallen warrior, Alwyn Cashe, an
African-American who was killed in Iraq. Now, however, another player, star center Maurkice Pouncey, has balked at the
Steelers' decision. Pouncey, who has worked with the police in Pittsburgh and Florida, says he was given "limited
information" about the circumstances concerning Rose. I "should have done more research to fully understand what
occurred in its entirety," he admitted.
Why
We Stand for the American Flag. Now that the political left has decided to strain our few remaining bonds of
national unity by encouraging disrespect for the American flag and the National Anthem, will there ever be a day in the
future when Americans can pause from political division and join together as one nation to remember all we've
accomplished? Can the athletes who have decided to kneel in protest of America imagine that future? Won't there
always be some injustice, somewhere, that forces athletes to their knees? Won't there always be some kneeler who feels
compelled to judge the actions of another American, even if those actions occurred decades or centuries ago? Do
athletes who take a knee plan to stay on the ground for decades to come? Will they teach the lesson to their children
and their children's children that disrespecting the flag is the noble thing to do? Just how many generations of
kneeling will it take before America is properly punished?
How
the Underground Press Will Thwart the Media and Re-Elect Donald Trump. To understand the samizdat's effect,
consider a recent Gallup poll on the U.S. sports industry. A year ago, by a 45-25 margin, most Americans had a
favorable view of professional sports. Today, by a 40-30 margin, most have an unfavorable view. These numbers had
to shock the more woke among NFL and NBA execs. All summer, these execs have been reading about the largely peaceful
protests against the systemic racism responsible for the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks among
others and the crippling of Jacob Blake. How, they wondered, could sports fans not embrace those athletes who stood (or
knelt) in support of social justice? The players all endorsed the BLM movement or appeared to. So did the
sportscasters, the advertisers, the TV networks, Hollywood, Big Tech, the New York Times, the major magazines, and just about
everyone with a prominent soapbox except for Fox News — and even Fox waffled.
Racial Justice Agitators Are Killing Sports.
The NFL is starting to kill American football fans' interest in football with their endless politicization of the
sport. This is the first year my husband refused to join fantasy football leagues because he's had enough of the NFL
forgetting why they exist. Ratings are way down. Football fans in Kansas City didn't boo the players because they
were showing "unity" (whatever that means), they did it because they don't want any politics in sports. None.
It doesn't matter what side it's on, sports fans don't want to hear about real-world problems when they are escaping the
real world full of violence, sadness, war, despair, cities on fire, for a few hours of sports when the only battle that
matters is the one on the field.
Roger
Goodell and Wokeness Have Ensured the Decline of the NFL. Until Roger Goodell and the NFL recently signified
their devotion to the anti-American mythology promoted by Black Lives Matter and prostrated themselves before its pantheon of
privileged heroes such as Colin Kaepernick, football had for decades been something that made us all incredibly happy and was
a central feature of our lives each fall. Now it will not be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future, and I
seriously doubt that we're unique. That should strike fear into the hearts of NFL executives. There is a seismic
shift beneath our feet in the world of sports today, and I think most sports fans of a certain age see it clearly, even if
the top brass of the NFL cannot.
NFL
kneeling, fists in air, hiding in locker except during black national anthem. The all-black Howard University
choir sang the Black national anthem before the Washington — Eagles Football game and it will be played before
every game. The players and coaches, everyone tied to the teams, stood respectfully for this fake and divisive
anthem. Reportedly, for the real national anthem, Washington stood and the Eagles hid in the locker room. This is
blatant racism, divisiveness, and segregation. They are honoring the Marxist hate group, Black Lives Matter.
Diversity is not our strength, unity is!
Racial injustice themes fill empty
NFL stadiums. Jason Myers kicked off to start the Seahawks' season-opener against the Falcons, and the ball
sailed through the end zone for a touchback. No one moved a step. Instead, the players all dropped to one
knee. After years of pleading with the NFL to act against systemic racism, they were willing to wait another 10 seconds
to make their point.
The Editor says...
Anyone foolish enough to pay the high price of admission to an NFL game is paying to see the players play football, not to engage in some
rehearsed and choreographed ritual about what victims the players perceive themselves to be.
Conservatives'
Crushing Counterattack In the Culture War. We're all supposed to applaud the kneeling zillionaires of the
NFL — the most spoiled bunch of jerks on planet earth — and yet when they came out and tried to rub
their cultural power in our faces, when they tried to make us just sit there and silently be insulted presented by the
felons, losers, and accused sex offenders whose names were emblazoned on their helmets, tons of us refused to tune in and
those who showed up live booed these pretentious twits. How dare those peasants refuse to submit to the cultural
commandments of their betters!
NFL
Releases List of Approved Names for Helmet Padding, Including Jacob Blake. The NFL has disclosed their list of
approved names that they will allow players to wear on their helmet bumpers for social justice messaging. Among the
names are Jacob Blake, who is accused of sexual assault. The list is apparently fluid, in the sense that new names are
being added all the time. Also among the names is that of slain retired St. Louis police officer David
Dorn. Dorn was killed in early June by rioters while checking on a friend's store in St. Louis. The listing
of Blake's name, given his alleged violent history of sexual assault, stands in stark contrast to the league's recent efforts
to improve the game's appeal to women through cracking down on domestic violence and promoting breast cancer awareness.
Political
expression at the NFL opener, by players and fans. I didn't watch the NFL's opening game last night between
Kansas City and Houston. However, I've read several accounts about the players' approach to the National Anthem and
related activity. Apparently, the NFL decided to play both the National Anthem and a song called "Lift Every Voice and
Sing," which is sometimes referred to as the black national anthem. The idea of a black national anthem should be
offensive to all but racial separatists. As long as we're one country, we should have just one anthem, and it should be
the only one played at sports events.
The
NFL returns with 17,000 socially distanced fans, kneeling players and anthem walkouts. Kansas City Chiefs fans
booed a moment of silence aimed at promoting racial justice, the Houston Texans remained in the locker room during the
Star-Spangled Banner, and the reigning Super Bowl champions lined up for a singing of 'the black national anthem' on Thursday
night [9/10/2020] as the NFL opened its 2020 campaign under dramatically different circumstances than any other season in league
history. 'With everything going on in this country, we wanted to show that we're unified as a league,' Chiefs quarterback
Patrick Mahomes told NBC after throwing three touchdowns in a 34-20 win. 'We are not going to let football distract us from
making a change in the world.'
The Editor says...
The few remaining football fans are only interested in seeing how well you can play football.
They aren't tuning in, or attending in person, to see how much you can "change the world."
On
Covid and Race, Sports Suddenly Ignore Analytics. What has happened with big time sports' fascination with
crunching all kinds of numbers and statistics? Has this fascination with stats vanished in lieu of a political agenda
with respect to the Covid and the BLM protests? Is getting rid of Donald Trump worth obliterating multi-billion-dollar
operations? Do they have any idea what they are doing to themselves? These are open questions, and the answers
carry monstrous cultural, political and economic ramifications.
Why
I'm Voting for Trump, Even Though I Don't Want To. I stopped watching the NFL four years ago, and now I've
stopped watching all pro sports because of the disrespect. The Democrats do not condemn flag-burners.
Primetime
Ratings Crash for Woke MLB. Major League Baseball opened this year by kneeling for the anthem and standing for
Black Lives Matter. Though, despite the apparent belief that our sports-starved nation's hunger for baseball would
outweigh the league's social justice activism, the ratings have been in the basement. According to the numbers,
baseball has joined the NBA in struggling to get sports fans to tune in and watch games.
NFL
Player: We Have 'Green Light' to 'Do Something That Makes a Boom' During Protests. Apparently, simply
kneeling and disrespecting the American flag and national anthem during NFL pregames every week doesn't quite deliver the
virtue-signaling "social justice" high to players it once did. So, as is the case with all addictions, players are
looking for a new twist to pregame protests. You, know, something with a few more bells and whistles; just to make sure
non-woke fans who have gotten used to the same old kneeling routine are still paying attention to the "social injustice" and
"white privilege" that permeates their every pore. If Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford has anything to
say about it, players are going to do just that. Dallas Cowboys players, at least. Moreover, Crawford suggested
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has already given players the go-ahead.
NBA
ratings continue to drop as fans abandon the league that's abandoned them. The NBA is facing continuing drops
to their ratings, probably as a result of the polarizing political stances they have been taking recently, according to
City Journal. The latest sharp drop in ratings for the NBA appears to be directly related to their recent round of
support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which many people see as corrupted by outside influences, and conflated with
totalitarian socialist ideals. Fans have also been voicing discontent over the continued postponing of key playoff
games. They feel they have had to wait a long time for basketball to come back already, and further delays are not
acceptable to many of them.The NBA had postponed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday NBA playoff games last week as a sign of protest.
NFL
Announces Social Justice Slogans Will Be Inscribed on Every Field. NFL end zones will be inscribed this season
with two slogans: "It Takes All Of Us" on one end line, "End Racism" on the other. As part of its social justice
awareness initiatives, the NFL also will allow similar visuals on helmets and caps. Previously announced were decals on
the back of helmets, or patches on team caps, displaying names or phrases to honor victims of racism and/or police brutality.
The Editor says...
When major sports team stop glorifying victims, fewer people will see victimhood as a goal.
When
NBA, MLB And NHL Players Picked Jacob Blake To Be Their Saint, They Chose Poorly. The officer who shot Jacob
Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been tried and convicted by Democrats, the media, and truth-[averse] activists before the
case is resolved. It's a mirror image of the Michael Brown shooting (the officer was cleared) in Ferguson, Missouri,
and the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd (the officer has yet to go to trial). The difference is this time, pro
athletes, pampered and well-paid, joined the mob. They should be ashamed of their behavior. [...] As sports journalist
Clay Travis tweeted when the players quit on their fans and employers, "the NBA never said no to the players," when they
returned to play after the pandemic shutdown. "They okayed everything — political messages on jerseys,
kneeling for the national anthem, political messages on the court itself — and it still wasn't enough. And
now their business doesn't exist. Lesson: you can't ever be woke enough."
MLB
fans' reaction to Jacob Blake boycotts says it all. Whatever the issue or cause, it's a lot easier to be
righteous when there are no paying customers to send home. Timing was everything. This season, with no tickets,
tack-on fees, parking, hideously marked-up eats and drinks to sell, Thursday [8/27/2020] there was no one to rip off except
cable and satellite TV subscribers, who have been conditioned to bait-and-switch abuses. For better, worse and all that
lies between, here's the problem: Fans don't care nearly as much as they did. They've learned to live without
sports, especially in their current diminished condition. They've learned that they're taken for granted. And
more and more they've determined that they won't pay another dime to attend games or to watch them on TV.
NHL players
group demands league pay $100 million and change blue line to 'black line' for racial equality. On top of their
formal request for the National Hockey League to suspend all playoff games last night, Rick Westhead, a senior correspondent
for TSN, reports the HDA (Hockey Diversity Alliance) has a number of other demands. Hockey Diversity Alliance, an
association made up of seven players whose stated purpose is to eradicate systemic racism and intolerance in hockey, have
also revealed these demands:
• Team owners offer NHL rinks to be used as polling stations for the upcoming US election
• NHL should be fully transparent about "all information related to the policies, targets and commitments" related to the hiring of employees who are visible minorities.
• NHL to commit to funding $100 million dollars over 10 years to battle "systemic racism."
• NHL make a statement by temporarily changing the blue line to black.
• NHL to run PSAs for the HDA during the playoffs this summer.
• NHL to have on-ice presence of the HDA logo.
Advice
to woke pro sports: Try doing just sports again. Here's a tip for you. Go to YouTube and watch
Harry Caray broadcasting an old White Sox game. At times he was clearly drunk on air, butchered the players' names,
talked about their ethnicities as well as good-looking women in the stands. Everyone loved Harry Caray because he was
entertaining and fun to listen to. There is nothing fun about the new generation of sports broadcasters, who sound like
an old Pravda TV announcer telling us the virtues of Leonid Brezhnev. American sports fans are being pushed
around. If they are pushed any farther, we will have an Atlas Shrugged moment on our hands.
An
NBA so woke it cancels itself. Deciding to go Colin Kaepernick one better, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks players
decided to cancel their playoff game to protest the Kenosha, Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake, a career criminal with
a warrant out for 3rd degree sexual assault, who was resisting arrest. That act triggered racial grievance riots, along
with lootings, destruction, and a likely permanent decline for Kenosha, as usually happens in riot-torn cities. But the
NBA didn't want to leave it alone and let justice take its course. Someone in the locker room of the Bucks suggested a
game strike, and then the rest of them, lemmings-like, jumped onboard. The act was followed with at least five teams
calling off their games, too, and two teams — the Clippers and Lakers of Los Angeles pulling out of the season
entirely. Meanwhile, Kenny Smith a longtime TNT sports commentator walked off, and LeBron James, who plays for some
other team, jumped in, too, effectively calling the walkout a political protest to Get Trump, declaring: "Change
starts in November."
Mark
Cuban says he'd support Dallas Mavericks players boycotting games. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he'd
support his players if they seek to boycott games. Cuban's comments to FOX 4 came after three NBA playoff games on
Wednesday were postponed following player boycotts in the wake of the shooting of a Black man by police in Wisconsin.
Report:
NFL Dropping Military Honor Guards for National Anthem. The NFL is preparing to end the use of military honor
guards to present the American flag ahead of the national anthem, according to reports. A league source claims that the
policy benching military, federal, and police guards is part of its COVID-19 response, according to Front Office
Sports. "They won't be on the field," a source told the site. "That could change as the season progresses.
But that's the plan at the beginning."
Twenty (Uncomfortable)
Questions. [#3] Why does the NBA have "Black Lives Matter" painted on the court? If black lives didn't
matter, would there be any players on the court? It reminds me of the old joke: "I went to a fight and a hockey
game broke out." Now it's, "I went to a protest and a sporting event broke out." [#4] How does kneeling during the
national anthem help fight "perceived" racism or inequality in any way? It's incredibly annoying to try to enjoy a game
or a television show and have to sit through a lecture or a sermon.
Players
Kneeling for Anthem Met with Boos Before MLS Game. There was a smattering of boos when players from FC Dallas
and Nashville SC collectively took a knee during the national anthem before their MLS game on Wednesday night [8/12/2020] in
Frisco, Texas. Dallas defender Reggie Cannon said he was disgusted by the boos at Toyota Stadium when players and
officials knelt to call attention to racial injustice. He said teammate Ryan Hollingshead turned to him afterward and
said he was sorry.
Dallas
Soccer Star Reggie Cannon Calls Fans "Disgusting" for Booing and Chanting "USA!" as Players Knelt for National
Anthem. Several soccer fans out of a crowd of about 3,000 in attendance booed and chanted "USA!" at an MLS game
Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas between FC Dallas and Nashville SC as players and refs knelt in unison for
the playing of the national anthem before the game. In a post-game press conference, Dallas star Reggie Cannon went off
on fans for chanting "USA!" and booing the players, calling the fans "disgusting" and whining that his team has been through
"absolute hell" the past six months because of the pandemic. Cannon ranted for over two minutes about the booing of the
players for kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Woke
Mobs Demand You Must Now Explain Why You Stand For The Anthem. Kneeling for the national anthem at sporting
events used to be the occasional episode of player activism protesting the United States as an evil racist empire. Amid
the new 21st century woke revolution however, kneeling has become a key signifier for players and teams to declare which side
of the culture wars one sits on. It's those who love America versus those who hate it, the latter of which despises the
American flag and all that it represents as a relic of white supremacy that must be condemned. Those who still stand
out of respect for the nation's ideals and the uniformed men and women who protect it are now the outliers forced to defend
themselves in a new age of no dissent, because dissent is racist, racism is oppression, oppression is violence, and violence
is not to be tolerated, even if it isn't real.
Key Fans [are]
Unhappy With Sports Leagues Kowtowing to Black Lives Matter. If anyone was hoping that the return of the
long-awaited Major League season would lift our spirits and bring us together, they had to be disappointed to learn that we
are more divided than ever over the National Anthem kneeling debate. And although President Trump has not chosen to
join the burgeoning #BoycottMLB movement on Twitter, the president has joined a growing number of disheartened baseball fans
who are unhappy that their favorite teams are taking the knee. Even before the start of the season, President Trump
tweeted that he was "looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a
sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!" This is not a small issue.
Rasmussen released a new poll of 1,000 Americans which indicates that "Americans are sending more negative signals than
positive ones over the decision by many professional sports organizations to promote the controversial Black Lives Matter
movement."
NFL:
Now the No Freedom League. I grew up in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before they had satellite TV. As such, on the
Monday after the Super Bowl, everyone on the entire base would try to get through the day without knowing who had won the
game. That night, after a tape of the game had been flown down from the U.S., we'd watch the game and be riveted to our
TVs. [...] Today, however, I doubt I'll watch another NFL game, and I most certainly won't spend a penny on NFL
merchandise. Why? It's simple. The NFL, helmed by men who are ostensibly some of the smartest businessmen
in America, literally helped bring America to the brink of revolution, maybe even led the way. We're talking about
Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter. The NFL, and to a lesser degree MLB and the NBA, used to be oases from which all
Americans could seek refuge from the slings and arrows of daily life. [...] Since Kaepernick started his grandstanding,
however, the conversations became more about who was kneeling, what star was lecturing America about this grievance or that,
and ceased to be about the excitement or pain or joy of the actual games.
The Sickening Hypocrisy of the
NBA. I am not speaking about individual NBA players or their motivations (although some players, to be sure,
could be called out). I'm speaking of the league as a whole, of the organization. Its hypocrisy is absolutely
sickening. In October, 2019, I stated that the NBA was a spineless little bully, noting that "this multi-billion dollar
organization, which spans the globe, was happy to bully North Carolina in 2016 when the state had the audacity to declare
that men's bathrooms were for men and women's bathrooms were for women." Yet, I wrote, the "NBA has had no problem
getting in bed with an oppressive country like China, which imprisons and tortures Christians and Muslims and others who do
not toe the party line. "Tens of millions of people experience severe daily restrictions under the tyrannical policies
of President Xi, with countless tens of thousands suffering right now in 'reeducation camps' and jails."
"Woke"
Sports Bombing With Fans. I never understood why pro sports leagues thought that buying into a far-left,
anti-American narrative would ingratiate them with their fans. At the moment, it looks like my skepticism (shared by
many, of course) was justified. Breitbart reports: "Ratings crash for NBA, MLB after protest-filled debuts."
[...] Why would anyone think that America's sports fans yearn for far-left "social justice" messages as part of their sports
programming?
Report:
Group of Pac-12 Players Threatens to Boycott Season over Virus, Social Justice Concerns. While professional
football, baseball, and basketball players have been opting out of their upcoming seasons by the dozens, less has been heard
from the nation's collegiate athletes. Well, that's beginning to change. According to a report obtained by ESPN,
a group of players from several different Pac-12 schools have threatened to sit out preseason and regular season games unless
the Pac-12 makes certain concessions.
Ratings
Crash for NBA, MLB After Protest-Filled Debuts. As the NBA and MLB return from their coronavirus-imposed
hiatus, it appears TV viewers are not interested in what the increasingly woke leagues have to offer. With both
baseball and basketball draped in all sorts of Black Lives Matter and social justice symbolism for their opening games, a
substantially smaller number of fans tuned-in to the rest of the week's games.
Every
NHL Player Stands For The National Anthem During First Game Back. Every single player on the Carolina
Hurricanes and the New York Rangers stood during the national anthem Saturday afternoon [8/1/2020]. In the first game
of the NHL's 24-team postseason return during the coronavirus pandemic, not a single player on either team took a knee.
Protesting during the national anthem is front and center again in the world of sports, and virtually the entire NBA has done it.
Strike
Three: Major League Baseball's Sordid Romance with Race-Baiting Politics. For 65 years, I was a major
league fan of major league baseball. But as of last week, that all changed, and I will never again follow the
sport. MLB's woke owners drove me away. I don't watch baseball — or any sport — to have
moralizing political lectures rammed down my throat. Yet that is now the order of the day, not only in the NFL and the
NBA, but in major league baseball as well, where filthy rich franchise owners are falling all over themselves kowtowing to
Black Lives Matter, a Marxist political organization that hijacked the noble cause of racial justice as a fig leaf to
disguise its profoundly un-American ideology. At the 2020 Season Opener between the Washington Nationals and the New
York Yankees, every player and every coach was told to kneel prior to the National Anthem.
Every
Player and Coach Takes a Knee During National Anthem Before NBA Restart. The NBA promised a social justice
message when they restarted their season, and they delivered. On Thursday night, every player and coach for the Jazz
and Pelicans took a knee during the national anthem. In addition, every player wore a Black Lives Matter shirt.
Every
Player On The Jazz And Pelicans Kneels During The National Anthem. Every single member of the Utah Jazz and New
Orleans Pelicans took a knee during the national anthem Thursday [7/30/2020]. While the anthem played before the first
game of the NBA's return, all coaches, players and a ref took a knee.
Our
Summer of Cultural Suicide. Over the last century, professional football, basketball and baseball were racially
integrated and adopted a uniform code of patriotic observance. The three leagues offered fans a pleasant respite from
daily barroom politics. As a result, by the 21st century, the NFL, NBA and MLB had become global multibillion-dollar
enterprises. Then hubris ensued. The owners, coaches and players weren't always racially diverse. But that
inconvenient truth did not stop the leagues from hectoring their fans about social activism — even as they no
longer honored common patriotic rituals. All three leagues have suffered terribly during the viral lockdown, as
American life mysteriously went on without them. And they have almost ensured that they won't fully recover when the
quarantine ends. Many of their often-pampered multimillionaire players refuse to honor the national anthem. In
the NFL they now will broadcast their politics on their helmets. They will virtue-signal their moral superiority to
increasingly turned-off fans, as if to ensure that their sources of support flee.
Pittsburgh
Steelers Player Stephon Tuitt Says He's Not Kneeling During The National Anthem. Pittsburgh Steelers star
Stephon Tuitt won't take a knee during the national anthem. There are going to be gigantic national anthem protests all
over the NFL during the 2020 season, but Tuitt won't be joining. He tweeted Monday [7/27/2020] that he's not taking a
knee and added, "screw anybody who have a problem with that." He cited his grandmother being an immigrant as a major reason
why he won't take a knee.
Spurs'
Gregg Popovich: People who don't understand BLM movement 'just ignorant'. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg
Popovich, one of the NBA's most outspoken voices on social justice issues, took to task people who he said still did not
understand the Black Lives Matter movement. In a video conference call with reporters,
Popovich, who is preparing for the league's upcoming restarted season, was asked what the social justice movement means to him[.]
"It's no different for me than it is to anybody else who cares about justice
and who can be empathetic to the fact that justice has been denied to a group of people for far too long. And enough is enough,"
he said, according to the Dallas Morning-News.
Mike
Ditka tells kneeling athletes to 'get [...] out of the country'. Former Chicago Bears coach and noted
commercial pitchman Mike Ditka shared his thoughts on the growing wave of anti-racist athlete demonstrations occurring during
the pregame national anthems at sporting events. For anyone who has ever listened to Ditka talk politics before, his
beliefs on the matter were unsurprising.
Former
Chicago Bears Coach Has a Message for Kneeling Athletes. During an interview with TMZ, Former Chicago Bears
Coach Mike Ditka shredded National Football League players that decide to kneel during the national them. According to
Ditka, it's disrespectful to "protest" against the flag and the country that has provided opportunities to professional
athletes. "The whole kneeling thing in the NFL, you've got guys saying they're gonna do it. You know, baseball
players, different teams, last night I watched baseball, you got the Red Sox and the As and the Giants, a lot of teams are
kneeling, athletes are kneeling. In your league here, you're the chairman of this league, is that going to be allowed
if the women want to take a knee during the anthem?" TMZ asked. "What's the policy on that from you guys?"
WNBA
players WALK OUT during national anthem and wear Black Lives Matter jerseys. The WNBA's Seattle Storm and New
York Liberty teams walked off the court during the playing of the national anthem before the season-opening game on Saturday
afternoon [7/25/2020]. The two teams' planned walk-off was part of the league's season-long Justice Movement initiative — designed
to fight systemic racism and violence — which the WNBA and Women's National Basketball Players Association announced earlier
in July. On Saturday, players from the Storm and the Liberty headed for their locker rooms while the national anthem
played at the WNBA bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The
Week in Pictures: Play (Protest) Ball! Edition. So we have sports back, starting with major league
baseball in empty stadiums, but with artificial crowd noise piped into TV broadcasts as if the game is an unfunny sitcom or
something. And in one sense it is an unfunny sitcom, since so many players seem intimidated into the political
exhibitionism of kneeling for the national anthem. Here's a thought: if we want to get real crowds into stadiums,
let's label the games as "BLM protests" instead, since they are exempt from the social distancing rules. The crowd can
sing the Black national anthem during the 7th inning stretch, or perhaps a new tune — "Take Me Out to the
Riot" — can be specially composed. The kneeling players are already doing their part.
Americans
Should Tell the NBA 'Not In My House'. Once upon a time, basketball had nothing to do with politics and
everything to do with showcasing American athletic prowess. [...] The NBA bent over backward for China the minute it
retaliated in response to Morey's statement. In stark contrast, the league continues to trample over America and its patriotic
citizens, meaning money talks. So, let's stop watching their games and buying their products — until the NBA
cuts all ties with China and players begin standing during the national anthem — in respect for this extraordinary
country which turned them into heroes. Or, let them spend the rest of their careers as pathetic zeroes in the eyes of Americans.
Baseball
Returns With Less Games, More Preaching. After so many months with zero professional sports, the atmosphere
should be one of anticipation and excitement. Yet, this entire moment just feels like we might be watching the swan
song of professional sports. Baseball could have really seized the moment when the pandemic started, and made plans to
strategize, to reach out to fans, to make every effort to get back on the field. Instead, we got a labor dispute with
fingers pointed at both sides, some big name players who are declining to play this season for a myriad of reasons, and fans
submitting cardboard cutouts of themselves to sit in empty stadium seats. Nothing feels right, and yet baseball should
feel familiar and comforting. But it doesn't, because first we have to sit through another lecture and demonstration on
the social justice cause du jour.
Yankees
and Nationals kneel in unison before the first game of season just days after Trump said the game was 'over' for him when
players took a knee. The Yankees and Nationals knelt in unison before the first game of the season just days
after Donald Trump said the game was 'over' for him when players took a knee. Players from both clubs knelt during the
opening day ceremony Thursday night, which featured several references to the ongoing civil rights movement that was
triggered by the Memorial Day 'murder' of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The symbol of protest has divided opinion of
late, with the president tweeting Tuesday that kneeling during the national anthem is a 'sign of great disrespect' and the
game is 'over' for him when players do it.
San
Francisco Giants Pitcher Sam Coonrod Refuses To Kneel During The National Anthem, Cites His Christian faith.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod refused to kneel during the national anthem Thursday night against the
Dodgers. According to NBC Sports, members of the Giants took a knee during the national anthem, and Coonrod didn't join
them. Every member of both teams also kneeled before the anthem. The pitcher also didn't participate in that
action. The reason why? His Christian faith.
Red
Sox Raise Large Black Lives Matter Sign at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox made a very visible statement of
anti-racism Wednesday as they put up a huge Black Lives Matter sign on an exterior wall of Fenway Park. The sign, which
says "Black Lives Matter" in large letters followed by the Sox' logo, faces the Massachusetts Turnpike and directs viewers to
the Red Sox Foundation website for more information. On the website is a statement on "Social Justice, Equity and
Inclusion" from team President and CEO Sam Kennedy posted last month in the wake of the major protests over the deaths of
George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others.
MLB
Allows Black Lives Matter, Social Justice Jersey Patches. Major League Baseball players have the option of
having a patch with "Black Lives Matter" or "United For Change" on a jersey sleeve on opening day of the pandemic-delayed
season, and Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle says his team may is considering whether to take a knee in support
Thursday night [7/23/2020].
Anthony
Fauci to Throw First Pitch for Washington Nationals' Season Opener. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will throw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals on opening
day on Thursday, the Major League Baseball team announced Monday [7/20/2020]. "The Washington Nationals are thrilled to
announce that Nats super-fan, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
has accepted our invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, Thursday, July 23," the team said in a
statement. "Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his
distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend our World Series
Championship title."
Under
China's thumb: So you can buy a KillCops t-shirt from the NBA but not a FreeHongKong one. When China is
your master, nobody cares if you stand or kneel or thumb your nose at the U.S. flag, but you'd better not cross the Chinese
one. Tha't's [sic] the ugly picture regarding the China-coopted National Basketball Association (NBA) and its
personalized t-shirt sales operation, where Chicom censorship is alive and well. Turns out you can personalize your
t-shirt to say all kinds of ugly things — but not FreeHongKong. Someone programmed that if/else exception in,
preventing any freedom lover from printing that reminder of China's broken treaty destruction of Hong Kong onto their
personalized t-shirt.
NFL
Again Fumbles Opportunity to Unite America. The National Football League once again is fumbling away an
opportunity to unite America. This is the result we could have expected, given the NFL's playbook over the past few
years. The NFL's decision to play what is known as the black national anthem — "Lift Every Voice and
Sing" — before every Week 1 game seems poised to divide, not unite, our country. But a secondary, more
certain outcome of this decision is that the NFL will lose its luster at a greater pace than it achieved its dominant allure.
It's
Not Trump vs. Biden. It's Trump vs. Losing Your Country. Just Look at the NFL! [Scroll
down] Look at the NFL. The NFL is literally afraid of a Marxist, communist organization, literally afraid of it,
literally doing anything it can not to make that bunch of people mad at them. The NFL has made it clear that they are
no longer the institution and value set that we always thought they were. You got Drew Brees, quarterback of the New
Orleans Saints who tweets his support and love for the American flag and the fact that he will never do anything to
disrespect it, and he's practically drummed out of the league, he's practically destroyed. He had to apologize four
times, his wife had to apologize two times, had to give a bunch of people a bunch of money. All he did was stand up for
the flag. The Philadelphia Eagles have an abject idiot wide receiver named DeSean Jackson, who just tweeted a bunch of
things he thought Hitler said, and he said the Jews are gonna come for the blacks, the Jews are gonna wipe out the blacks,
the Jews are gonna do this, he thought Hitler said it. He tweeted it. Nobody's upset. Nobody's insisting
DeSean Jackson be sent someplace to get his mind right.
How
Philadelphia Eagles' DeSean Jackson's Anti-Semitic Fiasco Just Got Worse. The Philadelphia Eagles' wide
receiver DeSean Jackson is causing problems in the locker room again. I guess in some odd way, he thought sharing
anti-Semitic posts, Louis Farrakhan videos, and fake Hitler quotes wouldn't be an issue, not least of the reasons being that
Eagles owner, Jeffrey Lurie, and its executive vice president and general manager Howie Roseman, are Jewish.
So, Kaepernick Lied. [Scroll down] No
one buys Kaepernick's love of country any more. But that works out fine because he's no longer selling it. In
2016, you still had to dilute your anti-Americanism with a drop of patriotism to get the really good press. That's over
with. Today, the American media market rewards the pure stuff, the straight-up hatred of the United States. Which
is why on July 6, Kaepernick announced his new partnership with The Walt Disney Co. to produce scripted and unscripted
content about, presumably, the country that has been so terrible to Kaepernick (and Disney). Of course, all those 2016
Kaepernick defenders really believed and approved of his claims to patriotism. Just as today, they believe and
undoubtedly approve of his undiluted anti-Americanism. You'd think that they feel duped, but you'd be wrong; they're
appreciative. No one on the left is dropping Kaepernick. In coming out as a full-throated anti-American, he
helped his woke supporters shed their habit of white supremacy. He once had to play the game of good citizenship, but
his liberation from those restraints is their liberation, too. Where he leads, they'll follow. What he rejects,
they'll reject. And whatever cognitive dissonance arises will be chalked up to past ignorance. This holds true
not just for Kaepernick but for all social-justice celebrities. Indeed, it applies to social justice generally.
Whatever is done or said in the name of the cause is good and just. Fool them once, fool them forever.
NFL Embracing
BLM Ideals Highlights Its Leadership Void. Four years ago, the NFL forbade Jason Witten and the Dallas Cowboys
from placing "Arm in Arm" stickers on the back of their helmets that would honor five slain Dallas police officers.
This year, according to a Thursday report by ESPN The Undefeated's Jason Reid, the NFL Players Association and the NFL are
collaborating on an idea to list the names of black people killed by police on jerseys. The absurdity of this pivot
could only be topped by the folly of DeMaurice Smith's and Roger Goodell's other proposed pivot. According to Reid, in
Week 1 the NFL will play the "black national anthem," Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing, before playing The Star-Spangled
Banner. So the NFL is going to start its season with all of its employees standing for the "black national anthem" and
a majority of its on-field employees immediately taking a knee for the American national anthem? That's the game plan
Smith and Goodell cooked up?
NBA
releases list of 29 pre-approved social justice messages for players' shirts, unfazed by hilarious irony. The
virtual-signaling, very woke National Basketball Association has reportedly settled on a list of social justice messages that
can be displayed on the back of player jerseys for the first four days of the restarted season. The suspended NBA
season is scheduled to restart on July 30 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., at the Walt Disney World
Resort. The NBA has reportedly already agreed to paint the words Black Lives Matter inside the sidelines on all three
arenas that will be in use when the games begin. Given massive guaranteed salaries and other forms of leverage, the
players pretty much run the NBA, even though there is no constitutional guarantee of free speech in the private sector workplace.
Roger
Goodell's National Anthem Gambit. It is now being reported that the NFL will be playing "Lift Ev'ry Voice and
Sing," a song that has been called the "Black national anthem," before all NFL games in Week 1. This is a high-risk,
low-reward move by the NFL. There are countless problems with this strategy to appease the woke mobs, and it would be
difficult to overstate just how foolish and dangerous it is. First of all, a "Black national anthem" can only exist if
there is a broad acceptance of the notion that black people, as a racial category, share a common identity with other
sovereign nations. Additionally, defining a separate "Black national anthem" to be played alongside the America's
National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," presupposes that the latter is insufficient to alone represent black Americans
as it represents all others. These are insane propositions that would, until recently, have been unthinkable at any
moment of my life.
Sports
Commentator Rips NBA Painting 'Black Lives Matter' On Courts. This week, former NFL defensive end Marcellus
Wiley, who attended Columbia University and now co-hosts Fox Sports' "Speak for Yourself," slammed the idea that the NBA will
paint "Black Lives Matter" on courts where their games are played, asserting, "The road to hell is paved with good
intentions." Wiley began, "It's not a good idea. I do want to give the players credit for their flex to even get this
to be more than just an idea, but something that's gonna be, in reality, I give the players that. But there's a problem
with — when you start to go down this road of 'freedom of expression,' 'freedom of speech,' and how much social
space is allowed for those who don't support in that same place. And that's where I wonder where this is going to go in
terms of identity politics."
Ted
Cruz blasts NFL's reported plans to play 'Black national anthem'. Calls to boycott the NFL trended Friday on
social media following reports that the league plans to play the song known as the Black national anthem before all Week 1
regular season games. Multiple media outlets, including The Associated Press and the Undefeated, cited sources saying
that "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," known as the Black national anthem, would be played or performed before the first week's
games, immediately before "The Star-Spangled Banner." The hashtag #BoycottNFL trended on Friday morning as some
Republican lawmakers and others condemned the idea, saying it promoted the concept of a nation divided by race.
Former
NFL Player Burgess Owens Rips League Over 'Black National Anthem' Playing Before NFL Games. On Thursday [7/3/2020], former
NFL star Burgess Owens ripped into the football league over reports that the NFL will play "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing," dubbed the
"Black national anthem," before all Week 1 games this season. The retired safety suggested the move was in line with "trying"
to "segregate" the nation "again." "There is no 'black national anthem,'" Owens posted via Twitter. "Why does it feel like
the country is trying to segregate again sometimes?"
NFL
all in with toxic identity politics, will play separate 'black national anthem' before Week 1 games. The NFL
will play the "black national anthem" before all Week 1 games of the 2020-2021 season as the National Football League
continues caving to race-baiting, leftist mobs. Most Americans never even knew that a "black national anthem" existed
since black and white civil-rights activists fought for decades to end racial segregation. However, since segregation
is a goal of the Marxist Black Lives Matter movement, the "black national anthem" will be played before the Star-Spangled
Banner at all Week 1 NFL games.
Source:
NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games. "Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing," traditionally known
as the Black national anthem, is expected to be performed live or played before every Week 1 NFL game, and the league is
considering a variety of other measures during the upcoming season to recognize victims of police brutality, a source
familiar with the league's discussions told The Undefeated on Thursday [7/2/2020].
Report:
NFL Expected to Play Black National Anthem Before Season Opening Games. The NFL reportedly plans to play a
song titled, Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing, also known as the Black National Anthem, prior to every season opening game
this year. The song, according to a source to ESPN, will be played prior to the Star-Spangled-Banner.
NBA
Will Let Players Replace Name on Jersey With "Social Justice Statement". Some may wonder if the NBA now stands
for No Brains Anymore or, perhaps, if the NBA has become an NPC. Whatever the quip, what sounds like a joke but isn't is the
latest National Basketball Association news: When the league launches its abbreviated 2020 season July 30 in Orlando,
it will allow players to replace their names on their jerseys with a "social justice statement." [...] ESPN, which itself has
become the Entwining Sports with Politics Network, provides more detail, writing that "Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris
Paul, president of the National Basketball Players Association, told ESPN's The Undefeated on Saturday that the players'
union and the league are collaborating to allow players to wear jerseys with personalized social justice, social cause or
charity messages on the backs instead of their last names during the upcoming restart of the NBA season." Reacting to this,
Red State's Mike Miller wrote, "I'll go out on a limb and predict that there will be exactly zero 'charity messages' on the
backs of those Jerseys, come July 30."
The
Hour of Heroes Is Nigh. To be honest, I actually lost some sleep over the Mike Gundy video earlier last
week. Maybe you've seen it — the video where the Oklahoma State University football coach is seen
apologizing for the offense of wearing a shirt bearing the logo of the conservative news company OANN. It was a
disturbing scene with the coach robotically parroting the talking points of the delicate running back who originally took
issue with the offending piece of apparel. It's reminiscent of a hostage video of a captured US soldier. Either
that or something out of a cartoon villain's mind control experiment. You can practically see the spirals in his
eyes. Beyond the bizarre visuals, the most disturbing thing about this was the fact that an ostensible adult and leader
could be brought to heel by his subordinate — an early adult many years his junior — by something as
meaningless and inconsequential as the running back's tender feelings.
Why
Are We Letting Democrats Steal from Us? [Scroll down] Frighteningly, the fascists are now stealing
patriotism, and the woke leftists are joining forces. In the sports world, team owners, players, and spectators who
used to believe that standing for the National Anthem was the traditionally respectful, patriotic thing to do, now condone
and even encourage taking a knee as a symbol of Lord knows what. Colin Kaepernick was elevated to heroic stature by
Nike even as he wore socks portraying police officers as pigs. Now he is the darling of the American media and the NFL
as owners and managers climb over each other to prove who's the most woke. [...] As the Atlanta Braves pivot away from the
famous Tomahawk Chop chant, the University of Florida outlawed its "Gator Bait" cheer. The University of Virginia
followed suit by reworking its logo. The craziness began before the recent riots, with liberals wishing to change the
name of the Washington Redskins, something we'll likely see in the near future as a statue of the former owner was removed
last week.
Report:
Ratings for Woke ESPYs Crash by 81 Percent. Ratings for last weekend's woke ESPY Awards crashed to the lowest
numbers the show has ever recorded. The ESPYs only earned 482,000 viewers over both ESPN and ESPN2 combined, making it
the smallest audience the show has ever reached dating back to its inaugural awards in 1993. The previous low occurred in
2011 when 1.98 million viewers tuned in, according to Sports Media Watch. "This year's ESPYs was tape-delayed, lacked
its usual live audience, took place a month earlier on the calendar," Sports Media Watch explained, "and occurred more than
three months into a historic drought of live sporting events. With no live sports to focus on, this year's ESPYs was
largely devoted to humanitarian and social issues."
Bubba Smollett, Jussie
Wallace. [Scroll down] Wallace is not a natural prodigy, but instead is a product of the Tiger Woods era
of child competitors given every advantage by their parents. Wallace's father, a wealthy white business owner, paid for
his son to compete in youth motorsports from age 9 onward. Soon he was the star of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity
program. [...] He now drives the most legendary number in stock cars, Richard Petty Motorsports' No. 43. Unfortunately,
Wallace hasn't yet proven more than mediocre at the highest level, finishing 28th among drivers in each of the past two
seasons. [...] It's not just the ensuing safety reforms that have eroded stock car racing's 1990s popularity. NASCAR is
basically an ethnic pride parade for the people who aren't allowed to hold ethnic pride parades, and the 21st century has
been a bad one for the white working class. This year, Wallace jumped on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon, which is,
perhaps not coincidentally, much beloved by corporate America's deep-pocketed sponsors, with the support of NASCAR. He had
his car painted with the BLM slogan for the Talladega race.
'The
Masters' Golf Tournament Should Change 'Racist' Name, Writer Says. One of golf's four "major" tournaments every
year is called "The Masters." The field of golfers is the smallest of all the majors — only the best
allowed — and the winner can be deemed "The Master" (plus, he gets a cool green jacket that every pro golfer
covets). But one writer at Deadspin has decided that the tournament's name is racist and should be changed.
Will
Americans choose the USA, or will they choose the NFL? NFL owners who support their players kneeling during the
National Anthem are routinely heard saying they feel that the act of kneeling shows respect for the hardships minorities have
endured and that it exhibits inclusivity and brings the country together. At the risk of sounding overly disdainful
regarding such deceptive drivel, those owners, pretending to be "woke," are fully aware that kneeling during the National
Anthem has historically been viewed as a sign of protest against the country. Beyond disrespectful, kneeling is
divisive unless, in unison, the entire stadium decides to kneel. Getting down to brass tacks, those NFL owners who
support their players kneeling during the National Anthem do so to protect their investment. That's right. It
comes down to the almighty dollar, as it always does. The NFL has taken sides, and it's not with Old Glory.
What Happens
When the Madness Ends? In a few weeks, we are promised that multimillionaire NFL players and coaches in unison
will not deign to stand up for the National Anthem. Promises, promises. TV play-by-play announcers will praise
them — or else likely lose their jobs. But millions of Americans simply will decouple from the NFL. Their
silent disappearance will make the prior Kaepernick drop-off in attendance and viewership seem like child's play. The
same will be true perhaps of the more canny NBA, if they foolishly emulate the NFL. Millions will surmise that billionaire
basketball players can far better make their billions in China and should — an NBA deity whose dictatorship
players and coaches fear and worship while criticizing their own democracy.
NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell: I Want Colin Kaepernick To 'Help Us, Guide Us' On Social Issues. NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell said during an interview on Tuesday that he wants a team to sign former NFL quarterback Colin
Kaepernick and that if Kaepernick does not make it back on the field then he is invited to the "table" to "help" and "guide"
the NFL on social issues. [...] Kaepernick has been widely criticized for some of his actions, including kneeling during the
national anthem, donating money to a group honoring convicted cop killer and wanted terrorist Assata Shakur, wearing socks
portraying police officers as pigs, and wearing shirts of brutal Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
Univ.
of Texas football players refuse to participate in donor, recruiting events until 'woke' demands met. Members
of the University of Texas football team say they'll refuse to participate in donor and recruiting events on behalf of the
school until a list of demands is met to address alleged racial injustices. The players will, however, continue to
practice and play in games. That said, participation in donor and recruiting events are a very important function for
college athletes and the universities they attend and play for. The list of demands was posted to Twitter by at least
two Texas football players, but according to reports, they were submitted on behalf of the entire squad. However, as
The Blaze noted, thus far there is no real indication that all team members are in agreement with the demands or if anyone on
the team has dissented.
Denver
Broncos Declare If You Are Not Virtuous Enough To Support Their Antifa Politics Then Get Lost. The NFL has been
moving further and further toward the political left for several years. Many NFL players and teams openly castigate
their fans and denigrate anyone who doesn't conform to their political correctness. Overall, the NFL has become a toxic
stew of identity politics and divisive intollerance. However, the Denver Broncos are taking division up a notch today
by declaring if their fans do not stand with their brand of virtue signaling politics, then you stand against them.
NFL
decision to permit kneeling protest by players enrages Donald Trump. The US National Football League is
embroiled in a standoff with President Donald Trump after it said players would be allowed to "take the knee" during the
American national anthem in protest against racism. After the NFL announced its U-turn, Trump tweeted late on Friday
night: "We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other
things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag — NO KNEELING!" Support among sports personalities
and organisations for the Black Lives Matter movement was also bolstered by an announcement from basketball star Michael
Jordan that he was donating $100 [million] to organisations promoting racial equality. The move was a significant
departure from the former Chicago Bulls player's previous reluctance to be drawn into politics.
Denver
Broncos Declare If You Are Not Virtuous Enough To Support Their Antifa Politics Then Get Lost. The NFL has been
moving further and further toward the political left for several years. Many NFL players and teams openly castigate
their fans and denigrate anyone who doesn't conform to their political correctness. Overall, the NFL has become a toxic
stew of identity politics and divisive intollerance. However, the Denver Broncos are taking division up a notch today
by declaring if their fans do not stand with their brand of virtue signaling politics, then you stand against them.
NFL:
'We were wrong' to oppose players kneeling during national anthem. National Football League Commissioner Roger
Goodell apologized for the league's position opposing players kneeling during the national anthem. The NFL walked back
the league's position in a video statement Friday [6/5/2020] after expressing condolences to the families of George Floyd,
Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, later issuing a strong condemnation of racism.
NFL
pledges allegiance to BLM. Like most of America's broken corporations and institutions, the National Football
League has completely bent the knee to the radical Black Lives Matter lobby, thus potentially guaranteeing its own demise as
fed-up former fans flee in search of sanity. After years of pushing back against disgraced former NFL star Colin
Kaepernick's widely disliked national anthem protests, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued an apologetic video statement
Friday reversing course on everything. [Video clip]
Obnoxious
liberal soccer champ Rapinoe determined to make Olympics about politics. Megan Rapinoe's roaring again.
The International Olympic Committee published new rules that prohibit "political, religious or racial propaganda" "at medal
ceremonies and Olympic venues," and Rapinoe says she "will not be silenced." She later added that she will kneel anyway,
which would force the IOC to enforce its rules or back down. Not one for fine distinctions, Megan understands the world
only in relation to herself and, as usual, completely misses the point. The IOC said nothing about silence. They
said she couldn't use the Olympic stage to push politics. You can noisily talk about anything else — your
girlfriend, the state of soccer, the game you just played, your house, your car, your dog. Just don't use the Olympics
to push politics. That would include kneeling. If you get to do it, then everybody gets to do it, and in short
order, WWIII would erupt. But that's okay, Megan — keep running your face. It would give many of us
satisfaction to see this woman barred from play at Tokyo in 2020 because of her obnoxiousness.
No
anthem kneeling at the Olympics: IOC announces political protest rules. The International Olympic
Committee announced its rules for political protest for the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and some popular forms of
athlete protest have been banned, according to The Hill. While athletes will be allowed to say what they want during
interview and news conferences outside the Olympic Village, and on social media, they won't be able to protest in the
village, on the field of play, or during medal ceremonies.
Kaepernick's
disgraceful, ridiculous 'racial' lens on Soleimani slay. In the torrent of idiotic commentary unleashed by the
killing of Qassem Soleimani, Colin Kaepernick's deserves a place of honor. The NFL washout and Nike persona who makes
sure the company doesn't produce any overly patriotic sneakers tweeted: "There is nothing new about American terrorist
attacks against black and brown people for the expansion of American imperialism." For Kaepernick, Soleimani is just
another dark-skinned man brutalized by America. The Iranian terror master was, in effect, driving while non-white and
paid the ultimate price.
Nike,
an Anti-American Company. After the U.S. killed arch-terrorist Qasem Soleimani, ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick
took to Twitter to express his opinions: [Tweets] This is the kind of ignorant twaddle you expect from a radical
teenager. Kaepernick has never grown up. What is significant, though, is that Kaepernick is one of the primary
spokesmen for Nike, a $34 billion a year international marketing powerhouse. Nike signed Kaepernick to a multimillion
dollar deal after Kaepernick's mediocre athletic career had ended, precisely because Nike wanted its brand to be associated
with Kaepernick's anti-American stance.
Nike's
new Colin Kaepernick sneakers sell out in one day. Nike's new sneaker collaboration with NFL quarterback-turned-activist
Colin Kaepernick sold out on Tuesday [12/24/2019], just one day after its release. The "Nike Air Force 1 '07 x Colin
Kaepernick" was unavailable in both adult and children's sizes as of Tuesday morning, the footwear titan's website shows.
AOC
reveals new level of hypocrisy after praising Harvard-Yale climate activists. The annual Harvard-Yale football
game was interrupted by climate change activists shortly after halftime on Saturday [11/23/2019], which is a pretty good idea
inasmuch as there's no group more amenable to guerilla activism on the environment than sports fans from two universities
where anyone who doesn't believe in the tenets of the climate science movement would quickly find themselves out in
intellectual Siberia. According to The Harvard Crimson, the incident occurred just before halftime at the annual game
between the two Ivy League giants.
Environmentalist
Killjoys Are Coming for Your Football. Some of the nation's supposedly best and brightest college students are
employing theatrical protest tactics similar to [Greta] Thunberg's, with the message that ordinary life must be disrupted if
we are to save the planet. At the Yale Bowl, the goal was to pressure the two universities to divest themselves of
investments in fossil fuels. [...] The students made it clear that their political agenda is more important than allowing
people to enjoy an annual entertainment. [...] The Harvard-Yale protest was very much in line with the Thunberg-style
politics of angry and intolerant children. Such demonstrators pay little heed to democratic processes or any
counterarguments to their climate catechism.
Climate
Change Protesters Storm Field at Halftime of Harvard-Yale Football Game. The 136th edition of The Game between
Harvard and Yale has been delayed at halftime after protesters took over the field. Students from both schools occupied
midfield after the Yale band had finished performing. Some held banners asking their colleges to act on climate change
and Puerto Rican debt relief.
Debunking
the Sports Media's Excuses for the Browns' Myles Garrett and the Helmet-Swinging Incident. Last week, there was
quite a bit of confusion and outrage about an incident on Thursday Night Football when Myles Garrett got into an altercation
with Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, where the Browns' defensive end ripped the helmet from his opponent's head in the
game's meaningless final seconds, and then proceeded to ferociously swing it at Rudolph's exposed skull. Action from
the League was swift, and Garrett was suspended indefinitely, with no established timeframe regarding his potential return.
It wouldn't have been hard to predict, however, that the fans' attention and furor around the incident would be short-lived,
despite the act being tantamount to assault with a deadly weapon.
Does the Left Hate America?
Leftists have contempt for the American flag. I am unaware of a single left-wing individual or organization that has
condemned NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand for the flag during the playing or singing of the national
anthem that precedes NFL games. To the contrary, on the Left, he is universally regarded as a hero. Indeed, Nike
anointed him as one, making him its brand model. Leftists might respond that Kaepernick's public refusal to stand for
the flag and national anthem says nothing about his love for America, as it is only a form of protest against racial
injustice. But that is nonsense. Would leftists argue that anyone who publicly refuses to celebrate Martin Luther
King Jr. Day really loves Dr. King?
Everyone
Hates Kaepernick Now. In the three years since Colin Kaepernick knelt his way off of the San Francisco 49ers
and out of the National Football League, the one thing the drama has lacked is ambivalence. People either hated him or
viewed him as a social hero who was being mistreated and prevented from playing the game he loves. Now everybody just
hates him.
Trumpenfreude
hits NHL boycotter. When the Washington Capitals visited the White House in March for winning the 2018 Stanley
Cup Championship in, it was without Devante Smith-Pelly, the star of that championship series. He was very vocal about
not attending when the team won the championship as he trashed the president. But by the time the team visited the
White House, he wasn't part of the team. His game had fallen apart. He was a fourth string winger that season
until the team demoted him to the minor league Hershey Bears. This season, the Capitals dumped him. He tried out
with the Calgary Flames but he quickly extinguished his hope of returning to the NHL.
Fans,
Media Erupt After LeBron James' Outburst During National Anthem. The NBA was understandably excited to start
its season and get away from the China controversy that had embroiled the league over the past couple weeks. However,
even more controversy ensued on Tuesday night and on into Wednesday as video surfaced showing LeBron James walking off the
court and screaming while the national anthem played.
Moral
Relativism Taking Over Everything: Sports, Politics, Libraries. Since so many of us pay little to no attention to the
NBA, you may have forgotten their "principled" stand on the North Carolina "bathroom bill." In late February of 2016, ignoring science
and sound morality, liberals on the Charlotte City Council passed an ordinance that would allow men into women's restrooms, locker rooms,
and so on. As is typical with the Left, the ordinance applied not only to city-owned property, but to private businesses as
well. In other words, Charlotte liberals "legislated morality," and they did so to the point of forcing all of the city's citizens
to adhere to perverse liberal dogma. To correct this gross injustice, the North Carolina Legislature passed a commonsense law (H.B. 2)
that reversed the foolish Charlotte city ordinance. In opposition to H.B. 2, later in 2016, ignoring the long understood truths
on sex and sexuality, and goose-stepping along with the rest of the liberal elite, the NBA decided to pull its all-star game from the city
of Charlotte.
NBA
losing money — and well it should. The NBA's commissioner, Adam Silver, acknowledged in recent
remarks that China had pressed for the firing of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey — for the crime of publicly
supporting freedom-fighting protesters in Hong Kong — and that the league, as part of the fallout from its seeming
siding with the reds, rather than with the red, white and blues, has been losing money.
Defense
of free speech [is] no longer a slam dunk in America. When Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey issued a
tweet in support of Hong Kong's freedom protestors, it caused outrage among China's totalitarian oligarchs. A contract
signed last June between the NBA and China's Tencent streaming television service, worth a cool $500 million, is in
jeopardy. In total, the NBA garners more than $4 billion in revenue from China.
The Woke Sports Fraud.
The controversies the NBA saw this week serve as reminders that it would be wise for professional athletes and those
associated with professional sports to avoid opining on politics, because while making their righteous pronouncements, these
persons, who nowadays are overwhelmingly left-wing, sometimes show themselves to be inconsistent takers of positions; or at
their worst, sheer hypocrites willing to overlook an ostensible evil for lucre's sake. What is more, their opinions,
which are often ignorant, may well alienate fans, who don't, after all, follow professional sports in order to learn jocks'
and coaches' views on human rights and transgender bathrooms. The first controversy concerned Houston Rockets general
manager Daryl Morey, the man having tweeted his support — "Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong" —
for the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong. Now, the NBA is hugely popular in China, where the league generates
millions in revenue each year, and in response to the Chinese backlash (and to pressure from within the Rockets organization,
one imagines), Morey quickly deleted his tweet and issued an unmanly apology.
Trump-hating
NBA millionaire LeBron James stands up for China. I guess this is getting to be a pattern now: if you've made
your pile and you've made a lot of it from China, to heck with the Hong Kongers and their protests for freedom. You'll
be sticking up for their oppressor, communist red China, home of sweatshops, intellectual property theft, attacks on Southeast Asia,
the laogai, the enslavement of the Uighurs, the social credit system, Venezuela's money, the supposedly lightened one-child policy,
and Mao's many murder revolutions. Because for such lefties, the only thing that matters is money. We saw it with
billionaire tycoon Michael Bloomberg. Now we are seeing it with NBA big LeBron James, a millionaire athlete who was last seen
in the non-sports news calling President Trump "a bum." Asked if Texas basketball team owner Daryl Morey, who set off a
firestorm by tweeting support for the Hong Kongers, ought to be punished, the famous social justice warrior went into hypocrite
mode, sticking up for the ChiComs.
LeBron Jame$ Is A Coward.
NBA superstar LeBron James says Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was "misinformed" and "wasn't educated on the
situation at hand" when he tweeted in support of Hong Kong's freedom demonstrations. Morey's sin was sharing an image
of a slogan that read, "Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong." Even though the GM, regrettably, deleted his tweet,
one strongly suspects his grasp of China — where the state is running "re-education" camps filled with Uyghurs —
is considerably stronger than any of the NBA's leading apologists. Only last year, James, a purported champion of social
justice, came out in support of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick with the vacuous platitude, "I stand with anyone who believes
in change." Anyone? Of course, LeBron's stand, as with most acts of pretend celebrity bravery, resulted in hosannas
being thrown at him by the press, and, more importantly, never costing him a penny.
Thanks,
Houston Rockets, you've done us all a favor (and so has the NBA). Everyone has been outraged at the recent
spectacle of the NBA seeming to steer clear of fans supporting democracy on American soil, cutting off questions from
reporters, and watching Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey delete his tweet supporting the pro-democracy protesters
in Hong Kong. It's not enough for the NBA to kowtow to China's authoritarian regime, it seems, it also has to appear to
act like that regime, as well. But in fact, I think we all owe the NBA a vote of thanks. They've helped to draw
attention to a long history of American appeasement of the Communist regime in Beijing, including by successive
presidents. Our collective refusal to call China to account for their human rights abuses and violations of
international law have done decades of damage to our economy, national security, and moral standing.
The Editor says...
What is the point of the NBA, anyway? Throw the ball. Bounce the ball. Catch the ball. How are you
better off after watching an NBA game?
Pop Goes
the Weasel. "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," read the tweet from Houston Rockets general
manager Daryl Morey. The Chinese Communists didn't like it. As CNBC reported, the Chinese Consulate-General in
Houston attacked the tweet and urged the Rockets to "correct the error." The tweet promptly disappeared, then came a
statement from NBA boss Adam Silver. "We have great respect for the history and culture of China," Silver said, "and
hope sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together." And
so on, but nothing about fighting for freedom and standing with Hong Kong. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg
Popovich said Silver's speech "helps you understand what direction you need to go in." It was a curious statement
for someone with experience in dealing with totalitarian governments.
Hill
editor-in-chief: NBA is 'bending down' to 'almighty dollar'. The Hill's editor-in-chief Bob Cusack said
the NBA has a "disaster" on its hands following the league's response to a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting
pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. "This is a disaster for the NBA," Cusack told Hill.TV on Friday [10/11/2019],
noting how the league is shutting down questions from journalists and not allowing players to respond to the controversy.
NBA
takes a stand against freedom. Last Friday [10/4/2019], Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets
basketball team, tweeted what seemed like a noncontroversial statement. He wrote: "Fight for Freedom. Stand
with Hong Kong." Now, China, as you may have seen, is trying to crush Hong Kong, and it's not hard to pick a side.
China is a racist Communist ethnostate that bans dissent and murders its political opponents. They have Muslims
interned in forced reeducation camps at this very moment. They viciously suppress the freedoms that we Americans take
for granted. You'd think every American would stand with Hong Kong without even thinking about it. But not the
NBA. The NBA is on China's side. So, Morey was forced to delete his tweet. The NBA issued a statement making it
clear that under no circumstances do they support Hong Kong or human freedom.
China's
Ultimate Goal Is To Control American Culture, And Companies Should Resist It. If ESPN thought shutting down
on-air discussion about China and Hong Kong would please its Chinese master and protect the commercial interests of itself
and its corporate parent Disney, it's dead wrong. What China wants is not simply to police a few words on social media
or on air. It wants to control American culture, period. [...] Chinese leaders closely studied America's ascent to a
global superpower, and they believe America's cultural influence is a key ingredient to the country's success. China
wants to emulate America's success, albeit with Chinese characteristics. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao said, "The
great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will definitely be accompanied by the thriving of Chinese culture."
Portland
Trail Blazers Join Boycott Against Israel. The Portland Trail Blazers announced that they have severed
relations with a company that does business with Israel following a pressure campaign by activists tied to the anti-Semitic
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. As the NBA is facing outrage after the general manager of the Houston
Rockets capitulated to censorship by the Chinese communist government, the Trail Blazers quietly severed ties with the
manufacturer Leupold, which has a contract to produce accessories for the Israeli Defense Forces.
If
Woke Corporations Had Police Power, They Would Act Exactly Like Communist China. Since the NBA-China affair
blew up last weekend, a number of commentators have lambasted the NBA for its craven response to China, noting the hypocrisy
of a league that publicly prides itself on being the social vanguard in America but has no problem kowtowing to Chinese
autocrats to maintain access to their lucrative markets. The argument goes like this: there's a massive disconnect
between the values the NBA espouses and its willingness, say, to look the other way in China, where the league runs a training
program not far from where Uighur Muslims are forcibly sent to reeducation camps. The NBA's pursuit of filthy lucre, in
this view, undermines its carefully crafted public image.
Nearly
all of the NBA's Chinese partners have cut ties with the league. Out of the 25 official partners listed on the
NBA China website, 13 are Chinese businesses. So far, 11 of those companies have distanced themselves from the sports
league amid escalating tensions between China and the NBA. Ctrip.com, Anta Sports, Changhong, Meiling, Dicos, EHi Car Rental,
Master Kong, China Mengniu Dairy, Migu Video, WuZun and Xiaoyin Technology are among the Chinese companies that have ended or
suspended their cooperation with the NBA, according to Chinese public statements translated by CNBC. The remaining two
Chinese partners are joint-venture brands that have not issued any statements yet.
Pro-Hong
Kong Sixers Fan Booted From Philadelphia NBA Game. A Philadelphia 76ers fan says he was tossed out of a
preseason game after showing their support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Sam Wachs and his wife brought signs which read "Free Hong Kong" and "Free HK" to Tuesday night's game between the Sixers and
the Guangzhou Loong-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association. According to Wachs, he lived in Hong Kong for two
years and supports the anti-government movement. "We were just sitting in our seats near the Chinese bench," said Wachs.
Fans
With 'Free Hong Kong' Sign Kicked Out Of NBA Game. On Tuesday night [10/8/2019], a husband and wife holding
"Free Hong Kong" signs at a preseason NBA game in Philadelphia were kicked out of the stadium. The man, identified as
Sam Wachs, and his wife had their pro-Hong Kong signs confiscated by NBA employees and were escorted out of the Wells Fargo
Center arena after Mr. Wachs shouted "Free Hong Kong," a statement in support of the ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations.
NBA,
Houston Rockets Cower To Communist China, Get Blasted Online. The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the
Houston Rockets cowered to communist China on Sunday after Rocket's General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted out support for Hong
Kong which sparked an immediate backlash from Chinese businesses and the Chinese government.
Nike
Commercial Starring Colin Kaepernick Wins Emmy Award. Nike's controversial Dream Crazy ad, narrated by
and starring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, won an Emmy Award for best commercial at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards
on Sunday [9/15/2019]. The commercial, which first aired in September, features Kaepernick waxing philosophical about
the nature of sports, human achievement, and social justice.
Major
League Soccer Team Bans Betsy Ross Flag, Calls it a 'Symbol for Hate Groups'. America's premier soccer league,
Major League Soccer, has declared the red, white, and blue Betsy Ross flag a "symbol for hate groups" and banned a couple in
Utah from waving it at games. A Utah couple who were in attendance at a Major League Soccer Real Salt Lake game says
they were told by stadium officials to put away their Betsy Ross flag because the original flag of the American Revolution is
a "symbol for hate groups."
Major
League Soccer club bans 'controversial' Betsy Ross flag at games. Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake has
banned people from waving the Betsy Ross flag at games, claiming that the Colonial-era flag design has been "adopted as a
symbol for hate groups" and doesn't fit with the team's mission of inclusiveness. The controversy started last month
after season-ticket-holders Randolf and Diana Scott started bringing their giant Betsy Ross flag to games at Rio Tinto
Stadium, which "ignited a firestorm" against the couple on social media, the local Fox News affiliate reported. Last
weekend, stadium staff asked the couple to put the flag away.
NASCAR
Begins To Inject Left-Wing Politics Into Racing. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, otherwise
known as NASCAR, has reportedly started to take a "gradual shift" on its stances surrounding the Second Amendment. The
revelation comes after multiple gun companies have said that NASCAR, which has a primarily Republican base, banned them from
running advertisements that feature guns. [...] The Free Beacon added that the reaction to NASCAR adopting left-wing
politics, specifically the demonization of the Second Amendment, has generated a significant amount of backlash. One
specific example came in an article written by radio host Mark Walters, who wrote: "Go ahead NASCAR, try to fill the
stands with a bunch of David Hogg, Moms Demand Action, Everytown for Gun Safety, urban, progressive, skinny jean wearing, soy
sipping, man-bun wearing, Antifa loving, gun-hating socialists. I won't be around to see how that turns out for you."
US
fencer punished for kneeling on podium at Pan Am Games, other athletes warned. Two U.S. athletes were given a
year of probation by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for staging protests while on the podium at the Pan
American Games earlier this month, letters sent Tuesday revealed. Hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised her fist and fencer
Race Imboden took a knee while on the medal stand last week in Lima, Peru. All athletes at the Pan American Games and
the Olympics agree to rules forbidding political protest. The committee also warned other athletes that future protests
could face more serious consequences.
It's Time for
Colin Kaepernick to Move On. Colin Kaepernick. Remember him? Below-average quarterback. Above-average
poseur. Not "activist," not really. Activists actually say stuff. Kaepernick almost never says anything.
Another
athletic egomaniac looking for some extra spotlight by dissing the U.S. flag. By now, the routine of athletes
calling attention to themselves by dissing the U.S. flag at some athletic event has become so de rigueur you
could write the script before it happens. Lose the big prize. Take a knee to the flag. Make a raving or two
to the press about the awfulness of the U.S. And reap lots of media attention your athletic performance wouldn't otherwise
merit. Instant fame. Endorsement deals. Money. Profit big from insulting the very flag of the country
that made your performance possible.
Hegseth,
Rep. Crenshaw slam anthem protest by U.S. fencer: 'Delusional' if you think that's sacrifice. "Fox &
Friends" host Pete Hegseth and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, both U.S. military veterans, blasted a member of the U.S. fencing team
who kneeled for the national anthem after winning the gold medal. Hegseth emphasized Monday [8/12/2019] that Team USA
won 293 medals at the competition and there only two protests.
The Editor says...
Being a troublemaker is never a resumé enhancement, except in politics.
Inslee
says he'll ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be secretary of State. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) said
Saturday that if he is elected president, he will ask soccer player Megan Rapinoe to be his secretary of state. He said
at the progressive Netroots Nation conference that one of his first acts as president would be to get a secretary of State
who embraces world unity and "love rather than hate" as he rebuked President Trump's foreign policy. "My first act will
be to ask Megan Rapinoe to be my secretary of State," he said. "I haven't asked her yet, so this could be a surprise to her."
Black
Pastors Call on Nike to Sever Relationship with Colin Kaepernick. The Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP)
called on Nike Thursday [7/12/2019] to end its relationship with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has a prominent
endorsement deal with the athletic company. Rev. William Owens, president of CAAP, said his organization is responding
to Nike's decision to pull an athletic shoe celebrating the Betsy Ross flag after Kaepernick expressed objections to it.
US
Soccer Final Viewership Down by Almost Half Thanks to Trump-Bashing, Far Left National Team. They cursed the US
President and disrespected their Country — What did they expect? The US Women's Soccer Final viewership was
down by ALMOST HALF this year thanks to the Trump-bashing, anthem protesting US national team. You insult half your
audience — you lose half your audience! Great job, ladies!
U.S.
Women's Soccer Team Cut Star Player For Christian Views. Christian views may have kept star player Jaelene
Hinkle off the US women's soccer team. Back in 2015, Hinkle had objected publicly to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling
that legalized same-sex marriage.
U.S.
Women's Soccer Team Accused Of Snubbing Star Player For Christian Views. The absence of one of the best women's
soccer players in the nation from the national squad that just won the World Cup has prompted questions as to whether she
didn't make the team because of her openly professed Christian faith. [...] The Irish Times, which called Hinkle "the finest
left-back in the NWSL," wrote in June, "Hinkle likely would have been a fish out of water on the uber-woke women's national
team, some of whose biggest stars are openly lesbian, raising questions about whether she would have thrown off the squad's
chemistry."
Megan
Rapinoe Is No Leader. Appearing on multiple news outlets, Megan Rapinoe appeared self-centered and
divisive. She criticized President Donald Trump, as expected. She made accusations of homophobia, as
expected. And an adoring Rachel Maddow called for Rapinoe to run for president, as expected. After famously
scoffing at the very notion of interacting with people who hold different opinions, Megan Rapinoe took to the stage during
the World Cup victory parade in New York City to call for unity: "This is my charge to everyone: We have to be
better, we have to love more and hate less. Listen more and talk less." Speaking with CNN's Anderson Cooper,
Megan Rapinoe said that she would be willing to have a "substantive conversation" with "anyone" ... who "believes the same
things" as she does.
Guess I'm a Female Chauvinist.
I don't particularly care for soccer anyway but it was the purple-haired star player Megan Rapinoe who turned me off by
spouting her disdain for any White House visit before she was even asked. Did she do that for publicity or was her
Trump derangement too deeply entrenched? Stomping on the American flag even accidentally during the World Cup
celebration was more proof of her unworthiness to represent our great country.
We
hate Trump, we hate you. But buy our soccer jerseys. The leftist women's World Cup team has made a lot of
noise about wanting more pay, or pay that's equal to the men's teams, yet already the economics of the picture shows that they're
actually overpaid. This isn't something unfixable — more ticket sales, more team memorabilia revenue, more television
watchers, more public interest would correct that easily, and it's clear that star players such as Megan Rapinoe know it.
The
ladies won and let's salute them. The TV ratings were great and everyone is happy. [...] Actually, not everyone
is happy. I am not happy and lots of people I've heard from are not happy. First, the tournament showed that
international women's soccer is a total mismatch. [...] The U.S. is obviously "the queen" of soccer and will only get better
because our young women have more resources. On that point, it did not help that some of the ladies showed so little
class, as when they pounded Thailand 13-0! Second, someone should remind the ladies that they are wearing the U.S.
uniform not "blue states." They should show respect for U.S. fans who don't like to see flag disrespected.
Megan
Rapinoe rips Trump WH visit, says she'd accept invites from Pelosi, AOC. U.S. Women's Soccer superstar Megan
Rapinoe doubled down in her opposition to visit the Trump White House on Tuesday but expressed that she was open to accept
invitations from anyone who "believes the same things we believe in" like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.
U.S.
Women's Soccer Team Won't Go To White House, So Pelosi Makes Announcement. With U.S. Women's Soccer star and
outspoken Trump critic Megan Rapinoe having preemptively rejected any invite to go to the "[...] White House," House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi made a big announcement on Monday: Congress is formally inviting the Wold Cup-winning team to be honored
on Capitol Hill.
The Woke World of Sports.
[Scroll down] In the woke world of sports, [the history of the US flag] carries less weight than what a millionaire
retired athlete with weird hair thinks constitutes "social justice," and the billion-dollar company caved when Kaepernick
vetoed their design. In real fact, the most socially useful thing the fellow could do would be to tell kids in the
inner cities to spend their money more wisely than on Nike sneakers, which, by the way, are made by slave laborers under any
other name in countries characterized by the late Karl Wittfogel as "Oriental Despotisms."
USA
Women Win Soccer World Cup, Then Toss USA Flag on Ground & Dance On It. The video says it all. No
exaggeration required. Members of the US Women's Soccer team won the World Cup on Sunday then while celebrating, tossed
the US flag to the ground like a rag doll and danced around it while posing for the cameras. Trump-hater Megan Rapinoe
was front and center of course. She's the all star who has trashed President Trump and who was criticized for taking a
knee during the national anthem before matches.
Allie
Long, Megan Rapinoe Drop American Flag During World Cup Celebration. U.S. women's national soccer team members
Allie Long and Megan Rapinoe stepped on an American flag after Long dropped on the ground as they posed for post-game photos
Sunday [7/7/2019]. Following their repeat World Cup win in Lyon, France, the team was celebrating on the field and
posing for photos when Long dropped the flag she was holding. She and Rapinoe then stepped forward, leaving the flag
underfoot.
U.S.
soccer fans chant 'F--- Trump' on live TV. After the United States won the Women's World Cup by beating
Netherlands 2-0 in Sunday's final match, a group of American soccer fans in France chanted an expletive about President Trump
on a live television broadcast. Fox News prepared to do a live TV shot from a sports bar in Lyon, France —
the site of the final — that was populated with American fans. Fans in the background began to chant shortly
after reporter Greg Palkot began to speak.
USWNT
fans chant 'F--- Trump' on live TV after World Cup title. The U.S. women are World Cup champions.
Millions of fans across America are celebrating. In parks, on downtown streets, in living rooms, and elsewhere.
So are the tens of thousands who travelled to France for the occasion. Fox News figured it would send a reporter and
camera crew across the Atlantic to capture the scene in Lyon. And ... uh ... they found quite a scene!
The
Democrats' Situational Racism. [Scroll down] Nike, not content to sell shoes to Americans of all
political persuasions, stepped in it again via their vice president for social consciousness, Colin Kaepernick. Nike
made a special edition Betsy Ross flag shoe for Independence Day but Kaepernick objected to the flag as being racist and
appealing to white nationalist groups. Nike promptly recalled the shoe to virtue signal their wokeness over such a
symbol of hatred. MSNBC regular and Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson, "related the flag to other symbols of hate
such as the Nazi swastika and burning crosses." Why? Because the situation called for it. Anything to fan the
flames of racism at a time when minority unemployment is at an all-time low in advance of a presidential election.
Megan Rapinoe is dividing Americans instead of uniting them
in the fight for gender equity. [Colin] Kaepernick, who blew up his NFL career by refusing to stand for the
national anthem at games, is not alone in his hostility to patriotic symbols. Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain of the U.S.
national women's soccer team, refuses to place her hand over her heart with the rest of her team when the national anthem is
played at the World Cup in Lyon, France. "I'll probably never put my hand over my heart," she told Yahoo Sports.
"I'll probably never sing the national anthem again."
The Left's War Against
America. [Colin Kaepernick] has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since he decided to forgo his NFL
career and become a professional protester. His decision to disrespect the American flag by choosing NFL games to
protest police treatment of African Americans was divisive to say the least. While millions of Americans did not
support Kaepernick's actions, Nike chose to affiliate with those Americans who agree with a spoiled former NFL player
denigrating our national symbols. His supporters tend to be young people, African Americans and progressives.
Kaepernick also has plenty of admirers in the media who are also disgruntled with our country. In a July 1st New York
Times video editorial, the authors claim that the United States of America is not the greatest country on earth, but "just okay."
Ted
Cruz sacks Colin Kaepernick, grabs ball and scores (on Twitter). Colin Kaepernick, Nike's commissar of
America-hatred, may have been a quarterback, but he took a half-[bak]ed approach to anti-slavery hero Frederick
Douglass. Flaunting the blinders that progressives wear when they consider our collective history, he took a quotation
out of context in order to try to score an own goal against the country that birthed him, made him a multi-millionaire, and
now indulges him in his extended adolescence. Fortunately, Ted Cruz knows much more than Kaepernick and demolished his
point on Twitter (hat tip: Twitchy).
Nike
Fans the Flames of the Culture War. Nike is doing it wrong. I don't mean the shoemaking, though that
thing with Zion Williamson was pretty bad, I have to say. No, Nike is doing it wrong because it managed to do something
that all the neo-Nazis, Klansmen, alt-righters, and other denizens of the lowest coprophagic phylum of our political life
could never do: It turned the Betsy Ross flag into a racist symbol.
Mo
Brooks: Colin Kaepernick Should Leave if He Hates America. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) says Colin
Kaepernick, the former NFL player and the face of multinational corporation Nike, should leave the United States if he does
not like the country. This week it was revealed that Nike had ditched the production and sale of a pair of shoes that
featured the famous flag created by Betsy Ross at the behest of former President George Washington because Kaepernick was
offended by the emblem.
Corporate
America Tilts Left. [A] manufacturer of sports beverages, has made a commercial featuring soccer player Megan
Rapinoe, who has refused to stand for the American flag and has sparred with President Trump. That makes her a hot
commodity in the world of advertising.
The Ugly
Americans of soccer. Somewhere in France today a group of ugly American female soccer players are sipping tea
from imaginary cups to mock a polite society they make no efforts to understand or respect. The Americans are loud and
ostentatious. They are ugly Americans personified. If the female soccer players are trying to be ambassadors for
their game, they are failing miserably. I cared little for their sport before they arrived in France, and my interest
has chilled considerably in the ensuing weeks.
Why
Doesn't The Far Left Complain About Nike Sweatshops Anymore? Protesting Nike used to be a go-to event for
various far-left groups in America. A massive company using slave-labor conditions to produce low-cost products that
are then resold at 1000% mark-ups was representative of what was, in their minds, so wrong with globalized capitalism.
Then, suddenly, all that protest vanished. Why? The answer is simple. Nike's marketing machine turned its
attention to controversial anti-police, anti-America, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The company paid
Kaepernick millions to divert attention away from its deplorable overseas operations and instead convince consumers how
horrible American was — except for those who wore Nike products apparently. No, it doesn't really make
a lot of sense but it appears to have worked.
Killing
The Fourth of July. Never to be out-woked, Nike took the opportunity this July 4th to lash out at patriots
(read: most Americans) by putting the kibosh on their planned 'USA Air Max 1' training shoes. The design featured
the Betsy Ross flag: one of the first known emblems of the colonies that would go on to become the United States. We're led
to believe it was Colin Kaepernick — who is famous for just about everything except what he should be famous for:
football — who drove Nike to nix the shoe.
Now Betsy
Ross Is a White Supremacist, Apparently. Dear Reader, I do not care about shoe companies. I don't care
about professional athletes, current or former, who work for shoe companies. They can sell what they want to sell, or
not sell what they don't want to sell, and it's all the same to me. I don't understand why anybody would care. If
you don't like it, don't spend your money on it. What's the problem? But no, it has to become a whole big
thing. Now this dumb Nike non-story has escalated. It's no longer about a shoe company. It's about America
itself. Now, feminist icon Betsy Ross is considered racist.
This
Independence Day, Nike Appeases America Haters and Dictators. Want a sign that the left is now bringing ruin to
the business world, after it has done the same for the education and entertainment industries? Look no further than
Nike. Days before the U.S. celebrates Independence Day, Nike pulled sneakers back from retailers that contained a small
image of the famous Betsy Ross flag on the back. Apparently that small homage to America's founding offended the
delicate sensibilities of Colin Kaepernick, the reprehensible leftist former football player who protested the national
anthem, whose idea of appropriate footwear is socks depicting police officers as pigs, and who prefers shirts honoring Cuba's
murderous dictator Fidel Castro.
Kaepernick,
Nike, Democrats: Spitting on America and the 4th of July. Nike has pulled its Betsy Ross American Flag
shoe from the shelves. Why? NFL has-been Colin Kaepernick's complained that the Betsy Ross flag was a symbol of
white supremacy. Nike said they didn't want to potentially "offend" anybody. Surprise to Nike. They are
offending a significant portion of the American public[.] But spitting on America, and her freedom has become a way of
life in 2019. Not only for Nike and Kaepernick but also Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and soccer's Rapino as well.
Julian
Castro praises Nike, compares Betsy Ross flag to Confederate flag. Democratic presidential hopeful Julián
Castro on Wednesday praised Nike's controversial decision to pull shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag, saying the early flag
design that represents the Thirteen Colonies evokes pain among some Americans, much like Confederate symbols.
WSJ:
Nike's 'Patriotic Fumble' an 'In-Kind Donation to Trump's Re-Election'. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
editorial board observed Tuesday [7/2/2019] that Nike's decision to allow ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick to "call the play"
of rescinding the company's release of its "Betsy Ross flag" sneaker is essentially an "in-kind donation to Trump's
re-election." The WSJ board referred to Nike's cave to Kaepernick as one of those "harebrained controversies" that
ultimately "give many Americans the not unreasonable sense that their country is being maligned by pampered social-justice
warriors."
Uh
Oh, Guess Who Had the Betsy Ross Flag at His Inauguration. As you've heard by now, Nike decided to pull the
sale of a Betsy Ross American flag themed sneaker this week after woke and washed up athlete Colin Kaepernick complained it
is tied to racism. But there's just one huge problem with that argument: [Photo]
CA
Governor After Nike Cancels American-Themed Shoe: They 'Represent The Best Of Our American Values'. On
Tuesday night, after Nike had canceled an American flag-themed shoe, triggering Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to withdraw
financial incentives for Nike to open a manufacturing facility in Arizona, California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted that
Nike was "doing the right thing" and represented "the best of our American values."
Limbaugh:
Kaepernick-Nike Shoe Saga Proof NFL Kneeling Not About Police Brutality — 'He Opposes Honoring the Flag'. Tuesday
[7/2/2019] on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh argued that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback
Colin Kaepernick's opposition to Nike's so-called Betsy Ross footwear was proof Kaepernick's kneeling was not about alleged police brutality
but animosity toward the American flag. Nike pulled the product line based on Kaepernick's opposition, which came because the footwear
featured the Betsy Ross flag.
Colin
Kaepernick Lands Nike in Hot Water Over Recall of Shoe With an American Flag. Colin Kaepernick has used his
influence with Nike to have the company's American flag-themed shoe called the "Betsy Ross" pulled from production just days
before they were to be sold to the public, prompting swift and immediate backlash. Citing sources close to the story,
the Wall Street Journal reports that the Air Max 1 USA was slated to go on sale this week in celebration of the Fourth
of July. "The heel of the shoe featured a U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle, a design created during the
American Revolution and commonly referred to as the Betsy Ross flag," WSJ reports. And while Nike is claiming that it
has declined to release the sneaker because it featured an "old version of the American flag," the real reason the sneaker
has been recalled, according to WSJ, is because Kaepernick reportedly told Nike that the shoes were "offensive," prompting
the company to recall the shoe and demand that retailers return their stock.
Old Photos From Obama's
Inauguration Show Just How Ridiculous Nike's Shoe Ban Really Is. It seems that those criticizing Nike for
attempting to have a Betsy Ross flag on a pair of their shoes in celebration of Fourth of July forgot about former President
Barack Obama using the same flags at his inauguration in 2013. Nike stirred up controversy when they tried to have the
earlier American flag, that displays 13 stars in a circle, on their Air Max 1 USA shoes but reportedly nixed
the shoes after former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick called them offensive. "Attention Nike:
The flag Colin Kaepernick told you was unacceptable on your shoes was displayed rather prominently at Barack Obama's
inauguration," the Washington Examiner's Bryon York tweeted.
Nike
steps on its own shoelaces in latest Kaepernick fiasco. Just in time for the Fourth of July, Nike and washed-up
footballer Colin Kaepernick have joined forces in an America-bashing cavalcade. The enormous sportswear company planned
to release a new red, white, and blue sneaker adorned with American Revolutionary Betsy Ross' 13-star flag, this country's
first banner. However, Kaepernick complained to Nike that this all-American symbol is — what else? —
racist. "After images of the shoe were posted online, Mr. Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reached out to company
officials saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of
slavery," the Wall Street Journal reported.
Nike
Has Offered Shoes Displaying Flags of Human Rights Abusers Such As China and Turkey. This week, sportswear
giant Nike agreed to pull their "Betsy Ross Flag" sneakers after former NFL player nd anthem-protester Colin Kaepernick,
advised them that the American flag is a symbol of racism, hate, and slavery. However, the company has had no issue
offering shoes with many other national flags and colors, including human rights abusers such as China and Turkey.
Naturally, Nike was quick to create gay pride flag-themed shoes. There are quite a few styles set up in the rainbow
colors of gay pride. So, as far as Nike is concerned, gay pride is great, but American pride is "racist."
Outrage
for Profit — NIKE Pulls "Betsy Ross" Sneaker. Is it possible to manufacture outrage as a profit
strategy? Yes. Brand imagery is part of the overall business model for any business. Begin with an
ideological executive office; consider a manufacturing model dependent on a China/Asia supply chain; add a dose of political
calculations into the mix; turn loose the actuaries and a unified CFO and CEO could easily find a way to turn market
grievance into profit. I'm not saying that NIKE is manipulating their market price. However, I am saying if they
were to consider their brand scale to enhance financial results, and buying back shares of their own stock to be timed with
coordinated media events, you could see a benefit behind the controversy.
Colin
Kaepernick objects to flag-themed shoes, so Nike pulls them. For America's Independence Day, Nike released a
new sneaker shoe style with the image of the early U.S. flag stitched by the notorious revolutionary Betsy Ross. It had
the familiar red and white stripes and 13 stars in a circle for the original colonies. Apparently, sales were going
well until noted kneeler Colin Kaepernick objected because, well, some of the 13 colonies had slaves at the time and we
shouldn't be knowing that in this Woke era. Naturally, the mega-company with $36 billion in annual shoe and
athletic-wear sales responded to the unemployed NFL player by immediately pulling the patriotic shoe off the market, as the
Wall Street Journal first reported. What else could it do really? He outnumbers the rest of us. And a
company can't be associated with patriotism these days unless it involves overpaid pro athletes refusing to stand for the
National Anthem because, slavery.
AZ
governor steps up for America, will 'withdraw all incentive dollars' from Kaepernick's Nike. BizPac Review
published reports on Monday that Nike developed a Betsy Ross-themed shoe just in time to celebrate Independence Day, then
yanked it from production. Shortly after, sponsored activist Colin Kaepernick reportedly complained that he found the
imagery depicted on the clothing to be offensive. As happens all too often in our softened society, Nike immediately
recalled the shoe and drew the ire of patriots like Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who called the decision "pathetic" and
declared that she will no longer be buying Nike sneakers for her family.
Betsy Ross
costs Nike plenty. When Colin Kaepernick objected, Nike stopped selling shoes that were a tribute to Betsy
Ross, a woman legend of the American Revolution. Now that will cost the company millions in incentives Arizona offered
to snag a Nike plant. It will cost the state 500 jobs. More than a million soldiers have died defending that
flag that Nike turned its back on. The shoe featured the flag that legend holds designed the flag. That seems to
be based on family lore. But she did more for America than any of today's quarterbacks did.
Arizona
Gov. Doug Ducey ends Nike deal after cancellation of 'Betsy Ross Flag' sneakers. Arizona Gov. Doug
Ducey said Tuesday [7/2/2019] the state would be canceling the incentives offered in a deal with Nike in response to the athletic
company scrapping plans for a Betsy Ross-inspired sneaker[.] The sneakers, featuring a U.S. flag with 13 stars on each
heel, reportedly was canned after former football player and political activist Colin Kaepernick said the design could be seen as
an offensive symbol of slavery.
Nike
Nixes 'Betsy Ross Flag' Sneaker After Colin Kaepernick Intervenes. Nike Inc. is yanking a U.S.A.-themed sneaker
featuring an early American flag after NFL star-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick told the company it shouldn't sell a shoe
with a symbol that he and others consider offensive, according to people familiar with the matter. The sneaker giant
created the Air Max 1 USA in celebration of the July Fourth holiday, and it was slated to go on sale this week.
Soccer
star Megan Rapinoe accepts invitation to hang with AOC instead of Trump. Megan Rapinoe accepted Democratic
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's invitation for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team to tour the House of Representatives
after Rapinoe rejected an invite to the White House. "Consider it done @AOC," Rapinoe said Friday after the New York
congresswoman extended the invite and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team beat France 2-1 in the quarterfinal of the Women's
World Cup.
Yankees
add Stonewall Inn plaque to famed Monument Park. A plaque behind the center field fence at Yankee Stadium was
dedicated Tuesday night [6/25/2019] to commemorate the Stonewall Inn uprising 50 years ago, which sparked a pivotal rebellion
in the LGBTQ rights movement.
Knicks
feel their black front office helps in free agency. Knicks president Steve Mills indicated having a pioneering
predominately black front office will help the team in the upcoming free agency. "The African American front office,
that doesn't get lost on guys," Mills said in an article published Tuesday on The Undefeated, which deals with race
issues. After getting the job when Phil Jackson got canned, Mills hired GM Scott Perry, who is black, and player
developmental director Craig Robinson, the brother of Michelle Obama. Also hired after Jackson's firing was director of
player personnel Harold Ellis and college scouting director Gerald Madkins. Both are African American.
Megs, put a sock
in it. Megan Rapinoe, star forward for the women's U.S. national soccer team, seems to hate the world.
She goes around with a scowl permanently etched into her weathered face. Though an outstanding soccer player, Megs has
it in her head that she's getting cheated, and that the cheater is Donald Trump. So she refuses to go to the White
House if the team wins the women's World Cup. Trump then extended an invitation to the team whether they win or lose,
and of course, Megan took it with ill grace. The girl has no graces, only grimaces. Megan, like all liberal
females, holds Trump personally accountable for every unfun thing that ever happened in her life or anybody else's life.
Despite her extraordinary skill on the field, Megan's about as ordinary a liberal as it's possible to be.
Brilliant
Play — President Trump Invites U.S. Women's Soccer Team to White House "Win or Lose". Megan Rapinoe
is the co-captain of the U.S. women's national soccer team and a rabid hater of President Trump. Ms. Rapinoe
refuses to sing the U.S. national anthem; kneels during ceremonies to make her hatred for America visible; and grabs every
microphone to tell the media about her politics in an effort to increase her resistance credentials. The age-old axiom
is: 'be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it". Today [6/26/2019], President Trump brilliantly responded
to Ms. Rapinoe. First, by calling out her arrogance in declaring victory before she even played the World Cup
matches; and secondly, by inviting the entire team to the White House "win or lose".
Adam
Silver: NBA done using term 'owner' over racial sensitivity questions. NBA commissioner Adam Silver told
TMZ the league office is done using the word "owner" amid concerns whether the title is racially insensitive, adding they
stopped using the term a few years ago. TMZ reported earlier this month that some NBA teams were debating whether to
move away from the title, given some feel its racially insensitive in a league where the majority of players are African
American. Warriors forward Draymond Green also raised the issue on LeBron James' HBO Show "The Shop," saying he took
offense to the term.
US
women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe refuses to sing the national anthem before the Thailand World Cup match. US
soccer star Megan Rapinoe stuck to her resolve not to sing the national anthem ahead of the team's first match in the Women's
World Cup against Thailand in France on Tuesday [6/11/2019]. The player stood silent and stony-faced as her teammates
sang along to the 'Star-Spangled Banner' in the Auguste-Delaune Stadium in Reims.
NFL
Dishes Out $20 Million in Grants to Social Justice Causes. The NFL announced this week the list of various
organizations that will receive nearly $2 million in "social justice grants." One of the recipients is the Civil Rights
Corps which "empowers communities to change the unjust legal system." This brings the total of "social justice grants"
by the NFL to $20 million for the year.
The Growing Popularity
of Foot Shooting. I used to be an NFL fan, especially of the San Francisco 49ers in the Joe Montana, Steve
Young, Jerry Rice era. So far as I know none of them ever publicly expressed their political opinions. I have not
watched five minutes of a 49er's game in over a year. The only NFL game I've watched in the past year was the Super
Bowl. I've heard numerous people say essentially the same thing. They say they're done with the NFL.
Former fans are angry at the players for disrespecting their country, but the greater anger is directed toward the teams'
owners and the NFL hierarchy. The NFL has unfortunately revealed who and what they are. Although they're good
people in most ways, in this instance they've behaved like spineless, clueless cowards. They should have nipped the
protests in the bud before they became overblown and out of control.
Soccer
Star Rapinoe on Her National Anthem Protests. Soccer star Megan Rapinoe has vowed to continue her national
anthem protests while representing the US in next month's Women's World Cup [...] Rapinoe created a furor when she knelt
during the national anthem following former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who roiled the NFL with his anthem protest in 2016.
Yankees
fans threaten boycott after ban of Kate Smith's 'God Bless America'. Kate Smith's rendition of "God Bless
America" has been scrapped at Yankee Stadium, but Bronx Bomber fans are going to bat for her over allegations of
racism. Smith's niece, Suzy Andron, told The Post she is "honored" by the groundswell of support for the late singer
among fans and media. "Most are solidly behind the positive notion that this is a misunderstanding by a few people who
took two or three of her songs [out of 3,000 that she recorded] out of context and inflated a story that my Aunt Kathryn must
have been a racist," Andron said. "Unfortunately, the Yankees bought into it."
Elizabeth
Warren praises Red Sox manager Alex Cora for skipping White House visit. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora is
learning this week what it's like to be a political lightning rod. Cora publicly confirmed he won't visit the White
House when the Red Sox make their official championship trip Thursday [5/9/2019]. And now he finds himself in the middle
of the typical Washington partisan battle. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, Democratic presidential
candidate and long-running Donald Trump adversary, is praising Cora for taking a stand against Trump and the White House.
Virginia
Basketball Declines White House Invite to Celebrate National Championship. The Virginia men's basketball team
has declined, while the Baylor women's team has accepted a visit to the White House after NCAA tournament title wins.
Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett tweeted Friday the decision of the program to decline the invitation to celebrate their 2019
NCAA men's tournament title win.
NCAA basketball champs will
not accept invitation to White House — here's the coach's statement. The NCAA championship
basketball team from the University of Virginia will not accept the invitation from President Donald Trump to the White
House, but the coach say it's simply a matter of scheduling. Coach Tony Bennett released a statement that was tweeted
out by the official University of Virginia account.
Virginia
basketball latest champions to decline White House invite. Add Virginia men's basketball to the long list of
teams who won't celebrate a championship with President Trump at the White House. The program tweeted a statement from
head coach Tony Bennett Friday [4/26/2019] that stated the team has "received inquiries about a visit to the White House.["]
Nike
launches 'Icon' Kaepernick jersey days after NFL collusion case settlement. Nike released a special edition
Colin Kaepernick jersey Wednesday just days after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback settled a grievance with the
NFL. The Kaepernick Icon Jersey — a black design with white lettering — resembles the '#ImWithKap'
jerseys that quickly sold out last fall. The jersey sells for $150. "We believe Colin Kaepernick is one of the most
inspirational athletes of this generation, who has leveraged the power of sport to help move the world forward," Nike spokeswoman
Sandra Carreon-John told USA Today, adding that the jersey "marks Nike's continued product collaboration with Colin."
All
about race: NFL shoves left's radical social justice agenda down throats of Super Bowl viewers. Super
Bowl LIII appeared to be the NFL's latest down payment in appeasing the hard left and their social justice agenda. The
NFL responded in December 2017 to the more radical elements of the game who were disrespecting the national anthem by taking
a knee by committing $90 million over a seven year period to social justice causes — much of the money going
to a number of left-wing organizations. And Sunday, the league shoved a divisive race-driven message down the throats
of Super Bowl LIII viewers at every opportunity.
Maroon
5 frontman hints Superbowl show will be hip-hop kneeling fest. Proud, flag-loving patriots who hate seeing the
American flag be disrespected may have no other option but to tune out of the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. The
show has been mired in controversy because of a concerted effort by radical far-left activists to stop any artist from
performing at the event. To them, any performance would be a slap in the face to unemployed former NFL quarterback and
continued race-baiting agitator Colin Kaepernick.
The
NFL Recovers From Kneeling Frenzy. Ratings for NFL regular-season games rebounded, gaining 5 percent over the
previous season. That's not as amazing, since it's a small increase after two years of frightening declines. But
in today's ever-declining ratings for broadcast TV, due to livestreaming and cord cutting, the NFL is still a dominant
player, far outdrawing regular scripted TV shows. The panic in NFL offices has ended. The bleeding stopped.
Everyone knows why, and it's not the powerful high-scoring offenses and the snazzy touchdown celebrations. The NFL put
an end to the national anthem kneeling protests.
Miami
Dolphins' Robert Quinn complains about lack of coverage for his protest during national anthem. Colin
Kaepernick has received a ton of publicity for his protests during the national anthem, but he can't seem to find a job in
the NFL. Miami Dolphins defensive end Robert Quinn has the opposite problem. Quinn lashed out at reporters Thursday
[12/27/2018] over the lack of coverage he's received over his fist-raised protest during the national anthem, something he's done
since joining the Dolphins in the offseason, according to the Miami Herald.
More Than an
Athlete? Lebron James is perhaps the most privileged person on the face of the Earth. Graced with
once-in-a-generation athletic talent, he also happens to be 6 feet, 8 inches tall. And, best of all, he was
born in the United States of America. Our free enterprise system has allowed James to parlay his talent, and lots of
hard work, into an $85 million a year income. Not bad! But not enough for King James.
NFL kneeling
goes full circle. The NFL has a long way to go until it is broke, but given the number of liberals put in
charge of the league, it is but a matter of time. The league took its fan base for granted, tried to expand its appeal,
and virtue signaled like a Hollywood award ceremony.
The National
Anthem Protests — Do Facts Matter? NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who started the protests, did so
over the supposed widespread instances of police brutality against blacks. Kaepernick said, "I am not going to stand up
to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. ... There are bodies in the street and
people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." According to the Centers for Disease Control, since 1968 police
killings of blacks have declined nearly 75 percent. According to The Washington Post, almost 500 whites were
killed by cops in 2015, an average of more than one a day. Two hundred fifty-nine blacks were killed by the police.
Most suspects killed by police had a weapon. Now for some perspective. Do you know anyone who has been struck by
lightning? Neither do most people. Yet each year an average of about 300 Americans are killed or injured by
lightning. That's approximately 40 more than the number of blacks killed by the police in 2015. Is there
an "epidemic" of Americans being struck and injured by lightning?
Fans Furious As NFL Cheerleader
Hears Anthem, Gives Troops the Finger. Fans who came out to see the Raiders take on the 49ers on Thursday were
furious over what one cheerleader did as soon as she heard the National Anthem start to play. Mediocre former-49ers
quarterback Colin Kaepernick became the most hated man in the NFL two seasons ago — which is quite a feat in a
sport filled with wife-beaters and convicts — when he began "taking a knee" as The Star-Spangled Banner was played
before NFL games in 2016 to protest "police brutality" and "racial discrimination" in America. Of course, this could
not have been more ironic, seeing as Kaepernick was adopted by a white family who raised him with every advantage in the
world. Not to mention the fact that he makes more money than ninety-nine percent of white people.
49ers cheerleader
takes a knee during anthem. A cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the national anthem
Thursday night ahead of the team's game against the Oakland Raiders. The cheerleader has not been identified, but
photos of her kneeling quickly circulated on social media.
Amy
Schumer wonders whether white NFL players who don't kneel are 'complicit' in racism. Amy Schumer on Friday
[10/19/2018] questioned whether or not white players in the NFL who don't kneel with their black teammates are 'complicit' in
the 'endless racism people of color face in our country.' The "Trainwreck" star went on to propose that more white
players should stand up for their "brothers and sisters of color" by taking a knee. "I wonder why more white players
aren't kneeling," she wrote. "Once you witness the truly deep inequality and endless racism people of color face in our
country, not to mention the police brutality and murders. Why not kneel next to your brothers? Otherwise how are
you not complicit?"
Kneeling
NFL players earn $16M combined this season. Miami Dolphins wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson have
knelt during the national anthem every game this season. Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who joined Colin
Kaepernick during the original kneeling protests in 2016, resumed kneeling before his season debut in Week 5 last
Sunday. The three players are slated to earn a combined $16.5 million in 2018, or more if they meet certain
bonuses. Under the NFL's current rules, none of the players will face fines or other disciplinary action for the
protests. [President] Trump has repeatedly called on the NFL to impose stiff penalties on any player who fails to
stand for the national anthem.
Eric
Reid takes a knee during national anthem in first game as Carolina Panthers player. Carolina Panthers safety
Eric Reid took a knee during the national anthem before Sunday's game against the New York Giants in Charlotte, North
Carolina. Reid was the only player to kneel during the "Star Spangled Banner," continuing the protest he began while
playing for the San Francisco 49ers. He was the first Panthers player ever to kneel during the national anthem.
'Standup
for America' jersey is Trump's latest attack on NFL kneelers. Colin Kaepernick probably hasn't clicked on the
shopping cart. A popular online Trump merchandise site is hawking "Standup for America" football jerseys, the president's
latest salvo in his war against the NFL and those kneeling for the national anthem.
Harvard
to award Colin Kaepernick medal for work in African-American studies. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick
will be one of eight people honored by Harvard University next month with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. The medal is given
annually by the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. "The medal honors those who have made significant
contributions to African and African American history and culture, and more broadly, individuals who advocate for intercultural
understanding and human rights in an increasingly global and interconnected world," the university said.
New
NFL Season — Same Old National Anthem Protests. The 2018-2019 football season kicked off this past
weekend, and much to the dismay of many fans, so did a new season of National Anthem protests. [...] The original basis for
the protests came as an anti-police and anti-America protest by Colin Kaepernick (who claimed both were racist), who wore
socks with police pictured as pigs and lauded the murderous government in Communist Cuba, even though more whites than blacks
are killed by police, though, according to the FBI, black Americans are charged with most of the murders in this country,
most of the robberies, and nearly half the assaults (while only making up about 13 percent of the population) —
and Cuba regularly "disappears" or imprisons or tortures citizens who criticize it. That's what the protesting players
are siding with. Meanwhile black police officers are much more likely to kill both black and Latino suspects than white
officers are, and more than 99 percent of those killed by police are armed at the time they are shot.
Colin
Kaepernick thanks 2 Miami Dolphins players who kneel during anthem. Miami Dolphins teammates Kenny Stills and
Albert Wilson were the only two players to kneel during the national anthem on the NFL's opening Sunday, and Colin Kaepernick,
who may no longer be welcome on an NFL sideline, offered his thanks to the players on Twitter. "My Brothers (Stills) and
(Wilson) continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed," Kaepernick tweeted. "They have not
backed down, even when attacked and intimidated... Love is at the root of our resistance."
Famed
UFC Fighter, Special Forces Vet Tim Kennedy Says Special Forces Furious About Nike's Kaepernick Ad. Tim
Kennedy, the famed UFC fighter who served in the army and later in the 7th Special Forces Group where he was a sniper, sniper
instructor, and the principal combatives instructor for C Company, 3rd Battalion, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, said Special Forces members that he spent time with this week were furious about the
Nike ad with Colin Kaepernick in which Kaepernick said he had "sacrificed." Speaking to TMZ, Kennedy began, "There are
problems. There are huge problems in the city; urban problems, police problems, crime problems, and they have to be
addressed and something needs to be done about it, but not by disrespecting the flag and somebody making a few million
dollars off a sponsorship. Come on." When TMZ asked, "Will you wear Nike ever again?", Kennedy responded,
"No, no."
The Circus of Resistance.
Nike hired NFL renegade Colin Kaepernick to peddle its sports products. For all its billion-dollar market research, it
apparently did not know what Donald Trump's animal cunning had almost immediately surmised: a majority of Americans do not
appreciate the pampered multimillionaire Kaepernick sanctioning violence against the police by wearing "pig" socks, or mocking the
National Anthem by taking a knee. Nike could just as well have hired Bowe Bergdahl to push its sneakers.
The
Party of Kaepernick. The Democrats' winning midterm campaign message would seem simple enough: Trump is
bad and must be opposed. Yet at the moment the party risks being associated with a somewhat less attractive message:
The American flag is bad and must be opposed. Last week, left-wing Democrat Ayanna Pressley ousted long-term incumbent
Michael Capuano from the John F. Kennedy/Tip O'Neill House seat in the Democratic primary while praising the NFL anti-flag
protests, which her opponent called "wrong." Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke says — in Texas! —
that there is "nothing more American" than kneeling for the national anthem.
Just
Blew It: Nike Favorability Drops By Double-Digits, No Boost In Key Demos. [Colin] Kaepernick is a source
of controversy, a vehicle for the left wing social justice activism that struck the NFL two years ago when he started to take
a knee during the national anthem. There were a multitude of reasons but race relations and police brutality seem to be
the top issues for why he and other players started this nonsense. No doubt the cause is worth a discussion. I
totally disagree with their take, but it's worthy of a discussion. All that good will went out the window as soon as
you start trashing the flag. Kaepernick's anti-police stance also drew a backlash. These players see their side
getting attention. Everyone else sees them trashing the flag, our veterans, and those who have died in service to the
country. It's unpatriotic. It's not appropriate — and the NFL knows it.
The
Things That Won't Fit in a Nike Ad. When it comes to the Kaepernick-inspired debate, there are many serious
issues at play — issues worthy of reasoned discussion. You might think that athletes should be able to kneel
during the national anthem as a matter of free speech. You might think it's disrespectful to do so. You might
think that Kaepernick was right to call attention to police violence, but wrong to wear socks depicting police officers as
pigs. You might even think all of these things at the same time! But these things are complicated, and they
certainly don't fit in a Nike ad, which has one overarching goal: To bring attention to Nike, a massive corporation
under fire for various ethical issues as we speak.
Poll Reports Nike Kaepernick Ad Is Shoe-icide.
This might be turn out to be the biggest marketing disaster since Coca-Cola changed its formula to become New Coke.
Last week Nike was an iconic American brand. But that was before it decided to commit shoe-icde. Since it signed
anti-American protester Colin brand favorability for its 30-anniversary "Just Do It" public support for the brand
plunged. In other words, Nike Did It — to themselves.
Massive
Collapse in Brand Image for Nike Following New Colin Kaepernick Branding Campaign. Never before in the history
of corporate branding decisions has a multi-billion dollar company had such a massive and swift drop of brand image as
Nike. The results from Morning Consult Intelligence, a firm that specializes in monitoring and measuring the brand
image and reputation for thousands of major companies, reflects a massive drop in brand image across every single
demographic. We suspected there would be a diminishment of brand image, but nothing like the scale discovered within
the polled data.
Nike
Becomes Face of Social Justice Despite History of Outsourcing, Employing Slave Labor. Despite having a long,
documented history of allegedly employing workers at slave wages, the multinational Nike corporation has become the face of
the social justice wing of the political left with its newest ad featuring former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. As
Breitbart News reported, the Nike corporation laid off 1,400 Americans just last year in the state of Oregon, cutting out
workers who were older and likely sending their jobs overseas as the sports brand has done in the past.
Nike,
NFL, and Levis Strauss Political Business Strategy. On its face, it just seems absurd. Why would any
major corporation intentionally stake out a branding position that is adverse to their financial interests? [...] The bigger
risk to Nike has nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, U.S. Consumers, or Antifa-like political advocacy. The bigger
financial risk to the Nike Corporation has everything to do with geopolitics and a reset of international trade agreements.
Former
Obama CIA Director John Brennan Praises Washed Up Athlete. It's well established John Brennan is a weird
one. How a man who once voted for a communist to be President of the United States became head of the CIA is a story
unto itself (See: China) but just as confounding is how Mr. Brennan has conducted himself since riding into the
proverbial has-been sunset. The most recent example is his effusive praise of washed-up former NFL quarterback turned
racist division-maker, Colin Kaepernick. Mr. Kaepernick lost his starting position due to lackluster play and soon
after he declared himself an anti-white and anti-police advocate who was then warmly embraced by the radical Black Lives
Matter crowd. Nike threw Kaepernick some "good boy" bucks for which Brennan is now glorifying as the Second Coming.
Nike
steps in it! Vets, ex-fans furious over Kaepernick deal. Nike is under fire from military veterans for
using Colin Kaepernick in a new ad campaign. Many say the sports brand is promoting unpatriotic protests against the
American flag since Kaepernick has been a Nike brand ambassador since 2011. Army veteran Kurt Schlichter, an attorney
and Townhall columnist, said Kaepernick's claim that he's "just making a statement" is disingenuous because there are more
effective ways for him to protest without disrespecting the flag or the national anthem.
They Destroy Everything
They Touch, Volume 2. Nike's decision to turn [Colin] Kaepernick, the National Anthem-defiling, skills-atrophying,
cellar-dwelling Social Justice Warrior ex-quarterback who last played NFL football with the then 2-14 San Francisco 49ers in
2016, into its latest corporate product pitch man was announced over the Labor Day weekend, and on Tuesday [9/4/2018] when the
New York Stock Exchange got its first opportunity to weigh in on it the results weren't good. Nike's stock closed Tuesday
at $79.60, though it did rise a bit in after-hours trading. That was a pretty serious bath from the $82.20 at which the
stock closed on Friday before word leaked of Kaepernick's contract — a loss of 3.16 percent of its value, or
more than $3.5 billion in market capitalization.
Get
woke and go broke. The American footwear company Nike made the disastrous decision to pay Colin Kaepernick
millions of dollars a year to be a spokesperson for their "Just Do It" advertising campaign. The company's new tag line
for Kaepernick is: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." By "sacrificing
everything," evidently Nike means "make millions of dollars more a year to appear in an advertising campaign than you would
make as a back-up quarterback in the NFL." Boy, has Kaepernick ever sacrificed! According to Yahoo Sports, he gets his
own branded shoe line, shirts, jerseys and specific Kaepernick apparel. He will be paid a comparable amount to the best
NFL players signed to Nike deals, millions a year.
Kaepernick
Deal: Nike May Discover To Be Woke Is No Joke. Nike's decision to make controversial former quarterback
Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th Anniversary "Just Do It" campaign marks the logical extension of politics into two
places it shouldn't be: sports and business. Nike may regret its move.
Americans
Launch Boycott Against Nike After Colin Kaepernick Named as Face of 30th Anniversary. Colin Kaepernick ruined
the NFL after he started the National Anthem boycott by 'taking a knee.' He made headlines in 2016 when he wouldn't stand
for the National Anthem because of cops. NFL ratings have plummeted since Kaepernick's National Anthem boycott.
Stadiums often have rows and rows of empty seats because Americans are fed up with the politicization of football.
Now it's Nike's turn.
Colin
Kaepernick to be face of Nike's 'Just Do it' campaign. Nike has a new face for the 30th anniversary of their
iconic "Just Do It" campaign: Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick, who has filed a collusion suit against the NFL over
his unemployment after he knelt and protested racial inequality during the anthem, unveiled the new advertisement on his Twitter.
Nike
shares drop amid backlash over new Kaepernick ad. Shares of Nike fell 3.2 percent on Tuesday [9/4/2018] as
calls for a boycott of the sportswear giant gained traction on social media following its choice of Colin Kaepernick as a
face for the 30th anniversary of its "Just Do It" slogan. Former San Francisco quarterback Kaepernick, the first NFL
player to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism, posted a black-and-white close-up of himself on
social media on Monday featuring the Nike logo and "Just do it" along with the quote, "Believe in something. Even if it
means sacrificing everything." Over 30,000 people were tweeting with the hashtag #NikeBoycott on Tuesday morning, making it
among the top trending topics on Twitter. Some posted images of themselves burning and ripping their Nike shoes and apparel.
Did
Nike make a huge NFL-like mistake embracing Colin Kaepernick? Is there business logic for Nike embracing Colin
Kaepernick? I think there is, for the NFL and athletic shoe business are very different. In the conservative
blogosphere, on Fox News, and among my friends, the name of Nike has been forever damaged by the brand's embrace of Colin
Kaepernick, who sparked the widespread disrespect for our flag by NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.
Pictures and videos of Nike gear burning already are proliferating among the outraged.
Kaepernick
won't stand for the flag but he'll bow down to the Nike dollar? 'Believe in something, even it means sacrificing everything.'
Those are the words emblazoned across NFL star Colin Kaepernick's face in Nike's new campaign to mark 30 years of its 'Just Do It' advertising
slogan. 'Sacrifice' is a big word, meaning 'to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person'.
'Everything' is an even bigger word, meaning 'all that exists'. So to sacrifice everything is a major undertaking.
Corporate
Suicide Watch, Nike Edition. Nike has chosen the star of its 30th anniversary #JustDoIt advertising campaign:
Colin Kaepernick. At first glance, it seems weird for an athletic shoe company to select as its corporate icon someone who is
no longer an athlete, and was never a star. At second glance, it gets weirder: Nike apparently thinks Kaepernick has
sacrificed everything, which tells you something about 21st century corporate America. Kaepernich is a multimillionaire whose
"sacrifice" consisted of kneeling during the National Anthem, wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs, and generally
denouncing his country. Which has led to a second career as a leftist spokesman. That is not exactly a contender
in the annals of Greatest Sacrifice Ever.
Kaepernick
fronts Nike's 'Just Do It' ad campaign. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is part of a
new Nike campaign to mark the 30th anniversary of the sporting equipment giant's iconic "Just Do It" slogan, reports said
Monday [9/3/2018]. Kaepernick, who triggered a political firestorm after kneeling during the US national anthem in 2016
to protest racial injustice, has not played in the NFL since early 2017.
Tom
Brady signals his support of Colin Kaepernick's controversial Nike ad. [Colin] Kaepernick has not played a game
of football for 11 months. He opted out of his San Francisco 49ers contract last August after causing controversy by
taking a kneel during the national anthem in a sign of protest against police brutality against African Americans. On
Monday [9/3/2018], Nike unveiled the campaign to mixed reviews. Star athletes including Serena Williams praised the
company for putting Kaepernick's message at the forefront of its advertising. But Nike customers who opposed
Kaepernick's on-the-field protests were outraged by the move.
James
Woods Dumps Nike Stock in Response to Kaepernick 'Just Do It' Ad Campaign. Veteran actor and conservative firebrand James Woods
is selling all his Nike stock in response to the athletic apparel company's decision to name former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and infamous
anthem protester Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new "Just Do It" campaign. Woods on Tuesday [9/4/2018] tweeted a screenshot to his
nearly 1.7 million followers of an email he sent to his portfolio manager asking all his Nike stock be sold. "Please divest my
portfolio of all Nike stock in my personal account and in the plan. Henceforth never buy Nike stock for me again," the email read.
ESPN
Goes Insane Over Tiger Woods' Trump Comments: 'He's Not Black'. ESPN continued down their politically progressive path
on Monday [8/27/2018], going fully insane over golf superstar Tiger Woods' recent comments about President Donald Trump. "First
Take" co-host Max Kellerman, fully triggered by Woods' comments, ranted about how "angry" he was about the "thoughtless statement."
And Kellerman's counterpart, Stephen A. Smith, said that Woods is "not black" and doesn't identify as black, which has upset the
African-American community and explains the golf phenom's Trump comments. Woods was asked about Trump, whom he has a personal
relationship with, by a New York Times reporter on Sunday: "I think a lot of people, especially people of color, immigrants feel
threatened by him, by his policies. ... What do you say to people who might find it interesting, I guess, that you have a friendly
relationship with him?"
ESPN
host fumes at Tiger Woods' Donald Trump 'respect'. ESPN's Max Kellerman said Monday on "First Take" that Tiger
Woods' response to questions about President Trump made him "angry." Woods was asked after the final round of The
Northern Trust on Sunday about his relationship with Trump and urged people to respect the office of the president.
"He's the president of the United States. You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may
like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office," he said. Kellerman blasted Woods'
remarks, saying it was a "thoughtless statement dressed up as a thoughtful statement."
Kaepernick's
Lawsuit with NFL Just Blew Up in His FACE. Colin Kaepernick claims that the NFL colluded against him. Cry
me a river. They certainly have a right to not hire him, particularly after his kneeling stunt. Why should a
company be forced to hire a disruptive employee? Regardless, it appears now that Kaepernick's claims are baseless.
His claims of collusion just got a hole poked in his hot air balloon, at least according to John Elway. Elway claims that
the Broncos offered Kaepernick a deal, but he turned it down.
Beto
O'Rourke says 'nothing more American' than NFL anthem protests. Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke has jumped into the NFL
national-anthem fray by defending players taking a knee during the ceremony, saying he could think of "nothing more American."
In a response going viral on social media, the Democrat seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, compared the NFL
kneelers to civil-rights icons like Rosa Parks and the Freedom Riders during a campaign appearance last week in Houston.
Kneeling NFL players will help Republicans in November.
If National Football League players continue their protests during the national anthem this season, it will rile some
Republican voters, increasing their intensity and making it more likely that they will vote. At a time when Democrats
want their candidates to be less controversial and let dissatisfaction with President Trump carry them into office, continued
protests by NFL players will force the issue back into the public spotlight and onto the campaign trail, where Democrats will
mostly have to side with the protesters. I am often frustrated that President Trump and Republicans do what their
political opponents want them to do. But in this case, it is the Democrats who are being escorted by a few athletes
into a position they would rather avoid.
[A
few] Eagles Players Stay in Tunnel During National Anthem. Three members of the Philadelphia Eagles refused to
take the field in protest, during the playing of the national anthem at Thursday's [8/16/2018] preseason game. Eagles
safety Malcolm Jenkins and cornerback De'Vante Bausby continued their protests from last season by refusing to take the field
ahead of their game against the New England Patriots. The pair took the field after the song concluded, according to
NBC Sports.
ESPN
president Jimmy Pitaro: Network won't show national anthem on 'Monday Night Football'. New ESPN president
Jimmy Pitaro told reporters Friday [8/17/2018] that the network does not plan to televise the national anthem as part of its
Monday Night Football broadcasts this season. Pitaro, who was hired March 5 following the abrupt departure of
John Skipper, told reporters at a media event on ESPN's campus in Bristol, Conn., that the network has not previously shown
the national anthem during its Monday Night Football broadcasts and does not have plans to change — at least,
not in the immediate future. According to Axios, Pitaro also said that ESPN has informed the league of its plans "as (a)
courtesy" given their partnership. Earlier, he had told reporters that he has spent much of his young tenure at ESPN
working to strengthen the company's relationship with the NFL.
The
NFL Doesn't Actually Care About You, or Your Service. Last year, when the kneeling controversy erupted like a
California wildfire and the president launched a series of attacks on the NFL and Colin Kaepernick, I argued that cooler
heads should prevail and a middle ground could be reached by both sides. Like the recovering alcoholic I am, I must
have been in denial, hoping like a chronic gambler that Roger Goodell would do the right thing, or even just do his
job. Obviously, I was wrong, because here we are again, my friends: another year, another round of protests.
And all because the NFL and Roger Goodell have been subverted by the most sinister of human endeavors — politics.
Police
Union Cancels Discount Ticket Program After Miami Dolphin Anthem Protests. A union that represents police
officers in Florida's Broward County is canceling its participation in a discount ticket program with the Miami Dolphins
after several of the team's players refused to stand during Thursday's pre-season game rendition of the national
anthem. Despite the Broward County Police Benevolent Association's belief that the Miami Dolphins team would be
requiring its players to stand, wide receivers Albert Wilson and Kenny Stills kneeled while one player, defensive end Robert
Quinn, raised his fist before the team's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
NFL
won't discipline kneelers as anthem protests make preseason return. Professional football is back and so are the
take-a-knee protests, but the NFL isn't planning on disciplining players who refuse to stand during the national anthem —
at least for now. [...] In a statement, the NFL said it was still engaged in "constructive discussions with the NFL Players
Association regarding the anthem and issues of equality and social justice that are of concern to many Americans."
NFL
preseason sees kneeling, raised fists, during national anthem. NFL players continued to protest during the
national anthem on Thursday night as the league began the first full week of its 2018 preseason. Some players held
their fists in the air, while others decided to kneel, despite the controversy surrounding the action. Wide receivers
Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, both of the Miami Dolphins, knelt during "The Star-Spangled Banner," ahead of their game
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Miami Herald reported.
Ingrates who won't stand
for the anthem. Colin Kaepernick started it back in 2016 when as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers he
refused to stand for the anthem during a preseason game. His gripe? "Racial inequality," or so he says. [...]
Yes, it started while Obama was still president. So you can't blame Trump for this one. But they do. Why
not? They blame him for everything else — the news media first of all.
Top 10 Black
Racists. [#6] Colin Kaepernick: Colin Kaepernick, who launched a high-profile protest movement within the
NFL, may now be unemployed and off-the-radar for many Americans, but he's still able to generate media attention. His
anti-American activism, best exemplified by the taking of a knee during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before
football games, helped to alienate fans and accelerate the NFL's downward slide that was already in progress. Like
DeRay Mckesson and Alicia Garza, Kaepernick is a supporter of convicted cop killer Assata Shakur who broke out of prison in
1979 and fled to Communist Cuba where she still resides. Kaepernick acknowledged raising $20,000 for Chicago-based
Assata's Daughters in matching donations, on top of the $25,000 he personally gave the group previously, the Washington
Times reported in February.
NFL
should just dump the national anthem and get on with playing football. Eyes will be focused on watching knees
right from the jump of the NFL preseason in the annual Hall of Fame game Thursday between the Chicago Bears and the Baltimore
Ravens. Television cameras will capture just who is taking a knee and who is not as the national anthem plays.
But should Francis Scott Key's ode to his country even be played before sporting contests? Sports are entertainment.
The national anthem is not played as you enter the museum, sit down at the symphony or stroll into the movie house, which also
represent forms of entertainment.
The Editor says...
The USA Today writer (of the article immediately above) is apparently unaware that the national anthem is played in movie theaters
on military bases — and everyone stands at attention while it is playing.
Jerry
Jones May Have Single-Handedly Blown Up the NFL's New Anthem Policy. Jerry Jones has a history of doing what he
wants. And last week, when it came to the NFL's new policy regarding player demonstrations during the national anthem,
he broke with the league yet again. The rule, announced in May, was controversial from the beginning. It banned
players from kneeling, raising fists, or otherwise participating in on-field demonstrations during the anthem, but gave them
the choice to remain in the locker room while the song played. The NFL Players' Association, which negotiates its
collective bargaining agreement with the league, objected to the rule — and they weren't the only ones.
Projection: LeBron:
Trump is using sports to divide us. LeBron James thinks President Trump is using athletics, and athletes, to
split up the country. [...] "What I've noticed over the past few months," James shared with CNN's Don Lemon during a sit-down
interview on Monday [7/30/2018][,] "(Is) he's kinda used sports to kinda divide us, and that's something that I can't relate
to." Referencing Colin Kaepernick, whose kneeling protests during the pre-game national anthem launched an NFL movement,
and more recently, Stephen Curry, who honored his promise of skipping a visit to Donald Trump's White House, James bemoaned a
myriad of instances in which Trump has twisted peaceful displays of dissent into an indictment of a decaying American value system.
The Editor says...
President Trump didn't originate Black Lives Matter protests or inject anti-American tantrums into football games.
Follow
The Money: Will NFL Owners Choose George Soros or Millions of Their Fans? [T]he same players who are
funneling $90 million from last year's "settlement"/shakedown to left-wing activists have forced the owners back to the
negotiating table. These are the team owners who saw a 10 percent drop in viewership last season, eight million fewer
Super Bowl viewers this year, and advertisers threaten to leave. From a purely business perspective, capitulating to
the players is clearly a bad idea. The fans have identified the anthem protests for what they are: the promotion of
a false narrative that America is a racist country. And they have made themselves heard loud and clear by simply tuning
out. [...] The NFL's fans are the league's financial driver and represent a broad swath of America that turns to sport for
what it is — entertainment, not politics.
Jerry
Jones: Cowboys players must stand for national anthem. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doubled down
Wednesday on insisting that his players stand for the national anthem, declaring that he wouldn't support anyone who chose to
stay in the locker room.
New
NFL Anthem Protests are upon us. Football season is fast upon us and the world's most profitable sport has fans
geared up and ready to go, but the national anthem protest controversy that has plagued the NFL just won't die.
Tennessee
Titans' Jurrell Casey says he plans to keep protesting and will 'take my fine' in upcoming NFL season: report.
Despite a recently-imposed NFL rule regarding players and personnel behavior during the national anthem, one Tennessee Titans
player reportedly says he'll "take a fine this year" and continue to "protest during the flag." NFL defensive end Jurrell
Casey intends to keep holding up his fist in protest following the conclusion of the Star Spangled Banner, like he did during
the 2017 season, regardless of the fines that may come his way, he told CNN Sport while attending an event in London on
Wednesday [7/18/2018].
Trump
says NFL players who kneel during the anthem twice should be banned for the season. President Donald Trump
demanded on Friday that the '$40,000,000 commissioner' of the NFL suspend players for a whole season if they kneel during
national anthem more than once. In a rehash of last year's controversy, the President took to Twitter to blast NFL
commissioner Roger Godell for not doing enough to stem the tide of players protesting racial inequality in America.
NFL,
NFLPA freeze anthem rules amid backlash to Miami policy. Hours after The Associated Press reported that Miami
Dolphins players who protest on the field during the anthem could be suspended for up to four games under a team policy
issued this week, the league and the players union issued a joint statement late Thursday night saying the two sides are
talking things out.
NFLPA
files grievance challenging NFL's new anthem policy, claims it 'infringes on player rights'. The NFL Players'
Association announced on Tuesday that it has filed a grievance on behalf of the players challenging the league's
controversial anthem policy, which was introduced in May. "The union's claim is that this new policy, imposed by the
NFL's governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and
infringes on player rights," the NFLPA said in a statement.
Colin
Kaepernick receives civil rights award from National Education Association. Colin Kaepernick was among a dozen
honorees who received a human and civil rights award from the National Education Association. Kaepernick was given the
NEA's President's Award to recognize his work "to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism"
through the Know Your Rights Camp, a campaign that is fully funded by the footballer. The youth camp aims "to raise
awareness on higher education, self empowerment, and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various
scenarios," according to its website.
Colin
Kaepernick receives civil rights award from National Education Association. Colin Kaepernick was among a dozen
honorees who received a human and civil rights award from the National Education Association. Kaepernick was given the
NEA's President's Award to recognize his work "to fight racial oppression through education and social justice activism"
through the Know Your Rights Camp, a campaign that is fully funded by the footballer. The youth camp aims "to raise
awareness on higher education, self empowerment, and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various
scenarios," according to its website.
The Ways Roger Goodell Has Politicized the NFL:
• Tim Tebow was banned from wearing "John 3:16" on his eye black
• The NFL required the Pentagon to pay the league for military tributes
• The NFL made RG3 turn a "Know Jesus" t-shirt inside out
• The NFL pleaded with teams to consider signing Michael Sam
• The NFL banned a gun vendor's ad from the Super Bowl
• The NFL banned off-duty cops from carrying guns to games
• The NFL denied the Cowboys' request to honor Dallas police after a mass shooting
• The NFL refused a veterans group's "please stand" Super Bowl ad
Minnesota
United Hosts Pride Night. Minnesota United FC hosted Pride Night during its game against FC Dallas Friday night
[6/29/2018]. The celebration came on the same day United midfielder Collin Martin announced he is gay. Martin is
the only openly gay active player in any of the five major male professional sports leagues.
Offending
NFL Fans Isn't Just Bad for Owners, but Players Too. One of the most obnoxious stories in America the past year
has been the controversy over players protesting during the national anthem. While I personally sympathize with both
concerns from athletes about police brutality in minority communities, as well as the desire of most football fans to simply
not have any sort of political advocacy mixed into their sports, the resulting media coverage — from both
political and sports outlets — has been largely nauseating. While the NFL offseason obviously brought
discussion of the topic down to a simmer (with the exception being the occasional update on Colin Kaepernick — and
now Eric Reid's — lawsuit against the league), the NFL's decision this week to change its anthem-policy has it
once again at a raging boil. Unfortunately most of these articles try to make this issue more complicated than it
really is: it's all about money.
Vikings
Hold First Sports LGBTQ Summit. The Minnesota Vikings made history on Thursday. Vikings players, coaches
and members of the LGBTQ community came together for a first of its kind inclusion summit held by an NFL team. The
LGBTQ summit and fundraising event was held at the TCO Performance Center Auditorium in Eagan. It centered around
bridging the gap between the LGBTQ community and sports
Remembering
Old Glory. As the NFL continues to dig their knees into political Astroturf, Americans continue to tune
out. Even the most diehard fans get riled up when they witness disrespect shown toward our flag and, ultimately, to the
men and women who have sacrificed dearly to preserve the very freedom that the NFL has flourished under.
How
Poisonous Politics And Social Media Managed To Even Ruin Sports. Now we've learned that not only were most of
the Philadelphia Eagles not planning to go to the White House, but neither the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Golden State
Warriors were intending to go even before their championship series was over. [...] What was once just a pleasant, if
pointless, afternoon of fun for the team and the White House staff has morphed into a toxic brew.
Trump
cancels Eagles' White House celebration on eve of visit after fewer than 10 players planned to attend.
President Trump on Monday [6/4/2018] abruptly rescinded an invitation to host the Eagles at the White House, citing the
"smaller delegation" that was planning to attend and again stoking a national debate by insisting that players "proudly stand
for the National Anthem, hand on heart." The celebration was canceled fewer than 24 hours before the team was
scheduled to visit.
Trump
Cancels Eagles Reception Amid National Anthem Protests. President Donald Trump canceled a planned Super Bowl
reception for the Philadelphia Eagles Monday after many players would not attend due to his position that all players must
stand for the national anthem.
Trump
taunts NFL over 'escaping' to locker rooms after changing Eagles visit to a national anthem party. President
Donald Trump taunted the NFL on Tuesday by hyping up a party at the White House he decided to throw without them.
Typically, US sports teams who win a championship may be invited to the White House. But during Trump's presidency,
with his repeated criticism of the NFL and sports teams, the affair has become more complicated. On Monday [6/4/2018],
the White House released a statement saying the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles would not attend the ceremony.
Yo,
Philly! Trump says your Eagles can go take a knee somewhere else. NASCAR has no kneeling problem.
It flaunts the flag and patriotism at every race with drivers and their families standing together outside the cars for the
anthem and prayer before harnessing themselves in. Ten days ago for a 600-mile contest at Charlotte Motor Speedway,
NASCAR handed out more than 5,000 free race tickets to military and invited troops into garages to talk shop. But a
convivial championship ceremony will not be happening today with the NFL's Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at Donald
Trump's White House. Faced Monday evening with a boycott by a significant number of team members and employees, who
object to Trump objections to their National Anthem protests, Trump disinvited everyone.
Report:
'Five or fewer' Eagles planned to visit White House. The ongoing battle between Donald Trump and the NFL added
another chapter when the President announced the Philadelphia Eagles' trip to the White House had been cancelled. And
it appears not many players would've showed up anyway. According to ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr., the number of Eagles
making the trip could've been counted on one hand.
Trump
absolutely correct to rescind Eagles' White House invitation. Being invited to the White House for public
recognition of your achievements is an honor. This is true regardless of who is president. Why? Because the
president — whether you personally approve of him or not — is the representative of the American people
and the White House is the people's house. So, what happened when the Eagles were invited to the people's house for a
ceremony to honor them for their Super Bowl victory? Fewer than 10 members of the organization accepted the invitation.
Apparently all of the other Eagles had something more important to do than to condescend to accept the accolades of their fellow Americans.
Black
firefighter takes heat after taking knee at police-fire football game. A political and emotional brush fire is
smoldering within a grieving Chicago Fire Department over a national anthem protest that marred a charity football game
dedicated to the memory of two fallen Chicago heroes. Camron McGarity, an African-American firefighter, kneeled while
the Star Spangled Banner was being played before the CFD Blaze faced off against the Chicago Police Department's Enforcers
last Saturday in the eighth annual "First Responders Bowl." A photo of the protest clearly shows the firefighter, wearing
the No. 7 jersey, kneeling on the sidelines while players on either side stood at attention dressed in bright red jerseys
and matching red pants.
Athletes
Can No Longer Play Nice. An invitation from the commander-in-chief of the United States to visit the White House
in celebration of your Super Bowl victory sounds like a great time, but you can't visit this particular commander-in-chief
without appearing to endorse his conflict with the NFL over the national anthem or, for that matter, his conflict with anyone
about anything. A brief review of the facts of the case is in order. [...]
Disney/ABC
Should Merge with Starbucks and the NFL. Disney/ABC, Starbucks, and the NFL should merge, as they are this
week's prime example of how to drive away customers while engaged in absurd CEO virtue signaling.
The NFL: It's Game Over.
The mainstream media fell all over itself announcing that [Colin] Kaepernick was the Social Justice Warrior that the world
had been waiting for. Here, at last, was a black sports icon who could start a movement. All you had to do was
open the New York Times to discover the San Francisco 49ers quarterback was really Martin Luther King Jr. The media had
finally found its Chairman Mao in Kaepernick, and its Red Guard in the NFL (of all places!) which suddenly turned itself
overnight into the sports-entertainment arm of the DNC. [...] Once all the losses are totaled, the NFL's anthem outrage will
go down as the most spectacularly stupid business decision that has ever been made.
The NFL controversy is about
so much more than a flag or song. What are the chances that this minority of unhappy players will forsake the
opportunity for national publicity by sitting obscurely in a smelly locker room instead of making their "statement" by
publicly kneeling in front of thousands of paying fans and millions more munching Doritos at home? About the same as
the Cleveland Browns winning the next Super Bowl. The controversy, which began almost two years ago when a benched
quarterback refused to stand for the anthem, is a disturbing one. It plays off a mere game, albeit one that has
supplanted baseball as the national pastime. It's serious business though, costing the league, teams, advertisers,
television networks, parking lots and sports bars countless millions in lost sales of tickets, concessions, merchandise,
meals and drinks, lost viewers and considerable good will even among disaffected non-fans.
NFL Owners To
Players: Get Off Your Knees, Boy. The idiotic "take a knee" scandal in the NFL was launched in 2016 by a
mediocre quarterback named Colin Kaepernick, a mudpuppy ingrate who was the product of miscegenation and apparently had to
loudly declare to the world that he's black because even he has his doubts. It was based on the idea that racist cops
are wantonly slaying young black males in the streets because they are jealous of their charm, good looks, and sexual prowess
rather than the fact that it is young black males who are statistically far more likely than any other group to be shooting
at them. Last NFL season Donald Trump nuzzled his way a little further into our hearts when he said, "Get that
[despicable person] off the field" when referring to the blockheads who knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner with the same
sort of defiance that leads several black males to resist arrest or reach for policemen's guns during routine traffic stops.
NFL
stars 'threaten to sit out games until Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are signed by new teams'. Several NFL
stars are reportedly considering not playing until Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid are signed by teams. According to
columnist Shaun King, the protesting players are hoping that up to 25 percent of the league will join them in sitting
out. In 2016, Kaepernick drew worldwide attention and sparked a protest movement after he began to kneel during the
national anthem to raise awareness of racial equality and police brutality.
Democrats
and the media are losing the culture war. The New York Times ran three pieces this week opposing the NFL's new
policy requiring players to stand for the national anthem during games, or remain in the locker room if they won't. The
Times' liberal columnist David Leonhardt called the rule "unpatriotic" because it "reject[s] a basic American value."
(Making a statement about your special interest during a short patriotic song, you see, is exactly what the Founding Fathers
had in mind.) The paper's editorial board injected its favorite topic, race, writing that the NFL "capitulated to a
president who relishes demonizing black athletes." And in keeping with the Times' long tradition of publishing
conservative voices so long as their opinions are weak, the paper gave space to anti-Trump writer David French to denounce
"the conservative mob" for approving of the NFL's policy. By "conservative mob," French apparently means the large
majority of Americans who don't approve of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.
Liberals
Put The "F" In NFL. It's not often you get to watch a major corporation publicly try to pull out of a
self-inflicted nosedive, but that's exactly what the National Football League attempted to do this week. The last two
seasons have been a time of shrinking viewership for the league that "owns a day of the week," as they saying goes, and that
negatively impacts the bottom line. So the NFL came up with a solution to what they see as the problem. Starting
this season, the NFL will fine teams with players who don't stand for the national anthem. Whether or not those teams
fine the actual players who refuse to stand is up to them, but the team will also be penalized, which could cost some teams
some games. If that isn't enough to at least give activist players pause — harming their
teammates — nothing will.
The Editor says...
Sunday used to be called "The Lord's Day." To state that the NFL now owns it is blasphemy. Moreover, the NFL
also conducts games on Mondays and Thursdays. They don't own those days either. Nor does your television.
NFL
players, leave your agendas in the locker room. The idea that the NFL is only implementing its new national
anthem policy because of falling ratings and public pressure is exactly how businesses work. No business exists to
employ people; they exist to make as much money as possible. Hemorrhaging fans, or customers, is the quickest path to
failure, so it's smart for the NFL to do all it can to stop the swirling public relations disaster its players created.
Fining teams whose players kneel during the anthem isn't "punishing dissent," it's the people who sign the front of the
players' sizable checks exerting the authority inherent in any employer/employee relationship.
In
the NFL, patriotism is for sale. On Wednesday [5/23/2018], the NFL announced a new policy of fining teams whose players
decline to stand for the national anthem and empowering the teams to fine those players in turn. This is heavy-handed and
probably will prove foolish. The pro-football establishment — not only the NFL itself but also its media
partners — has done far more than Kaepernick to turn the sport into a political spectacle. It's simply that
the nationalist pageantry that is appealing in Trump country is welcome, while the Black Lives Matter-inspired displays of
Kaepernick et al. are not.
Report:
NFL to Fine Teams for 'Any Flag, Anthem Disrespect'. The NFL will allow players to remain in the locker room
during the national anthem. However, if they come out and protest the flag or anthem, their teams will get fined.
That is the new policy announced in a statement by Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday [5/23/2018].
Keith
Ellison boycotting NFL games over 'cowardly' kneeling ban. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said that he will
boycott NFL games this upcoming season over the league's new policy requiring players to stand during the national
anthem. "Friends who know me, know that I love football. But I won't be watching this NFL season because of the
unfair cowardly and idiotic kneeling ban," the progressive lawmaker tweeted on Sunday, adding the hashtag "Boycott NFL."
NFL
Players' Association criticizes new league policy on kneeling during national anthem. The NFL Players
Association (NFLPA) on Wednesday criticized the league for its new national anthem policy. In a statement, the union
said it would review the new policy and "challenge any aspect of it that is inconsistent with the collective bargaining
agreement." The union accused the league of contradicting its previous statements and of ignoring players' wishes in
developing the new policy, which instructs that all team and league personnel should stand for the national anthem.
NFL
is 'considering 15-yard penalties for teams who kneel during the national anthem'. NFL club owners are
considering potential 15-yard penalties for kneeling during the national anthem among ways of coping with a backlash over
player protests, Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday [5/22/2018]. According to a story on the magazine's website, owners
set aside three hours to talk about the anthem issue, which President Donald Trump elevated into a major controversy last
year. Ideas to handle players kneeling during the anthem included allowing home teams to decide if players should be
out of the locker room during the pre-game playing of The Star-Spangled Banner or not. If players are on the sideline,
then 15-yard penalties could be imposed on teams with players who kneel during the anthem.
Trump
suggests NFL players should leave the U.S. if they don't stand for the national anthem. President Donald Trump
backed an NFL rule change Wednesday that bans kneeling during the national anthem and hits violators with fines.
However, the president — who instigated the new policy with his withering rebuke of players refusing to stand
during the tribute to America — said the measure doesn't go far enough. 'I don't think people should be
staying in the locker rooms,' he told Fox & Friends in a pre-taped interview that aired on Thursday's [5/24/2018] program.
'You shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there. Maybe they shouldn't be in the country.'
NFL
Completes Hail Mary to Beat Social-Justice Wreckers. Though even at the height of the phenomenon just a small
percentage of the players knelt, the spectacle of millionaire athletes disrespecting the country that made them rich proved
so offputting to fans that television ratings tanked. Ratings declined by 10 percent in 2017 over the previous
season. And in 2016, when the league lamely attempted to blame the presidential election, the numbers dropped by 8
percent. While numerous factors contributed to the sharp decline in viewers, the kneelers undoubtedly wrestled the
ratings down the most.
Players
Considering New Forms of Protests for Revised National Anthem Policy. Some NFL players are reportedly
considering new ways to protest after NFL owners voted on a new national anthem policy Wednesday [5/23/2018], reports Sports
Illustrated's Robert Klemko. According to Klemko, some are discussing ways to skirt new rules "just to spite the NFL."
The policy removes a requirement for players to be on the field for the anthem, and gives players the option to stay in the locker
room. Teams will be fined for any personnel that "do not show proper respect for the flag and Anthem" on the sidelines.
NFL
players mulling new anthem protests 'to spite' league over planned crackdown: report. Some NFL players are
reportedly planning new protests during the national anthem "just to spite the NFL" in wake of the league's new anti-kneeling
policy that was announced Wednesday [5/23/2018]. The players, who weren't planning on demonstrating during the national
anthem this season, said they were looking for way to "skirt" the new NFL rules, Sports Illustrated reported Thursday.
Some NFL players are reportedly planning new protests during the national anthem "just to spite the NFL" in wake of the league's
new anti-kneeling policy that was announced Wednesday.
Kneeling
NFL players should choose a different form of protest. For nearly three weeks last fall, the National Football
League waged war against President Trump over player protests during the national anthem. After 19 days, NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell began a slow-moving public relations train wreck of capitulation, culminating in a new rule
announced Wednesday [5/23/2018] that will allow the league to fine teams for actions taken by players deemed disrespectful
during playing of the anthem. Under the policy, it is up to individual teams to decide whether they want to discipline
players for protesting during playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Rep.
Pete King: 'Indefensible to Kneel' for 'False Narrative' on Police Violence. It is "indefensible" when National
Football League players refuse to stand for the National Anthem, and represents a "false narrative of police bias against
black men," Rep. Pete King said in a column Saturday [5/26/2018]. In the column, as in a tweet earlier in the
morning, the New York Republican drew a comparison between those who kneel in protest of police violence to people who would
make a Nazi salute on the football field. In his tweet, King declared it "disgraceful" that the owner of the New York
Jets, Christopher Johnson, would "pay fines for players who kneel for National Anthem. Encouraging a movement premised
on lies vs. police. Would he support all player protests? Would he pay fines of players giving Nazi salutes or
spew racism? It's time to say goodbye to Jets!"
Vikings
to Host Daylong Summit on LGBTQ Inclusion. The Minnesota Vikings will become the first NFL team to host a
summit on LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The Vikings announced Wednesday the summit will be held at the team's headquarters
in Eagan on June 21. A reception will be held afterward to raise money for local and national LGBTQ organizations.
The team is working to create opportunities for people in the LGBTQ community. "We hope that this really jump-starts the
conversation," Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren said.
Whatever
the Left Touches it Ruins. The left is increasingly poisoning sports. In most football stadiums this past season,
one could not attend an NFL game without being subjected to left-wing contempt for America and its flag.
Report:
Seahawks Cancel Meeting with Colin Kaepernick After He Refuses to Stop Anthem Protests. According to ESPN's
Adam Schefter, the Seattle Seahawks canceled a visit with Colin Kaepernick after he refused to say he would stop protesting
during the playing of the national anthem. Schefter reported that the Seahawks tried to get the former NFL player to
commit to ending his protests, but Kaepernick refused.
Transgender
Runners Can Race Boston Marathon Under Identified Gender. Transgender runners who qualify can take part in the
Boston Marathon as their identified gender, according to Boston Marathon officials. The issue has garnered attention
following a profile in Canadian Running of three transgender women signed up for the race. Comments to the article
included reservation from readers that the elevated testosterone levels would potentially bump other women from the race, who
would otherwise have qualified.
Kaepernick's
"Collusion" Grievance Against The NFL Moves Forward. If you thought we'd heard the last of noted National
Anthem protester and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, think again. The budding social justice warrior still
hasn't given up on the idea that he can land a starting spot with a National Football League team simply by demanding that
one is owed to him. He filed a "grievance" against the league last year claiming that the league and the various team
owners were all "colluding" against him to keep him from playing.
NFL
owners finalize $90M social-justice deal without resolving anthem protests. NFL team owners unanimously gave
their final approval Monday [3/26/2018] to an unprecedented $90 million social-justice initiative but made no decisions about how
to handle players refusing to stand for the national anthem. Instead, owners are expected to continue the discussion about
whether to change the game-day policy, which does not require players to stand, at the spring league meeting in May, according to
a post on NFL.com citing the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The decision to avoid an anthem vote at the March 25-28 annual
league meeting in Orlando came with the owners split on how to handle the divisive two-year-old sideline protests, which have been
blamed in large part for the NFL's 9.7 percent ratings decline in the 2017 regular season.
NFL
owners' social justice cash may defuse anthem protests, may not satisfy fans. After two years of kneeling
players and plummeting ratings, NFL owners are expected next week to put the finishing touches on an $89 million social
justice package intended to defuse the sideline protest problem that began with Colin Kaepernick in 2016 and put the focus
back on what happens on the field. But while some activist players have indicated that it's time to move on —
unsigned safety Eric Reid, for one, said Thursday that his anthem-kneeling days are over — others have said
no deal. The package's $25 million for former Obama administration figure Van Jones and his left-wing Dream
Corps isn't likely to sit well with conservatives already fed up with the league's politics.
The
Patriots Flew Parkland Students to D.C. Ahead of 'March for Our Lives' on Team Plane. Students from Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School left Florida on Thursday, for the "March For Our Lives" against gun violence in Washington, DC,
this weekend. And their transportation came courtesy of the New England Patriots. According to the Boston
Globe, "On Thursday [3/22/2018], team owner Robert Kraft provided the team's official plane to fly the families of the 17
victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and some of the students who were injured and survived the
harrowing incident to the nation's capital for the event, according to Patriots spokesman Stacey James."
Hollywood
stars, athletes driving away viewers with political activism, poll finds. Actors and athletes increasingly
using their forums for political activism are turning off viewers, according to a newly released poll. A McLaughlin &
Associates/Media Research Center survey released Wednesday [3/21/2018] found that 44 percent were less likely to watch
sports and entertainment shows "because they have become too political." In addition, 75 percent said they watch
sports and entertainment to escape from politics, and "do not want to be bombarded with partisan political messages."
The poll of 1,000 likely voters comes with television ratings plummeting in the last year for high-profile sports and
entertainment events.
QBs
cashing in — except for the unwelcome Kaepernick. As free agency kicked off the start of a new
football season, the NFL sent a clear message to anyone paying attention: Colin Kaepernick, you're still not
wanted. Probably not ever. Oh, and while we're at it, it's pretty clear the owners have every intention of
clamping down on any other players who tries to carry on Kaepernick's legacy.
Four
NBA Teams Play 'Negro National Anthem' at Games for Black History Month. At least four NBA teams have played
the Black National Anthem before their games last month. The Washington Wizards was the fourth NBA team to play the
anthem at a game in February for Black History Month. The white national anthem was not played this year.
The Editor says...
If there's a black national anthem, that means the blacks think they have their own nation. That's black separatism.
Several
Eagles will skip Donald Trump White House visit after winning Super Bowl. Several Eagles players plan on
skipping the traditional White House celebration after winning Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots on Sunday
night. Wide receiver Torrey Smith, defensive end Chris Long, and safety Malcolm Jenkins are among the players planing
to boycott visiting President Donald J. Trump.
Confronting
Leftist Lies. Millions are outraged at the NFL. Americans who simply tuned in to watch Sunday football games
were slapped in the face by NFL players, coaches, and management politically protesting on the field against our flag, country,
national anthem, and police. And yet, NFL management had the audacity to reject an ad for the Superbowl program booklet,
claiming it is too political. The ad featured a veteran, a U.S. flag and the words, "#Please Stand." The NFL's
rejection of the ad is evidence of the NFL arrogantly supporting the American Left while dissing mainstream Americans.
'All I know
is murder'. Everything you need to know about the Super Bowl can be found in the rap hit "Dreams and
Nightmares," by Meek Mill. But which more truthfully could be named after a line in the song: "The Murder Game"
or "All I Know Is Murder." Everything about how far professional football has fallen and how the NFL celebrates the
obscene, the vulgar, the dangerous, and the foolish will be on full display as that song blares as the Eagles take the field.
This song that the Eagle players have chosen is about guns, drugs, money, bitches, and murder, over and over and over. Just
like the rest of Meek Mill songs, which also include a healthy dollop of the evils of the white man. [...] Meek Mill will not be
there. He's in the joint.
Kaepernick
raises $20K in celebrity donations for group honoring convicted cop-killer. Colin Kaepernick said Friday he has
raised $20,000 for Assata's Daughters, named after convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur, through matching donations from his
celebrity friends as part of his Million Dollar Pledge. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback announced that
comedian Hannibal Buress and actress Yara Shahidi would both donate $10,000 to Assata's Daughters, which says it "carries
on the tradition of radical liberatory activism encompassed by Assata Shakur."
Boycotting
the Super Bowl - Veterans, bars, even a bowling alley are saying 'no' to the big game. A growing number of
Americans have decided they have better things to do with their time on Super Bowl Sunday than support a professional
football league that doesn't have the decency to honor the national anthem. American Legion and VFW posts, restaurants
and bars, and even a bowling alley have decided they will not broadcast the Super Bowl game in their establishments —
out of respect for veterans and law enforcement.
Herschel
Walker: Players Received 'Hush Money' From NFL to Stand for Anthem. Former NFL running back Herschel
Walker accused the NFL of essentially giving out "hush money" to stop players from kneeling for the national anthem.
The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner highlighted the fact that the NFL in late November offered $100 million to social justice
organizations favored by players. The move was widely viewed as an attempt by the league to end the controversy
surrounding the anthem protests.
NFL
disrespects our vets again; Time to boycott the Super Bowl. Don't let the military jet fly-over fool you this
Super Bowl. The NFL is just as anti-military as they were before. The NFL rejected a veterans group, AMVET's,
Super Bowl ad because it asks people to stand for the anthem. The two words that frighten the NFL and Roger Goodell to
the core is: "please stand." There is only one word to describe this: Censorship. The NFL invited AMVET's
to advertise during the Super Bowl. But was quickly rejected once the ad stated #PleaseStand. The reason? They
didn't accept the ad because they consider it a "political statement."
NFL
to highlight players' work on equality issues. The NFL announced Tuesday [1/23/2018] it would establish a council of
players and owners to highlight league members' work on issues of racial justice and equality. A press release on the
NFL's website details the "Let's Listen Together" campaign, which includes five current NFL team owners and five current or
former players and plans to "focus on supporting programs and initiatives that reduce barriers to opportunity, with a
priority on supporting improvements in education and economic development, community and police relations, and the criminal
justice system."
Nets
Ignore NFL Quashing 'Please Stand' Super Bowl Ad by Veterans Group. With the protest-filled 2017 NFL season set
to come to an end in a couple of weeks, the league found itself engulfed in controversy Tuesday when they banned an ad from a
veterans group asking people to "please stand" for the national anthem. It was a truly sad story, but the none of the
major network news outlets (ABC, CBS, and NBC) felt the need to report it to their viewers during their evening broadcasts.
NFL
Made 'A Big Mistake' by Rejecting Pro-Veterans Ad. The NFL has turned into a political sideshow over the past
two seasons — and when it comes to this year's Super Bowl, the league has shown it's not supportive of those whose
political opinions differ from its own narrative.
Kaepernick
named finalist for NFL's 'Community MVP' award. NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been named a finalist for
an award honoring players for their community service work. Kaepernick and four other players were announced as
finalists for the NFL Players Association's (NFLPA) Byron "Whizzer" White Community MVP award, according to NBC Sports.
The free agent quarterback pledged $1 million to various charitable organizations during the 2016 season. He won the
NFLPA's "Community MVP" award during Week 1 of the 2017 season after donating $100,000 to four charities and holding a
back-to-school backpack giveaway in New York City.
NFL's
kneeling comes to abrupt halt: Protesters miss playoffs. NBC plans to televise any players who refuse to
stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl, but there may be nothing to show. It appears that NFL players
are no longer taking a knee during the national anthem, namely because none of the teams with still-active protesters has
qualified for the postseason.
The
pathetic results of the NFL kneeling spree. What, exactly, did the NFL "take-a-knee" protests by wealthy black
football players protesting racial injustice accomplish? Based on what most people could see, pretty much nothing, other
than lost ticket sales. People go to football games to be entertained, not to be lectured by their supposed betters in
another dreary virtue-signaling game.
NBC
Will Show Kneeling If It Happens At Super Bowl. NBC announced Tuesday [1/9/2018] that they will definitely show
players if they take a knee during the national anthem at the Super Bowl next month, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"It's certainly possible," Fred Gaudelli, executive producer of the big game, said about the chances of players taking a knee
in protest. "It was a pretty big story in our country this fall. We'd show it."
California
federal court rules high school football player can't be ordered to stand for national anthem. A California
federal court has ruled that a high school football player cannot be ordered to stand for the national anthem before
games. The decision, made by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on Dec. 21, struck down
statutes enforced by the San Pasqual Valley Unified School District, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday [12/30/2017].
The district prohibited students from "kneeling, sitting or similar forms of political protest" at sporting events and "required
students and coaches to "stand and remove hats/helmets during the playing or singing of the national anthem," according to court
documents.
NFL
national anthem protests continue during final week of regular season. More than a dozen NFL players protested
during or right after the national anthem on Sunday, the final weekend of the league's regular season. Nine Seattle
Seahawks players sat or knelt during the anthem prior to the teams' game, as they have throughout the season. Michael
Bennett, Marcus Smith, Frank Clark, Dion Jordan and others were among those demonstrating, The Associated Press
reported. Tennessee Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews remained off the field during the national anthem before his
team's game, while his teammates, Brian Orakpo and Jurrell Casey, raised their fists once the anthem ended.
Papa
John's CEO John Schnatter steps down weeks after wading into NFL anthem controversy. Papa John's CEO John
Schnatter is stepping down from his position, the company announced Thursday. He will be replaced on Jan. 1 by COO
Steve Ritchie. Schnatter will remain chairman of the board. Schnatter's face is a fixture to TV-watching sports
fans; he is best-known for peddling his pizza on Sunday TV spots featuring Peyton Manning and J.J. Watt. Schnatter's
resignation comes weeks after he courted controversy by blaming the NFL's handling of players protesting social injustice who
take a knee during the national anthem for falling sales and tanking stock prices. Papa John's stock has lost more than
30 percent of its value since the beginning of 2017.
Papa John's
controversial CEO steps down after facing backlash for his criticism of NFL anthem protests. The controversial
founder and CEO of Papa John's, John Schnatter, is stepping down, the company announced Thursday [12/21/2017]. The
company said its current president, Steve Ritchie, would replace him. Schnatter sparked controversy in November when he
slammed NFL leadership over players' kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
"Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership," Schnatter said in a call with investors.
Ravens
president sends letter to season-ticket holders blaming 'noticeable' number of empty seats on Baltimore players' 'one-time
protest'. The Baltimore Ravens sent a letter to season-ticket holders this week which was signed by team
president Dick Cass blames the team's diminished attendance on the players who protested police brutality against minorities
by kneeling during the national anthem before the team's September 24 game in London. That game was the first of many
protests that day immediately following President Donald Trump's condemnation of the protests [...] during a speech in Alabama.
The Ravens players have not protested since.
NFL
Co-Hosting 'Social Justice Workshop' For College Athletes. The National Football League has lost millions of
fans and seen its profits and ratings tank as a result of the "#takeaknee protests that spread across the league in the first
few weeks of the season. But thanks to a new commitment to social justice issues, borne out of the Colin Kaepernick-led
protests, the NFL will actually take part in a training program that will help to focus the next generation of activist
athletes looking to make a "social justice" difference. The "Advocacy in Sport" workshop, presented by the NFL in
concert with Morehouse College, will teach student athletes "how to develop and implement effective advocacy platforms that
positively impact society," according to Campus Reform.
Sean
'Diddy' Combs wants to buy Carolina Panthers and sign Kaepernick. Hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs said
Sunday night [12/17/2017] he's interested in buying the Carolina Panthers and signing quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has been
unemployed this season after kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson announced Sunday
he would be selling the team after the 2017 season, just hours after Sports Illustrated published accusations of sexual misconduct
from former employees. Richardson also allegedly used a racial slur about a team scout. Diddy took to Twitter soon after the
Panthers announced the upcoming sale, declaring his desire to own a team and increase diversity among NFL ownership.
The Editor says...
Brilliant idea. I strongly encourage Mr. Combs to buy the team, make it the most radical left-wing BLM/SJW
activist branch of the NFL, and then see what happens to ticket sales and the resale value of the team. Then we
will all see the value of "diversity among NFL ownership."
NFL
Team Hit With Lawsuit, Courtesy of Flag-Loving Americans. Fed up with the NFL's ongoing national anthem
protests, one fan has attempted to strike back by filing a suit against the New Orleans Saints in the hopes of recouping the
thousands of dollars he spent on season tickets to the team's games. Louisiana resident Lee Dragna filed a suit in a
district court Monday "seeking a refund for the tickets as well as attorney's fees, claiming the protest by some players
against police brutality and racial injustice has prevented him and his family from enjoying the games," reported the The New
Orleans Advocate.
Goodell
defends NFL's massive planned donation for social justice causes. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday [12/11/2017]
defended the league's move to pay nearly $90 million to social justice causes supported by some players, despite critics' claims
that it was meant purely to appease activist athletes, including those who have kneeled during the national anthem this year.
NFL
Players' Protests Focusing Attention on League's Tax Breaks. The knee-bending antics of professional football
players are focusing attention on a key issue: Are the taxpayer subsidies involved in supporting the NFL worth it in
generating new revenues as promised? An issue getting less attention is whether taxpayers should be involved in
supporting professional football in the first place. Especially when those in the league are thumbing their noses at
the very taxpayers who are funding them. Jeff Mordock, writing in the Washington Times, said that "the protests
are sparking a conversation on the NFL itself and whether the public investment in teams pays off for [the] communities that
host them — and often serve [instead] as their cash machines." That conversation is revealing what economists
have concluded from time immemorial: there is no net gain to taxpayers either from their funding of stadiums or helping
the teams' owners purchase their players' contracts.
Lindsey
Vonn: I won't be representing US President at Winter Olympics. A number of US athletes have spoken out
against Donald Trump during his presidency — and skier Lindsey Vonn has become the latest to have her say.
Targeting Olympic gold at February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Vonn is in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where she
spoke passionately about what it means to compete for the US ski team. "Well I hope to represent the people of the
United States, not the president," Vonn told CNN's Alpine Edge.
Colin
Kaepernick honored with ACLU award. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was the surprise
honoree at the ACLU of Southern California's annual awards dinner Sunday night, accepting the Eason Monroe Courageous
Advocate Award for his kneeling protests against the national anthem that sparked a movement across the NFL.
Mr. Kaepernick's appearance, which was not announced prior to the event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly
Hills, was met with a standing ovation.
NFL
Kneeler to Fans: If You Don't Like the Protests Stay Home!. The New York Giants defensive lineman who
protested the national anthem during the Thanksgiving Day night game against the Washington Redskins has a message for fans
who don't like it. STAY HOME!
Colin
Kaepernick Is Recipient of 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. Colin Kaepernick made his truth
known when he first decided not to stand for the national anthem. He had a lot of football left to play and a lot more
money to make when he made his decision. It was late August, 2016. People who were anonymous in life had become famous
in death. Philando Castile. Eric Garner. Alton Sterling. Freddie Gray. They were tragic symbols of a
society that had taken a terribly wrong turn. As the anthem played ahead of the 49ers' preseason game against the Texans,
Kaepernick, San Francisco's 28-year-old quarterback at the time, quietly took a seat on the bench. It took two weeks for
anyone from the media to ask him about it. Kaepernick explained that he was making a statement about inequality and
social justice, about the ways this country "oppresses black people and people of color."
NFL
to Contribute $100 Million to Social Justice Causes as Part of Anthem Protest Surrender. The NFL's sellout to
their anthem-protesting players is starting to look a lot more like a buyout. According to ESPN, the league will offer
nearly $100 million to causes designed to promote "social justice change." In a move unlike anything seen from a major
American sports league, the league will offer the money in hopes that it will end the ratings-killing protest movement begun by
Colin Kaepernick in the preseason of 2016.
NFL
owners could change anthem policy next season if protests continue. Some NFL owners believe there is a strong
possibility they will enact an offseason change to the league's national anthem policy if players' protests during the anthem
persist through the end of this season, reverting to a previous approach of keeping players in the locker room while the
anthem is played, according to several people familiar with the league's inner workings. "I think that if players are
still kneeling at the end of the year, then it could very well happen," said one person familiar with the owners'
deliberations on anthem-related issues. That person said it was "too early to tell" for certain if the change to the
anthem policy will be made by owners and the league. The person was "not sure" if a formal vote of the owners would be
required to enact such a change but said, "I think most owners would support it, particularly if players continue to kneel
this season."
NFL learns
there's No Free Lunch. Let us cut to the chase: the NFL owns the players' protest because not only has the
league failed to hold players accountable, its owners joined in the anti-American protest. Well, virtue signaling
has a price. Americans are about to pull tax breaks that the league enjoys.
NFL
mulls changing anthem policy for next year. The NFL is considering an idea for next year to keep players inside
their locker rooms during the playing of the National Anthem. "I think that if players are still kneeling at the end of
the year, then it could very well happen," said one person familiar with the owners' deliberations on anthem-related
issues. Years ago, the players would come out on the field to warm up and then return to the locker room during the
National Anthem. The league is thinking of going back to that policy.
NFL
repays billions in American taxpayers' dollars with a knee. No thanks. This Thanksgiving, for the first
time since I was a toddler, I will not be watching any NFL games. I find the League's disrespect for our country and
our national anthem reprehensible and a totally unwarranted injection of partisan anti-police politics into a cherished
sport. I'm hardly alone in that belief, as a recent Remington Research poll found that 80 percent of Americans
responded that they'd like to see less politics during sporting events. Most of the blame for this mess clearly lies
with Commissioner Roger Goodell, whose feckless lack of leadership allowed this issue to fester despite clear NFL rules about
players standing respectfully for our flag. Amazingly, Goodell is about to ink a new contract that, according to ESPN,
will pay him approximately $40 million a year and perhaps include such perks as lifetime private jet travel. It's
astounding that the NFL owners, a very savvy group of business leaders, would reward Goodell with such generosity after his
many management fumbles including the Ray Rice scandal, Deflate-gate, and sagging TV ratings.
Colin
Kaepernick celebrates 'Unthanksgiving Day' on Alcatraz Island. True to the theme that he's been nationally
talking about — or rather, taking a knee for — since last summer, former 49er Colin Kaepernick attended
an "Unthanksgiving Day" celebration on Alcatraz Island. The Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, held annually on
Thanksgiving since 1975, commemorates the survival of Native American peoples following the settlement of Europeans in the
Western Hemisphere.
NFL Player
Will Only Stand for Mexican National Anthem. Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during most of U.S. anthem
and stood for the Mexican anthem before their game against the Patriots at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Lynch has not
stood for the national anthem since returning from retirement this season.
The
National Boycott of the NFL Did Not Matter. America hating Leftists never back off or surrender ground.
As a matter of fact, to continue poking a finger in the eye of normal Americans, Leftist rag GQ magazine outrageously named
Colin Kaepernick its Citizen of the Year. Kaepernick is the player who started NFL players shamefully kneeling during
our national anthem. Sports media instantly declared Kaepernick, a mediocre quarterback, a hero. And yet, sports
media is obsessed with pressuring an NFL team to hire Kaepernick. NFL players have been fooled into believing their
protest is about fairness and justice. These young men are clueless that Leftists view them as useful idiots in their
long-term plan to bring down America economically, culturally, and globally.
Lefty
Protest Gets Kaepernick "Citizen of the Year". Name country singer Blake Shelton People's Sexiest Man of 2017
and left-wing media go in an uproar. Pick out-of-work quarterback Colin Kaepernick as GQ's "Citizen of the Year" and
sane people look at you stupefied. Kaepernick worked with the magazine to "reclaim the narrative of his protest."
So they photographed him in Harlem "intending to evoke the spirit of Muhammad Ali's anti-Vietnam War protests."
Britt
McHenry, ex-ESPN reporter, blasts GQ for naming Colin Kaepernick 'Citizen of the Year'. On Monday, GQ magazine
released its special issue naming former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick "Citizen of the Year." The
controversial figure in sports, and the magazine, received a lot of backlash, including a string of tweets from former ESPN
reporter Britt McHenry. "I see that magazine cover and I think if we want to go with a football player, Houston Texans'
JJ Watt raised $37 million for Hurricane Harvey relief. Why is he not the citizen of the year," she told Fox
News' Neil Cavuto Monday night [11/13/2017].
Hey,
NFL owners, tired of half-empty stadiums? Tell your players to stand up for America. [I]t took quite a
bit to get me to boycott the NFL, but they managed it. Until the owners require their players to stand for the national
anthem, or sit for the game, I won't watch a minute, and I'm not alone. Since Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during
the anthem in a misguided protest against police violence, the NFL has been hemorrhaging fans. Both TV viewership and
attendance at stadiums are well down and once people find other ways to spend their Sundays, they may not come back.
No,
Colin Kaepernick Is No Muhammad Ali. GQ magazine named former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick its 2017 "Citizen of
the Year." In doing so, GQ overlooked NFL Houston Texans' J.J. Watt, who raised some $37 million for hurricane
relief. Many of Kaepernick's supporters liken his protest to that of boxer Muhammad Ali, who refused to be inducted into the
military. The comparison is not well-taken.
College
Basketball Teams Make National Anthem Demonstrations At The Champions Classic. It appears the national anthem
protest has trickled down to college basketball. Two of the four college basketball teams that participated in the
Champions Classic in Chicago on Tuesday night participated in a national anthem demonstration before their game. While
nobody took a knee, the players on each team wore t-shirts in an apparent demonstration in pre-game warm-ups and during the
playing of the national anthem.
From One Frenzy to the
Next. It is hard to sustain outrage about NFL racism when twentysomething multimillionaires, in a league
of over 75 percent African-Americans, insult the sources of their income by refusing to stand for the National Anthem — and
belatedly come to realize that the logical trajectory of their supposed principled demonstrations is their own irrelevance and
eventual impoverishment. What cooled the NFL hysteria was the reality that the hyped story of "taking a knee" was morphing
into the scarier narrative of less money, an absence of politically correct proportional representation among players, looming
league downsizing, pampered athletes, traumatic brain injuries, and a public weariness with everything from ESPN to Colin
Kaepernick. In other words, taking a knee reminded about 20 percent of NFL fans that there were already reasons
enough to turn the channel. And so they did.
These
Three NFL Players Knelt During The Anthem On Veterans Day Weekend. Three NFL players took a knee as the
national anthem played at the New York Giants game against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, according to multiple
reports. As "The Star Spangled Banner" played at Levi Stadium over Veterans Day weekend, Eric Reid and Marquise Goodwin
knelt on the San Francisco side. They were joined by Olivier Vernon on the New York side. No NFL players knelt
during the early games on Sunday [11/12/2017], according to the New York Daily News.
Bears
Packers Game Half Empty at Soldier Field. The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have a historic rivalry. But after several
weeks of NFL National Anthem protests even Soldier Field in Chicago was half empty today [11/12/2017].
Labeling
Vin Scully a racist is a new low point. Saturday, Vin Scully, who turns 90 on Nov. 29, had the audacity to
protest the protesters. He thus was condemned as an "Old Retired White Man" on a popular, but reckless, often dishonest
and vulgar sports website featuring cheap-shot artists who make snap, no-research bad guesses to mischaracterize and defame.
Like Morning Zoo radio, that's how several internet sports journalism sites generate attention. That's where we're
headed. At a symposium, Scully calmly answered a question about NFL take-a-knee national anthem protests. He said
he's so upset by them, he'll never watch another NFL game. He's hardly alone among those who won't suffer conspicuous
disrespect for the anthem and flag over any selected or selective issue. Such protests appear dismissive or ignorant of
greater symbols of freedom, history and sacrifice.
The Editor says...
As far as I know, all Mr. Scully said was that he didn't want to watch football any more. How is that racist?
Racial politics has certainly been injected into professional sports, but not by Mr. Scully.
NFL's
Invitation To Kaepernick To Meet With Goodell Turns Into Snarky Public Feud. Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback-turned-activist
who started the anthem protests by refusing "to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people
of color," continues to be both unemployed and making headlines. In the latest episode of the Kaepernick saga, the NFL extended an
invitation to the sidelined QB to meet one-on-one with commissioner Roger Goodell — a proposition that quickly devolved into
a snarky public feud between Kaepernick's lawyer and an NFL spokesman.
Vin
Scully says he'll 'never watch another NFL game again'. Saturday night, former Dodgers announcer and Hall of
Famer Vin Scully was at the Pasadena Civic Center for an event called "An Evening With Vin Scully." At some point during
the event, Scully was asked about the NFL's national anthem protests, in which players have taken a knee during the anthem to
protest police brutality and racism. Scully said he "will never watch another NFL game" because of the protests.
NFL
Advertisers to NBC: Stop Showing Players' Protests. The unease among advertisers over falling National Football
League TV ratings is starting to boil over. One of the league's major sponsors is considering pulling the plug on its
NFL advertising next year, and, according to Business Insider's Mike Shields, other "brands are threatening to pull ads from
NFL coverage if NBC keeps covering players' national-anthem protests." If those ad dollars go away, technological shifts
may cause advertisers to decide not to return.
Veteran
Refuses Service Award Offered by Saints, Calls NFL Protests 'Slap in the Face'. The NFL has long-standing
tradition of mixing respect for the flag, and those who defend it, into their pregame ceremonies and community
outreach. However, since the NFL has recently decided to mix disrespect for the flag, and those who defend it, into
their pregame ceremonies. One veteran in Louisiana has decided to call them out on it. Meet John Wells, he is a
retired Navy commander and executive director of the national Military Veterans Advocacy organization, in Slidell,
Louisiana. Mr. Wells was chosen by the Saints to be the recipient of the People's Health Champion award. A
recognition offered to a member of the community who exemplifies "the exceptional achievements of Louisiana residents age 65
and older."
NFL's
most powerful owners targeted in Kaepernick's collusion case. Some of the NFL's most powerful owners will be at
the center of Colin Kaepernick's collusion case. The Cowboys' Jerry Jones, the Patriots' Robert Kraft and the Texans'
Bob McNair will be deposed and asked to turn over all cellphone records and emails in relation to Kaepernick's accusation,
ESPN.com reported. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and 49ers owner Jed York is also on the deposition list, according to
Yahoo Sports. The 49ers quarterback-turned-NFL martyr is charging that NFL teams, in "calculated coordination" with
President Trump, blackballed him from the league after he became the face of the NFL anthem protests, which he started to
fight against racial inequality.
Papa
Johns Whines About Lower Pizza Sales Because of NFL Thugs. Papa John's, an NFL thug supporter is whining that
pizza sales are dropping because fewer and fewer people are watching the NFL. Hey, here's a thought Papa John. Pull
your sponsorship of the NFL and your pizza sales will rise like your crust. Any company associated with the NFL, like
Papa John's deserves to see their revenue tank. If you are financially supporting a league that hates this country,
then by extension, you hate this country until you pull your ads.
Game
Over: NFL Owners Stunned as Ratings Plunge 25 Percent. The NFL has been struggling to regain its footing
following weeks of players choosing to "take a knee" during the performance of the US national anthem. The ensuing
controversy gained national attention when President Trump called for a total boycott of the NFL until officials and owners
require players to stand during the 'Star-Spangled Banner.' As a result, ratings, ticket purchases, and merchandise sales
have plummeted as football fans protest with their wallets.
NFL Ratings
[Can Be] Blamed on [an] Inferior Product. If you think the demise of the NFL and the proliferation of social
engineering and political correctness is a coincidence, then you're likely a Leftist. Black players are a product of
their environments and their politics. These high-paid employees bring all the problems that America faces. So it
was only a matter of time for these thugletes to rebel. So yes, the product of the NFL [stinks]. And the games are
no fun to watch. Sadly, the sports shows offer no relief either, as we have seen these shows become more politics
than sports.
East
Coast Sports Reporter Leaves Lefty Bubble, Finds Out Middle America Really Dislikes the Anthem Protests. A
sports reporter recently left his comfortable liberal bubble in New York City, traveled to the interior of the country, and
was shocked when he discovered that NFL fans in fly over country really do hate the NFL's constant anti-American national
anthem protests. Fox NFL writer Peter Schrager found out first hand that real Americans are pretty steamed about the
anti-American NFL protests going on across the country.
NFL
in Death Spiral: San Fran 49's Spend $$ on Gun Control, Not Better Players. Did you really think the
politicization of the NFL starts and stops with the taking of a knee at the sounds of the national Anthem you are
wrong. Now the San Fran 49'ers are acting as a Democrat Party PAC — giving $500,000 to promote gun
control. "According to ESPN, the 49ers presented the gun control pledge as part of creating a "more understanding and
safer America." The $500,000 will also be used to push a ban on bump stocks and armor-piercing bullets. The ban on
armor-piercing bullets is somewhat ambiguous, but appears similar to a ban which was unsuccessfully pushed by the Obama
administration in 2015.
Houston
Texans find new fake cause to kneel. After months of kneeling over the national anthem — and in
protest of supposed targeted police brutality against blacks — football's finest in on-field showboating have
finally found a new cause: offensiveness at their team owner's remarks. The possibilities of this type of
protesting — and by this type, it's meant, fabricated and fake — are endless, it seems.
NFL
or Gilligan's Island, the Choice Is Easy. It's not a tough decision at all, for me the choice is obvious.
This year I'll be watching reruns of Gilligan's Island before I'll watch a single down of the National Football
League. I just don't have the interest level that I once had in watching professional football, it simply doesn't
appeal to me anymore. And it won't appeal to me until the NFL decides to stand up to the thugs and prima donnas on its
payroll who want to protest against the very country that has enriched them far beyond that of most Americans.
The Editor says...
Why not just turn the television OFF and read a book, or walk around the block, or something? Must you be entertained constantly?
Free
Speech Works Both Ways: Fans Abandon NFL Over Protests, Leave Half Empty Stadiums. Frankly, I could care
less about that National Football League and the ongoing social justice protests. The game has no impact on my life and
neither does its players. However, it appears that many Americans are finally putting some shoe leather to their anger
at players who kneel during the national anthem and will not stand for the raising of the US flag and it's showing up in
photos from NFL stadiums across the league.
Cowboys
cut ex-Giant Damontre Moore, one of two Dallas players who continued to raise his fist at end of national anthem. If
Damontre Moore wants to continue his national anthem protest, he'll have to do so with a new team. The Cowboys released Moore
in order to make room to sign kicker Mike Nugent, the team announced Wednesday [10/25/2017]. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has
publicly stated he believes all players should stand for the anthem and recently said he believes anthem protests are hurting the NFL.
While no Cowboys player has kneeled or sat during the anthem, Moore was one of two players who continued to raise his fist at the conclusion
of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in recent weeks after Jones previously talked to players and explained his feelings on the matter.
NFL
Week #7 — More Empty Seats Seed Doubt for Future of Commissioner. The vast majority of NFL fans held
a middle-class, center-right, common sense, and patriotic outlook toward sports and entertainment overall. In essence
most of the NFL fan base are/were positively MAGA-minded. It reflects the profound disconnect between the corporation
and their customer base that the NFL didn't recognize the danger in making social justice causes part of their business
enterprise. That blame lays squarely on the well paid leader of the NFL, Roger Goodell.
Why don't you just play football? San
Francisco 49ers Pledge $500,000 to Push Suppressor Ban, Other Gun Control Measures. The San Francisco 49ers
pledged $500,000 Thursday to secure a suppressor ban and other gun controls. The push comes in the weeks after the Las
Vegas attack. Suppressors were not used in that attack, but the 49ers are dedicated to banning the devices anyway.
According to ESPN, the 49ers presented the gun control pledge as part of creating a "more understanding and safer America."
The $500,000 will also be used to push a ban on bump stocks and armor-piercing bullets.
The
Regrettable Marriage of the NFL and Left-Wing Identity Politics. What we are witnessing in the media narrative
around the NFL protests is the prevailing modus operandi of contemporary leftists seeking to introduce their identity
politics into all aspects of American life, even where those politics are unwelcome for most Americans. In fact, we
actually saw the left orchestrate something quite similar just a few years ago.
NFL
Ratings CRASH Gets Real With New Numbers — and America Has Just Begun! For constantly shoveling the kneeling,
hand-locking and bad attitudes about the flag and the National Anthem, the NFL has confirmed that for the first six games of
this season, the ratings that indicate total number of viewers have fallen 7.5% more than last year's total viewership.
A few weeks ago we wrote about the decline in viewership for Monday Night Football, with the boycott in full swing.
From September of this year to October of this year, viewership was down by 10%. Last October we were already reporting
a lessened viewership thanks to Kaepernick's grandstanding.
In
Case You Missed It, the NFL Might Have Caved on a Lot More than just the Anthem Protests. It's safe to say,
that when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote a memo to the league informing them it was time to "move past the anthem
controversy." Most people thought he meant moving past it by ending the protests, and, as a result, ending the
controversy. However, a disturbing nugget of information from today's meeting suggests that Goodell might have meant
something else entirely. ESPN's Sal Paolantonio caught up with Goodell after the four-hour meeting with the owners and
player representatives. Paolantonio asked Goodell if the league had asked the players to commit to standing for the
anthem. Goodell's response, did not inspire confidence.
Florida
man takes 'Boycott the Jags and the NFL' message to sky. A former Jacksonville Jaguars fan decided to take his
grievances with national anthem protests to the sky Sunday, hoping the players on the field would see his message 1,000 feet
above. Terry Smiley said he was disgusted by Jaguars players who took a knee during the national anthem in London last
month, and he decided he needed to make his voice heard. So Smiley hired a pilot to fly his banner, which
read[,] "BE AMERICAN. BOYCOTT THE JAGS
AND THE NFL," over EverBank Field on Sunday [10/15/2017] before the Jaguars faced off against the Los Angeles Rams.
Goodell
Falsely Claims Only a Half Dozen Players Have Protested the National Anthem. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
falsely claimed that only "six or seven players" were actually protesting the national anthem during a press conference
following the annual fall owners meeting on Wednesday [10/18/2017]. [...] "I think we also have to keep focus on [the fact
that] we have about six or seven players that are involved with this protest at this point," Goodell continued.
Goodell's claim that only about a half dozen player are involved in the national anthem protest is blatantly false.
NFL's
cratering ratings may be starting to hit Fox's bottom line. I talked recently to an NFL fan of many decades who
has completely turned his back on the league. We both agree that if the NFL was to die it probably would be just fine
and also would probably save the brain cells of many an aspiring football player. Another friend (online friend) said that
he'd stopped watching 3 weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had a whole lot more weekend to play with.
After
meeting, NFL, NFLPA release statement indicating no change to anthem policy. The much-publicized Tuesday
[10/17/2017] meeting between NFL officials, team owners, NFLPA officials and several players lasted about three hours.
While there was undoubtedly a lot discussed in that time, it sounds as though there has not been a resolution on a rule
change to require that players stand for the national anthem before games.
NFL
Stadiums Nearly Empty Across League As Backlash Grows. Note, that the Jets played New England on Sunday, meaning there should
have been a big crowd for that game. The Texans, Atlanta, and Baltimore are also very relevant teams with relatively loyal fan
bases. Yet, thousands upon thousands of fans no-showed or didn't buy tickets for those games.
CBS Losing
Money. Guess Why. Gee, any guesses why CBS' third-quarter advertising declined? If you said NFL
football tanking with the public, you get the blue ribbon. [...] [Credit Suisse analyst Omar] Sheikh added that CBS' Sunday
NFL ratings have plunged 17% from the same period last year in which the first few games of the regular season were played.
'Monday
Night Football' Ratings Fall To Season Low As Titans Break Colts' Streak. It felt like a little bit of history
was being made on Monday Night Football as the Tennessee Titans finally snapped their streak of 11 consecutive losses to the
Indianapolis Colts. However, as social media sparked with ESPN not showing the playing of the national anthem, another
type of history was also being made: Last night's primetime broadcast of the Titans' 36-22 victory stumbled to a season
low with a 6.1 in metered market results.
Kaepernick
Files Grievance Against NFL Owners, Alleges Collusion to Keep Him Out. Former NFL quarter Colin Kaepernick has
filed a grievance against NFL owners because he believes they colluded to keep him out of a job due to his protests during
the national anthem. [...] He could have had a job this season if he had not chosen to opt out of his contract with the San
Francisco 49ers. The contract gave him $16.9 million plus bonuses for 2017.
Report:
Kaepernick files grievance against NFL owners for collusion. Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance under the
collective bargaining agreement for collusion against NFL team owners, reports Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report.
Kaepernick has hired high-profile attorney Mark Geragos and is preparing to release a statement about his grievance soon,
added Freeman. The free-agent quarterback has remained unemployed since his release by the San Francisco 49ers in March
and has garnered little interest from teams around the league.
Labor
lawyer: Colin Kaepernick will have to prove 'pattern' to win collusion grievance. In order to win his
collusion grievance against NFL owners, Colin Kaepernick will need to prove a pattern of communication with and between teams
that led to his current unemployment, a labor law expert told USA TODAY Sports. "He's going to have to show some kind
of pattern — of dealings with the clubs, where clubs were aware that he was willing and able to work, where there
was some sort of communication with him and then unexplained reasons went elsewhere," said William Gould, the Charles A.
Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Stanford University.
NFL:
No plans to force players to stand during anthem. The NFL said Friday [10/13/2017] it has no plans to force players to stand
during the national anthem, but will convene to discuss ways to end the controversial protests without imposing new rules. [...] The league
released a joint statement with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) earlier this week saying that they would work to advance the mission of
the protests, which have called attention to issues of racial injustice and police brutality toward African-Americans.
Silence
of the Republican Lambs. America's culture war is on full display and the left is losing badly. Public
opinion is not on the side of left-wing social justice causes and moral preening. Where to begin? NFL players
disrespecting law enforcement and the national anthem, kneeling or sitting to protest "oppression" and "injustice."
Ratings are down and the NFL is now one of the most divisive brands in the U.S. Not a winning business formula.
Roger
Goodell Killed the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg. In August 2016, America was experiencing a polarizing
presidential election. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the playing of the national anthem,
to protest injustice. It was a politically divisive act directed at fans who regard the national anthem as something
sacred. The league did not lift a finger to stop him. Most employers don't let their workers make controversial
political statements to their customers. It is why you do not know your UPS driver's views on the expansion of NATO.
The Constitution does not prohibit private businesses from regulating speech during work. A savvier commissioner would
have reminded Kaepernick that he is being paid millions to wear the logo of the NFL, and the league does not permit players
to use its brand to flaunt their personal politics. Instead, Roger Goodell permitted the pregame ceremonies to become
the focus of intense political scrutiny, as the media lined up to catalog whether players stood, sat or knelt during the
national anthem.
NFL execs just SPIT
in America's face. When Colin Kaepernick inspired hundreds of millionaire NFL players to disrespect the
American flag every Sunday, fans responded with boos. When the players refused to stop their dishonorable protests,
fans began to boycott the league. If critics thought the NFL had learned their lesson, though, the leagues executives
proved this week that they hadn't.
The
Beginning Of The End Of Progressive Domination? The preposterous "protests" by NFL players disrespecting the
flag during pregame ceremonies has angered large numbers of Americans and hit the League in the wallet. The race card
that always has trumped every political or social conflict has perhaps lost its power. The spectacle of rich
one-percenters recycling lies about police encounters with blacks and the endemic racism of American society has discredited
the decades-long racial narrative constantly peddled by Democrats, movies, television shows, and school curricula from
grade-school to university. The endless scolding of white people by blacks more privileged than the majority of human
beings who ever existed has lost its credibility. The racial good will that got a polished mediocrity like Barack Obama
twice elected president perhaps has been squandered in this attempt of rich people who play games to pose as perpetual victims.
The
NFL is attacking an America that has treated it very well. Choosing to disrespect our flag is an
over-generalized indictment of the greatest nation on Earth. Kneeling for the anthem does nothing to advance solutions
to racial injustice, police brutality, or any other social plight. It is a slap in the face to patriotism itself.
It is a statement that America as a country is no longer worth standing for. It is bizarre to see the NFL attacking an
America that has treated it so well over the years. Taxpayers pay over 70 percent of the cost of stadiums. Our
citizens pay more and more for tickets, and valuations of professional sports franchises have skyrocketed.
Kaepernick's
Collusion Claim Is a Likely Loser. If you're going to do Muhammad Ali-type activism, you'd better have Muhammad
Ali-type talent. That is the ultimate lesson of the Colin Kaepernick saga. [...] There is no need to collude against a
player who is not an obvious net-plus (in terms of performance and popularity) for any particular team.
It's
1968 All Over Again. The National Football League is imploding as it devolves into a political circus.
Multimillionaire players refuse to stand for the national anthem, turning off millions of fans whose former loyalties paid
their salaries. Politics — or rather a progressive hatred of the provocative Donald Trump —
permeates almost every nook and cranny of popular culture.
An Open Letter to the
NFL Players. You have the absolute right to express yourselves, but we have the absolute right to boycott
you. We have tolerated your drug use and DUIs, your domestic violence, and your vulgar displays of wealth. [...] But
now you have gone too far. You have insulted our flag, our country, our soldiers, our police officers, and our
veterans. You are living the American dream, yet you disparage our great country. I am done with NFL football and
encourage all like-minded Americans to boycott the NFL as well. Millionaire spoiled brats deserve neither our respect
nor sympathy. Grow up and act like men instead of puppets of the radical left who hate America.
NFL
Goes Left: Won't Force Players To Stand For Anthem, Focuses On Social Justice. As NFL ratings continue to
plummet — down nearly 10 percent from last year — news networks are increasingly choosing not to show
the national anthem because of protests by players, which often elicit boos from fans. Thursday's [10/12/2017] matchup
between the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, despite being a strong matchup between two high-profile teams, was
down 5 percent from the previous week's Thursday night matchup.
Tennessee
Titans Player Says He'll Quit The NFL If Forced To Stand For The Anthem. Tennessee Titans player Rishard
Matthews tweeted Thursday [10/12/2017] that he'll quit the NFL if the league implements a rule forcing players to stand during the
anthem. "No I will be done playing football," Matthews tweeted and ultimately deleted when asked if he would be willing
to face punishment for not standing if a new rule is implemented.
The
NFL and its owners salute one flag: The dollar. Ignoring their own league rules caused conservative
organizations, pundits, media, and activists to call for an NFL boycott. Football fans and businesses rallied, burning
jerseys and season tickets, canceling their Direct TV Football packages, not buying tickets, merchandise, and playing smash
mouth themselves by turning the channel. Due to the costly backlash, according to the Wall Street Journal, the National
Football League's owners will discuss next week whether to unilaterally change league policy and require players to stand
during the national anthem. If players refuse to rise up, they could face disciplinary action by the league or by
the team. The NFL may change the rules of conduct in direct response to their fans who are rejecting politics on the
field and hitting them where it hurts them most — their Gucci wallets.
Rishard
Matthews of the NFL's Titans said he'll quit if forced to stand for the anthem. A National Football League
(NFL) player says he would rather lose his job than be forced to stand during the national anthem. "No, I will be done
playing football," Tennessee Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews tweeted Thursday when asked about the issue, according to
ESPN. ESPN reported that WSMV producer Matt Parker asked Matthews whether he would stay in the locker room for the song
if the NFL created a rule mandating they stand or face punishment.
NFL
TV audience numbers continue to decline early in 2017 season. No wonder alarm bells are sounding in NFL
commissioner Roger Goodell's office. The league's average TV audience through Week 5 of the 2017 season dropped
7 percent vs. the same period of the 2016 season, according to Nielsen data obtained by Sporting News. Worse for
the league, the average game audiences are down 18 percent compared to the first five weeks of the 2015 season.
Kneeling's
a kick in the stomach to our country. The ongoing flap over NFL players disrespecting our national anthem is
lowbrow theater at best, casting jocks as deep thinkers whose moral indignation demands everyone's attention. So they
take a knee when "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played as a way of alerting the rest of us that we live in an imperfect world.
Victor
Davis Hanson: Kneeling NFL Players Are 'Violating the Cardinal Rule of Business'. "The players think that
the audience are coastal hipsters, and they're not. They're mostly, the hardcore audience ... males, usually about 30
to 60, and they tend to be red-state conservative males," Hanson said. "So they're basically violating the cardinal
rule of business: You never insult your base, your customer base. And that's what they're doing." "There are
certain vulnerabilities that the players don't realize that they're pushing into the face of the fan. It's not going to
work," Hanson added. "I think they're going to lose 10 or 20 percent of their fan base, and that's going to make
radical changes in how it's financed and operated." Noting that the entire controversy is "all going to be distilled down
to money," Hanson said, "that's what the NFL is about."
Pence
walks out of an NFL game and sports journalists lose their collective minds. [Scroll down] The reaction
was largely predictable, with fans tired of the political posturing of overpaid sports stars applauding, and social justice
warriors condemning. What was extraordinarily funny, however, was the way that the sports media humiliated themselves
in responding.
Online
Media Ridicule Pence for Leaving NFL Game After Anthem Protests. Vice-president Mike Pence and his wife Karen
went to the Indianapolis Colts' football game today to cheer on their favorite team and see the club retire the uniform of
former great, quarterback Peyton Manning. But when 23 members of the visiting San Francisco 49ers dishonored America by
taking a knee during the national anthem, the VP left. Left-stream media predictably put on an all-out blitz against the VP.
Poll
shocker: NFL now the least like[d] sport. Another Sunday in the NFL, which means more protests, more
controversy. While the players seem oblivious to the catastrophe their league is undergoing, owners have to be getting
frantic. A new poll shows that the NFL is no longer "America's game." In fact, it has gone from the sport with the
highest favorables to the sport with the lowest. The drop has coincided exactly with the anthem protests.
Sorry, sir, no refunds. Vice
President Mike Pence leaves Colts game over protests during anthem. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Sunday
that he left the Indianapolis Colts game against the San Francisco 49ers because of protests during the national
anthem. No Colts players knelt during the anthem, but some 49ers players did.
NFL
ticket prices plunge amid backlash over players kneeling during national anthem: Report. NFL ticket
prices have plummeted in the wake of the uproar over the national anthem protests, dropping for the first time this year
below the 2016 season's prices. An analysis released Friday [10/6/2017] by CNBC found that ticket prices during the first
three games of the 2017 season enjoyed a 20-40 percent increase over last year, but then skidded in Week 4 and
actually dropped by 2 percent in Week 5.
Shock
poll: NFL now least liked sport, core fans down 31%. Over just one month of player, coach, and owner
protests of the flag and National Anthem, the National Football League has gone from America's sport to the least liked of
top professional and college sports, according to a new poll. From the end of August to the end of September, the
favorable ratings for the NFL have dropped from 57 percent to 44 percent, and it has the highest unfavorable
rating — 40 percent — of any big sport, according to the Winston Group survey provided exclusively
to [the Washington Examiner].
America
Fights Back: Record Number of Patriotic Cord-Cutters Tumble TV Stocks. There is only one way —
one! — to finally and forever destroy Hollywood and much of the mainstream media. You have to cut your cable
or satellite cord. You have to cancel your pay TV package. The one-legged stool propping up ESPN, CNN, MSNBC,
Disney, MTV, and the entire Tinseltown crime syndicate is you paying for cable TV. [...] Not to put too fine a point on it,
but there is no single act any American can perform that will do more damage to the institutional left than to cut your
cable/satellite cord. So please do so today.
Nolte:
Want to Destroy ESPN and CNN Forever? Cut the Cord, Dummy. Almost all of the cultural and political power
possessed by Hollywood and the mainstream media is held up by a one-legged stool, a single leg that gets shakier by the
month — this increasingly fragile appendage we call the Pay TV Package. Going forward, for reference
purposes, the Pay TV Package is your cable or satellite bundle, which brings with it hundreds of channels and a monthly bill
that dings you for $1000 to $1500 a year. Without this bundle, almost every institution determined to destroy everything
you hold dear — faith, family, country, individual liberty, self-reliance, prosperity, racial harmony, and moral
decency — would disappear entirely or at least be much weaker than it currently is. Of course, I am talking
about CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, Disney, MTV, MSNBC, and the like — institutions you — yes YOU —
are subsidizing against your will.
How
To Destroy CNN, Survive Without Cable TV, And Save Lots of $$$. Did you know that, on average, CNN is not only
in last place behind MSNBC, but that the left-wing outlet's average viewers are below 1 million? With such poor
ratings, there is no way CNN could survive on advertising revenue alone. So how does CNN stay afloat? By picking
YOUR pocket. Yes, Genius, YOU are subsidizing a Fake News outlet that is actively trying to destroy you and everything
you stand for. How? Whether or not you watch CNN (and no one really does), if it is part of your cable package,
you are putting money directly into CNN's pocket with what is called a subscription fee.
Marine
Veteran Pulls Plug On Playing ESPN In His Restaurant Now America Is Responding! A Marine veteran turned restaurant owner
decided that ESPN has no place in his family business. Bill DeFries owns Beef O'Brady's in Bevearcreek, Ohio, and has now publicly
pledged that he will not show any NFL games as long as the players continue to protest the National Anthem before games. Both the
Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals linked their arms during the Anthem this week. When he applied for a refund on his
investment, DirecTV has denied the $6,000 refund on his NFL package. While DirecTV is still offering refunds to their residential
customers, they are not doing it for commercial accounts.
Steelers'
Linebacker Tells Disappointed Fans To 'GET LOST, Don't Bother Coming Back'. The boycott of Steelers merchandise
that began in September has been hurting the third party retailers, with one store in Lancaster called Steel City Sports
having to balance their customers and their wishes to keep politics out of their store. While their Penguins and
Pirates merchandise is still selling, Steelers sales are way down. The boycott was in retaliation to a Week 3 incident
where, before playing against the Bears, every team member stayed in their locker room during the National Anthem except for
their offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva.
NFL
Fans Disgusted as Video of Players Yelling At Them Surface. It seems that most NFL fans are not loving the
continued national anthem protests. When former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick launched the protests
last year, he undoubtedly had no clue that it would mean the end of his career, and plummeting ratings for the NFL. Yet
players have continued to protest, and some players in particular have not responded well to the lack of fan support.
'Monday
Night Football' Ratings Crash! After siding with their players against their fans, the NFL has been seeing
some pretty steep losses in both viewership and revenue. Early numbers from last night [10/2/2017] show that ratings
from last night's game are down a whopping 10% from the September 25th game. Compared to this same week last year,
total viewership is down 8%.
NFL
TV ratings drop again as angry fans exercise their own rights. Pretty soon, it could be NFL team owners on
their knees begging TV viewers to come back. Once again in Week 4 of the 2017 season, as players continued their
sitting-kneeling protests against something, former fans silently exercised their right of free speech using TV remotes.
How
many $ billions will the NFL lose over its kneeling fiasco? Signs are evident that the NFL has done permanent
damage to its business by appearing to side with the Colin Kaepernick-initiated kneeling during the National Anthem. My
guess is that the owners of NFL teams collectively have lost billions, and I suspect that Roger Goodell will lose his job.
Raiders
Staff Cover Marshawn Lynch As He Sits During the National Anthem. Television networks have gone to great
lengths to conceal the ratings-killing anthem protests that are costing the league huge money in terms of viewership and
attendance. However, it looks like NFL teams have also started trying to conceal the anthem protests. In one
case, by literally covering a player up.
The Tragic
Incoherence of the NFL Protests. It has become a sort of reflex to object to the National Football League's
players' bended knee/sitting through the National Anthem — while also conceding that their complaints have
merit. But do they? To answer that question, one would have to know precisely what the protests are about.
But so far the various reasons advanced are both confused and without much merit. That is why the players will
eventually stand for the anthem before their tragic incoherence loses them both their fans and their jobs with it.
CNN
Confirms Data Showing Trump Is Right About Anthem Protests Torpedoing NFL Ratings. Seventy-two percent of
Americans view Kaepernick's actions as unpatriotic. This culture battle was over before the first shot was fired.
The NFL is paying the price. Approval for the league is down 13 percent. Ticket sales at week three are down
almost 20 percent. Fans are burning merchandise, asking for refunds of their NFL packages, and are booing their teams
when they see players take a knee. Is free speech part of this discussion? Sort of — they have the
right to do this, but it's still viewed as spitting in the faces of those who have served and are still serving. We're
still at war in Afghanistan. Whatever these players' social cause is goes out the window when people see disrespect to
the flag.
NJ
Car Dealership Pulls TV Ads from NFL Broadcasts over National Anthem Protests. A New Jersey car dealership is
pulling its television ads from NFL broadcasts for the rest of the 2017 football season in response to NFL teams protesting
the national anthem. NJ Advance Media reports that the owner of Flemington Car and Truck Country said it would pull ads
for the dealership from NFL game broadcasts for at least the rest of the 2017 NFL season.
High
school football players booted from team for kneeling, raising a fist during national anthem. Two high school
football players in Texas were kicked off their team for protesting during the national anthem Friday [9/29/2017]. Cedric
Ingram-Lewis raised a fist while his cousin, Larry McCullough, kneeled during the national anthem. The cousins, both
students at Victory & Praise Christian Academy, said that after the anthem ended, their coach, Ronnie Mitchem, told them to
remove their uniforms because they were being kicked off the team, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Conrad
Black: What Protesting NFL Players Don't Get. This controversy is the logical and nasty result of the
long pursuit of identity politics, mainly by Democrats. The country has been atomized into smaller and smaller
constituencies, pandering to each in the approximate order of the militancy of their grievances. This process, after a
point, operates at the expense of the spirit of national unity and a common cause for all to make America better. It is
understandable that the president sees these acts of rank disrespect to the country and all who believe in the country
despite its faults, as offensive. He and all of civilized America are in common cause with Kaepernick and his followers
in deploring racist oppression, but protesting it by slagging off the anthem and flag alienates the majority of Americans who
would otherwise be on Kaepernick's side. It is not surprising or unreasonable that Trump and millions of others find
the spectacle of a few people with huge incomes for very short work-years, putting on the airs, not only of martyrs, but of
martyrs claiming they represent the only wronged people in the country.
The NFL
House of Cards. The problem with the NFL is not just Donald Trump, but the greater dilemma that the league's
reason to be has become predicated on a labyrinth of lies. The majority of the viewing audience is not young, hip, and
loyal as hyped, but, even if fading, still largely reflects the majorities in red-state America that have no patience with
gratuitous insults to the National Anthem and flag. The NFL apparently never grasped the political truism that you
never insult your base and core supporters; sympathetic CNN talking heads and the solidarity of progressive political
activists will not turn around sagging revenues, but will only contribute to them.
Wall
Street vets are threatening to pull the plug on the NFL. Wall Street veterans are huddling up against the NFL.
Many brokers and bankers — some of whom are also military veterans — have threatened to pull the plug on pro
football for not reining in players who are using the American national anthem as an opportunity to protest by taking the
knee. And as the protests gather steam this weekend, some vets of the financial markets — a huge employer of
former US military service personnel, have unleashed a barrage of criticism in response and could be counted among the
estimated 2 million fewer viewers over the first three weeks of the season.
Steelers'
Head Coach Held Fundraiser For Hillary, Donated Heavily To Obama. Steelers' Head Coach Mike Tomlin held a
high-end fundraiser in 2016 for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at his home with ticket prices reportedly costing
over $30,000. Tomlin hosted the event with his wife on June 14 with supporters required to pay $33,400 to meet
Clinton — those who couldn't afford to pay that amount to meet a woman claiming to represent the middle class were
given the option of simply paying $10,000 to attend.
No,
NFL, You DON'T Have an Unassailable 'Right' to Protest the National Anthem. There has been a lot of pious talk
from these anti-American leftists who now seem to infest the National Football League who say that they "have a right" to
protest the national anthem at the start of each NFL game. But the fact is they really don't. Thanks to the sham
that is America's liberal besotted system of miseducation, there is a lot of confusion about what our "rights" as Americans
are. So, let's get this straight right now. You have no "right" to behave however you want at work. And if
you DO behave however you want, you had better be prepared for consequences including being fired if your boss sees
fit. But, what of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, you ask? Doesn't that "free speech" thingie give
you a right to say whatever you want, whenever you want? No, not really. At least, not in the way you might assume.
NFL
Camera Operators Told Not To Show Booing Crowd When Players Knelt During Anthem. Aesthetics are everything to a
message, and it wouldn't do well if the networks showed the NFL kneelers — the media's latest favorite
fad — receiving boos and disapproving shouts while it was going on. That's why networks ordered camera crews
that were filming Sunday and Monday's NFL games to avoid shots of the angry crowds insider sources told Michael McCarthy of
Sporting News: [...] What really went on in the stadium during Sunday's game can be clearly seen thanks to a video by the
Associated Press. Fans can be heard booing loudly as players knelt or sat during the anthem. Shouts of
"stand up" can also be heard.
What
if the NFL Players Were Protesting Abortion Instead? Many Americans support the Free Speech rights of the NFL
players to protest but a large percentage of Americans believe protesting the national anthem is not appropriate and it's
disrespectful to the country. They believe the football players should choose another venue to protest what they
perceive as racism. Because the NFL football players are protesting racism — the mainstream media and many
on the left are hailing them as Heroes. But what if they were protesting for a cause that is not seen as quite so cool
in the media limelight. What if they were protesting for people who Hollywood Elites look down upon? What if they
were refusing to stand and place their hands on their hearts and respect to their country to back a class of people who faced
the ultimate discrimination? What if they were sitting down or kneeling to protest abortion?
First
grader told to stand after kneeling during Pledge of Allegiance at local elementary school. A first grader in
Pasco County chose to take a knee during the Pledge of Allegiance, and his mother is upset with how the teacher, the school
and the Pasco County school district responded. At school on Monday [9/25/2017], a local first grader went down on one
knee during the Pledge of Allegiance, he was then told by his teacher to stand up and stop it, in front of all his classmates.
His choice came after countless NFL players took a knee during the national anthem on Sunday, setting off a storm nationwide,
sparking discussions in homes across America.
On
the Collective Football Plantation. [Scroll down] It is clear that initially the protest of NFL players
was inspired by political opponents of Trump. But when it came down to the disrespect of the national flag and
humiliation of the national anthem, even the Democrats realized that this boomerang would hit hard on return. After
all, professional sports do not produce anything materially necessary and exist only at the expense of their long-standing
reputation. A remarkable confirmation of this is the loud silence of the Democrats on the issue of the humiliation of
the national anthem. They immediately realized that Trump's position in this matter was one hundred percent winning,
and they prudently decided to keep quiet.
'They're
afraid of their players!' Trump says NFL owners are too scared to insist football stars stand for the National Anthem.
Donald Trump says NFL franchise owners acknowledge that they need to stop players from kneeling for the National Anthem, but they're
too scared to take action. 'I have so many friends that are owners, and they are in a big box,' he said in a 'Fox & Friends'
interview that aired Thursday morning [9/28/2017]. 'I have spoken to a couple of them. They say, "We are in a situation
where we have to do something." I think they are afraid of their players, you want to know the truth. And I think
it's disgraceful.'
Take a Knee. Why
did Colin Kaepernick say he was taking a knee? Somebody look that up. Okay, taking a knee is an anti-Trump thing,
right? Wait a minute, if it's an anti-Trump thing, then Colin Kaepernick did it when Obama was president, so it would
have been an anti-Obama thing. That can't be right. Okay, taking a knee means you're pro-free speech, it's to
support people's right to take a knee even if Trump says nobody should take a knee. Or is it just to support Colin
Kaepernick's right to take a knee? Colin Kaepernick doesn't even play football anymore, he's just the king of
knee-taking because he did it first. So that's not it. By the way, "take a knee" in football used to mean
"run out the clock." We really need some other term.
NFL
Fan Outrage So Severe The League May Never Recover. While the long-term impact will take time to be quantified, early
indicators are the NFL has entirely destroyed itself by allowing the politicization of the sport. A significant number of NFL fans
are so upset with players refusing to stand for the national anthem they have decided to respond with demonstrations of their own.
Memo
To The NFL: Remember Your Middle Name. The word is out: your National Football League is looking for a "senior
communications strategist," whose role will include "provid(ing) crisis communications counsel." After all, the league is
mired in a no-win Twitter war with the President — on top of the boos, boycott threats and burning jerseys from
fans over the national anthem protests; continuing litigation and bad press over concussions and domestic violence; catastrophic
attendance showings for recently relocated teams in Los Angeles; and long-term ratings declines in a splintering media market.
End the NFL. An
NFL rookie's minimum salary is $465,000. And the majority of NFL players are usually bankrupt a few years after retirement
because they blew through most of their money. Dozens of NFL players are arrested every year on charges ranging from
murder to rape to animal abuse. 2017 was a banner year for the NFL with three times as many arrests as last year.
Along with the usual drunk driving and disorderly conduct arrests, there were 7 arrests for assault/battery, 6 for drugs and
5 for domestic violence. The Seattle Seahawks announced that they weren't going to "participate in the national anthem"
because of the "injustice that has plagued people of color in this country". While they lost that game, they are one of the
top ranked teams in arrests. Alongside the Los Angeles Rams, the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets, all of whom
showed some solidarity with the anti-American protests, these top NFL criminal teams have racked up arrests for domestic
violence, drugs, DUI and assault and battery. It's no wonder that so many of the NFL's millionaire scumbags are eager
to join Colin Kaepernick's protests against the justice system by degrading our anthem. It's because they're criminals.
How the NFL is going
the way of Detroit. Football fans watch their favorite team playing their favorite game with their favorite
cheerleaders and favorite player. They know this player's stats and his autobiography. They know his family, his
college team, when he went pro, and his current life experiences. Their favorite player is the American Dream.
Many of these guys came from rough backgrounds and overcame. They're making millions and living large and loving life
playing a game for a job. They've made it. [...] The NFL doesn't know it, but it's reached its zenith. Oh, it still
has fans, just like Americans still buy American-made cars. But it won't be the same. It already isn't the same.
The magic is gone. Taking a knee is taking it too far. A disgusted fanbase will turn its attention elsewhere.
The Patriots vs. The Nihilists.
In the obscenely overpaid — whether it is actors who make millions for mouthing silly lines off a cue card or
athletes who earn more money in a few games than most make in a lifetime — a certain self-loathing must
exist. Making so much for doing so little can only generate an unease that gnaws at them. At the same time it
seems to fill them with a grotesque sense of self-importance. Their staggering salaries, they evidently conclude,
confer upon them a right to pontificate at a society stupid enough to pay them all that money. It is not surprising
that out of this toxic combination of self-loathing and self-importance comes some astonishingly bratty and richly ironic
activism: actors, athletes, and other celebrities inveighing against the warped values of society even as their entire status
depends upon them.
Colin
Kaepernick Has Never Registered to Vote. [Colin] Kaepernick began his protest of the national anthem and the
American flag in August of 2016 while he played for the San Francisco 49ers. He made headlines when he decided to sit
for the national anthem during a preseason game. Since then the number of athletes protesting has also grown.
Backlash from angry fans reached a fever pitch this week after President Trump lashed out at NFL players protesting. It
has turned into an all out war with fans burning NFL gear and bombarding their network providers with phone calls cancelling
football packages. Today, Kaepernick is an unemployed whiner and it turns out that he has never even registered to vote.
Donald
Trump vs. Pro Football Is a Ratings Game the NFL Can't Win. Never in the history of the NFL have its
ratings been so scrutinized. [...] For years, it was able to exert strong control over its own narrative. The league
and its powerful media partners continuously burnished the brand as a mass-market symbol of American vitality, strength and
exceptionalism. The current commotion has, in totality, the opposite effect, reducing the NFL to the role of a sick patient
looking for a proper diagnosis, a scofflaw institution deserving public shaming by the commander in chief. The reversal —
from heroic savior of Sundays to something in need of saving — is proving difficult to shake off.
NFL ticket
sales plummet 17.9%. The National Football League is feeling the impact of the "Trump Effect." Ticket sales
since he called on team owners to fire players who take a knee to protest the National Anthem have cratered. The online
ticket reseller TickPick told Secrets that sales have dropped 17.9 percent, far more than the usual Week Three fall.
The Editor says...
Bias alert! The NFL's problem is not the "Trump Effect." It's the "Overpaid America-Hating Political Activist"
effect. It's the "Why Don't You Just Shut Up and Play the Game" effect. It's the "Insolent Multi-Millionaire
Crybaby and Perpetual Victim" effect.
The
NFL Just Lost Its First Sponsor Over Players Kneeling During The National Anthem. Cleveland businessman Allan Jones, the CEO of
Check Into Cash, a payday lending chain, and owner of Hardwick Clothes is hitting the NFL where it hurts — their bank account.
According to reports, Jones has instructed his media buyer to remove any commercials from airing during NFL games "for the entire season,"
following NFL players decision to knell during the national anthem over the weekend.
NFL
Players Think They're Protected Over Protests, But That's Not True As Experts Weigh In. The NFL pre-season has
never been more controversial. The third week of practice games saw at least six where a player showed one act of
protest or another during the renditions of our National Anthem. Scoffing at President Trump's calls to "fire any[one]
who kneels during the National Anthem," social justice supporting players think their televised antics are protected as free
speech under the First Amendment. Legal experts are quick to advise the assumption is just not true and they could
lose their high paid careers at any time.
NFL owners PANIC after 3
huge backlashes. 2016, when the protests started, was the lowest-viewed season of football in decades.
This year, the ratings have gotten significantly worse. After three weeks, Nielsen reports that ratings for NFL games
are down 11-percent across the board compared to 2016. "Nielsen said the games averaged 17.63 million viewers for the
first three weeks of last season, and have dipped to 15.77 million this year. The 2017 figures don't include this
week's Monday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals," Breitbart reported. The NFL pays hundreds
of millions to athletes — and depends on advertising revenue from their television broadcasts to pay for it.
NFL Owners Are
Patriotic — For a Fee. "Follow the money." That is often good advice, if someone wants to find out
why many individuals do what they do. It is apparently excellent advice if one wants to know why many owners of National
Football League (NFL) teams do what they do. While many heretofore NFL fans have rightly expressed disgust at the
anti-patriotic statements and actions of many NFL players (and make no mistake, the protests are directed at what Colin
Kaepernick, who started it all last season, contends is a racist country), are the owners any better? Most fans
would have understandably concluded that all these patriotic demonstrations before games, and sometimes during halftime shows,
take place because the owners are just extremely patriotic lovers of their country. Of course, they should be lovers of
this country, considering that they have been able to become very wealthy in America.
NFL
Favorability Gets Nearly Cut In Half After Anthem Protests. A new poll shows that the favorability rating of
the NFL among Donald Trump supporters was nearly cut in half after more than 200 players kneeled during the national anthem
last week. Morning Consult conducted the survey, and the results are a very bad sign for the NFL.
Packers'
Attempt to Involve Fans In Anthem Demonstration Falls Flat, Most Chant 'USA!' Instead. The Packers players
wrote a long letter to their fans this week. A letter in which the team asked their fans to join them in interlocking
arms during the anthem on Thursday night. According to quarterback Aaron Rodgers, this was a moment that stood for,
"...equality." As well as "...unity and love, and growing together as a society and starting a conversation around
something that may be a little bit uncomfortable for people." Well, as it turns out, most Packers fans didn't want to have
a "conversation," weren't interested in "growing together," and certainly had no desire to be made "a little bit uncomfortable."
Kaepernick
donates $25,000 to group honoring convicted cop-killer. Colin Kaepernick started out taking a knee during the national anthem to
protest police brutality, but his activism has since expanded to encompass a wide range of leftist causes, including a group named after a
convicted cop-killer. The Colin Kaepernick Foundation donated in April $25,000 to Assata's Daughters, a Chicago "direct action" resistance
organization honoring Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and fled to Cuba after being found guilty in the 1973 murder of Officer Werner
Foerster. The grant includes $2,500 for CopWatch, a program that trains volunteers to follow and video police, and $15,000 for teen
training, part of the group's commitment to "develop and train young people, ages 4-19, in the Black queer feminist tradition and in the
spirit of Assata."
NFL
player: Don't come to the game if our protest upsets you. I suppose it takes a great deal of arrogance to
play in the NFL, but what's revealing about [Delanie] Walker's comments is that they prove that their protest for "free
speech" is a little one-sided. They don't care about the fans' free speech rights. "It's your freedom of choice,"
said Walker, while denigrating any opposition to his actions. At bottom, the players demand that you love them and
respect them for their protest. And if you disagree, your views aren't worthy.
Can We Please Stop
Pretending the NFL Protests Have Anything to Do with Free Speech? [Scroll down] So why, exactly, are they kneeling?
Those kneeling assert that there is an epidemic of white police officers who work their beat every night with the explicit intention to murder
innocent black people. They are suggesting that there is an epidemic of institutional white racism in this country going unaddressed, and
that the only way to draw attention to this, the Black Lives Matter narrative, is to kneel during the National Anthem at pro football games.
There is no convincing evidence that either claim is true, and it is a malicious narrative that has arguably already led to a death toll among
police officers being targeted for their presumably widespread racism and brutality. [...] They imagine that I and millions of other Americans
don't accept this narrative only because it's not being adequately thrown in our faces. I, among millions of other Americans, refuse to
accept that. I therefore find those kneeling during the National Anthem in order to advance that narrative despicable, entitled babies
for whom I have no respect and who are undeserving of my financial support.
Titans'
Delanie Walker: 'No one's telling you to come to the game'. Don't come to the game. That's the message a
couple of the Titans' star players have for any outraged fans threatening to turn their back on the team, after the Titans
and Seahawks remained in the locker room during the national anthem before their game Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Goodbye, FS1. FS1's
Sharpe: Racist U.S. Flag Is Just 'A Piece of Cloth... Nobody Fights For'. After engaging in character
assassination against Green Bay Packers fans who chose not to protest during Thursday's National Anthem, FS1's Undisputed
co-host Shannon Sharpe did the same with the American flag, declaring it to be merely a racist "piece of cloth" that "nobody
fights for." "The flag, you see, to a lot of people, symbols, patriotism but what does that symbol actually mean?
What does — what does — okay — you keep telling me that the flag means so much and it's
opportunity and freedom and liberty. Okay. Can you honestly say that everybody in America has freedom and
liberties and opportunity," Sharpe wondered to co-host Skip Bayless.
Unfair
Charges of Systemic Racism. It seems the thrust of the protesters' complaint is that American law enforcement and America itself
are systemically racist. But if a protest movement seeks to be constructive, its complaints must be considered on the merits, and that
means a full and substantive discussion of the facts. Those who disagree with the gravamen of the complaint have just as much right to
express their opinion as the complainants. Bullying them into silence is hardly going to facilitate a resolution. If the
complainants truly are asserting that America's law enforcement institutions or America itself are systemically racist against African-Americans,
they bear the burden of proving their assertions, especially when facts and statistics appear to contradict those claims.
The Slow Death of the
NFL? HGTV was my refuge. Watching a marathon of real people get their houses remodeled was much more entertaining than watching
pampered millionaires wrestle in taxpayer-funded stadiums while disrespecting the national anthem and the American flag. Since I wasn't a
rabid fan the NFL won't really notice that I'm gone. But I'm not alone.
The
National Anthem Protests — Do Facts Matter? Recently, in Illinois, in a kids' 8-and-under football league, the entire team,
which appeared to be all black, including the coach, took a knee during the national anthem. Asked why, one third-grade player parroted
Kaepernick, saying, according to the coach, "Because black people are getting killed, and nobody's going to jail." Facts don't matter.
The coach, presented with a teachable moment, fumbled it away.
Unnecessary
Roughness. Football is a sport, but it is also a business. Fans pay big money for tickets, gear, parking and
overpriced food and drinks. They have put up with a lot to root for their favorite teams, but these protests, which
many regard as disrespecting America and the flag, may have exceeded their high tolerance level. [...] These players should first
consider who is responsible for their unequally high salaries. Where else could most of them earn that kind of money?
If fans stop coming to games and watching them on TV, the unique covenant between player and fan will be broken, perhaps forever.
The
Suicide of the NFL. Every liberal CEO in America should be watching and listening. This is a case study for how to
destroy a billion-dollar business by injecting your offensive leftist politics and alienating your own customer base. [...] Ratings are
plummeting. Revenues are plunging. The player's spokesman deals are being cancelled. Fans are booing. Fans are
burning tickets and uniforms. Lifelong NFL zealots are vowing to never watch another game.
Kaepernickism and
Anti-Americanism. [Scroll down] Of course, Kaepernickists deny that they are anti-American. They insist that the object of
their protest is much more specific than America itself. That object is "police brutality" toward American blacks. That police are roaming
the countryside looking for black males to gun down is a fiction of the first order. Nor is there a shred of evidence to substantiate, but much
to negate, even the thesis that blacks are shot by police more frequently than are their white counterparts. However, even if this thesis was
true, a symbolic repudiation of the country, besides being wildly offensive to most Americans who see it as anti-American, amounts as well to the
ultimate non sequitur.
Fans Fed Up with the NFL Anthem
Protests. Millions of fans are unhappy with the current trend of national-anthem kneeling by NFL players — and
they've expressed their anger and disgust over the last few days in a number of "we're-not-taking-it-anymore" moves.
Trump Is 100
Percent Right About the NFL. I love the NFL. I love football. But I love America infinitely more.
If they keep disrespecting our flag, I will never watch them again.
NFL
Protests Are Now About Trump, Not Police Violence. Bernie Goldberg said that NFL players' national anthem
protests are no longer about police brutality or racial inequality, but defying President Donald Trump. [Video clip]
Why
didn't TV networks show angry, booing NFL fans Sunday or Monday? Networks typically do not televise the
national anthem except for the Super Bowl and other special occasions, but they recognized there would be intense viewer
interest this past weekend. Some fans, if they reacted at all, happily clapped and cheered during protests, but others
did not, and they angrily let their home teams know it. The audio mics picked up the boos. Yet the TV networks
mostly avoided crowd shots Sunday, so there was never a chance for viewers to see fans jeering players.
Colin
Kaepernick's big lie. President Trump seems to have stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition with his call for
athletes who don't respect the national anthem to be fired. Many NFL owners and players who were previously indifferent
seem to have rallied to the Colin Kaepernick cause. Kaepernick, of course, considers his protest to be a cry against
slavery and racial oppression, for which he holds America to be the guilty party. Kaepernick's allies seem to be
standing — or rather kneeling — for the right to protest, in opposition not necessarily to America but
certainly to President Trump.
64%
demand NFL players stand for national anthem, 50% less likely to watch over politics. The first poll of NFL
fans following this weekend's moves by dozens of players to take a protest knee during the playing of the National Anthem
finds that most want the pros to stand and they are also turning off the games as a result of politics. The survey from
Remington Research Group found that 64 percent want players to stand for the national anthem. Of the 51 percent
who have watched less football this season, 69 percent cite player protests as the reason.
I'm done with the NFL.
Memo to the NFL players: you have ruined Sunday football for me! And you clearly don't understand the people who make
you stars and make you rich. [...] I know your protest is more than just some misguided political movement, misplaced
protest, or bogus facts. It's bigger than just football. You players decided to disrespect our country and her
flag. You decided to insult your customer. You decided to insult those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so
you can have the freedom to play a game and make a fine living. You decided to alter an American institution to fit
your own political needs.
VFW,
American Legion go to war against NFL. The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion issued blistering
condemnations of the National Football League — calling recent protests against the national anthem disrespectful,
misguided and ungrateful. "There is a time and place for civil debate, and wearing team jerseys and using sporting
events to disrespect our country doesn't wash with millions of military veterans who have and continue to wear real uniforms
on real battlefields around the globe," said VFW leader and Vietnam War veteran Keith Harman.
Dallas
Cowboys Kneel Down in Arizona — Crowd Boo's — NFL Implosion Complete. The Dallas Cowboys,
together with team owner Jerry Jones, take a collective knee at the start of the Monday Night Football game to display their
unity with... well, something probably. Stick a fork in the financial future of the NFL, it's done; finished. The
only thing that was saving the NFL from full organizational collapse was the advent of Fantasy Football Leagues and the
subsequent betting and fan-based league play therein. Never underestimate the inability of any business organization to
inoculate itself with idiot resistant policies once they enter the arena of identity politics.
NFL Rundown: Empty Seat
Alert. For those who know my work, I explain why black unemployment is so high. It's because of idiots
like this. Even when black Leftists make MILLIONS of dollars, they still complain.
Trump
calls NFL kneeling 'disgraceful,' disrespectful to veterans. President Trump doubled down Tuesday [9/26/2017]
on his criticism of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, calling the protests "disgraceful" and blatantly
disrespectful to veterans who fought for flag and country. "I don't think you can disrespect our country, our flag, our
national anthem," Trump said at a Rose Garden press conference.
TV
networks skipped one crucial part of NFL protests. Television networks uncharacteristically showed the national
anthem before NFL games this weekend, but at least one staffer says that coverage may have come with certain
restrictions. A "behind-the-scenes staffer" told the Sporting News camera operators were told to avoid crowd shots
during the anthem, because of any fans potentially booing or protesting the NFL players' protest. There were reports
from several stadiums of fans booing when players decided to kneel for the anthem, joining a protest of racial inequality
started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Jennifer Sabatelle of CBS told the Sporting News the network's
crews were under no such orders.
Angry NFL Fans Lash Out, Burn
Jerseys Over Protests: "You Can Take Your NFL And Shove It". While it is clear as day to anyone who can
disassociate themselves from the emotional response to being verbally attacked by a tweetstorm (as truly 'terrifying' as such
a thing can be), the NFL doesn't seem to understand that while almost every American can agree that football is a great
sport, roughly 50% of them will vehemently disagree with whatever political stance any given player or league exec decides to
publicly announce. And, since the NFL's future depends on selling overpriced ad spots to massive corporations looking
for a consistent number of eyeballs, alienating any group of viewers, for whatever reason, is just bad for business.
The NFL's Worst Fumble Yet. President
Donald Trump tapped into the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans over the weekend, and the Leftmedia hate him for
it. "Trump turns sports into a political battleground," headlined The Washington Post, as if athletes, coaches, owners
and commentators hadn't already politicized sports. What Trump did do was give voice from the most powerful
bully pulpit in the land to what many Americans already think: Athletes who make millions of dollars each year to
entertain us on the field should not spit in the face of our great nation by disrespecting the national anthem before
games. Take the activism off the field.
Shocker:
Another Poll Shows Americans Aren't Big Fans of Anthem Protests. One of the most striking elements of the NFL
anthem protest controversy is the glaring disconnect between average Americans — especially sports fans —
and the media covering the story. Airwaves and column inches are disproportionately crowded with pro-protest (and
anti-Trump) perspectives, whereas most non-elite observers come down on the other side of the issue. [...] Setting aside
the stipulations that of course peaceful protests are protected speech, that Trump erred in calling for firings,
and that issues like police brutality are worthy of serious attention, most Americans do not support using the national
anthem as an occasion for protest.
NFL
Protests Are The Dead End Of 'Resistance' Culture. At a rally on Friday, President Trump said that the NFL
should fire any players who copy Colin Kaepernick by going down on one knee when our national anthem is played. So this
Sunday, dozens of NFL players dutifully responded by going down on one knee to show their "resistance" to Trump. That's
where we are with the stupid politics of the "Resistance." All that is necessary to decide the right thing to do is to check
on what Donald Trump says and do the opposite. [...] It was an ill-conceived form of protest, bound to backfire. The
symbolism is all wrong. By its very nature, it does not come across to most Americans as a protest against excessive
use of force by the police. It comes across as a protest against the national anthem. And since the national
anthem is, well, our national anthem, it comes across as a protest against America.
NFL
players and owners can't take criticism. [Scroll down] But what are they protesting? It started
with Colin Kaepernick protesting "racial inequality" and "police brutality." Does anyone, including the players, have any
specific incident or policy he wishes to protest? They just mouth generalities. What have they accomplished by
their kneeling, besides alienating the fans? Have they helped anyone? It seems the kneeling has developed into an
anti-Trump gesture, with over 200 players taking a knee or sitting down on Sunday, September 24. The flag is a proxy for our
country, which some of the players apparently do not like. To others, the flag is a proxy for Trump, whom they do not like.
Will
NFL Demand Respect for Old Glory? "America refuses to address the pervasive evil of white cops killing black
men, and I will not stand during a national anthem that honors the flag of such a country!" That is the message Colin
Kaepernick sent by "taking a knee" during the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" before San Francisco '49s games in 2016.
No NFL owner picked up his contract in 2017. But a few players began to copy Colin and to "take a knee." [...] And so the
stage was set for NFL Sunday. Two hundred players, almost all black, knelt or sat during the national anthem. The
Patriots' Tom Brady stood in respect for the flag, while locking arms in solidarity with kneeling teammates.
NFL
Sunday Down Double-Digits Again As Americans Say NO To Anti-American/Anti-Police Protests. Exactly what
millionaire athletes are protesting these days isn't exactly clear to them or anyone else. The common thread appears to
be some anti-American/police sentiment. America is racist? Police are racist? Whatever it is millions of
Americans have had enough as evidenced by the ongoing NFL ratings spiral. Has a once-dominant professional sports
franchise ever committed suicide? It looks like we may be about to find out.
The
NFL is looking more repulsive by the day. Billionaires and millionaires linking arms and taking knees in unity
for what? There are brave men and women in real uniforms but you won't find them on the football field. You'll
find them in the military and law enforcement. They're not famous. They're not rich. But they're our very
best. They put their lives on the line everyday. And they're being disrespected. Football players are not
doctors who care for the sick, inventors who improve the quality of life, scientists who find breakthrough medicines,
etc. They're fake activists. And they're increasingly fake entertainers.
NFL
To Fans: Drop Dead. Whether you agree with them or not, the NFL players and the executives that run the
National Football League have really stepped in it, damaging their brand and alienating millions of fans and potential fans
for no real good reason. It was a classic mistake. Like it or not, and whether it's fair or not, many Americans
feel that professional athletes as a whole lead a privileged existence, working only part of the year and earning millions
for their efforts. When they're seen leading "protests" by disrespecting the flag and the national anthem —
and all the high ideals and sacrifice those symbols represent — it's too much.
DirecTV
allows some NFL refunds after anthem controversy. DirecTV is allowing at least some customers to cancel
subscriptions to its Sunday Ticket package of NFL games and obtain refunds, if they cite players' national anthem protests as
the reason for discontinuing service, customer service representatives said Tuesday [9/26/2017]. Under Sunday Ticket's
regular policy, refunds are not to be given once the season is underway. But the representatives said they are making
exceptions this season — which began in September — because of the controversy over the protests, in
which players kneel or link arms during the national anthem.
USAA
members demand organization cut ties with NFL. Members of the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) are
calling for the company to end its sponsorship of the NFL after the string of recent protests during the national anthem,
Sharon Ko of WTLV in San Antonio reports. Since 2011, the USAA has served as the Official Military Appreciation Sponsor
of the NFL, with the league shows appreciation for the military through its "Salute to Service" campaign. But USSA [sic]
members angry with the NFL are voicing their displeasure in community page forums and demanding the company cut ties with the league.
The Nail in
the NFL's Coffin. When NFL players began taking knees and raising Black Panther fists during games last year,
the NFL had to take swift action. It failed.The result is that football has now become politicized, handing the Left
another victory in the culture wars. [...] The player represents the team's brand. He represents the city. He
represents America, the country that gave him the freedom to excel, to become an elite member in the field of American
professional sports. The player is paid millions of dollars. To choose the moment, dictated by tradition, to show
disrespect for all of these things, shows exceptionally poor judgment. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is paid well over
$40 million annually to protect the league's reputation and business. He's done a horrible job the last few years,
palming off issues of domestic violence, and failing to take a firm stance regarding the anthem.
5
Problems With The NFL's National Anthem Protest. [Problem #2] The NFL's Utter Inconsistency: [NFL
Commissioner Roger] Goodell and NFL owners were adamant this weekend that players had the right to express themselves without
fear of any retaliation. This even though there are rules that the NFL could apply to stop protests of the national
anthem. [...] There were rules the NFL chose to apply to stop the wearing of decals to commemorate the murder of five Dallas
police officers working to protect the people at an organized protest of police brutality. The NFL fines players for
dancing in the end zone. It threatens fines for 9/11 tributes. It shows leniency for other issues, such as
domestic violence, but it needs to show more consistency about on-field behavior.
Flashback:
NFL Banned Honoring Murdered Cops; Threatened Players Honoring 9/11. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attacked
President Trump for showing a "lack of respect for the NFL" — regarding the president's recent comments
criticizing players for not standing during the national anthem — because it violated the "constitutional rights
of our players," referring to the First Amendment. This comes from the same commissioner who threatened NFL players who
wanted to honor both 9/11 victims and five police officers who were murdered in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboys wanted to
pay tribute to the five Dallas officers who were murdered at a Black Lives Matter protest on July 7, 2016. The
Cowboys had been wearing a special decal on their helmets that said "Arm in Arm" that specifically honored the police
officers — that is, until the NFL stepped in and stopped it.
Half
A Billion Dollars: How Much the 17 NFL Players Who Took a Knee in London Make. The 17 Baltimore Ravens
and Jacksonville Jaguars players who took a knee during the presentation of the national anthem in London on Sunday have
combined total contracts of nearly $450 million. Combing the total value of each players contracts adds up to a
whopping $448,373,425, a figure greater than the gross domestic product of over a handful of the world's nations. ESPN
reported that 10 Ravens players and roughly the same number of Jaguars players took a knee during the national anthem Sunday
at Wembley Stadium in London.
NFL
picked sides in the culture war, now it has to live with the consequences. [Scroll down] The NFL is as
political an organization as there is, now. It picked sides in the culture war, and the side it picked is decidedly
left. The NFL refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to display a decal honoring the Dallas police killed by a Black Lives
Matter supporter, yet it is completely supporting the "right" of players to kneel on the sideline while the National Anthem
is played, as both a sign of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and an anti-Trump protest.
N.F.L. Owners'
Unity With Players Might Be Short-Lived. The image was striking — several owners of N.F.L. teams
locking arms with their players on the sidelines Sunday [9/24/2017] in a dramatic statement of defiance to a president who
ridiculed their sport and condemned players for refusing to stand during the national anthem as a protest against
racism. And then on Monday night, the league's most prominent owner knelt with his entire team. Beyond the
appearance of unity, though, is a far different reality: The owners have done little to support players who protest
to fight social injustice. A few owners have told their players that kneeling for the anthem is inappropriate.
Steelers
Coach Didn't Want Army Vet To Stand For Anthem. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin indicated Sunday night
[9/24/2017] that he did not want offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva to stand for the national anthem, instead of sitting it out
with the rest of his teammates. Villanueva, a former Army Ranger who served three tours in Afghanistan, was the only
Steelers player to stand for the anthem. While Villanueva stood in the tunnel, hand over his heart, the rest of the
team remained in the locker room in protest of President Trump's comments that players who kneel during the national anthem
should be fired.
Former
Army Ranger Is Only Steelers Player To Stand For National Anthem. The entire Pittsburgh Steelers team remained
in the locker room during the national anthem, with the exception of one player: Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva, who
plays offensive tackle for the Steelers. While the rest of his teammates remained in the locker room, Villanueva stood
in the tunnel holding his helmet in his left hand and holding his right hand over his heart as the anthem played.
Sure,
players can kneel — and NFL's customers should walk. Mass fan walkouts at stadiums will prove more
effective than boycotting NFL advertisers. Organize mass exits and I guarantee you'll beat the flag flouters at their
own mass-media game.
Hey,
'Kneelers,' Let's Get a Few Things Straight. The reason we stand for the anthem — no matter how
disappointed we are in the trajectory of our nation — is to show that we love our country and wish it well.
That's all. Americans have long believed that whatever our differences — indeed because of our
differences — it is important to have a ritual where we all express our shared patriotism. That ritual is
the respect we show for the national anthem. When people protest the anthem, they are not sending a patriotic
message. Instead, they are telling the rest of us that they don't like this country, and they wish it ill.
A
third of Americans less likely to watch NFL games due to anthem protests. "Are football fans voting with their
TVs?" asks a new Rasmussen Reports survey. "As the NFL struggles to explain this season's downturn in viewer ratings,
34 percent of American adults say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the growing number of protests by
players on the field," the poll reports, noting that 12 percent say they are more likely to watch, while half say the
protests have no effect on their viewing decisions.
America
First: NASCAR Owners Threaten To Fire Drivers And Crew If They Kneel During National Anthem. Multiple
NASCAR team owners indicated Sunday they will not tolerate drivers or crew members who kneel during the national anthem as
unpatriotic protests plague the beleaguered National Football League. Former NASCAR champion and legend Richard Petty,
who owns Richard Petty Motorsports, told the Associated Press that he would fire any member of his team that chooses to kneel
during the national anthem. "Anybody that don't stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country.
Period. What got 'em where they're at? The United States," Petty said.
Are
NFL players required to stand for the national anthem? After NFL teams or players stayed in the locker room,
knelt, sat or linked arms during the national anthem before games Sunday, people want to know what the NFL rules say.
Are the players required to stand on the field during the national anthem? What does the NFL rule book say? On
social media, many people have been cutting and pasting the following excerpt: ["]A62-63 of the NFL League
Rulebook. It states: "The National Anthem must be played prior to every game, and all players must be on the
sideline for the National Anthem. During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at
attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that
the American flag is in good condition...["]
The Editor says...
Anyone who has ever negotiated a contract knows that should is not the same thing as must.
Stadium
worker quits after Bills protest anthem. A stadium worker with nearly three decades of NFL games under his belt
quit his job Sunday [9/24/2017], saying he was "pushed" to the limit after several Buffalo Bills took a knee during the
national anthem. Erich Nikischer said he's putting the few good years and "a lot of the bad ones" at New Era Field
behind him after several Bills took a knee before Sunday's 26-16 win against the Broncos. "I was [finally] pushed to my
limit today and had to quit," Nikischer posted on Facebook in response to the Bills' protest, a show of defiance against
President Trump's suggestion that NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest racial inequality should be
fired. "I [cannot] work in a place where [multimillionaires] cry that they are oppressed."
NFL
may lose bigly with social justice antics. The NFL is famous for its activism. Support for Black Lives
Matter after Ferguson. Solidarity with Trayvon Martin. Lectures from Bob Costas — not on the upcoming
game, but on gun control or global warming. Now it's disrespecting the National Anthem by taking a knee or sitting
down. Colin Kaepernick popularized this before Trump was president. It's activism is spreading through the NFL
and beyond, even to eight-year-old football players in Illinois.
Stars
should get off their knees and lead a constructive conversation on race. As more than 100 NFL players protested
during the singing of America's national anthem across the country Sunday [9/24/2017], what had been a small protest of the
way police treat African-Americans turned into a much larger protest directed at President Trump.
Kaepernick
and Curry Pop the Sports Bubble. We've all watched the bubble inflate for years. Palatial new stadiums
were built (often with tax dollars), multi-billion dollar television deals were signed, and multi-platinum player contracts
shocked our sensibilities. Combined with sky-high ticket prices that put a night at the game out of reach for many
families, these were all signs that things had gone too far. But how and when a bubble will deflate is anyone's
guess. Usually — maybe always — it's done in by the excesses of its biggest beneficiaries.
NFL
players lobby Roger Goodell for formal league involvement in racial justice causes. A team of four current and
former NFL players is lobbying commissioner Roger Goodell to engage the league in fighting for the cause of social justice,
even asking him to formally designate November as activism awareness month. Current players Michael Bennett (Seattle
Seahawks), Torrey Smith (Philadelphia Eagles), and Malcolm Jenkins (Philadelphia Eagles), along with former player Anquan
Boldin, sent Goodell and another executive a 2,800-word memorandum in August requesting the league invest significant
resources in the cause. The memo, available in full here, is specific and thoughtful, but its requests would almost
certainly prove divisive among fans, many of whom are already wary of players' incorporating their activism into gamedays.
Kevin
Jackson: 'Kaepernick Effect' to Blame for NFL's Ratings Decline. At a rally in Alabama on Friday night
[9/22/2017], President Donald Trump railed against National Football League players who have protested the national
anthem. He said players who disrespect the flag and refuse to stand for the national anthem should be ejected
from the stadium and cut from the team.
It's
Shocking How Empty The Stadium Was For Thursday Night Football. The San Francisco 49ers Thursday night game
against the Los Angeles Rams kicked off in front of a nearly empty stadium. Los Angeles Times reporter Lindsey Thiry
tweeted a photo at the time of kickoff, which showed thousands of open seats. In fact, most sections in the photo have
more empty seats than fans.
The
NFL and ESPN need to get politics out of sports or risk losing millions. ESPN host Jemele Hill is back on the
air after calling President Trump a "white supremacist" who has surrounded himself with "other white supremicists" —
remarks that earned her a reprimand, but not a suspension, from the network. The Twitter-taunting and subsequent fallout
comes as the sports network's ratings have taken a significant hit over the last year, starting with players' social justice
protests at pre-game festivities. Both the TV networks and the NFL are paying the penalty.
NFL
TV ratings continue to tank after viewers boycott over Kaepernick. The National Football League is in the midst
of turbulent times as ratings for the second week of the football season received less than promising returns. After a
12 percent dip during the kickoff weekend from 2016, week 2 saw a 15 percent slump from the previous year.
Taking
Sports into the Left Lane. Totalitarian regimes use sports to disseminate political propaganda. In Nazi
Germany, sports served to glorify the "Aryan" race and to prepare Germany for war. In the Soviet Union, the elite
athlete became as valuable as the soldier or the diplomat in promoting Communism. The Soviets developed a system of
state-run sports schools and clubs to produce world-class athletes who would be technically proficient and ideologically
correct. A coach's fundamental duty was to instill what one Soviet sports periodical called a "high Communist
consciousness" in which athletes saw themselves as "Soviet patriots ... irreconcilable to the enemies of socialism and
Communism." With Neo-Marxism permeating American education, identical thinking predominates.
Cleveland
police, EMS unions refuse to hold flag at game after Browns players kneel. There is new fallout from the fierce
debate over Cleveland Browns players kneeling during the national anthem. Cleveland safety forces have backed out of a
plan to hold a large flag on the field for the opening game. A dozen Browns players created a firestorm during a recent
preseason game by not standing during the anthem. They created the largest demonstration in the NFL during the anthem
since former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick started his protest more than a year ago.
ESPN
should be more sports, less politics, Sage Steele says. ESPN has faced criticism recently for limited sports
coverage and what many say has been an increasing shift to political commentary. But frustrated sports fans may be in
luck: ESPN anchor Sage Steele hinted in an interview that the network's signature "SportsCenter" highlights show may go
back to focusing on sports, and leave social and political issues "to the news networks." Steele told the New York Post
"there is a time and place" for covering issues that transcend sports. She cited NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's
controversial refusal to stand for the national anthem before games, and his current struggle to make an NFL roster, as
examples of when coverage might "cross over."
NAACP
wants meeting with NFL commissioner about Kaepernick. Kaepernick's supporters, including some who planned to protest at the NFL's
headquarters in New York City on Wednesday [8/23/2017], say the quarterback is being blackballed for his advocacy.
Colin
Kaepernick — History's Hero? The National Football League's preseason is underway, and national anthem-hating
quarterback Colin Kaepernick still doesn't have an NFL job. One can easily identify the liberal journalists by their anguish
over this so-called injustice. You can also identify them by their dishonest arguments.
The NFL doesn't
have the guts to bench unpatriotic players. Raiders coach Jack Del Rio told SFGate.com that [Marshawn] Lynch's
disrespectful behavior is not an issue for the football team. "He said, 'This is something I have done for 11 years.
It's not a form of anything other than me being myself,'" Del Rio said. "I told him I very strongly believe in standing for
the national anthem. But I respect him as a man and he can do his thing." Well, that doesn't speak very well of
Coach Del Rio's character either. The coach respects a man who disrespects the country?
Seahawks'
Bennett to sit during national anthem for entire NFL season. Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett said he
plans to sit during the national anthem for the entire season after staying on the bench for the anthem during Seattle's
first preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday [8/13/2017]. Bennett said he was motivated by the events
in Charlottesville and wanted to speak out on racial injustice. On Sunday [8/13/2017], Bennett remained on the bench with
a towel around his shoulder pads while the rest of his teammates stood for the anthem.
BLM,
Spike Lee, and Colin Kaepernick Jointly Degenerate Into Total Farce. A guy who theatrically refuses to stand
for the national anthem, who praises a communist dictator, and whose girlfriend publicly depicts an NFL owner as a slave
owner pleases ESPN moonbats like Max Kellerman and Skip Bayless immensely but will chase away fans. But we are expected
to believe that no team has signed him due to racism, despite most NFL players being black. Meanwhile, Kaepernick is
said to have turned down at least one offer, presumably so he could stoke the phony racial controversy in hopes of starting a
bidding war among teams eager to prove how politically correct they can be. The Kaepernick spectacle is phony and
pathetic, like all things leftist.
Politicize
Sports, Pay the Price. When players get political, it turns out that fans can get political right back.
After months of speculation and piles of anecdotal evidence, market-research company J. D. Power has weighed in with real
data. After surveying 9,200 fans, researchers found that "national anthem protests were the top reason that NFL fans
watched fewer games last season." The protests were never popular. A September 2016 Reuters poll indicated that a
super-majority of 72 percent of Americans believed the protests, led by Colin Kaepernick, were "unpatriotic," but evidence
that his protest had an impact on ratings was spotty, at best. Now that's changed.
ESPN's
Kellerman: NFL 'Injecting Politics' Into Games With Nat'l Anthem. ESPN commentator Max Kellerman raised
some eyebrows by claiming that the NFL is "injecting politics" into games simply by having a pregame performance of the
national anthem. The discussion on "First Take" centered around a Seattle Seahawks player comparing Colin Kaepernick to
Muhammad Ali for his refusal to stand for the Star-Spangled Banner last season. Kellerman argued that Kaepernick, who
remains a free agent after his controversial boycott, "did not go looking for a protest" and is not obligated to stand for
the anthem.
Michelle
Obama gets standing ovation at ESPYs. Former first lady Michelle Obama was greeted by a standing ovation when
she honored the late Eunice Shriver at the ESPYs on Wednesday night [7/12/2017].
A
tale of two first ladies and troubling media bias. Last night, Michelle Obama was the honored guest of the
annual ESPY awards. Naturally, the media collective was head over heels with praise and admiration.
Kaepernick
Skips Fourth Of July Celebrations, Travels To Ghana To Gain 'True Independence'. Football player Colin
Kaepernick refused to celebrate the Fourth of July, choosing instead to travel to Ghana to experience "true independence."
Kaepernick, famous for kneeling during the National Anthem, released a video Tuesday showing his travels to the African nation.
He visited his "home," Ghana, because he couldn't celebrate a day that oppressed the rights of his ancestors in America.
"How can we truly celebrate independence on a day that intentionally robbed our ancestors of theirs? To find my independence
I went home," Kaepernick tweeted.
The Editor says...
Now that you're "home" in Africa, perhaps we'd all be happier if you stay there.
I
Told You Testosterone Would Make Women's Sports More Interesting. As has been widely reported recently, a
female wrestler in Texas — Mack Beggs — has won the state championship in her division largely due to
the fact that she has a significant competitive advantage: she's taking steroids (testosterone). Once upon a time, such
behavior was widely considered cheating. In fact, some of the biggest scandals in sports history involve behavior virtually
identical to that of Mack Beggs. (Alex Rodriguez took testosterone.) In fact, due to the widespread problem of "doping"
(taking performance-enhancing drugs) in the world of athletics, in 1999, the World Anti-Doping Agency was created. Clearly
(and always) on the list of banned substances: testosterone. In spite of being an endogenous (naturally occurring)
anabolic androgenic (promotes male characteristics) steroid, testosterone use among athletes is prohibited if administered from
outside the body.
Nearly
One-Third of Americans Boycotting NFL Because of Black Lives Matter Protests: Poll. Nearly one-third of
American adults say they are less likely to watch a National Football League game because of the growing number of Black
Lives Matter protests that are happening by players on the field, a Rasmussen poll found. Thirty-two percent polled
online and by telephone said they're willing to skip NFL games this year because of player protests over racial issues, the
pollster said on Tuesday [10/4/2016].
Colin
Kaepernick hosts Black Panther Party-inspired youth camp. Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback
who started a movement of kneeling during the national anthem to highlight racial injustices in America, quietly hosted an "I
Know My Rights" camp for children of color over the weekend. Mr. Kaepernick and a small group of his friends had
been secretly planning the camp at Impact Hub Oakland in Oakland, California, in the hopes of teaching minority children how
to deal with racial discrimination, police brutality and a variety of other social issues, the New York Daily News' Shaun
King exclusively reported.
Poll:
NFL Ratings Down Due To National Anthem Protests. There are many reasons why the NFL's ratings are down in 2016.
You may be dismissive of the very idea that the backlash to the national anthem protests, sparked by the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick, has
played a role in the NFL's TV ratings, which have dropped by about 12 percent year-over-year. To continue to dismiss
that is to blatantly ignore legitimate data on the subject.
ESPN
Loses Subscribers, Colin Kaepernick Can't Understand Why. Traditionally not strange bedfellows, ESPN and
Monday Night Football should make for a nice, natural fit. However, the bed they made together appears to have
caught fire, and the anthem-kneeling, social-justice-warrior love child they created now dumps gasoline on the flames.
Nielsen made their subscriber numbers public, delivering apocalyptic results for both ESPN and the NFL. ESPN lost 621,000
subscribers in the last month, and ESPN's Monday Night Football fell by 24%.
Fans
watching fewer NFL games cite protests as primary reason. Ratings in the NFL, while still stronger than any
other challenger on the television landscape, continue to decline, and a new survey by Yahoo Sports and YouGov discerns
several reasons why. In a survey of 1,136 Americans who identified themselves as NFL fans, 29 percent said they
are watching fewer NFL games.
NFL
ratings plunge could spell doom for traditional TV. Football, America's biggest prime-time powerhouse, has been
thrust into a crisis this fall, with dwindling ratings sparking questions over whether it can remain a gold mine for
television in an age when more Americans are abandoning traditional TV. Network executives have long used the National
Football League's live games as a last line of defense against the rapid growth of "cord-cutting" and on-demand viewing
upending the industry. But now, the NFL is seeing its ratings tumble in the same way that the Olympics, awards shows
and other live events have, falling more than 10 percent for the first five weeks of the season compared with the first five
weeks of last season. A continued slide, executives say, could pose an even bigger danger: If football can't
survive the new age of TV, what can?
The Editor says...
Football can survive and thrive again, if the players will keep their left-wing America-hating political opinions to themselves. Especially if the well-compensated
football players complain about how tough their lives are. On the other hand, maybe it's better in the long run if the popularity of football diminishes greatly.
Football is a mixture of idolatry and vanity. Football players are not heroes. They are mercenary gladiators. The game of football leaves many young
players paralyzed every year, and many older players with lifetimes of irreversible brain damage. If television falls out of favor with the viewing public, that
could only be a good thing, unless you work at a television station.
Colin
Kaepernick: The Flag Is Just A Piece Of Cloth. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick believes
that the flag of the United States is nothing more than simply a piece of cloth. "At the end of the day the flag is
just a piece of cloth and I am not going to value a piece of cloth over people's lives. That's just not something I can
do, it's not something I feel morally right doing and my character won't allow me to do that," Kaepernick told reporters in
response to criticism from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to The Star.
NFL
tries to reassure teams as TV ratings drop. The National Football League has sent a memo to team owners seeking
to ease concerns about the ratings decline that has hit football this fall. Through the first four weeks of the season,
NFL viewership has declined 11 percent, and among the crucial adults 18-49 demographic that advertisers covet, ratings are
down 12 percent.
FS1's
Whitlock: 'Hyper-Progressive Movement That Has Lurched Into Sports' to Blame for Low NFL Ratings. Thursday [10/6/2016] on
Fox Sports 1's "Speak for Yourself," co-host Jason Whitlock blamed "hyper-progressive" sports media for the decline in NFL ratings this
year. Whitlock explained that while sports culture is conservative, progressivism in the media is "leading the conversation" in
sports, thus "turning people off."
Ratings
Fumble for NFL Surprises Networks, Advertisers. Once considered immune to the audience erosion plaguing the
television industry, ratings for National Football League games have slipped through the first four weeks of the season.
Boycott Leftism.
College athletic departments, which once did not care a hoot about political correctness, now have either cadres of the left as their
spokesmen or have utterly cowed and terrified administrators who dare not say a word against the messages of the left. The college
football players who enter the NFL find the same insinuation of leftist cant into every crevice of professional football. Although
the dopey former San Francisco 49ers' insulting behavior during the National Anthem is a conspicuous example of leftist venom, the
cringing fear of offending the left seems to terrify everyone in football. Well, let football be terrified instead of offending
those Americans who watch football on television and pay for tickets to football games and buy sporting equipment endorsed by football
players. There is evidence that this is happening.
From
Greek tragedy to American therapy. Second-string San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick apparently assumes that his
wealthy team can afford to pay him nearly $20 million a year to sit on the bench, without much caring that he can't be bothered to stand up
for the National Anthem. But victimhood is a good career move. Kaepernick went from being a washed-up quarterback to being a much-publicized
social justice warrior — a veritable Noam Chomsky in cleats opining on over two centuries of American criminal justice. He was once fined for
reportedly smearing a fellow NFL player with the N-word, but now as a victim himself, Kaepernick can no longer be a victimizer.
Poll:
32% skip NFL over Black Lives Matter player protests. The growing number of player protests at National
Football League games, driven by the Black Lives Matter movement and San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, has prompted
nearly a third of Americans to turn the games off, according to a new survey. Rasmussen Reports revealed Tuesday [10/4/2016]
that 32 percent of American adults say they are "less likely" to watch a game because of the expanding protests over how blacks
are treated, especially by police.
Politics
Has Ruined Everything Fun. [Scroll down] Before we could kick off the season, a fading star named Colin
Kaepernick had some kind of epiphany that he could change the world by sitting out the National Anthem. The right vs.
left media made Colin's sit-out national headlines for weeks — he has the right, 1st Amendment vs. he's an
ungrateful millionaire spitting on the country that made him great, and on and on. But they miss the point: I
don't care. Whatever these sports icons think, I really and truly don't care. Just play ball.
Allen
West: Election Is Referendum On Obama's Failures. Former Congressman Col. Allen West calls the
athletes expressing anti-Americanism "deplorable, despicable and disgusting." Specifically about NFL players, "When I look
at these privileged, little, spoiled princes getting multi-million dollar contracts," West wonders "what is it about America
that has oppressed you?" He couldn't help but notice that on the opening day for the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell fined
players $6,000 for honoring 9/11 on their cleats, while 49ers player Colin Kaepernick can wear socks depicting police as pigs
without sanction.
NFL
Ratings Continue to Plunge in Third Week of National Anthem Protests. For the third consecutive week, ratings
for the National Football League (NFL) have plummeted, as players continue anti-American protests during the playing of the
national anthem. This week's drop-off also coincided with the Monday broadcast of the first presidential debate between
Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton. Ratings for Sunday Night Football
featuring the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys scored a 12.9 Nielsen rating, down from the game's 13.7 rating last week.
America's Versailles Set.
Take the case of Colin Kaepernick, the back-up quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who makes $19 million a year (or about
$20,000 per minute of regular season play). He has been cited by National Football League officials in the past for his use
of the N-word, yet he refuses to stand for the pregame singing of the national anthem because he believes that his country is
racist and does not warrant his respect. His stunt gained a lot of publicity and he now sees himself as a man of the
revolutionary barricades. A number of other NFL athletes, as well as those in other sports, have likewise refused to
stand for the national anthem to express solidarity with what they see as modern versions of the oppressed peasantry.
But Kaepernick and his peers make more in one month than many Americans make in an entire lifetime.
Eagles
players Malcom Jenkins, Steven Means and Ron Brooks raise fists during national anthem. Athletes' protests of
police brutality during the national anthem continued prior to Monday Night Football between the Eagles and Bears.
Cameras showed Eagles players Malcolm Jenkins, Steven Means and Ron Brooks standing together with their right fists raised
in the air during the song.
Clinton's
Samantha Bee Problem. [Scroll down] It isn't just late-night TV. Cultural arenas and institutions that
were always liberal are being prodded or dragged further to the left. Awards shows are being pushed to shed their genteel
limousine liberalism and embrace the race-gender-sexual identity agenda in full. Colleges and universities are increasingly
acting as indoctrinators for that same agenda, shifting their already-lefty consensus under activist pressure. Meanwhile,
institutions that were seen as outside or sideways to political debate have been enlisted in the culture war. The tabloid
industry gave us the apotheosis of Caitlyn Jenner, and ESPN gave her its Arthur Ashe Award. The N.B.A., N.C.A.A. and
the A.C.C. — nobody's idea of progressive forces, usually — are acting as enforcers on behalf of gay and
transgender rights. Jock culture remains relatively reactionary, but even the N.F.L. is having its Black Lives Matters
moment, thanks to Colin Kaepernick. For the left, these are clear signs of cultural gains, cultural victory.
But the scale and swiftness of those victories have created two distinctive political problems for the Democratic Party.
This man is now pretending to be the victim of the trouble he stirred up: Kaepernick
says he has received death threats. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick told reporters on Tuesday
[9/20/2016] that he has received death threats in the weeks since he began his national anthem protest.
If You Respect America, Find Something Else to Do Sunday
Afternoons. Kaepernick disease continues to spread. Thanks to the encouragement of the people in charge,
it is completely engulfing the NFL. Tomorrow night the entire Philadelphia Eagles team is planning to use the national anthem
as a pretext to make a spectacle of their contempt of America: [...] To watch these overpaid, hyper-privileged thugs openly display
their hostility to everything we revere on the grounds that they are "oppressed," when in any other country they would be scraping
by doing manual labor, is too much to swallow.
NFL's
$4.6 Billion TV Bounty May Be At Risk Due To Kaepernick Fiasco. The National Football League will rake in
roughly $4.6 billion in television fees from CBS, ESPN, NBC, Fox and DirecTV that it will equally share with its 32 teams
this year. The NFL commands such a rich bounty because advertisers pay up for football's huge ratings. The
television money is a big reason why the average NFL team is worth $2.34 billion. But the National Anthem protests that
began with San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and has since been copied by other players has angered many fans.
And that anger may be one reason why the television ratings for the first week of NFL games were bad.
James
Woods: 'I Will Never Watch the NFL Again'. Actor James Woods is fed up with the way the NFL has handled Colin
Kaepernick's National Anthem protest — so much so that he has vowed never to watch a league game ever again.
The 69-year-old conservative actor ripped the league in an impromptu interview with TMZ this week.
NCAA
moving 2016-17 championships from North Carolina. The National Collegiate Athletic Association announced Monday [9/12/2016]
it will relocate all 2016-17 championship events from North Carolina due to concerns about civil rights protections in the state.
This decision comes after the NCAA Board of Governors in April adopted new requirements for sites that would be hosting or bidding on
events in all divisions. The resulting survey required bidding locations to prove how they would protect athletes, coaches and fans
from discrimination. NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a news release following the decision that the organization's events need to
promote inclusiveness, and current legislation in North Carolina does not guarantee that commitment will be fulfilled.
NCAA
to move 7 championships from North Carolina due to HB2 law. The NCAA announced on Monday [9/12/2016] the relocation of
seven previously awarded championship events — including NCAA tournament games in Greensboro — from the
state of North Carolina during the 2016-17 academic year as a result of the state's controversial House Bill 2. The law
prevents cities and counties from passing protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And public schools must
require bathrooms or locker rooms be designated for use only by people based on their biological sex. The NCAA sent a
questionnaire in July concerning discrimination issues to the local organizing groups in cities that have been named to host
any NCAA event in any of its three competitive divisions or are interested in staging them.
Seattle
Seahawks consider team-wide national anthem protest at NFL opener. The Seattle Seahawks are considering
following Colin Kaepernick and making a protest of their own before their NFL opener against Miami on Sunday. A number
of Seahawks players said they had been discussing their options, and suggested they might be prepared to take a team-wide
stand before the weekend's game. Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane, who sat for the national anthem during the
Seahawks-Raiders pre-season game last Thursday, said he will continue not to stand, while receiver Doug Baldwin and
linebacker Bobby Wagner said they had discussed a protest in the locker room.
Read more,
watch ESPN less. In a commencement address at the University of Central Florida, [ESPN President John] Skipper
bemoaned the fact that, according to a recent survey, the average American spends three hours a day in front of a television
and just 19 minutes reading. "Please watch a little less television," the TV executive implored. I would modify
his plea slightly. Please watch less ESPN. Why? Because [...] ESPN has taken the side of the political left.
Controversy
Erupts After NFL Quarterback Converts To Islam and Refuses To Stand for National Anthem. A controversy has
erupted today because San Francisco 49er's Quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand up during the playing of the
national anthem. [...] So what exactly is going on. Well, there's a little more to the story than most are willing to
accept. The media and the NFL will avoid these discussions like the plague, but [...] During the off-season
Colin Kaepernick converted to Islam. Colin Kaepernick is also engaged to Black Lives Matter activist and hip-hop radio
personality DJ Nessa Diab. Black Lives Matter as an activist group is synonymous with promotion of authentic Islam.
NFL
quarterback sits during national anthem, calls America racist. If you can't play, enter the political
fray. That could be the only possible explanation for 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sitting in protest of the
national anthem. Kaepernick has dominated headlines in the past year for a massive regression in his production, now
stuck fighting for a job with Blaine Gabbart. No serious analyst expects the 49ers to be competitive, despite
Kaepernick leading the Niners to the Super Bowl during the 2012 season. But this time, he's making headlines
on purpose for reasons other than football.
49ers
fans burn Kaepernick jerseys to the national anthem after the $114 million sport star refused to stand 'to protest black
oppression'. Furious San Francisco 49ers fans are burning Colin Kaepernick jerseys after he refused to stand
for the national anthem as part of a racial protest. One fan even played The Star-Spangled Banner as he set light to
the Number 7 shirt, watching with his hand on his chest as it was reduced to ash. Another, who uploaded a video to
Instagram under the handle Nate3914, called the $19million-per-year athlete an 'ignorant son of a b****.'
San
Francisco police union demand NFL, 49ers 'denounce' Colin Kaepernick's 'attacks' on cops. Cops in San Francisco
are throwing an all-out blitz at Colin Kaepernick. The head of the San Francisco Police Officers Association fired off
an angry letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and 49ers boss Jed York over the quarterback's "ill-advised statements."
Kaepernick started a national debate over the weekend when he said he was no longer going to stand for the national anthem.
While the cop union understands Kaepernick has the right to sit on the bench while "The Star-Spangled Banner" plays before games,
it's his reason for doing so that has San Francisco police demanding an apology.
Colin
Kaepernick won't stand for the national anthem anymore. Fun fact about Kaepernick that I didn't know until this
morning: His Twitter feed is full-bore SJW, with one retweet after another of Black Lives Matter champion Shaun
King. It takes a lot to boost your wokeness quotient when you're already that woke. But he figured out a
way! This is what would be called a "base strategy" in politics, in that it's bound to impress and catalyze people who
already sympathize with him at the expense of alienating literally everyone else.
National
Felon League Denies Cowboys Request To Honor Murdered Officers. The National Football League —
sometimes mocked as the "National Felon League" due a rash of violent crimes committed by current and former players in
recent years — has denied a request by the Dallas Cowboys to wear a small sticker on the back of their helmets
which would honor the five Dallas Police officers murdered by a domestic terrorist affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
NFL
Found a Cause They Won't Endorse: the Dallas Police Department. As written here before, there was never any
real expectation that the NFL would allow the Dallas Cowboys to wear the "Arm-in-Arm" decals on their helmets, to show
support for the Dallas Police Department during the regular season. Yet, there was some hope that the league would at
least allow the Cowboys to wear the decals during the preseason. Well, it appears that isn't happening.
The Editor says...
One can easily surmise that if the shooter had been white, and all the murdered cops had been black, female, homosexuals, or former professional
athletes, the NFL would have had no objections. You can bet that if the cause was breast cancer, AIDS, or UN earthquake relief, the NFL would have
had no objections. The NFL has to draw the line somewhere, of course; otherwise, football players will eventually look like NASCAR drivers.
Even so, one must wonder what their criteria are.
New
NCAA Rule: Championship Sites Must Allow Cross-Dressing Men To Use Women's Bathrooms, Showers. The
National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced that all cities and college campuses seeking to host future NCAA
championship events must fill out a lengthy, seven-page questionnaire about whether men can use women's bathrooms and waltz
into women's locker rooms to take showers. The NCAA Board of Governors announced its new bathroom-and-locker-room
survey on Friday [7/22/2016].
WNBA
Stars Angered Over League Fines for 'Black Lives Matter' Protest. Prominent WNBA players and Black Lives Matter
organizers are angered over the league's decision to fine three teams and their players for protesting gun violence.
The Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury were fined $5,000 each, and each player was fined $500 for wearing
black T-shirts during pre-game warm-ups in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers. According to
WNBA officials, the shirts violated the league's uniform policy. According to that policy, all shirts worn during
warmups must be the Adidas brand — the league's official outfitter — and may not be altered in any way.
The Editor says...
Just bounce the ball, throw the ball, and catch the ball. Spare us the political statements.
ESPN
Wastes No Time Going Political at ESPYs. You planned to have a smoke, maybe walk the dog before the ESPYs got
in full swing. Figuring that ESPN would at least recap some of the year in sports before putting on display their
craven and gratuitous sellout to radical, racial activism. Well, you guessed wrong. NBA stars Carmelo Anthony,
Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, and LeBron James derailed the evening of expected jockular festivities, instead redirecting the
crazy train that ESPN has become down the tracks of athlete activism.
ESPN Turns ESPY Awards Into Black Lives Matter Rally. ESPN is a
girlish, gay chat channel like Bravo that features slightly less house-flipping and slightly more homoerotic tributes to the physical male ideal.
It's evil, it's stupid, it's a waste of your time, and it's time to block the channel so that you're never tempted to give them your money ever again.
When
the NBA went all-out gay. The NBA just announced it's partnering with GLSEN, the leading gay activist educational
organization — an organization whose radical activism dates back more than a decade. How do the players really
feel about this ... especially those with conservative Christian (or Muslim) values?
After
Firing Curt Schilling for Transgender Comments, ESPN Hires LGBT Activist Abby Wambach. Curt Schilling's
politics got him fired from ESPN. Abby Wambach's politics didn't prevent her from getting hired. And neither did her
recent DUI arrest, which resulted in a guilty plea less than a month ago and admissions of past marijuana and cocaine use.
ESPN hired Wambach to analyze soccer at the Olympics, and venture into more contentious matters with "Outside the Lines" and on
a planned podcast called "Fearless Conversation with Abby Wambach," a program the AP describes as one in "which she promises won't
shy away from controversy."
The Left's Thought-Fascism
Hits ESPN. [Scroll down] By inclusive, ESPN does not mean ideologically inclusive. They simply mean
that if you do not kowtow to politically correct idiocies about men magically becoming women, you will not be tolerated.
ESPN is the same channel that rewarded Caitlyn Jenner, nee Bruce, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for getting a misguided boob
job, facial reconstruction surgeries and hormone treatments that will not solve his underlying mental illness. Pointing out
that Caitlyn is still a man, however, will get you fired from that same network. Not only that, but you will be memory-holed.
ESPN
Erases Curt Schilling From Baseball History. In the bad old days of the Soviet Union, Stalin, Brezhnev and the
rest would literally airbrush out of photographs those who fell out of favor. Killing them and sending family members
to Siberia did not suffice; they had to be erased from collective memory. [...] Now along comes ESPN airbrushing a game
played by former Red Sox great Curt Schilling out of a documentary on the 2004 American League Championship Series.
Unless you have been vacationing in Mars, you know that Schilling was until recently an ESPN broadcaster.
ESPN
Fires Curt Schilling — What About Liberal Offenders? About Schilling's firing, the Disney-owned
sports cable network said: "ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was
unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated." Last summer ESPN suspended Schilling for retweeting
a meme likening Muslim extremists to Nazis. Last month, he no doubt angered management for saying that Hillary Clinton
should be "buried under a jail somewhere" for her email scandal. So Schilling, to ESPN, is a serial offender.
And as a private company, it can terminate an employee for perceived offenses. OK, so Schilling has to go. But
what are the rules?
The Editor says...
Obviously the management of ESPN operates with an unusual concept of the word inclusive, if the company is
inclusive and tolerant of everyone except white guys who don't approve of homosexuality.
Curt
Schilling: ESPN Home to 'Some of the Biggest Racists in Sports Commentating'. So, Curt Schilling is
holding nothing back. Just over a week after he was fired by ESPN for being a conservative, and deigning to observe
that male bathrooms were built for people with male parts, while female bathrooms were built for people with female parts,
Schilling told the Breitbart News Patriot Forum that ESPN is home to "some of the biggest racists in sports commentating."
Here
are all the sports events California state lawmakers attended for free. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de
León was at the deciding game in Dodgers Stadium thanks to a $556 ticket — half of it paid for by a political
consulting group and the other half by a downtown Los Angeles law firm. Bay Area Assemblyman Rob Bonta got $460 tickets
to see the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets and advance to the NBA finals thanks to tickets from the chief
executive of an Oakland healthcare company. Assemblyman Mike Gipson (D-Carson) got $800 tickets to the Toyota Grand
Prix in Long Beach from a local law firm — though his form notes he reimbursed the firm $341 "to pay below the
gift limit." After the reimbursement, the total gift was worth $459 — one dollar under the limit for a gift
from a single source.
ESPN
Has a Right to Fire Curt Schilling. What Rights Do People of Faith Have? ESPN has fired Curt
Schilling. The company said that his speech went against company values because ESPN is "an inclusive company."
What's at stake here? Curt Schilling has a right to say biological men don't belong in women's bathrooms in whatever
controversial way he wants. And ESPN has a right to give Caitlyn Jenner the "Arthur Ashe Courage Award" for being a
men's sports icon who now publicly identifies as a woman. And whether we agree or disagree with Schilling's message or
ESPN's isn't the point. The bigger issue is that ESPN, like any other company, has a right to control its message,
which means it should be generally free to make employment decisions based on its values, not Curt Schilling's, and
certainly not the government's.
Curt
Schilling, ESPN and your God-given plumbing. There's no question that Curt Schilling has uttered a good number
of politically incorrect statements during his career at ESPN. The former All-Star pitcher has compared radical Muslims to
Nazis and most recently suggested that Hillary Clinton "should be buried under a jail somewhere." But it was something he
shared on social media — about transgender bathrooms — that turned out to be the last straw for ESPN.
To be blunt — he was unceremoniously fired because he has a problem with men using the ladies room.
The Editor says...
I worked in the broadcasting business from 1971 to 2019, and I can tell you this: TV sports personalities
are expected to be bombastic, opinionated, and able to extemporaneously expound at great length about the tiniest
details of professional sports. The sports nut / couch potato will little note nor long remember anything
that even his favorite sportscaster says. Therefore, if he (or she) occasionally sheds some light on a
politically incorrect topic, that offense should be forgiven; for indeed, that's how live television goes
sometimes. Once in a while, the truth pops out.
The NFL's Bullying
of Believers. Do you think a pastor who's against same-sex marriage should be forced to perform same-sex
weddings? Do you believe that a religious college should be allowed to hire only people who agree with the religious beliefs
of the college? Do you think no one should be forced to attend a wedding he doesn't agree with? If so, cheers:
The National Football League basically thinks you're a bigot.
NBA
may move 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte after anti-LGBT legislation passed in North Carolina. The NBA issued a
statement Thursday [3/24/2016] against the new law in North Carolina barring transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms
that do not match the gender of their birth certificate. In the statement, the NBA hinted it could reconsider hosting All-Star
Weekend in Charlotte in 2017. "The NBA is dedicated to creating an inclusive enviornment for all who attend our games and events.
We are deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect and do not yet
know what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte."
The Editor says...
Does their logic make any sense? Man, I can't wait to see the All Star Game — and I sure hope there will be a
bunch of lesbians in the restrooms. No, exactly the opposite is more likely what most sports fans are thinking.
NFL
says Georgia religious exemptions bill might cost Atlanta Super Bowl bid. Atlanta is one of the finalists for the next two league
title games to be awarded, along with New Orleans, Miami and Tampa. The city is considered a clear favorite because of its new retractable-roof
stadium that is set to open next year. However, the religious exemptions bill could change all of that. "NFL policies emphasize
tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper
standard," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said. "Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with
these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites."
The Editor says...
In other words, the last football game of the season is being used as leverage to promote the left-wing homosexual agenda.
Building a billion-dollar stadium is even less sensible if the Big Game can never be played there — and all because those heartless
bigots in Atlanta won't allow men in the women's restrooms. I've never purchased a ticket to an NFL game, and I can assure you that I
never will.
Louisiana
Dem Gov. Edwards warns: Agree to proposed tax hikes or LSU football could be sacked. Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is suggesting the
legendary Louisiana State University football team's 2016 season might be canceled — and other doomsday consequences — unless the GOP-led legislature
swiftly passes a package of tax increases to help close a looming $940 million budget shortfall. [...] "That means you can say farewell to college football
next fall," Edwards said in the address.
The Editor says...
Oh, no. Not that! It's easy to use football as a lever to help raise taxes, since football is seen as an indispensible necessity — at
any cost! Sky high taxes, concussions and broken necks are nothing compared to the prospect of a world without football!
The halftime show at the big game is more politicized than ever: Beyonce
gets political at the Super Bowl. Beyonce issued a strong political statement with her halftime show at Super Bowl 50 on Sunday [2/7/2016] with backing dancers dressed as
members of armed rights group the Black Panthers. The superstar brought the dancers on for her new single Formation which is being widely touted as a rallying cry for the Black Lives
Matter movement. At one point during the song, the supporting performers formed an 'X' on the field — thought to reference black rights campaigner Malcolm X — and then
raised their arms in the air in a gesture referencing the black power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Fox
News slams Beyoncé's 'outrageous' Super Bowl performance. Fox News wasn't too happy with Beyoncé for her Super Bowl performance.
The 20-time Grammy winner appeared on the field during halftime and performed her new song "Formation" — which has become a "rallying cry for the Black
Lives Matter movement," according to the network — and was joined by backup dancers wearing Black Panthers-style outfits.
Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Black Version of KKK Rally.
The Black Panthers weren't just lunatic moonbats who hated white people. They were also violent sociopaths who engaged in a wide array of
crimes including murder. Judging by their rhetoric, the New Black Panthers aren't any better. [...] Malcolm X was best known for
rejecting the peaceful tactics advocated by MLK in favor of his "by any means necessary" approach to achieving black power. [...] Why can't
regular Americans even watch a football game without being told to hate themselves for their race?
Sheriff
Clarke on Beyonce's Halftime: Would It Be Acceptable If 'A White Band Came Out In Hoods and White Sheets? Commenting on Beyonce's halftime show
during Super Bowl 50, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke said he did not want to make "a huge deal about it," but since Beyonce and the other dancers
were wearing "Black Panther-type uniforms," would it be acceptable if "a white band came out in hoods and white sheets in the same sort of fashion?"
Sheriff Clarke added that "the Black Panthers are a subversive hate group in America."
Update: Anti-Beyonce Rally Planned For Next
Week At NFL Headquarters. Controversy continues to swirl around Beyonce's Super Bowl halftime show performance. The pop
superstar is being accused of using her performance to attack police officers. "I think it was outrageous that she used it as a platform
to attack police officers, who are the people who protect her and protect us," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CBS2's Dick Brennan.
ESPN
says there is too much patriotism in sports. There is a natural affinity between sports and the military. Both
unambiguously reward hard work and excellence. Both teach personal responsibility for success or failure, and celebrate the
virtues of courage, earned-pride, and honor. Sporting events are also among the biggest occasions when Americans come
together in their communities to enjoy the fruits of freedom that our service men and women provide. So I've never found it
surprising or objectionable that most sporting events in America start out with the national anthem or that we often take the
opportunity of sporting events to honor those who fight for all of us. But ESPN senior writer Howard Bryant opines in the
current issue of ESPN The Magazine that this is all an "uncomfortable change in sports in post-9/11 America."
Proof that the big game is a political lever: 'Rumblings'
of Super Bowl Boycott After Houston Equal Rights Measure Rejected. The controversial measure would have established nondiscrimination protections
for LGBTQ people in the city, among other groups. "I fear that this will have stained Houston's reputation as a tolerant, welcoming, global city," Houston
Mayor Annise Parker said at an election night watch part in downtown Houston. "I absolutely fear that there will be a direct economic backlash as a result
of this ordinance going into defeat and that's sad for Houston."
The Editor says...
Quite the reverse is true: Tourists aren't going to visit any city where there is no difference between the men's restroom and the ladies' restroom.
Update: NFL
Refuses to Move Super Bowl from Houston After 'Bathroom Ordinance' Rejected. The NFL will not move the 2017
Super Bowl from Houston after the losers in the so-called "bathroom" ordinance demanded on Wednesday that the league cancel
or move the annual event a day after Houston voters overwhelmingly rejected the HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance) proposition.
Senators
accuse NFL of 'paid patriotism'. Two GOP senators accused the NFL and other top sports leagues of making the Pentagon
pay for ceremonies honoring troops at games. Some $6.8 million of taxpayers' money went to leagues and teams for contracts
with staged events, including the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, paid $49,000 by the Wisconsin Army National Guard to sponsor the
Sunday performances of "God Bless America," and $20,000 to the NFL's New York Jets to honor national guard troops.
The Houston Texans' Uday Aboushi Publicly
Supports Terror Attacks on Israel. NFL football player Oday Aboushi arrived in South Florida this weekend to play against the
Miami Dolphins, this time in the uniform of the Houston Texans, as the team he previously played for, the New York Jets, waived him in the
offseason. And while the team he plays for may have changed, his actions as an anti-Israel Muslim extremist remain fully intact.
Leftist propaganda is everywhere: Every
Day, A New Way to Hate. In channel surfing my way to the British Open, I lit for a
moment on the usually sane ESPN show, "Mike and Mike." Co-host Mike Greenberg was off that morning
so 28 year-old sub Ryan Ruocco sat in with regular Mike Golic, a former NFL defensive tackle.
Flaunting his liberal chops for the suits upstairs, Ruocco gushed about the Arthur Ashe Award. Of
course, he did not call the winner "Bruce Jenner." He refused to even say "Jenner." It was
always "Caitlyn Jenner," over and over. Those who dared say "Bruce" Ruocco surely would have
lumped — in his words — with "the critics who hate." Bingo! There
it was. Our progressive friends had discovered the glory of transgenderism about fifteen minutes
ago, and they were already prepared to brand critics of any sort as "haters," the collective term for
the non-elect in their perverse neo-puritan presbytery.
Army
hero slams 'greed' of New York Jets for being paid to salute troops at home games. It
all boils down to Gang Greed. That was how a hero soldier honored by the Jets reacted to news
that the team and 13 other NFL franchises were paid by the National Guard and the Department of
Defense to salute the troops at home games. "I think it's pretty shameful that millionaires and
billionaires take money from the service," Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Waiters told The [New York
Daily] News. "It's just greed," said Waiters, an Army medic who served two tours of duty in
Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Report:
Defense Dept. paid NFL millions of taxpayer dollars to salute troops. The United
States Department of Defense paid the National Football League more than $5 million in taxpayer
money between 2011 to 2014 to honor U.S. soldiers and veterans at games, an investigation revealed
this week. [...] But instead of purely heartfelt salutes to soldiers from hometown football teams,
the halftime segments were reportedly part of paid promotions under federal advertising contracts
for the military.
Laura Ingraham
to St. Louis Rams: 'Shut Up and Play'. "I don't know about you, but when I watch
football, I want to watch football," Van Susteren said at the top of the segment Monday evening
[12/1/2014]. "I don't want to watch someone's political agenda shoved down my throat, whether I'm
in agreement with it or not." The host went on to ask why there weren't similar displays in reaction
to the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal, asking, "Why ruin football with politics and controversy?
It's just a game."
NFL says it won't discipline
Rams players for Ferguson protest. The NFL will not adhere to a request from the St.
Louis Police Officer's Association to discipline St. Louis Rams players who did the "hands up, don't
shoot" pose used by protesters in Ferguson, Mo. during pre-game introductions on Sunday. [...] The
police officer's association issued a letter late Sunday condemning the players' actions as
"tasteless, offensive and inflammatory" given a grand jury's decision not to indict Ferguson police
officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown.
Police angry at 'hands
up' gesture by St. Louis Rams players. A group representing police in St. Louis says
it's infuriated after five St. Louis Rams players raised their hands Sunday in solidarity with
protesters upset at Michael Brown's death. The St. Louis Police Officers Association says it's
"profoundly disappointed" with those football players who sent a silent but strong message before
playing Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.
St.
Louis Police Demand Rams Punish Players for 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' Pose. Before
Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders, several St. Louis Rams players entered the field with a
"hands up, don't shoot" pose, a reference to the shooting death of Michael Brown, which has roiled
nearby Ferguson, MO. Guess who didn't appreciate that: the St. Louis Police Officers
Association, which is demanding that the team apologize and the players be punished.
Rams players use 'hands
up, don't shoot' pose while taking field. Five St. Louis Rams players took the field
for Sunday's [11/30/2014] home game against the Oakland Raiders with a "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" pose
that has been used by protestors in Ferguson, Mo., and across the country recently.
St.
Louis police group demands punishment for Rams players in Ferguson protest. A St.
Louis police officers' group called on the NFL to punish five Rams players who stood with their
hands raised before trotting onto the field for pregame introductions Sunday [11/30/2014]. The St. Louis Police
Officers' Association said it was "profoundly disappointed" with what it called a "display that police
officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory." It called for the players
involved to be disciplined and for both the league and team to issue a "very public apology."
The Editor says...
I can see how the lowest-class unemployed simpleton in the streets (with nothing to lose) might be drawn into a
stunt of this sort, but not a well-paid professional athlete. The participants in this case
can't conceal their identity, and their employer can't be happy about the publicity.
If you owned Babe Ruth's bat, would you let this guy touch it? Obama swings Babe Ruth's bat at Baseball
Hall of Fame. President Obama turned tourist at the Baseball Hall of Fame Thursday [5/22/2014], employing a time-tested strategy of
embracing sports when the going gets tough in politics. Obama cradled Babe Ruth's bat and examined Joe DiMaggio's glove at the
shrine to America's pastime in upstate Cooperstown — while trying to boost his own batting average with the public.
Unionizing
College Sports Pits Unions Against Socialist Principles. The recent controversy over efforts to unionize
college athletes rests on the presumption that those who receive scholarship money are in fact employees. Unions
see themselves standing for the little guy against the interests of the rich employer. However, far from advancing
the goals of socialism, unionization of college sports would make the rich richer, and the poor poorer, in the world of
college athletics.
Northwestern
University football players to receive maternity coverage under Obamacare. You probably heard by now that the National
Labor Relations Board (NRLB), in their infinite wisdom, put the stamp of approval on college football players being treated as full
time employees with the right to unionize. Well, I suppose everything comes with a few unintended consequences, [...]
College Football
Unionization Decision Opens a Can of Worms. A National Labor Relations Board official has given
the green light to Northwestern University football players to form a union. The March 26 decision
by the NLRB's Chicago regional director, Peter Sung Ohr, held that scholarship football players are "employees"
for purposes of federal labor law. [...] While Ohr's decision makes sense on an intuitive level —
players are paid to perform a service and are therefore employees — it leads to more questions than
answers. For example, if players are employees, do their scholarships now constitute taxable income?
Can athletic departments, many of which are organized as non-profit corporations designed to promote amateur
athletics, continue to accept tax-deductible donations from alumni? And will other labor laws, including
overtime and worker's compensation, now apply to football players?
NLRB
Rules in Favor of Student-Athlete Unionization. A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled
Wednesday [3/26/2014] that scholarship athletes should be considered "employees" with rights to unionize under federal law.
The decision stems from an attempt by the Northwestern University football team to form a labor union.
Reports:
Northwestern football players overwhelmingly vote to reject unionization. The regional NLRB's (immediately
appealed) March ruling that Northwestern University football players are employees of the school, and are therefore
entitled to form a union [...] precipitated today's vote — the official results of which likely won't be known
for months, or even years, due to a lengthy anticipated appeals process. The unionization push has become a hot topic
in sports media and a political lightning rod.
NYPD Union To
Join Lawsuit Against NFL Gun Ban. The New York Police Department's Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) will join
Minnesota police unions' lawsuit against NFL gun ban. According to the New York Post, SBA president Edward Mullins said the
NFL's policy barring off-duty officers from carrying guns into games "is a violation of any state laws that allow off-duty cops to
carry their guns in public places."
Cuban
says Mavs wouldn't move to make way for a GOP convention in '16. The Dallas Mavericks are not willing to relocate potential
playoff games from American Airlines Center to make way for the 2016 Republican National Convention, team owner Mark Cuban said Thursday.
Asked by email whether he would be willing to vacate his team's home arena to accommodate the convention, Cuban said: "No and we
won't move."
NFL Fan Blasts Hypocrisy
of Rejecting Home Defense Ad by Gun Company. It seems the Super Bowl has fallen victim to political correctness. They've
decided to ban a pro-Second Amendment — and pro-veteran — Super Bowl ad by Daniel Defense, a company that sells guns,
detailing a father who declares that he will protect his family. "No one has the right to tell me how to defend them," he says.
The banning promoted this epic response from Colion Noir, a football fan, attorney — and NRA News commentator — who
destroys the NFL for their hypocrisy.
Anti-Gun NFL: National Frauds' League.
The National Football League's hypocrisy and selective decency standards reek like a post-game locker room. On the one hand, the organization
refuses to run a firearms manufacturer's self-defense Super Bowl ad under the guise of neutrality and taste. Yet, the professional football
conglomerate routinely revels in raunchiness, gratuitous physical violence and anti-gun screeds.
Dems Hold 'Closed-Door
Discussion' with NFL, NBA, NHL to Promote Climate Change Agenda. Climate change alarmists have turned to recruiting sports leagues to
promote eco-hysteria. Democrats in Congress are calling on the major sports leagues to promote climate change regulation and to answer what
they are doing to limit greenhouse gases. Democratic legislators from the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change announced on Nov. 20
that they will host major sports league officials in "a closed-door discussion," Nov. 21. Representatives from Major League Baseball,
the NFL, NBA/WNBA, NHL and Olympics are expected to attend.
Senator: Sports
Stadiums 'at Risk from... Sea-Level Rise Effects of Climate Change'. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) warns sports stadiums are at
risk from the "sea level rise effects of climate change," and that climate change specifically threatens hockey and skiing. "We see
significant sports facilities, the palaces of — of sport that are at risk from the storm, climate, sea-level rise effects of climate change,"
Sen. Whitehouse said today following a closed-door climate discussion with executives from the NFL, NHL and NBA.
The Editor says...
As I have shown on another nearby page, global warming is blamed for everything,
but there have always been storms. If you think the mean sea level is about to increase dramatically in the next few decades, then
don't build a stadium one foot above sea level.
Is the Left taking over sports, too? "It's funny to
listen to sports commentators on the radio who have clearly been brought up through public schools and state university journalism programs talk about
class and race and gender like a sociology major from Smith or Dennison," says R.J. Moeller, a conservative who also writes about sports and
culture. "They hate any strong male coaches. They hate any sort of patriotism associated with the sport. They're treating sports and
holding what goes on in locker rooms to the same standard they would a diversity and social justice mediation seminar on Google's campus."
Moeller's not alone in feeling this way. Others cite the "feminization" of sports and the liberal tilt of modern sports coverage as cause for
concern.
ESPN Commentator: National Anthem a 'War Anthem,' Shouldn't
Be Played Before Games. On ESPN's Around the Horn, frequent guest Kevin Blackistone said that football games should not include the
singing of the national anthem beforehand, as that added to the "military symbolism." He actually called the Star-Spangled Banner a "war anthem."
NFL ban off-duty cops from carrying guns
into stadiums. Off-duty cops are no longer able to carry their weapons to NFL stadiums according to a new policy. Texas is the only
state in which an off-duty cop can carry his gun into the stadium. When checking in, a cop can use a special gate and inform stadium officials of
where they will be seated with their gun. The head of Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police, Bob Cherry, is outraged by the NFL's decision.
NFL Bars Off-Duty Cops from Carrying Guns
into Stadiums. The National Football League has implemented a new stadium policy that would ban off-duty police officers from carrying guns into
games. Cleveland's police union president worried the policy would stop officers from assisting if a dangerous situation arose.
Separation of church and baseball — no doubt the courts
can find that in the Constitution, too. Cross written in
sand not allowed to honor beloved player. Political correctness infected the world of sports recently, when the St.
Louis Cardinals' management put an end to the recent practice of etching a cross and the number 6 into the pitcher's mound to
honor a Cardinal great, the late Stan Musial. The number and cross only began appearing in recent weeks on the mound, just
behind the rubber.
NFLPA selling LGBT pride shirts.
The union that represents NFL players has launched a line of LGBT pride shirts. The NFL Players Association announced the
launch on Wednesday [6/12/2013] in conjunction with LGBT Pride Month, which is June.
Why I'm Canceling My SI Subscription.
I am going to let my subscription to Sports Illustrated lapse when it runs out this year. I hope lots of other people will do the same.
Like too many other publications, the magazine has become dishonest, dishonorable and even occasionally despicable in its conformist, lockstep
left-wing bias. Republican politicians and conservative positions are routinely insulted in articles having nothing to do with either.
Commie
Night at US Cellular Field. Monday night, July 25th 2011 People's World/Mundo Popular will
be holding their 6th annual tailgate BBQ and fundraiser at US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.
Although Barack Obama will not be able to attend this openly communist fundraising event, his rabid supporter
Pepe Lozano will be on hand for the gala evening. Chicago native Pepe Lozano is a writer for CPUSA's
People's World and a key leader of the Chicago Young Communist League.
No 'cheers' for
latest Title IX decision. Title IX, a section of a federal education law passed in 1972, has
become an exemplar of the kind of government action that initially was justified but since has taken on a
life of its own grounded in legal and bureaucratic nonsense. A new federal court ruling on "competitive
cheer" versus women's volleyball makes clear the descent of Title IX into absurdity.
Seven
Places Where politics Doesn't Belong. [#7] Sporting events: Should Major League
baseball yank the All-Star game from Arizona to send a message about their immigration law? Should the
Los Suns deliberately flip off the fans who shell out 90 bucks a pop to watch them play? It's one
thing for an athlete to get involved off the field, but do we really need to know the Washington Redskins'
official position on abortion? Do the Boston Celtics need to take a stance on border security?
'Humanitarian'
owners never fight for fans. What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were
sneaking into Suns' games without paying? What if the owners had a good idea as to who the gate-crashers
are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs,
thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected?
Anthem Skipped
Before Monday Night Game. Sports in America start with the national anthem.
The Dolphins-Steelers game was an exception. Rushing to begin the nationally televised
matchup following a 25- minute weather delay, the NFL chose to skip the anthem Monday night
[11/26/2007] before Miami played Pittsburgh. The game started without any of the
traditional pregame ceremonies, except the coin toss, and neither team was introduced
on the public address system.
MSNBGreen: "We have turned out
the lights in the studio," NBC's Bob Costas told viewers of Sunday's Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game,
"to kick off a week that will include more than 150 hours of programming designed to raise awareness
about environmental issues." … On a typical game day, a large football stadium burns about 65,000 kilowatt
hours of electricity and 35,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The cars driving to the game spew about 200
metric tons of CO2 (and that assumes nobody's driving SUVs or RVs, which is like assuming tailgaters are
eating only sushi). There's also the electricity used to broadcast the game and to watch it. But
thank goodness Costas turned off the studio lights for a minute or two.
Sports TV:
Professional football, baseball, and basketball depend heavily on television coverage to maintain the
perception that the games are entertaining, and the next best thing to attending in person is to watch
the games on television. Television stations make a lot of money broadcasting weekend sports,
without which they would have to make ends meet by showing filler movies and infomercials.
Caitlin
Clark Exposes Media Racism. There is a little craziness happening in Iowa and with
University of Iowa basketball star, Caitlin Clark. She just set the NCAA all-time women's
scoring record and can make even more history this season by passing Hall of Famer Pete Maravich of
LSU for the all-time NCAA scoring record set in 1970. With two games remaining in the season, Miss
Clark averaging ~30 points a game and just needs 51 points to break Pistol Pete's record
that he set during his three seasons in Baton Rouge. But the leftist media's treatment of
Caitlin Clark shows just how corrupt the compromised media really is. [...] The mainstream media
purposely avoids the point that Caitlin Clark is doing something no one in the history of women's
basketball has ever done. She is selling out arenas everywhere she goes and is responsible
for the biggest television ratings in women's basketball history. Isn't that
newsworthy? Of course, it is. So, what is the problem? The media's problem with
Caitlin Clark is that she is White and apparently Black women basketball players resent the
accolades and attention the six-footer is getting. The WNBA can't fill their stadiums.
And the haters in the media and the WNBA are all over it.
Giving
Peacock the bird. As the NFL bread and circuses brigade marches blindly toward Super
Bowl Sunday, the league finally tipped its hand when it streamed one of its wildcard playoff games
between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins. Perhaps you were one of the
23 million who flew over that paywall by subscribing to Peacock for the privilege.
Welcome to the future of NFL broadcasting, as network television will soon be washed away by the
stream. As cable continues to bleed subscribers, streaming will fill the gap. Perhaps
lost on the scramble for the almighty dollar is how the NFL's success has been anchored to its
longtime availability on free television. NBCUniversal forked over $110 million for the
rights to broadcast the game in an effort to draw more Peacock subscribers to its streaming
platform. [...] The NFL remains the seamless event for television. What other sport has
commercials made exclusively for its championship game at record prices — yearly?
The games, however, have devolved into commercials interrupted by football. Forgotten is how
streaming would affect commercials.
NBC
Edits "Jesus" from Texan Player CJ Stroud's Post Game Interview. On Saturday, the
Houston Texans beat the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs. After the game, an
NBC reporter interviewed Texans quarterback CJ Stroud on the victory. At 22, Stroud is the
youngest starting quarterback to win an NFL playoff game and has never been shy about his love for
God. He begins most interviews with a statement of faith and gratitude. Here is the
original live clip just after the game: [Video clip] When NBC subsequently shared
the clip later on social media, however, Stroud's praise of Jesus was edited out of his
remarks. [Video clip]
ESPN
[has been] forced to return 37 ill-gotten Emmy awards. ESPN has been ordered to
return 37 Emmy awards the sports network received under false pretenses. For 13 years,
ESPN committed "fraud" by submitting fake names to the credit list for the Emmys, according to the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). "Since at least 2010 ... ESPN took
the awards won by some of those imaginary individuals, had them re-engraved, and gave them to
on-air personalities," The Athletic reported on Thursday. ESPN gave some of the re-engraved
trophies to front-facing figures on "College GameDay," such as Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Chris
Fowler, Desmond Howard, and Sam Ponder. The report claims the on-air personalities were not
aware of the scheme as ESPN higher ups convinced them they had won the awards containing their
names. Eventually, NATAS ordered ESPN to return the ill-gotten Emmys, each of which was
intended for a behind-the-scenes employee who does not exist.
The Editor says...
Obviously, NATAS is Satan spelled backwards. Just a coincidence, right?
We
Must Learn to Ignore the Colin Kaepernick Media Narrative. The news cycle has been
full of stories about Colin Kaepernick and the latest speculation of his signing with another
football team. These stories are similar to those that have circulated for the past seven
years. To recap, Colin Kaepernick played quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers until he was
benched and released in 2016. He's also known for his protests against the police by kneeling
during the National Anthem. Nothing else has happened for seven years. Nothing.
The story has not really been about Colin Kaepernick at all. The story has been (and is)
about how the establishment media creates news out of nothing, and keeps the narrative on life
support long after the patient has died. Since 2016, while nothing was happening, we have
been bombarded with "news" stories anticipating yet another milestone in Kaepernick's career.
From reading seven years of headlines, a reader would conclude that Kaepernick has actually played
football for various teams during that time. An October story announced "NFL world reacts as
Colin Kaepernick makes major move." But, if one reads the actual story, one would see that there
was no "major" anything behind the headline. The headlines that pop up on our mainstream news
(MSN) home pages are designed to plant a seed in the minds of people too busy to click and read the
actual story.
The Editor says...
That's why you shoud be able to spot a click-bait headline and ignore it.
Former
MLB broadcaster claims he was blacklisted for being a 'white, male Republican'. Being
a white, male conservative today is equivalent to putting a giant "kick me" sign on your back, or
at least that's been Ryan Spaeder's experience. Spaeder has a long list of career
achievements. Perhaps most notable are his contributions to Major League Baseball,
specifically as a broadcaster and as a writer. However, despite his dedication to the sport,
he claims he's "been blackballed by Major League Baseball" due to his gender, race, and political
views. "I am not welcome any more," he tells Stu Burguiere. Despite his ousting, Spaeder
refuses to conform for the sake of acceptance. "I'm not going to bend the knee; it's not me,"
he says. But his courage has not been without cost.
Disney's
ABC to Air Additional 10 'Monday Night Football' Games as Writers-Actors Strikes Saps
Content. ABC will be airing more "Monday Night Football" games than originally
planned. An additional 10 games originally set to appear only on ESPN will be simulcast on
ABC. The additional games will be on network television because of the ongoing strikes by the
Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Disney,
Netflix, Amazon and others. The strikes, which have been going on for months, have delayed
most of the upcoming fall television season.
The Editor says...
Nobody will force you to watch football just because no other programming is available. You have the
opportunity to turn off your TV, for once in your life, and go for a walk or read a book. If a
football game is played, and Team X defeats Team Y, how does that affect you anyway?
It doesn't.
Sage
Steele leaves ESPN after settling her lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccine comments. ESPN
and host Sage Steele have settled a lawsuit she filed after being disciplined for comments she made
about the company's policy requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Steele
posted on social media Tuesday that she is leaving the Bristol, Connecticut-based company, where
she has worked since 2007.
Disney
Wrecks College Football. The big-money era of college sports began in the 1980s after
the NCAA lost control over TV rights in a famous court case. With cable TV millions, ESPN and
its broadcast sister, ABC, started signing up every big football and basketball conference.
They also subsidized the proliferation of holiday season bowl games. But the Disney Corp.
bought ESPN/ABC, getting them in bed with the same people who brought you affirmative action and
DEI: the college presidents. With cable TV money stagnating in the 2000s, even for sports
programming, Disney pursued a strategy to weed out all but the highest TV ratings schools from its
patronage. (Not unlike how Paul "Bear" Bryant used to over-recruit players, then ruthlessly cut all
but the best. Getting rid of the players he no longer needed was the main reason for his
infamous summer "two-a-day" practices)[.] Disney's ESPN had TV deals with all the "Power 6"
conferences 20 years ago, but in my opinion quietly sought to wreck two of them, the Big East and
the Big 12, by encouraging other conferences to poach their members.
Virtue-signaling
tennis networks erase players' flags. As I relaxed on my sofa to watch the opening round of the Australian
Tennis Open on ESPN+, I noticed that during some of the matches, the score box at the lower left-side of the screen had
some blank white boxes that normally displayed the flag of the player's country. The blank white boxes were next
to players from Russia and Belarus. Then I went on the NBC Sports website to check on scores, and after each name
on the brackets the player's country was abbreviated in parentheses — except for players from Russia and
Belarus. I then checked the official Australian Open results page, and all of the players except the Russians and
Belarusians had their country's flags displayed next to their names. And now, Tennis Australia has banned Russian
and Belarusian flags at the open. The Russians and Belarusians at the Melbourne tennis center are apparently
players without a country.
The Editor says...
How's that gonna work on the TV coverage of the Olympics?
NFL Completely Annihilates
NBA In Christmas TV Ratings. On Christmas Day, the most-viewed NFL game of the day was the contest between
the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, pulling in 25.92 million viewers, according to NFL analyst Ari
Meirov. In comparison to the NBA's highest-viewed game, which was between the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks,
it was a blowout with basketball only pulling in a little over six million viewers.
Oh No, How Awful. Thoughts
on the BBC lamenting the English women's football team having too many white players. [Video clip]
ESPN
Loses 10% of Subscribers, Down 8 Million Since 2020. ESPN continues to lose subscribers at an advanced rate,
losing another ten percent in fiscal 2021 which amounts to a loss of eight million subscribers since 2020. Disney notes
in its annual report that Nielsen numbers show the network counted well over 100 million subscribers ten years ago. But
with its latest report, ESPN finds the network only counts 76 million today, according to DEADLINE.
Further, ESPN counted 84 million subscribers at the end of fiscal 2020. But in its latest report, the cable network only
counts 76 million now.
Wheels,
women, and watchability. The 2021-22 version of "March Madness," a.k.a. NCAA Men's basketball, is
swinging into its second week of action with the Sweet Sixteen teams competing to earn a spot in the Final Four and a chance
to win the national championship. For the schools, it's a revenue cash cow because teams or schools earn more money as
they navigate their way further into the tournament brackets. [...] The hype, the television exposure, and the billions of
dollars the NCAA earns have turned this tournament, which began in 1939 with just eight schools competing, into a monster
event that carries on for three weekends of late winter and early spring — hence the moniker and, of course,
copyrighted term, "March Madness." (Note: The NCAA never leaves money on the table.) Commercials abound during
the games. While costs per second aren't as high as the Super Bowl, the price for posting an ad on CBS for the title game
is still two million dollars. That's small change compared to Super Bowl commercials but it ain't pocket change either.
Bi-racial
ESPN anchor Sage Steele is taken off air after questioning why Obama identifies as black when 'he was raised by white mom and
grandma'. ESPN anchor Sage Steele has been taken off the air after blasting vaccine mandates and questioning
Barack Obama's blackness — with network sources claiming she also has COVID. During a podcast interview,
Steele, 48, called her network's coronavirus vaccine mandate 'sick.' She suggested that female journalists welcome
harassment based on the way they dress, and also remarked on how the bi-racial former president was raised by his white
mom. The furor over Steele's appearance on ex-NFL star Jay Cutler's podcast has seen the divorced mom of three announce
she is taking a break from her job[,] while also issuing a groveling apology for her remarks.
Al
Leiter, John Smoltz won't appear at MLB Network studios after refusing vaccine. Hall of Famer John Smoltz and
former Met and Yankee Al Leiter will no longer appear in-studio for MLB Network after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine,
The [New York] Post has learned. MLBN has made it mandatory for all employees to be vaccinated, with the mandate going
into effect Sept. 1. MLBN executives, Smoltz and Leiter made a compromise to keep them on-the-air, but not in the Secaucus
studios. They will both appear remotely for the shows. Smoltz will also still call a Division Series game on site
in October. The two are regular in-studio analysts for the network.
NBA Ratings Prove The League is in an Undeniable
Decline. The NBA ratings are worse than we thought last month when we found out they were worse than we
thought. Headed into the final week of the 2020-21 season, the NBA has averaged 1.4 million viewers across ESPN, ABC,
and TNT, down 13% from last year's disastrous COVID-interrupted, bubble season. NBA defenders — at ESPN,
Bleacher Report, USA Today and every other sports media outlet — are running out of excuses. "It's the
bubble," they yelled last year when the ratings tanked. Make no mistake, the NBA's declines have undoubtedly reached
headquarters. Coming into the 2020-21 season, NBA games on ABC — the league's most prominent broadcast
partner — were down 45% since 2011-12. Yes, 45%. Within that same time frame, NBA broadcasts on TNT
were down 40%, and ESPN was down 20%. Come next week, this story will, somehow, read worse.
Proof that nobody watches women's sports on TV: Men's Tourney Made $864.6M Last Year,
Women's Lost $2.8M. The NCAA Division I men's basketball championship budget for the 2018-19 season was
$28 million — almost twice as much as the women's budget. Information provided by the NCAA to ESPN on
Friday shows the men's tournament brought in a total net income of $864.6 million that season, while the women's event
lost $2.8 million — the largest loss of any NCAA championship. The NCAA said its championship budgets
are determined and approved each year, but this year's tournament budgets were determined last June but have been completely
changed because of the pandemic, ESPN reports. The NCAA said it won't know the 2021 championship totals until it's over.
The
Chinese TV commercial that the NBA doesn't want its players to see. I would wager that the NBA's management
does not want its players to see the following Chinese television commercial in which a Chinese woman shoves a Black man into
a washing machine after feeding him a laundry detergent tablet, where the advertised product magically (and violently) washes
the blackness out of the man — to the delight of the woman. He comes out Chinese (not White), of
course. [Video clip]
Clay Travis on the NBA's Collapsing
Ratings. The NBA's ratings collapsed again, this time on Christmas Day. The average viewership of the
five games is down 16.5% from 2019 and a massive 25.3% from 2018. Above all, the marquee primetime game, Mavs-Lakers,
fell an unheard of 32% from two seasons ago.
NFL
Ratings Have Tanked And They're Not Coming Back. The pandemic has been taking a toll on everyone this year and
it turns out that professional football isn't exempt from this effect. Fewer people are tuning in for the games this
season than we've seen in a long time. This isn't just bad news for the league, of course, though it definitely eats
into their revenue. The networks that carry the games are having to adjust their advertising prices downward to make up
for the advertisers' anticipated numbers. In some cases, they're just giving away advertising slots in lieu of other
compensation. And despite most of the games having been played, the audience levels still aren't showing any signs of
rebounding with only a few weeks left in the regular season.
Election
TV ratings down by 20% despite people being home during coronavirus pandemic. The numbers are in —
for Election Night ratings, that is. Despite people being stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, viewership of
the 2020 presidential election coverage on Tuesday was down by a whopping 20% compared to 2016, according to Nielsen
estimates. About 56.9 million tuned in across 21 networks during the primetime hours of 8 p.m. to
11 p.m. EDT this year as votes poured in for Joe Biden and President Trump.
ESPN
laying off 300 employees in huge pandemic-related cuts. ESPN informed employees early Thursday [11/5/2020] that
it would lay off 300 people across its business, while also not filling 200 currently open positions as the pandemic
continues to harshly impact ESPN and its parent company, Disney. The message was sent from ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro
in a company-wide memo that was obtained by The [New York] Post. The layoffs will not be concentrated in any one
department and, according to a source, will be spread across the network. On-air personnel will mostly be spared at the
moment, according to sources, though ESPN has been scrutinizing contracts more fastidiously in recent months, letting some
expire.
The Editor says...
Why would a pandemic negatively affect a cable TV network? With more people staying home, working from home,
attending classes from home, wouldn't TV viewership increase? Rather than the virus hurting ESPN, is it not more likely
that they are losing viewers for the same reason that the NFL and NBA are losing fans? By that I mean the introduction of
politics into sports. The virus is merely a convenient excuse.
See? It has nothing to do with Coronavirus. ESPN
to Cut 500 Positions to Free Up Money for New Video Ventures. ESPN's chief said the Disney sports-media
division would eliminate 500 positions — 300 employees and 200 posts that are currently unfilled — in a
bid to free up resources for streaming, digital and other kinds of video experiences designed for the new ways fans are
engaging with sports. ESPN has already made cuts in recent years as traditional ratings and subscriber numbers have
fallen, noted ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro in a memo to employees issued Thursday. "We have, however, reached an
inflection point," he said.
Turned
off and tuned out: Hollywood and pro sports viewerships plummet. Americans are fed up with millionaire
actors and athletes preaching to us about how bad our country is, and evidence for that disgust is everywhere we look. [...]
In 2016, the NFL made a conscious decision to condone the politically charged antics of a handful of their employees/players,
and their ratings took a hit. Earlier this year, however, they decided to double down by actively participating in, and
indeed ratcheting up, those efforts. We've seen similar approaches by MLB and the NBA, to the point that we can barely
watch any of our team sports without being bombarded by politically tinged virtue signaling. And while Hollywood has
been dominated by leftists for decades, they have taken that domination to new levels recently. There are few things
more American than going to the movies or watching a ballgame, but unfortunately we can now add both to the growing list of
traditions that the Left is succeeding in trying to destroy.
How
to Save the NFL in Three Easy Steps. The National Football League stands at the edge of the abyss. It is
about to lose a multi-billion-dollar industry and the awareness of this peril is beginning to seep into the consciousness of
its members. The lack of crowds at the NFL games have gone from worrisome to absolute devastation. Breitbart
journalist Warner Todd Huston has been documenting the empty stands for several years now, and each year the situation grows
more dire. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, millions of fans had stopped watching games. The viewership numbers
get more dismal every game day. Here's where the problem really started. Basketball player Charles Barkley said
this in a famous 1993 Nike commercial: "I'm not a role model. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I
should raise your kids." The attitude of separating good character from athletic ability seeped into professional sports like
a poison. The NFL became blasé about keeping on a wife beating player or one who abused dogs. As long as
the athletes could perform, their personal lives were none of the owner's concerns. Murder? Whatever.
American
Pro Sports Are Fully Woke and Going Broke. The TV ratings for the Marxist terrorist-loving, Chinese Communist Party-hugging
National Basketball Association continued their historic cratering on Friday night [10/9/2020]. Game 5 of the league's finals
series between [checks notes] the Los Angeles Lakers and the [checks notes again] Miami Heat drew less than [one-third] the TV audience
that the same game in last year's finals series enjoyed.
Lakers
Win, Ratings Tank in Unbelievable Fashion, and the NBA Cries Uncle. If Lebron James wins his 4th championship
but no one watches, did it really happen? The Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th NBA title last night, defeating the
Miami Heat in six games. People flooded the streets in a manner that will no doubt be ignored because its not a
Trump rally, but overall, the ratings for these finals have been so bad as to belabor belief, and we aren't talking a 20-30%
drop, which would be damaging enough. Here are the numbers. Though we don't have Game 6 numbers yet,
Game 5 drew only 5.7 million viewers. In 2019, that number was an astonishingly higher 18.5 million
viewers. [...]
Viewership
for NBA Finals Finale Crashes Nearly 70%, Beaten by Random Sunday Night Football Game. On a night when the NBA
broadcast its most important game, you would think that the league would own the night. That, once again, turned out to
not be the case. The viewership numbers for the sixth and final game of the NBA Finals are in, and they are atrocious.
Game 6 drew, at its peak, 6.028 million viewers. To put that in perspective, Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals,
which included a team from Canada and did not include LeBron James, drew 18.34 million viewers.
ESPN
May Lay Off Hundreds of Employees as Part of Disney Cost-Cutting. The economic shutdown caused by the
coronavirus pandemic that already led Walt Disney to lay off nearly 30,000 employees who worked in the theme park business
may soon affect one of the company's other ventures: ESPN. The Worldwide Leader could lay off hundreds of
employees in the coming weeks, sources told Front Office Sports. On the high end, 700 employees could be gone. On
the low end, 300. While the majority of layoffs are expected to affect employees who work behind the camera, some on-air
talents are also expected to be let go, especially if they are working with an expiring contract.
The Self-Immolation
of Sports Television. Last week, Max Kellerman decided, yet again, to use a daily sports-talk show to peddle
lies about the Black Lives Matter protests that have ignited into violence and destruction across the country. [...] Equipped
with a smug grin and a live microphone, Kellerman began his crusade to cover up what any American with a smartphone and a
Twitter account has learned this summer: Black Lives Matter protests have encouraged destruction from behind a
deceitful banner of peace. Kellerman baldly stated that only "7%" of these protests have led to violence and that this
minority, however destructive, still belongs under a broad definition of peaceful protest. "Blocking traffic," he
continued, or "responding to police provocation" is what led to these innocent protesters having their marches classed as
violent. "A big percentage of that, that [which] wasn't peaceful," Kellerman said regarding violent protests, "is
actually outside agitators, extremist right-wing agitators posing as protestors to make the protests look bad."
Spare me the nonsense. Kellerman provided no evidence for his claims.
NBA
Finals Game 2 Ratings Crash by 68%, Least Watched Finals Game in History. Both Game 1 and Game 2 of the NBA
Finals between the L.A. Lakers and the Miami Heat have suffered the worst ratings crash in the league's entire TV broadcast
history. Despite the matchup including two of the league's biggest stars (LeBron James and Anthony Davis), Game 1 of
the Finals on Wednesday was a huge ratings disappointment for the NBA.
Game
1 of NBA Finals sees lowest viewership in recorded ratings history. A trend of low ratings throughout the NBA
postseason has now reached the NBA Finals. And hit it hard. Game 1 of the Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers
and Miami Heat brought in only 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That is reportedly the
lowest viewership seen for the Finals since at least 1994, when total viewers began to be regularly recorded. The number is
down 45 percent from last year's Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors, which had 13.51 million
viewers. This is the fourth straight year Game 1 viewership has gone down compared to the previous season.
NBC's
Sunday Night Football Ratings Crash Nearly 30% for Woke Opening Weekend. The Sunday Night Football clash
between the Rams and the Cowboys [9/13/2020] was supposed to halt the ratings crash the NFL has experienced so far in the
2020 season. Spoiler alert, it most certainly did not halt the ratings crash.
NFL
ratings: 'Sunday Night Football' sees sharp decline in initial ratings. Initial ratings are in for the NFL's
Sunday [9/13/2020] slate of games, and the ratings decline evident from Thursday's kickoff continued through to the league's
marquee telecast, "Sunday Night Football." However, Fox Sports recorded its best ratings since 2016 for its Game of the
Week. (Further ratings for other games are not yet available.) Sunday afternoon's marquee game pitted two of the
NFL's most notable players, Tampa Bay's Tom Brady vs. New Orleans' Drew Brees. They played in an almost exclusive
window as only two other games were airing at the time. The result was a major payoff for Fox. Saints-Bucs drew a
16.2/35 overnight rating, which was Fox's highest such rating for a Week 1 game since 2016.
Ratings
Drop 16 Percent From Last Year For Opening Game Of The NFL Season. The ratings dropped for the NFL opener
between the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans from last year's season opener. The Thursday night
battle where the Chiefs beat the Texans 34-20 saw a 16.1% drop in the ratings when compared to the 2019 opener for the season
in the age demographic of 18-49, per Deadline in a piece published Friday [9/11/2020].
NFL
ratings plummet in Chiefs-Texans season opener. The NFL is back. Spread the word. Thursday night's
[9/10/2020] season-opening matchup between the Chiefs and Texans attracted 19.3 million viewers between 8 and 11 p.m.
That marks a 12.3% drop from last year's ratings, which ended with an audience of 22 million. Deadline noted that the
key 18-49 demographic pulled in a 5.2 rating, falling from last year's 12.8 mark. It is likely that multiple factors
played into the drop, including social justice messages, which have been present, while audience sizes have reduced across
all sports in recent months.
Beyond
the Ratings a New Poll Shows Professional Sports Are in Real Trouble With Americans. Within a week, MLB, NBA,
and the NHL all came back with scheduled games, leading to unexpected results. League officials and media experts all
anticipated pent-up fan interest and the lack of live attendance at games would lead to higher-than-average
ratings — except the opposite has proven out. It is becoming a concern, as the NBA alone has had sharply
lower ratings, including a -20% drop for the start of their playoffs. Expectantly, the insistence of the leagues has
been that this is all a result of the pandemic — despite their early promise of rabid fan interest. The
truth is the overt anti-American activism from the athletes, coaches, and even the broadcasters has been the main deterrent.
Will
ESPN spoil college football for conservatives? On Saturday [9/5/2020], I watched football for the first time
since February. The game was Arkansas State vs. Memphis. ESPN carried it. I was having a fine time
watching a reasonably well played and closely contested game. But then, in the second quarter, the announcing
team — Bob Wischusen and Dan Orlovsky — suddenly turned away from football to racial politics.
The two began by saying how wonderful it is that college football players have become politically engaged. [...] Are we
supposed to care? The two went on like this for at least five minutes, I think (it seemed even longer). During
that time, there was a considerable amount of action on the field including a turnover, if remember correctly.
Wischusen and Orlovsky largely ignored all of it while they riffed on political activism, racial justice, and their youthful
ignorance.
NBA Ratings In Free
Fall After Brief Boycott. The NBA's ratings are in an inexplicable free fall after a brief player-led boycott
last week. Game 5 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers was the least viewed game of the entire
series, drawing 2.92 million viewers. Last year, a showdown between the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs drew
3.49 million viewers in a comparable time slot.
First week of NBA
playoff ratings down 20 percent from last season. The NBA playoffs inside the Orlando bubble averaged 1.875 million
viewers for the first week, down 20 percent from last season, per data from RealGM and ShowBuzz Daily. Industry insiders mostly
chalk up the decline in viewership to the abnormal season, with games being played in August and often during the daytime hours,
when television viewership is generally down across the board.
ESPN
Subscriber Losses Accelerate as Network Returns to Woke Programming. The subscriptions and revenues for ESPN
are plummeting at an increasingly fast rate, as the network has replaced its sports coverage with leftist propaganda.
Analyst Rich Greenfield recently looked at Disney and ESPN's reports and found very troubling numbers for the sport network
and its parent company.
CBS Will Pay Tony
Romo $17 Million Annually To Commentate NFL Games. CBS is going to pay Tony Romo a stunning amount of money to
commentate NFL games. Romo, who might be the most popular commentator on TV, has agreed to a $17 million annual
salary with CBS, according to Andrew Marchand.
TV
Station Accused of Racism for 'Braves Scalped' Headline After MLB Game. A Bay Area TV station was accused of racism for
broadcasting the caption "Braves Scalped," after Wednesday's [10/9/2019] National League Division Series game between the Atlanta Braves
and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals trounced the Braves in a 13-1 final in Game 5 of the NLDS. But as soon
as the game ended, KTVU broadcast a headline that some found offensive.
ESPN Uses
Chinese Propaganda in TV Graphic. ESPN on Wednesday evening [10/9/2019] showed a graphic recognizing China's
erroneous claim to own the South China Sea, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against that claim in 2016.
While transitioning to a segment about the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team arriving in Shanghai for their Thursday game,
ESPN showed a graphic of China with the so-called Nine-Dash Line. The dashed lines encircle the South China Sea,
marking the large area of it the PRC claims to control.
MLB
Announcer Blames Rise in Home Runs on Global Warming. There's certainly a change in hot air, but it's the hot
air coming out of this guy's mouth. F.P. Santangelo, an announcer for the Washington Nationals, bizarrely attributed a
spike in home run totals this season to a variety of reasons, most notably global warming. It's been fairly well-documented
that launch angles, a rise in batters swinging for the fences and accepting the associated strikeouts that come with such actions,
and a change in baseballs, have contributed to the astronomical numbers.
TV
Ratings for Game 2 of the NBA Finals Down 20%. TV ratings for game two of the NBA Finals were in the
toilet. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ratings for the Warriors win over the Raptors Sunday night were down
20% from the same slot last season. TVByTheNumbers reported the game got 10.79 million viewers. [...] I think it's safe
to say the NBA has a gigantic problem on its hands. These numbers are atrocious. I'm honestly not sure they could
get much worse at all.
On the other hand... NBA Finals Game 3
Tickets Sell for $50,507.50 Per Seat. Tickets to Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and
Toronto Raptors are selling for an absurd amount of cash. According to Darren Rovell, two tickets were sold Sunday [6/2/2019]
for the price of $50,507.50 each. Another pair was sold for the combined total of $88,388. This comes on top of some
tickets to game four selling for over $80,000.
NFL
Network shows slashed, tensions rise after $20M cuts. The NFL Network is being forced to cut $20 million out of
its projected budget and, in the process, already has eliminated at least five shows, including one that featured Deion Sanders,
The [New York] Post has learned. The less-than-hoped-for budget has made negotiations with on-air personnel tense, and
there is a feeling some will either not be retained or be forced to take pay cuts, according to sources. The moves have
been made as part of the NFL's overall budget, which includes what is expected to be an amped-up celebration of the NFL's 100th
season this year. NFL Network has apparently absorbed part of the project into its budget.
CBS
Cameras Cut Away the Moment Texas Tech Starts Praying. CBS cameras cut away from the Texas Tech locker room the
moment their head coach entered the room and began leading the team in prayer. The network seemed to have no problem
letting their cameras linger, while the announcers filled time and waited for the coach to arrive. However, moments
after the coach Chris Beard arrived, the team began to pray and the cameras cut away to a shot of the announcers.
WaPo
Super Bowl ad demonstrates exactly what's wrong with the media. The Washington Post sponsored an ad during the
Super Bowl that may have been the most pretentious, the most exaggerated paean to the religion of journalism ever created.
They call it "Democracy dies in darkness," and it features a grand, sweeping musical score and actor Tom Hanks seriously intoning
the importance, the necessity, and the need to worship journalism. [...] The Washington Post spent millions on this ad, and the
reviews were decidedly mixed.
Super
Bowl LIII was a ratings bust, scoring lowest viewership in 10 years. The Los Angeles Rams weren't the only
losers of Super Bowl LIII. Sunday's big game was a ratings flop for CBS, with viewership hitting a 10-year low.
Preliminary numbers from Nielsen show a 44.9 rating for the championship, down 5% from last year and the lowest Super
Bowl ratings in a decade.
CBS
rejects pro-flag, anti-Kaepernick 'Just Stand' Super Bowl ad. A veteran-owned apparel company's pro-flag Super
Bowl TV ad that punches back at Nike's promotion of Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests has been rejected by
CBS. According to the firm, Nine Line Apparel, CBS was apparently not satisfied the firm could pay for the 45-second ad,
despite having annual revenues of$25 million. A spokesman for Nine Line charged that CBS didn't like the ad's content.
Are
You Ready to Stop Watching the Never-Ending Commercial? [Scroll down] The point is that television
programs are little more than commercials for promiscuity, unfettered immigration, socialized medicine, gay rights, and the
rest of the Democrat agenda. [...] For those who seek refuge in sports, the NFL and its broadcasters have surrendered
completely to the Democrat platform. The NFL is unable to stop the National Anthem protests, while the sponsors embrace
the protesters. The athletes make headlines by refusing to attend White House functions during GOP
administrations. The NFL uses its tremendous leverage to bully state and local governments to adopt certain
policies. The NFL refuses to run ads by the Border Patrol during the Super Bowl. Broadcasters often refuse to say
they word "Redskin" for fear of offending someone. [...] The only question is whether you will pay to endure that
commercial. In the past two years, NFL ratings and attendance have declined. Unless you have developed a gambling
addiction through your fantasy football league, there is no reason to devote your Sundays to the NFL instead of joining your
fellow consumers in finding something else to do.
ESPN
Loses 2 Million Subscribers This Year. According to Disney's recently released annual report, sports network
ESPN has lost 2 million domestic subscribers over the course of 2018. Disney's report revealed that the company's
sports network, ESPN, currently has 86 million subscribers. This is down two million from the 88 million
subscribers to the sports commentary and news station in 2017.
Ratings
way down for NFL opener. The NFL's opening Thursday night game got disappointing TV ratings for a league that
is battling perceptions of rapidly declining popularity. NBC announced a 13.4 overnight rating for the Super Bowl
champion Eagles' last-second win over the Falcons. That was way down from the 14.6 for Chiefs-Patriots last year, which
itself was way down from a 16.5 for Panthers-Broncos the year before, which itself was way down from a 17.7 for Steelers-Patriots
the year before that.
ESPN
reaches another new low in its Little League coverage. The crying shame of it all is that ESPN could have been
the best thing to happen to American sports. Instead, it has senselessly, purposefully and relentlessly become the
worst. Consider what ESPN has done with and to the Little League World Series, an event that should be treated softly
and simply as per the common sense treatment of kids at play. Twenty years ago, ESPN began to exploit 12-year-old LLWS
participants to ask questions that would produce answers that served as in-game advertising. Favorite movie?
Favorite TV show? Favorite sportscaster? Favorite vacation spot? If the kid gave a Disney, ABC or ESPN
answer, bingo! — it appeared in a graphic. It was transparently cheap and disgusting, but ESPN was just
getting started.
NBC
still going for the gold in on-air blunders. Most recently, sportscaster Dan Hicks [...] covered an Alpine race
in which little-known Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic beat Austria's Anna Veith, and won the gold medal. Ledecka,
who ranked No. 43 in the world, was considered to have so little chance to win that Hicks declared Veith the winner and NBC
switched away. [...] But the race wasn't over.
NFL
Lost $30 Million in Ad revenue Over Cratering TV Ratings. With the 2017 NFL season now down in the record books
as having lost another ten percent in TV ratings, the league has found a $30 million dip in ad revenue, a report says.
As the final numbers for advertisement sales for the season were tallied, the league discovered that its revenue fell 1.2 percent
because "makegoods" rose to beat rate increases. A makegood is a partial repayment of money charged to advertisers because the
viewership did not reach the expected numbers to justify the top rate.
Anti-Trump
ESPN host Jemele Hill will no longer host 'SportsCenter'. Outspoken liberal Jemele Hill will no longer host
ESPN's flagship "SportsCenter," ESPN insiders have confirmed to Fox News. She will be re-assigned to a new role at The
Undefeated, the company's site that covers the intersections of sports and race, according to Sports Illustrated. The
controversial Hill famously called President Trump a "white supremacist" on Twitter last year.
The Editor says...
If you report from "the intersection of sports and race," you are politicizing sports coverage on television.
The only thing more un-watchable is the use of sports metaphors to describe politics.
Jags-Pats
Earn Lowest Early Game Rating Since 2013. If you're the NFL this morning, looking at the ratings from Sunday's
conference championship games, chances are you're mixing something extra strong into that morning coffee. A regular
season trend of declining ratings which then turned into a postseason trend of declining ratings, has culminated into a
championship weekend of, you guessed it, declining ratings.
AMVETS
says NFL censored its ad against flag protests. AMVETS officials are decrying "corporate censorship" from the
National Football League for their decision not to run an ad in their Super Bowl program which responds to league players'
decision to kneel for the national anthem in protest of national equality issues.
NFL
TV ratings drop nearly 10 percent during tumultuous season. National Football League executives looking to stop
a ratings skid continued to lose more yardage during the 2016-2017 season, as television viewership fell 9.7 percent across
all networks, according to Nielsen data. An average NFL game was watched by 1.6 million fewer people compared to last
year, declining overall from 16.5 million to 14.9 million, ESPN reported. The ratings slide bulit on an 8 percent
drop from the prior season, which had been partially attributed to the hectic 2016 presidential election, the network added.
NFL
looking at game plan to recover from record-low TV ratings. The NFL is approaching the playoffs looking for a
ratings turnaround after a year of record-low television numbers. Outcry over players protesting by taking a knee
during the national anthem isn't helping, but it's only one of several reasons fans are turning away from professional
football, media analysts say. Injuries to marquee players such as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, teams
with losing records in the nation's largest media markets such as New York and Chicago, a glut of prime-time games, and
viewers with other options have also taken a toll.
Report:
ESPN's John Skipper Resigned Due to Sexual Harassment Issues, Not Substance Abuse. Nearly two weeks ago, ESPN
President John Skipper shocked the media world by suddenly resigning from his position at the "Worldwide Leader." At
the time, Skipper said he needed to resign to deal with substance abuse issues. [...] This explanation seemed rather
suspicious. Since Skipper had just signed a major contract extension the month before his resignation.
NBA enjoying
ratings surge while NFL flounders. While the NFL gets socked with ratings declines, the NBA is off to its
second-most-watched season ever. ESPN, which has telecast 30 games since the season's Oct. 17 opener, said Thursday
[12/21/2017] that average viewership has soared 18 percent, to 1.8 million a game, from this point last year. TNT,
with 16 NBA telecasts to date, said its average is up 25 percent, to 2.1 million viewers. Even NBA TV, with
41 telecasts, is up 25 percent, to 365,000.
Why pro football's
grown so hard to watch. Today's league leadership didn't make football a great game. It inherited one.
[...] Current NFL execs had nothing to do with this. They were bequeathed a sport of tremendous value. And while
the market price of the average NFL team has risen by an order of magnitude over the past generation, the league is
destroying the game's true value. [...] The most obvious problem is the replay system, which has spread like a virus all
throughout the game. It seems like every play has to be reviewed, which means the naturally fast-paced nature of the
sport is constantly interrupted while the refs reconsider every play in slow motion.
'Thursday
Night Football' Ratings Tumble To Season Low With Broncos' Win. At least with their 25-13 win, the NFL team
from the Mile High City snapped an eight-game losing streak on the road in Week 15 of the season. Not that many were
interested, it seems — and we don't just mean all those empty seats in Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday [12/14/2017] in
a season sideswiped by protests, controversy and ratings declines. Snagging a 7.4/13 in metered market results, last night's
TNF [Thursday Night Football] was a season low for the broadcast, on both CBS and NBC and simulcast on NFL Network. Taking
a double-digit hit, the December 14 game was obviously down from last week and also the comparable gridiron match-up of last
year where the Seattle Seahawks beat the L.A. Rams 24-3.
Cable
Coverage Estimate Reveals That ESPN Lost Just Under a Million Homes in 2017. One would think with the NFL,
college football, and the NBA all in action, that it would be a great time to be a sports cable network. Well, the one
who thinks that would be wrong, it's not a great time to be a sports cable network. Moreover, it's an even worse time
if you're ESPN. While it appeared as though ESPN had at least slowed the bleeding of subscribers this year, a massive
loss of households from November to December, essentially put the the Bristol-based sports giant back on the same subscriber
loss rate the company had experienced before.
NFL
Ratings for 'Monday Night Football' Hit New Season Low. Just when some industry observers were beginning to
think that it couldn't get any worse for the NFL's primetime ratings this year, it gets much, much worse. The NFL
served up the Texans and the Ravens on the week 12 edition of Monday Night Football, and NFL viewers
seem to have resoundingly said, "No thank you."
Much
Like Their Television Ratings, NFL Merchandise Sales Plummet to New Lows. The NFL has already received their
fair share of bad news this holiday season. First, the league finds out that all three Thanksgiving games saw double-digit
drops in viewership from the previous year. Now, along with that lump of coal, we learn that the NFL's merchandise sales
have crashed as well.
NFL
Ratings Slump Continues. Well, who would have thought that putting out a bad product and spitting on the
American flag would be bad for ratings. The National Football League has seen its week eleven ratings and they're not
good: one million fewer viewers from last year. The NY Post reported that the ongoing battle between Jerry Jones, owner
of the Dallas Cowboys, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been the center of NFL coverage. Goodell has put up
insane contract demands of a $50 million salary, along with free flights, and health care for his family — for
life. This coming from a man who has failed miserably to handle the national anthem protests that has engulfed the
league in controversy.
The NFL ratings slump is getting
worse. The TV audience for NFL games steepened its slide in Week 11, losing 1 million viewers versus last year's
season-to-date average. The 6.3 percent slump — worsening from comparable declines of 5.6 to 5.7 percent
during the previous three weeks — plagued a week whose off-the-field drama made gridiron tackling seem almost tame by comparison.
ESPN
Subscribers Drop to 14-Year Low, Putting Pressure on Disney. ESPN lost 2 million subscribers last fiscal year, underscoring the challenge
owner Walt Disney Co. faces attracting young people who don't pay for cable. The network, one of the most watched on the cable dial, had
88 million U.S. subscribers at the end of September, including people paying for online versions, Disney said in its annual report Wednesday.
That's down from a peak of 100 million in 2010 and marks the lowest total since 2003. To ensure the long-term future of one of its most
profitable businesses, Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger is negotiating to include ESPN in new digital forms of pay TV, such as Sling TV and
DirecTV Now.
ESPN Loses
$1 Billion, More Layoffs Coming. It's going to be a very unhappy holiday season for employees at ESPN as
reports indicate more layoffs are coming between now and Christmas after massive losses to the anti-Trump sports
network. Somewhere between 60 and 100 employees are slated for the chopping block through the end of the year which
represents $80 million in salaries ESPN is trying to salvage to offset an almost $1 billion budget shortfall.
Over
100 layoffs expected at ESPN after Thanksgiving, SportsCenter will reportedly be 'hit hard'. Following a year
of layoffs, ESPN is expected to have another round after Thanksgiving. Over 100 staffers could lose their jobs in the
layoffs, including positions on the television side, producers, executives and those in digital and technology, according to
Sports Illustrated. SportsCenter is expected to be "hit hard" and some on-air talent could be out of a job. ESPN
declined to comment to Sports Illustrated about the looming job cuts. Layoffs have been occurring at ESPN multiple
times throughout the last two years.
Vin
Scully Refuses to Watch the NFL Due to Player Protests. Beloved former Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin
Scully has said that he will never watch another football game due to the player protests during the national anthem.
The 89-year-old, who broadcasted Dodgers games for almost 70 years, made the remarks at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium during
a question and answer session after a speech he gave. Everyone loves Vin Scully. It's impossible not to.
I'm a lifelong Cubs fan and Harry Carey will always reign supreme in my heart, but I have no problem saying that Scully was
the greatest sports broadcaster ever.
Why
ESPN Could Abandon NFL Football. As it struggles to regain heretofore heroic heights — levels of
growth that are probably no longer attainable — ESPN has had to endure a slew of significant workforce layoffs
(with more reportedly on the way) and a once-doting Wall Street that has turned a skeptically cold shoulder.
Astonishing increases in earnings, previously viewed as faits accomplis, now seem like fantasies from another world, thanks
to the now-familiar combo of cord-cutting and burgeoning rights fees. With so much of ESPN's universe asunder, it's not
outlandish now to entertain a previously unthinkable prospect: Might ESPN elect to go without rights to NFL games after
the expiration of its eight-year deal for Monday Night Football in 2021?!
TV
Ratings: World Series Climbs, Trouncing Sunday Night Football. Sunday's Game 5 of the World Series — the last
to be played in Houston and the second-longest on record — climbed again on Sunday night [10/29/2017], trouncing NBC's typically
dominant Sunday Night Football in the process. Early indicators have the Astros' 13-12 win taking the No. 1 spot for
primetime — averaging a 12.8 overnight rating among households. That's off 16 percent from the comparable Game 5 in
2016 but still the second-biggest Game 5 since 2003. It also easily ranked as the biggest World Series game of 2017 thus far.
Will
the NFL Be the First Legal Monopoly in US History to Fail? Monday Night Football ratings are down. NFL
ticket sales are down. Stadiums are half empty. The NFL may cut 10 Thursday night broadcasts from the
lineup. NFL owners met in New York last week to deal with the kneeling crisis. Now consider this: the NFL is a
private monopoly established by an act of Congress, and it looks like it's going down. How is such a thing possible?
TV
Execs Scramble to Stop Plummeting NFL Ratings, Suggest Canceling Ten 'Thursday Night Football' Games. Network
executives are scrambling to solve the growing problem of crashing ratings for the National Football League, by cutting games
to end the perceived "over-saturation" of football on TV. To put an end to the sliding ratings, the executives are
proposing that fewer games may be the ticket to stop that "over-saturation," with one idea being to cut Thursday Night
Football by a whopping ten games.
NFL
Ratings Continue to Crater As New Numbers Reveal Massive Two-Year Decline. The NFL used to be the golden goose
for television networks, and their ratings. However, new numbers show that the league has gone from laying golden eggs
for the networks, to just laying, well, eggs. According to Nielsen data obtained by the Sporting News, "League games
averaged 15.1 million viewers through Week 7. That's down 5.1 percent from 15.87 million viewers
during the same period last season and off 18.7 percent from 18.35 million viewers during the same period in 2015."
TV
Execs Scramble to Stop Plummeting NFL Ratings, Suggest Canceling Ten 'Thursday Night Football' Games. Network
executives are scrambling to solve the growing problem of crashing ratings for the National Football League, by cutting games
to end the perceived "over-saturation" of football on TV. To put an end to the sliding ratings, the executives are
proposing that fewer games may be the ticket to stop that "over-saturation," with one idea being to cut Thursday Night
Football by a whopping ten games.
NFL
Losing Viewers At Alarming Rate But Faces Limits On Its Response. Last year, the NFL lost about a million
regular-season viewers versus the 2013 and 2014 seasons. It represented about a 6% fall-off — enough to be
easily noticed and maybe even cause a little concern, but it could be written off as a one-year blip. Last year's
seepage has turned into a major break in the dam. The league is now down about three million viewers per game from 2013
and 2014. When the specific teams appearing, the scope of the telecast and the week of the season are taken into account,
the decline is even more dramatic: more than four million viewers, or in excess of 20%.
NFL cash cow dries
up. Ratings are down 17% at CBS for its NFL games. Part of this is the disloyalty of the league.
The Baltimore team moved to Indianapolis. Cleveland's team moved to Baltimore. Houston's team moved to
Tennessee. Oakland's team moved to Los Angeles. St. Louis's team moved to Arizona. One Los Angeles
team moved to St. Louis, while the other moved back to Oakland. Then the St. Louis team that moved in from
Los Angeles moved back to Los Angeles, and the San Diego team moved to Los Angeles. There was no reason for these
moves. The NFL makes about $100 million a year in profits. That's per team. More than $3 billion
a year. The NFL allowed teams to move around for a few million more.
Jemele
Hill: How Not to Learn From Experience. Jemele Hill is an on-air ESPN personality. In the last few
years, ESPN has become notorious for emphasizing politics over sports; Ms. Hill is part of the problem. Last
month, she denounced President Trump as a "white supremacist" after he criticized NFL players who kneel during the National
Anthem. After that incident, she apologized for "letting her colleagues and company down" with the white supremacist
tweet. She did not, however, learn from the experience.
Networks
Could Lose $200 Million if NFL Ratings Slide Continues. If NFL fans continue to turn away from football, the TV
networks could lose as much as $200 million in earnings, according to a new report. After ratings for Week Two crashed,
adding to the angst already felt by a poor showing in Week 1, industry insiders and analysts are sounding the alarm. A
new report claims that CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC could take a $200 million hit to their estimated $2.5 billion in NFL
advertising earnings if fans continue to turn off the TV, the The Hollywood Reporter noted recently.
Kaepernick
Tweets Support for ESPN's Jemele Hill After She Called Trump a 'White Supremacist'. ESPN has come under fire
after "SportsCenter" host Jemele Hill tweeted that President Donald Trump is a "white supremacist" who is "unfit and
unqualified" to be commander-in-chief. ESPN's public relations department later tweeted a statement, saying that Hill's
comments do not represent the position of the network. ESPN took no action against Hill for her comments, however,
which has led to criticism.
Jason
Sehorn says he was told to 'curtail his political aspirations' when he joined ESPN. ESPN is taking heat from
one of its own employees, with former New York Giants cornerback taking issue with the fact that he was asked to avoid any
talk of politics when he joined the network in the wake of the recent Jemele Hill controversy. 'I, as a fan and a viewer,
tune into ESPN and I don't want politics,' said Sehorn on Wednesday morning [9/13/2017] during an appearance on Fox & Friends.
Fourth and Long for the NFL.
Television ratings declined, last season, for the National Football League's games. This came as a shock to the Lords
of the NFL. Ratings are not supposed to decline. The NFL's ratings never decline. This is a law of nature.
[...] While football is still supreme among sports, those ratings declines are incontestable. And not only are fewer
people watching, there are measurable declines, also, in the number of young people playing. This is true even in, of
all places, the state of Alabama where football is a kind of secular religion. Where people will tell you that football
isn't life or death... that it is more important than that. Still, according to the Alabama High School Athletics
Association, the number of players there declined by 7% from 2015 to 2016.
Fox
Sports to cut commercials to just six seconds during NFL games to try and hold viewers attention. NFL ratings
dropped in 2016, and in an attempt to fix the problem, Fox Sports will reportedly experiment with six-second advertisements
alongside their traditional 15- and 30-second spots. According to a report by The New York Times, Fox Sports is
attempting to make the six-second advertisement an 'industry standard'.
Here's
why ESPN is imploding. ESPN's first problem has been the move of TV viewers to cheaper online viewing
platforms. With younger viewers increasingly choosing to forgo expensive cable packages in favor of selective products
like Netflix, ESPN has been left with big bills and not enough subscribers. Making matters worse, ESPN continues to
charge existing subscribers an excessive premium for its product. Why does it do so? In part, because it
must. After all, ESPN has spent the last few years spending billions of dollars on broadcasting rights for a wide array
of tournaments. Had they negotiated more effectively — perhaps sacrificing one sport to disabuse other
sports of their confidence in demanding astronomic broadcast fee payments — ESPN could have reduced their
front-end costs and offered lower subscriber rates.
ESPN
yanks Robert Lee and becomes a metaphor for everything wrong in media. Some news stories are so insane that the
first reaction has to be disbelief. That was the case Tuesday night when it was revealed that ESPN had pulled a
broadcaster from covering a football game simply because he has a similar name to a Confederate general. In one
ridiculous move, ESPN became a metaphor for everything wrong in media. Poor Robert Lee, an Asian-American with no
relation to Army of Northern Virginia Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, was scheduled to announce the University of
Virginia's home opener. But after the Charlottesville protests ESPN feared that his name might be a "trigger" to its
nonexistent audience of social justice warriors, following.
ESPN,
the worldwide leader in liberal idiocy. So let me ask, "what if I told you that ESPN decided to pull an
Asian-American announcer from calling a University of Virginia football game because his name is Robert Lee?" Your answer
would probably be, "you're making it up." But I'm not. It is reliably reported that Robert Lee was slated to call
Virginia's game on September 2 against William and Mary, but because of events in Charlottesville, which originated with
a dispute over removing a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, he has been reassigned.
ESPN
Pulls Game Announcer Robert Lee Because His Name Is Too "Triggering". If ever you doubted that ESPN was the
sporting epicenter of liberalism, well, consider this the day you can put those doubts to rest. In what can only be
considered the most ridiculous, over-the-top, example of political correctness running amok ESPN has pulled a college
football announcer from the game between William & Mary vs the University of Virginia because his name is Robert Lee.
Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up. Oh, and Robert Lee is Asian (pictured left) but even his ethnicity
couldn't save him from the executive level stupidity and delicate sensibilities of ESPN.
ESPN
pulls announcer Robert Lee from covering a Virginia football game because his name is Robert Lee. An announcer
by any other name would announce just as sweet. In what is sure to be a controversial decision, ESPN has decided to
pull college football announcer Robert Lee from covering a Virginia football game this season due to the simple fact his name
is Robert Lee, the network announced on Tuesday. Outkick the Coverage's Clay Travis was the first to report the
questionable decision.
ESPN
Just Took Political Correctness Way Too Far. In the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, ESPN
decided to pull one of its announcers from calling a University of Virginia football game — because his name is
Robert Lee. Lee, an Asian-American sportscaster who started with the network in 2016, was moved to a different game
"simply because of the coincidence of his name," ESPN said, referencing the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
ESPN
Exec on Robert Lee Controversy: 'No Biggie Until Someone Leaked it to Embarrass Us and Him'. ESPN is now in
full blown damage control mode over what would seem to be one of the more ridiculous self-made controversies in recent
times — the decision to pull a broadcaster from a University of Virginia football game telecast because his name
happens to be Robert Lee. With cable news and social media reaction nearly universal in their criticism of ESPN, the
Worldwide Leader is looking to calm the outcry from those on the left and the right over the decision.
ESPN
Pulls Announcer from UVa Football Game — Because His Name Is Robert Lee. The man shown to the left is
sportscaster Robert Lee. The man to the right is Confederate General Robert E. Lee. ESPN was afraid that viewers
would mix them up. Mr. Lee (the one who didn't die in 1870) was scheduled to announce next weekend's University of
Virginia football game against William and Mary. This match-up will be hosted in Charlottesville, which has a statue of
Gen. Lee (who never provided NCAA play-by-play). ESPN decided that this was far too confusing for their viewers to process.
The
Name/Statue Game Has Barely Begun! One of my daughters asks, are Robert Lees across the country scrambling to
change their names, lest they be discriminated against by their employers? Is Robert the new Adolf? I say,
Yes! And it's only right. But why stop there? Think how many Thomas Jacksons and James Stuarts there are in
the U.S. Why shouldn't they be discriminated against, too?
Asian
Announcer Pulled off VA Football Game Because of His Name. The cultural totalitarians at ESPN pulled an Asian
man off the Virginia football game because his name is Robert Lee, the same as Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
These people are crazy.
The Editor says...
Ordinary viewers don't care what sports announcers' names are. It doesn't matter if the commentator's name is Chuck Roast
or Patty O'Furniture: The names will be forgotten at the end of the broadcast, or about two seconds after the last
time the names appear at the bottom of your TV screen. (And if those names never came up in superimposed text, who
would notice?) I suspect that even the most rabid sports fan can't recall the names of the announcers on any televised
sporting event they saw last week.
ESPN's Surrender to Grim New Reality.
With cable TV subscribers fleeing, the sports giant has to look for customers online. That's not where the money is.
Yankee Stadium attendance falls while TV
ratings rise. The Yankees are the big talk in New York sports right now. But it's not all good.
Fans are psyched the young team is in first place, Yankee Stadium ticket sales aren't living up to the hype. "I think
people don't show up because it's really a pain to get here," one fan said. Well, that's one way to look at it.
And it seems many Yankees fans would agree. "$15 to get over the bridge, $40 to park," another fan said. "It's
still $100, $150 out of your pocket."
Jason
Whitlock: ESPN 'Lost the Culture War' to Left-Wing Deadspin. The fall of ESPN is still a hot topic in sports media, but
former ESPN commentator Jason Whitlock has a unique point to add to the litany of reasons for the famed cable sports network's troubles.
Whitlock says that left-wing sports blog Deadspin caused ESPN to veer left, and that was the seed that caused the network's downfall.
Deadspin, a popular but far-left website that forms part of the Gawker chain of sites, has targeted ESPN for political correction for several
years with a long list of posts aimed at forcing ESPN to toe the political line of the extreme progressive left.
Did
Too Much Caitlyn Jenner Doom ESPN? Last week, ESPN, often referred to as the Worldwide Leader in Sports, laid
off around 100 employees. The cuts were painfully public and claimed the jobs of some of the top talent and most
familiar faces at the network. At the heart of the latest downsizing, as with earlier layoffs, is math: The
network has committed billions of dollars to broadcast live sports, and waves of cord-cutters now threaten the cash flow to
pay those bills. But amid the hand-wringing over the cable giant's business outlook, a subplot has begun to dominate
the coverage: ESPN'S politics. "[The] collapse has been aided by ESPN's absurd decision to turn into MSESPN, a
left wing sports network," wrote Clay Travis on Wednesday. "ESPN made the mistake of trying to make liberal
social media losers happy and as a result lost millions of viewers."
ESPN
SportsCenter 6 Co-Host Michael Smith: Every City in America Is Racist. ESPN's determination to dig its
own grave continues to move at high speed. On Tuesday [5/2/2017], SC6 (short for SportsCenter 6)
co-host Michael Smith intensely overreacted to the racist actions of a small contingent fans at a Major League Baseball game
at Boston's Fenway Park, using what they did to tag every city in America as "racist."
ESPN
Michael Smith: All Cities in US are Racist. After racist Boston chowder-heads threw a bag of peanuts with
a racial slut at Orioles' player Andrew Jones, ESPN and black racist Michael Smith says all cities in America are racist or
something. I guess that means San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and New York are also racist cities eh
Michael? And ESPN wonders why they continue to lose viewers. They axed 100 dirtbags a few days ago. Why
wasn't Michael Smith the racist one of them?
ESPN Loses Millions of
Subscribers Since They Became a Left-Wing Political Mouthpiece. ESPN has been hemorrhaging subscribers.
In two months in last year alone, they lost over a million subscribers. They lost 621,000 in October, another 555,000
in November. The bleeding continues and they keep pretending it doesn't matter. All of ESPN is losing viewers.
ESPN2, according to Nielsen's estimates, lost 595,000 subscribers, and ESPNU — its college sports-focused
channel — lost more than 700,000. It admitted to losing 7 million subscribers between 2011 and 2015,
Huff Po reported. Every single day this year ESPN has lost roughly 10,000 cable and satellite subscribers.
Here
come the ESPN firings, worse than we thought. The mass firings can turn into a blaze. The 40 to 50 pink
slips that ESPN insider Jim Miller expected to be dished out may escalate to about 70 at the Worldwide Leader, according to
the Sporting News. Talent from all over — from front-facing TV personalities to online writers —
is in jeopardy as parent company Disney looks to slash costs. "This could be a bloodbath," one source said, according
to the report. And the carnage is coming soon: ESPN will start its Bristol-based layoffs as soon as Wednesday
[4/26/2017], according to Sports Illustrated.
Report:
Massive ESPN Layoffs, Contract Buyouts Expected to Hit Over the Next Month. The long-reported layoffs at ESPN
will reportedly take place over the next month. That, according to sports media reporter Richard Deitsch of Sports
Illustrated. What hadn't been rumored or reported, until now, is that ESPN will look to actually buy out some talent
currently under contract. That represents a sharp departure from past ESPN policy. The Bristol-based sports giant
typically refrains from buyouts, because like many companies they don't see the sense in paying someone to not work.
The decision to depart from that way of doing business suggests that ESPN wants to have the layoffs and the massive talent
shake-up completed quickly.
NBC
Sports: U.S. Flag at Baseball Games Too Political. Everything is political to the overly sensitive mind
of today's leftist. When the Atlanta Braves unfurled a gigantic flag for the playing of the national anthem, it
prompted an ultra sensitive member of the partisan media and his Twitter followers to express a whole host of ridiculous
claims. In a Twitter post this weekend, NBC baseball writer Craig Calcaterra complained that the presentation of Old
Glory evoked overly political tones.
Hey ESPN, Here's Why You're
Tanking. ESPN's collapsing ratings has mysteriously occurred concurrently with their increasing venture into
injecting leftwing political commentary into their sports programming. This has not escaped the notice of several
concerned shareholders who confronted the CEO of Disney, the network's parent company.
Liberal
ESPN is Financially Struggling & About to Begin Big Layoffs. A few months ago ESPN acknowledged that perhaps
they have been a little politically biased. And the results are now more evident than ever. They Sports network
has become extremely political, with extremely liberal tendencies. And now, the network is struggling to keep going.
Is ESPN Unraveling?
I don't know, but it's certainly hurting. [...] But don't worry. You'll be seeing more women in front of the camera. John
Skipper, the left-winger who runs ESPN, has directed that more women appear in "front-facing positions" during NFL coverage. If
he doesn't pay them what the departing males earned, there may be a pay discrimination suit in ESPN's future. Why is ESPN in
so much trouble? Mainly because people are "cutting the cable."
ESPN
Loses Millions of Subscribers After Pushing Left-Wing Politics. According to reports by Market Watch, in 2011, ESPN had 100.1 million
subscribers. In 2016, that sharply plummeted to 88 million. This drop was a big hit to Disney, with losses being up to $7 a
subscriber. [...] Much of this loss is due to the left-wing politics that ESPN has started to mix into its every day coverage of sports.
Report:
ESPN Losing 10,000 Subscribers a Day Over Its Political Left Turn. Once an indispensable sports powerhouse,
cable TV network ESPN has gone from must-see-TV for millions of sports fans to financial boondoggle for owner Disney with the
network losing up to 10,000 subscribers a day, a report says. "A floundering ESPN, with rising costs and declining
viewership, continued to sink Disney's financial results during its fiscal first quarter," MarketWatch.com reported. With
the impact of the flailing sports network, Disney's revenue fell 3 percent, and its profits sank 14 percent, the
financial site reported.
ESPN
posts second-worst 'Monday Night Football' season. If not for this past Monday night's highly watched NFL game, The Walt Disney
Co's ESPN network would have had its smallest audience for "Monday Night Football" in 2016 since the 2006 season. [,...] Monday's Dallas
Cowboys-Detroit Lions game averaged 18.6 million viewers, the most ESPN has garnered for a "Monday Night Football" game since 2014.
That helped ESPN post an average of 11.4 million viewers for its 17 games this season, finishing ahead of only the 2007 season, when
it drew 11.2 million, according to Nielsen data provided by ESPN.
Les
Moonves of CBS Blames Trump, Manning, Brady for NFL Ratings Collapse. When trying to explain the NFL's massive
ratings drop this year, CBS CEO Les Moonves has a particular culprit in mind when naming the fly in the NFL's ratings
ointment. Moonves blames Donald Trump. Well, in fairness, he also blames Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Moonves addressed reporters and analysts at the UBS 44th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York on
Monday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Moonves said that less-than-stellar ratings for NFL games earlier this
season is the fault of Peyton Manning (retired), Tom Brady (suspended for the first four games) and Donald Trump (because too
many people preferred his presidential campaign to football).
ESPN hemorrhaging
viewers? ESPN reportedly lost 555,000 subscribers this month, according to sports writer Clay Travis. The
drop in November for the sports media company comes right after its worst-ever month, when it lost an estimated 621,000
subscribers in October.
NFL
reviewing options to fix sagging ratings. Think NFL games are too long? At least one league executive may
agree. Speaking at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show New York conference Wednesday, NFL Media
executive vice president Brian Rolapp said, "we don't blame everything on the election" and cited the need to hold the
audience's attention as a significant reason for sagging national television ratings on prime time broadcasts.
ESPN
Loses 4 Million Subscribers In Past Year. In the past five years ESPN has lost 11,346,000 subscribers according
to Nielsen data. If you combine that with ESPN2 and ESPNU subscriber losses this means that ESPN has lost over a billion
dollars in cable and satellite revenue just in the past five years, an average of $200 million each year. That total of
a billion dollars hits ESPN in the pocketbook not just on a yearly basis, but for every year going forward. It's gone forever.
The
NFL Has Become Unwatchable. Based on this year's experience, I have concluded that penalties, along with
endless video reviews of plays, have made the game just about impossible to watch. After every big play, you wait for the
flag. More often than not, it seems, it comes. While some penalties are obvious, more often they appear to be called
randomly, especially on important plays. It is frequently impossible to say what distinguishes a particular hold, pass
interference or unnecessary roughness from similar conduct that occurred a few plays earlier or later. Given the lack of
any apparent pattern in what constitutes a penalty, it is tempting to infer that referees insert them periodically to mold the
flow of the game in a predetermined direction.
Thursday
Night Football is a menace to American families. My husband's dish list keeps me busy while he lounges on our couch
watching the games. Some years, I don't get to all of them, and they roll over to the following year. Some dishes
become beloved and therefore frequently repeated. On Sundays during the football season, my husband doesn't accompany me
to the many children's birthday parties that our kids get invited to. We don't make plans to go out. My husband
isn't responsible for errands. We don't do any shopping. I don't engage him in conversation about anything more
complicated than "What's the score?" and "So you want more of that?"
The Editor says...
Well, lady, it is obvious that the television has a higher priority than you do. Perhaps you ignored the warning signs
before you married this guy, but now you're stuck with him. You could convert to his religion (football, that is), or,
you could treat his affection for the TV as an addiction, which it is. If you ask him rational questions to point out the
fruitless futility of his hobby, it will only make him angry. For example, if you ask him how his life is any better or
worse on Monday morning because his favorite football team won or lost, he won't have an answer other than "shut up."
The Footage the NFL
Won't Show You. If you ask the league to see the footage that was taken from on high to show the
entire field and what all 22 players did on every play, the response will be emphatic. "NO ONE
gets that," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email. This footage, added fellow league spokesman
Greg Aiello, "is regarded at this point as proprietary NFL coaching information." For decades, NFL TV
broadcasts have relied most heavily on one view: the shot from a sideline camera that follows the progress
of the ball. Anyone who wants to analyze the game, however, prefers to see the pulled-back camera angle
known as the "All 22."
25 years
of ESPN. America is a lot richer than it was [when ESPN began] in 1979,
but not that much richer. Something else is afoot, turning so many
eyes — that is what pulls the tide of money — to sports. Perhaps
people are drawn to sports because they really don't mean a thing.
NFL
Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl. For years, as many as 200 members of
Immanuel Bible Church and their friends have gathered in the church's fellowship hall to watch the Super
Bowl on its six-foot screen. ... But this year, Immanuel's Super Bowl party is no more. After a crackdown
by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl gatherings by churches, the Springfield church
has sacked its event. Instead, church members will host parties in their homes. Immanuel is
among a number of churches in the Washington area and elsewhere that have been forced to use a new
playbook to satisfy the NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets
violates the NFL copyright. Ministers are not happy.
The Editor says...
If the church has a cover charge, I can see how the NFL would have a case. But as long as there
is no charge for attendance (even for food, presumably) it's not a commercial use of the telecast,
and the NFL lawyers would have to do some smooth talking to get that one past a jury. On the
other hand, what kind of church condones the Super Bowl halftime bump-and-grind show?
Fights, altercations, and violence directly related to professional sports events:
Brawl
breaks out at Aintree. Ladies Day at Aintree turned ugly today as a brawl broke out
between a group of young men who threw punches at each other as shocked racegoers watched on.
Shocking photos from the second day of the event in Liverpool today show a man in a grey suit with
blood around his mouth seemingly preparing to punch another racegoer, who holds one hand up in an
apparent attempt to dissuade him. A second image shows the moment another grimacing thug made
contact with a rival's left ear, with a third showing a number of men scuffling together in the
middle of a huge crowd.
Massive
Brawl Breaks Out At The Start Of The NY Rangers And NJ Devils Game. 8 skaters were
ejected after a massive fight broke out between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.
Immediately after the game started, all 10 skaters started brawling. The fight apparently
stemmed from an incident earlier in the month when Rangers rookie Matt Rempe hit Devils defenseman
Jonas Siegenthaler with an elbow. [Video clip]
Phillies
are scrapping $1 hot dog nights following unruly fan behavior. A statement from the
team said the change was made "based on the organization's ongoing commitment to provide a positive
experience for all fans in attendance." What wasn't positive about dollar dog nights?
Armed with projectile frankfurters, some unruly Phillies fans began chucking their favorite
Hatfield meat during a game last year, and the dogs soared like cans of corn throughout the stands
and onto the field. The demand for the discount dogs also led to clogged lanes —
if not arteries — on the concourse, and the cramped spaces led to security and safety concerns.
Top
Duke Basketball Player Injured After Opposing Fans Storm the Court. Adding injury on
top of insult, one of Duke University's star basketball players was hurt Saturday after unranked
Wake Forest beat eighth-ranked Duke 83-79. Kyle Filipowski collided with a fan when the Wake
Forest home crowd stormed the court after the game in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, according to
CBS Sports. Video of the incident showed a collision that left Filipowski off balance and
needing assistance to get off the court.
We've
Got An Insane College Hockey Fight Between Arizona State And Alaska-Fairbanks. If you
said to me, "Yo, where do you think the craziest hockey fight this season will come from?" I, like
most people, would have said the NHL, maybe the AHL. There's a case to be made for the LNAH
where 52-year-old Donald Brashear just threw hands this week. [Tweet with video clip]
Former
NBA Player Matt Barnes Now Becomes Former Broadcaster After Altercation. Matt Barnes
has been given the boot by NBC Sports after getting into an altercation with a high school
broadcaster. The former Sacramento Kings NBA Champion who clearly doesn't have any anger
management issues, had recently been doing pre-and-postgame analysis for the Kings games on NBC
Sports California. However, it's what happened during his son's high school basketball game
that now has Barnes in search of a job. [Tweet with video clip]
NBA
Suspends Pistons Mad Man Isaiah Stewart 3 Games After Punching Suns Player. Detroit
Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart hit NBA headlines on Valentine's Day after punching Phoenix Suns
player Drew Eubanks before their game at Footprint Center. The NBA responded by suspending
Stewart for three games, according to a league announcement on Thursday. A misdemeanor
assault charge issued against Stewart has also been dismissed, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The player was arrested and issued a citation. Stewart will miss the three games without pay.
Women's
College Basketball Game Turns Into A Massive Brawl Between Players And Fans. A
massive brawl breaks out at a women's college basketball game resulting in 5 ejections, 3 fans
getting booted, and a coach on crutches. The incident happened between Arkansas State and
Southern Miss women's teams after Emma Imevbore and Domonique Davis fought for a rebound. As
the fight broke out, Southern Miss assistant coach Jessica Barber was knocked to the ground.
Three fans also decided to get involved with one putting their hands on a referee while
screaming. [Video clip]
Incarnate
Word, Texas A&M-Commerce Players Scrap In Wild College Basketball Fight That Bleeds Into
Crowd. Fists were thrown and people were hurt at a Monday night men's college
basketball game between Texas A&M-Commerce and Incarnate Word. With names like that, it was
bound to be a wild fight, and it delivered. And frankly, while the game had a winner, both
teams looked like losers after this barbaric scrap; moments after A&M secured the 76-72 win in
overtime, playing at Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center in San Antonio.
Massive
Brawl Featuring Molly Whops And Pepper Spray Breaks Out At High School Basketball Game In
Georgia. Absolute chaos reigned during a Friday night high school basketball game in
Cairo, Georgia as a massive brawl erupted following an intense overtime between the Westover
Patriots and Cairo Syrupmakers. Leading up to the 77-74 victory for the Syrupmakers (man, I
love that name), tensions were at a high, with several technical fouls reportedly getting
called. After the contest, things hit a boiling point as a gargantuan rumble took off.
Absolutely insane video shows a crap load of people — players, coaches, fans,
family — scrappin' on the court, with molly whops being tossed and pepper spray being,
well, sprayed.
Violent
Outburst: NM State Basketball Player Ejected for Punching Opponent. Robert
Carpenter, a New Mexico State men's basketball player, will miss at least one match after being
ejected for punching Shiloh Robertson in the face during Thursday night's overtime win over
Liberty. Carpenter and Robinson were tangled under the net as Carpenter was looking for a
bounce in the early part of the first half. Carpenter appeared to strike Robinson in the face
as Robinson turned to go down the court.
Bills
Fan Shot Outside Hard Rock Stadium; Second Fatal Incident at Game This Season. A
Buffalo Bills fan was shot to death in Miami after Sunday's AFC East matchup against the Miami
Dolphins. The victim was identified as 30-year-old Dylan Brody Isaacs. The young man
and his friends were reportedly heading back to their vehicle after the Bills' victory when a
vehicle approached the group and fired multiple shots, killing Isaacs. Both sides reportedly
had an altercation that preceded the cold-blooded act. According to the Miami Herald, the
scene occurred several blocks away from Hard Rock Stadium. The suspect opened fire after
pulling several maneuvers to intimidate the group.
Idolatry: Man
Jumps The Counter At Starbucks And Steals A Box Of Stanley Cups That Are Selling For Almost 500
Bucks Each On eBay. A limited-edition Stanley cup released in collaboration with
Starbucks is causing mayhem at Target stores[,] with fans lining up overnight and fights breaking
out in some locations. The shimmery pink version of the Stanley Quencher[,] an insulated
tumbler that has proved a hit on social media[,] was released Wednesday. People have flocked
to Target stores across the US to get their hands on the $49.95 cup. The cups are now selling
on third party site eBay for as much as $299.99[,] with some users listing the item for as much as
$550. According to videos posted online, there have also been fights breaking out in stores over
the tumbler.
Cowboys
Fan Gets Blasted by a Nasty Sucker Punch. I know some of you guys don't like to see
disgusting NFL fan fight videos because they're showing an absolutely pathetic side of Americana,
but the OutKick Culture Department has a civic duty to show such behavior. Exposing the
behavior is our way of FIGHTING BACK! The OutKick Culture Department will not stand for such nasty
behavior as what we saw Sunday night at Fed Ex Field where a scumbag Commanders fan uncorked a
haymaker sucker punch on a Cowboys fan who didn't get a chance to defend himself.
2
men charged in death of Patriots fan at Gillette Stadium. Two men were charged
Thursday in connection with the death of a football fan at a New England Patriots game in
September. John Vieira and Justin Mitchell of Rhode Island were charged with assault and
battery and disorderly conduct in an altercation that allegedly resulted in the death of New
Hampshire man Dale Mooney at a Patriots game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
HS
basketball player, older brother beat up coach after game for getting benched:
police. A Texas high school basketball player attacked his coach in a parking lot
after he was benched for unsportsmanlike conduct during a game earlier that night. Jevin
Allen, 17, and his brother Jarrick Allen, 22, who also allegedly participated in the beating, were
arrested Dec. 5 for the assault that left the coach with injuries to his head, neck, face and
arms, authorities said. The coach, who was not identified by name, told the Montgomery County
Sheriff's Office that Jevin was benched during the away game "due to his behavior toward an
opposing team player" — a disciplinary action that "infuriated" the teen and his
family. Upon returning to their school, Willis High School in Conroe, [Texas,] at around
9:52 p.m. after the game, the coach found the teen and his family were waiting for him in the
parking lot, authorities said. The relatives confronted the coach, and the fight escalated
when Jevin allegedly punched him in the face, the sheriff's office said.
Youth
coach says 'I'm blessed' after being shot 4 times by parent angry child isn't starting.
A volunteer youth football coach who was shot four times in front of his recreational team of 9-
and 10-year-olds in St. Louis, Missouri, by a parent angry that his son was not one of the
starting players says he is "blessed" to have survived the attack. "I am a miracle. I
beat the odds," the coach, Shaquille Latimore, 30, told KSDK. "A bullet hit me under my left
arm, on my left forearm, my leg, and one went through my lower back and out my liver. All of
the bullets went through me," he recalled of the Oct. 10 attack by the parent police have
identified as 43-year-old Daryl Clemmons.
Patriots
Fan Dies After Brawl In The Stands. The death of a Patriots fan during a game at
Gillette Stadium on Sunday is under investigation by State Police and the Norfolk District
Attorney's office. The man who died has been identified as 53-year-old Dale Mooney of
Newmarket, New Hampshire. Mooney's wife said he was a great dad with a big heart and wouldn't
do anything to hurt anyone. A witness said taunting between fans suddenly turned violent.
12
dead, dozens injured in Madagascar stadium stampede. At least 12 people are dead and
dozens more are injured after getting caught up in a stampede in Madagascar during the opening
ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games, officials said. The stampede occurred as thousands
of people scrambled to get inside the main entrance of the Kianja Barea Mahamasina Stadium in the
capital city of Antananarivo Friday evening [8/25/2023].
Brawl
Breaks Out At Houston Stadium After Mexico/Honduras Soccer Match. Different videos
continue to circulate on social networks in which relative fans of the Mexican National Team have
various clashes at the end of the match between Mexico and Honduras in it NRG Stadiumcorresponding
to the group stage of the Gold Cup. Despite the victory of the Mexican team, the attendees
did not end up agreeing with each other and decided to lose their temper in different parts of the
building. One of the videos was recorded in a box at the stadium, where the women were the
protagonists of the beatings and pulling their hair; security elements tried to intervene, but the
incidents did not stop. [Video clip]
Massive
Soccer Riot In Indonesia Leaves At Least 129 Dead. At least 129 people are dead and about 200 more
injured, police say, after chaos and violence erupted late on Saturday following an Indonesian league soccer match
between two of the nation's biggest teams. Supporters of Arema FC and rival Persebaya Surabaya clashed after home
team Arema FC was defeated 3-2 at a match in the city of Malang in East Java. Supporters from the losing team had
"invaded" the pitch and police fired tear gas, triggering a stampede which led to cases of suffocation, East Java police
chief Nico Afinta said during a press conference following the event. [Video clip]
At
least 174 dead during fan stampede after Indonesian soccer match. At least 174 people are dead — most
of them trampled in a stampede — after violent brawls erupted between opposing fans after a soccer match in Indonesia,
local police said. Numerous fights broke out among rival fans at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java province's Malang
city just as Persebaya Surabaya defeated Arema Malang 3-2 in the Indonesian Premier League Match on Sunday.
Yankees
Fans Pelt Opponents During Routine Game — Is Civil Society a Thing of the Past? The breakdown of civil society
continues. Over the last several years, we've seen mass riots, increased violence on airplanes, soaring murder rates, a
rise in road rage incidents, and more. The latest: New York Yankees fans Saturday pelted Cleveland Guardians
players with trash and empty beer cans at the tail end of a routine and frankly unimportant game in New York. [Tweet]
While the violence didn't approach the level of 2004's Detroit's infamous Malice in the Palace, it was still pretty ugly.
Home
Sports Hecklers, boors, brawlers giving youth sports a bad game. Researchers say the bad sportsmanship, rude
behavior and outright violence adults display at youth sporting events has become a national epidemic that sends the wrong
message to child athletes and drives referees from playing fields in droves. In an age when one-sport specialization
and thousand-dollar travel tournaments are the norm for many families, success in the game has become such a priority that
some parents turn "rabid," said Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officials. "I'd
characterize youth sports as sort of the perfect storm where you have the least skillful players and the least skillful
coaches and the least skillful referees and almost nonexistent security, and then you have the most rabid fans in all forms,"
he said. "And that can be a toxic mix."
Lawsuit
is filed in Amalie Arena attack blamed on man who served 46 years for rape. A woman severely beaten last month
at Amalie Arena has filed a lawsuit against the company that manages the venue and the cleaning it service it hired, alleging
they were negligent in employing a man released from prison after serving 46 years for rape.
Dodgers
fan suffers skull fracture in fight outside stadium, police hunt suspect. A Dodgers fan was hospitalized with
serious injuries after a fight in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium following Friday's [3/29/2019] six-hour game, according to
police and the victim's family. The assault stemmed from a "verbal dispute" between two men outside of the stadium
following the Dodgers game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Lt. Silvia Sanchez with the Los Angeles Police Department
told Fox News.
What a refreshing hobby! Man
bites off golfer's finger to the knuckle at Massachusetts golf club. An argument between two golfers at a
Massachusetts golf club turned bloody Friday when one of the men bit off the other player's finger, reports said. [...] A
47-year-old man, who was not identified, was arrested at the scene and charged with mayhem.
Yay!
Our team won! Let's destroy stuff! [F]ans in many cities have been known to riot after major sports
victories. Maybe the only difference is that some fans in Philly seem to take pride in it.
Football
players beat teammate unconscious at party, authorities say. The alleged beating of a high school football
player — allegedly by four of his teammates — has a small Minnesota town debating the topic of
bullying. The four players at Blue Earth Area High School, ages 16 to 18, face felony charges — including
third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm — and aiding and abetting.
NFL
Players [are] Arrested Every 7 Days On Average. The National Football League is in a golden age right now: It's
been 23 days since one of its players has been arrested. The average time between arrests is just seven days, while the
record without an arrest is slightly more than two months, at 65 days, according to NFLarrest.com, which "provides an interactive
visualized database of National Football League player Arrests & Charges," the site says. Players get arrested for a variety of
crimes: drunk driving, drug offenses, domestic violence, assault and battery, gun violations, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest,
theft, burglary, rape and even murder.
The
NFL Went a Full Month Without an Arrest. Not a single player in the National Football League was arrested in
September, the first month without a reported arrest since July 2009.
College football player arrested
after punching referee. The Ventura County Star reports that Mount San Antonio freshman offensive linesman Bernard Schirmer was immediately
ejected from the game and later arrested on suspicion of battery and taken to Ventura County jail.
Other sports news and commentary:
Aggers
is right: this absurd new woke jargon is ruining sport. Jonathan Agnew —
who is soon to step down as the BBC's chief cricket correspondent — has admitted that he
can't bear the sport's recent switch to gender-neutral terminology. "I hate 'batter'," he says.
"Why can't a man playing a man's game be a 'batsman'?" Many cricket fans share his irritation.
Of course, if you wanted to annoy them further, you could mischievously argue that the change is
logical. After all, we have bowlers rather than bowlsmen, fielders rather than fieldsmen, and
wicketkeepers rather than wicketkeepsmen. It's perfectly consistent, therefore, to have batters
rather than batsmen. We all know, however, that this change was not made for the sake of
consistency. It was made in a pathetically craven attempt to make a centuries-old sport played
primarily by men seem "modern" and "inclusive". And it's this cravenness that's so annoying.
Why did they wait until the last minute? Solar eclipses are predicted years in advance. New
York Yankees postpone game Monday due to solar eclipse. As many of you may already
know, Monday will provide millions of Americans with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a
total solar eclipse as the path of totality streaks across several U.S. states. One of those
states is New York, and it's already prompted one of the state's professional baseball teams to
make some changes to their schedule. The New York Yankees were originally scheduled to face
the Miami Marlins Monday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. local time. But the team announced it
has pushed back that start time by four hours because the eclipse is slated to begin just minutes
before first pitch.
'Ozempig'
remains Minnesota baseball team's mascot despite uproar that name is form of fat-shaming.
For a Minnesota minor league baseball team known for a history of outlandish promotions, the idea
of naming its longtime live pig mascot after the weight loss drug Ozempic made perfect sense.
The St. Paul Saints quickly found out that not everyone was amused by the pig's name, Ozempig,
or the team's posting of a backstory about the pig's embarrassment at gaining weight and promise
to try to remain trim.
Dartmouth
University basketball team votes to unionize. The mens basketball team at the New
Hampshire-based Dartmouth University on Tuesday voted to unionize in a 13-2 vote, becoming the
first college sports team to form a union. The university itself will have until
March 12 to file their objection with the National Labor Relations Board against the team who
are set to join the local 560 chapter of the the Service Employees International Union, also known
as SEIU. Dartmouth called the vote an "isolated circumstance," stating their belief "the
students on the men's basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth" and that the
university does "not believe unionization is appropriate."
The Editor says...
Here's how to fix this problem overnight: Eliminate (or indefinitely suspend) the entire basketball
program. Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers, and Dartmouth can get by without a basketball
team (and coaches) for a while.
What's
With All the Hatred of White Basketball Players? Sheryl Swoopes, a four-time WNBA
champion and three-time WNBA MVP, spoke at length about Caitlin Clark during a recent appearance on
the "Gil's Arena" podcast, which is hosted by former NBA star Gilbert Arenas. Caitlin Clark,
for those of you who aren't aware, plays guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes. She is the NCAA
Division I women's all-time leading scorer and is regarded as one of the greatest players in
college basketball history. She is also white, which set Swoopes off. In spite of all
of Clark's accomplishments, Swoopes couldn't contain her jealousy and, rather than congratulate her
and say some kind words, allowed her racism to show.
Sports
Illustrated To Fire All Staff After Several Controversies. Sports Illustrated sent an
email to all employees alerting them that they are laid off effective immediately, or that they
will be fired within 90 days. This comes after several scandals in recent years,
including controversial Swimsuit Edition covers and the uses of Artificial Intelligence to produce
content for its website.
All
Sports Illustrated Staffers to be Fired. I have no beef with Sports Illustrated, but
they made their bed when they went 'woke' with the transgender swimsuit edition. It was the
most straightforward edition of that publication, and they ruined it. Many 'Bud Light'
comparisons are being made because the magazine announced that virtually all staff will be
fired. The revenue isn't there to sustain the brand, so this Friday was like the Red Wedding
for a lot of people.
Is
football leading us to hedonism? I have come to believe that the NFL and the NCAA,
driven as they are by greed, are hoping to replace faith in our society. They want us to
exchange faith for hedonistic activities aimed to ensnare as many of us into gambling and other
resource-draining activities as possible. Through clever public relations, they pretend to
support the Armed Forces, social justice, and first responders among us, but this is all really
clever window dressing to cynically separate sports fans from their incomes. As a Christian,
I suspect that football is encouraging people of faith to violate several of the Ten
Commandments. The most obvious of these is God's call for us to keep the Sabbath day
holy. [...] Once upon a time, professional football was a Sunday sport. Now the NFL plays
on Mondays, Thursdays, Sundays, and even Saturdays when college football winds down. The
ever-increasing expansion of football is hard to ignore. Way back when, NFL games would start
after most Christians had returned from morning worship on Sunday.
Pistons
suffer 25th straight loss, hear chants of 'sell the team'. Kelly Olynyk scored 25
points and the short-handed Utah Jazz beat Detroit 119-111 on Thursday night for the Pistons' 25th
straight loss, one short of the NBA single-season record. The 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers and
2013-14 Philadelphia 76ers share the record at 26. The 76ers hold the overall mark at 28, a skid
that started in the 2014-15 season and carried over into 2015-16.
Sports
Illustrated Published AI-Generated Articles Under Fake Names. Sports Illustrated was
once the benchmark for sports content but today the site has been accused of publishing
AI-generated content under the names of authors who are also AI-generated. Case in point,
Drew Ortiz who had a photo and an author biography on the site. ["]Outside of Sports
Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn't seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no
publishing history. And even more strangely, his profile photo on Sports Illustrated is for
sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, [...]["]
Why
we are sleepwalking into tyranny. The world is heading quite rapidly toward
tyranny. We are in a revolutionary period that will dramatically change civilization.
Few people understand the gravity of our situation. Here are some of the reasons why the
majority of people seem oblivious to the danger. [...] These are not conspiracy theories. The
evidence is mostly out in the open. The people who are planning to be your future masters are
not worried about stating their plans because the vast majority of people are distracted with their
trivial amusements. They are busy watching ball games and movies and smartphone screens.
University
of Wisconsin Women's Basketball Coach Bemoans "Run-of-the-Mill White Kids" on Her Team.
University of Wisconsin Women's basketball coach Marisa Moseley bemoaned "run-of-the-mill" white
kids on her team. "If you look at my team, you know, we're pretty much the United
Nations. I have the first Indian woman to ever play at the Power 5. I have kids who are
Nigerian and kids who are Dominican and kids who are Mexican and kids who are run of the mill white
because they're still there too," Moseley said. As soon as she realized she [said], "My mom
is white just so nobody is offended. My mom is a white woman from the Berkshires. Very white."
Why
Women's Soccer Teams are Overpaid. The Women's World Cup (soccer) is upon us, and
we're in for weeks of mind-numbing commentary by browbeaten weenies who gloss over the ladies'
athletic inadequacies, but gush over their strategies. [...] Rarely will you see a missile-like
40-yard cross-field pass precisely executed by the women, only a soft, floating ball that's easily
intercepted by a Trans player with average male speed. Rarely, in women's soccer, will a
player drill in a corner kick with vicious velocity, inviting the forward to nod in powerfully past
a goalie with anatomical encumbrances that restrict her diving agility, lovely though they
are. Rarely, in women's soccer, will a player muster the foot speed (in the kicking motion)
to launch a long-distance shot with such venom that it rattles the net.
NASCAR
and the Chicago traffic jam of 2023. Chicago tried something new this year. For
the first time ever, on the weekend before Independence Day, the city of Chicago hosted a NASCAR
street race — yes, in downtown Chicago, one of the best known business, shopping and
entertainment districts in the world. This isn't something that the voters chose consciously;
it's a decision made by the last city government, the office of the recently-defeated Mayor Lori
Lightfoot. Chicagoans have been referring to the event as Lightfoot's last attack on the
people of Chicago. Events like this take weeks to set up, so driving barriers and temporary
viewing stands have been erected, disrupting traffic for weeks. Chicago traffic is always a
challenge, even worse now than usual with a massive repaving project in process on the Kennedy
Expressway (the highway connecting downtown Chicago with O'Hare Airport). Summer traffic normally
swells with tourists already; Chicago hardly needed the added snarl of extensive NASCAR road
closures in one of the most congested areas in the country.
Just so you'll know, The Editor does not condone or endorse this idea. The
Enhanced Olympics: Drugs Welcome! The basic idea: sports without drug testing. "We
believe that science is real and has an important place in supporting human flourishing.
There is no better way to highlight the centrality of science in our modern world than in elite
sports," said Aron D'Souza, the president of the Enhanced Games. Planned for 2024, the
Enhanced Games aims to be the first international sports event that fully supports performance
enhancements. Consequently, the Enhanced Games will not adhere to the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) rules with respect to track and field, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, and
combat sports competitions. As the event plan states, "Athletes will not be tested for performance
enhancements, and are under no obligation to declare their enhanced status in order to compete."
Deion
Sanders Effect at Colorado Is Evident With Insanely Expensive Tickets for Early Home, Road
Games. The Deion Sanders effect is in full bloom, three months before Colorado takes
the field. Benefitting the most from the excitement for the upcoming season are people who
currently have tickets for the Buffaloes' first few games. Even though Colorado doesn't open
the season at home, this hasn't stopped the hype for the 2023 opener at TCU. The Horned Frogs
are coming off a run to the national championship game, so fans were already excited for the 2023
season. But add in Deion Sanders to the season opener and you've got a recipe for expensive
tickets. According to Ticketmaster, the current get-in price for the opener in Forth Worth is
$226 to sit in the upper-deck.
NFL
Accelerator Program Returns Next Week and Continues to Apply Brakes on Advancing White
Men. The NFL on Wednesday proudly announced the return of its Accelerator Program,
and with it returns the fact NFL owners have a diversity divide issue and the league is trying to
address that issue of inclusivity with a program that embraces exclusion. The Coach
Accelerator program will run during the NFL's spring meeting starting Sunday to Tuesday in
Minneapolis. Per the NFL, the program "aims to increase exposure between owners, executives,
and diverse coaching talent, providing ample opportunity to develop and build upon their
relationships." The program is designed to change the dynamics of past coach hiring cycles in
which white candidates were hired more often than minority candidates.
Commanders
sale: Dan Snyder reaches deal to sell franchise to Josh Harris group for $6 billion.
The Washington Commanders have an agreement in principle in place for Josh Harris and his group to
purchase the franchise for $6 billion, a source confirmed to CBS Sports. The deal will
set an NFL record for the most expensive sale in league history. The previous record of
$4.65 billion was set last year by the Walton-Penner group when it purchased the Denver
Broncos. Any sale of the team would have to be approved by three-quarters of NFL
ownership. Owners plan to convene in May for a regularly scheduled spring meeting, where a
vote on final approval could take place. Harris' previous bid for the Denver Broncos means
the league is familiar with him and his finances, which would help expedite the approval process.
Many
Paralympians are faking the severity of their disabilities: former officials. A
"mind-blowing" number of Paralympians are faking the severity of their disabilities to take
advantage of the system and win medals, a new investigation revealed. The former head of the
International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has called for a sweeping reform to save the integrity of
the Games after many Paralympians have come forward with stories of exploiting the rules, according
to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Xavier Gonzalez, who led the IPC from
2004 to 2019, said athletes would play up their disabilities to compete in events that they may not
actually be qualified to be in. The IPC is in charge of enforcing the rules of
classification, but Gonzalez has called for the formation of a new body that would be more
effective at removing possible cheaters.
Utah
State Football Player Suffers Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Utah State football player Josh
Davis, a redshirt freshman wideout, was hospitalized after suffering a cardiac arrest during spring
training on Thursday. Davis was quickly sent to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah, and by
Friday was upgraded from critical to fair condition, according to the Utah State football staff,
Fox News reported.
Soccer
Match Suspended After 25-Year-Old Player Suffers Cardiac Arrest in Middle of Game. A
young player's cardiac arrest led to the suspension of a soccer game Saturday in Cordoba,
Spain. Dragisa Gudelj, 25, who is a native of Serbia, was stricken 11 minutes into a match
between Cordoba and Racing-Ferrol, according to The Associated Press. Gudelj was given CPR on
the field, the AP reported.
High
school football coach fired for praying with players rehired, awarded nearly $2 million.
After a years-long legal battle, Christian high school assistant football coach Joseph Kennedy has been
reinstated to his position and awarded nearly $2 million after he was fired for leading players in
prayer after each game. "Mr. Kennedy will be an assistant football coach for Bremerton High
School for the 2023 season," the Bremerton School District in Washington said in a March 6 statement
on its website. "Mr. Kennedy has completed human resources paperwork and we are awaiting the
results of his fingerprinting and background check."
The Editor says...
He has already worked for you before. You're re-hiring him. Why do you require a background check?
Home-plate
umpire suspended indefinitely after atrociously bad call. These are the kinds of
calls that bring the integrity of the official into question (especially with the proliferation of
sports betting across America) but you can judge for yourself below: [Video clip]
That ball appeared to hit the dirt, a clear ball. When the ump called it a strike, a
despondent Mims hopped around before pointing at the divot that the baseball left in the
dirt. It was a bad call and Mims had said his piece. Surely he would get a fair crack
at this unlikely comeback with his next swing of the bat. That swing never came. The
umpire, operating with the world's most generous strike zone apparently, called a game-ending third
strike on a pitch that was so obviously down and out that the announcer began calling it as such
[...] Mims followed the umpire, screaming about the missed call, before his catcher ran up and held
him back from compounding the situation. Social media reactions were swift, ranging from
people aghast at one of the very worst calls they had ever seen, perhaps ever, to bewildered
amusement. The Southland Conference was not nearly as amused with the horrific calls, and
released a statement announcing the suspension of the offending umpire, Reggie Drummer.
Famed
Texas Tech Basketball Coach Suspended for 'Racial Insensitivity' after Quoting Bible Passage.
Texas Tech has suspended men's basketball coach Mark Adams for what the school is calling an "inappropriate,
unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment." According to the school, Adams was encouraging a player
to be more receptive to coaching and "referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves
serving their masters." Adams apologized to the team after he found out the player was upset about the
use of the Bible verse, a source told ESPN.
NFL
Star Abruptly Retires at 30, Issues Ominous Warning: 'DO NOT Take the Injections They Give
You'. One of the NFL's premiere cornerbacks appeared to abruptly call it a career on
Saturday — and issued an ominous warning in the process. Miami Dolphins cornerback
Byron Jones, a former All-Pro and Pro Bowler, announced via a pair of tweets that he could no
longer "run or jump" and seemingly implied that he was stepping away from the game for good. [...]
Without outright stating so, it's pretty evident Jones is decrying the NFL's approach to injury
management. Of note, Jones missed the entire 2022 season for the Dolphins due to
injury. While hearing about injections of cortisone or cocktails of painkillers is hardly
anything novel in the NFL, Jones's critique of the NFL's pain management philosophy is about as
withering as it gets. Even when star Dallas Cowboy linebacker Micah Parsons recently claimed
that "95 percent" of the league pushes players to take painkillers to play through injury, it was
largely viewed as more of a passing comment than a scathing critique.
MLS
breaks attendance records on the opening weekend of the new season. The new MLS
season is off to a bright start with attendances through the roof on opening day, with some
stadiums experiencing a better turnout than several NFL venues on average. On Saturday,
Charlotte FC had 69,345 fans at its home opener in a 1-0 loss against the New England Revolution,
while Atlanta United's dramatic 2-1 win against the San Jose Earthquakes wasn't far behind with
67,538 supporters watching from the stands of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That's close to the
NFL's per game attendance of 69,442 last year and it's the first time that MLS has had multiple
65,000+ games on the same day, according to the league's Twitter account.
Why
the NFL Isn't Going Away. There is no denying that injuries are a common part of the game. Fans are
used to seeing players being regularly assisted or carted off the field. [...] [K]nee injuries occur most often, but
anyone who follows the game knows that head injuries, which occur on a regular basis, raise the greatest concern since
they can have devasting long-term consequences. One survey of retired NFL players found that 9 of 10 had
at least one concussion. At least 10 percent of NFL players will develop Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or
CTE. The symptoms of the disease have become well known and include aggression, confusion, depression, and lack of
impulse control, which can result in interpersonal violence and suicide. Symptoms often appear after a player has
retired, and a recent study found the average life expectancy of NFL players with CTE is 51. For years the NFL
denied there was any connection between concussions and long-term harm and that returning to play did not involve
significant risk. These findings were based on bogus studies authored by an NFL committee.
WNBA
Player Demands Private Jets for Entire League. The WNBA costs about $70 million per year to operate
and generates just $60 million in revenue. The NBA, which makes money because people like to watch it,
subsidizes the women's league in the name of equity. WNBA teams typically travel on commercial airlines to save
money. Chartering private planes for the entire league would cost an estimated $30 million per year.
Liberals complain that WNBA players don't make as much money as their NBA counterparts, which is why Griner, Stewart,
and others are forced to play abroad in Russia or Turkey. Griner and Stewart are among the league's highest-paid
players, taking home $228,000 per year (not including bonuses) on top of endorsement deals worth about
$1 million. Former president Barack Obama defined "wealthy" as an individual earning more than $200,000
annually and called for higher taxes on these individuals to pay for government programs. "I do think at a
certain point you've made enough money," he said in 2010. (Obama and his wife are estimated to have a net worth
approaching $100 million.)
Steve
Almond's Failed Ambush of Laura Ingraham. Some people make a name for themselves by building
something — a business, a following, an audience. Others try to make a name for themselves not by
building anything but just by trying to tear down what others have built. Steve Almond has set out to do the
latter. For the past few years he has set out to tear down the National Football League through a book he wants to
sell. [...] He appeared on Ingraham's show with a dual agenda. The first was to push his book, in which he
clownishly argues for doing away with football and all of the fun it provides and the jobs and millionaires it
creates. Almond says it's all too risky, but the fact is there are risky jobs everywhere and life is full of risk.
Virginia
Tech Soccer Player Receives $100K Settlement After Being Benched for Refusing to Kneel for BLM. A former
Virginia Tech soccer player claims she was benched in 2020 for refusing to kneel for a pre-game unity ceremony
supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. She sued in 2021, and now the school has officially settled with the
player, Kiersten Hening, who will receive $100,000. Neither the school nor the coach, Charles "Chugger" Adair, however,
admitted to any wrongdoing.
'Did
We Win?' Damar Hamlin Communicating With Doctors, Inquired About the Game. On Thursday, doctors at the University of
Cincinnati Medical Center gave an update on the medical condition of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Hamlin is reportedly
responsive physically and neurologically and is communicating with doctors via writing since he cannot speak while intubated.
According to reports, Hamlin asked doctors, "Did we win?"
The Editor says...
I'm pleasantly surprised that Mr. Hamlin is still alive and thinking. I thought this guy was near death. But
notice that the news coverage presumes that as soon as he leaves the hospital, or as soon as he can, he will start
playing football again.
A
great time to be a .279 hitter. Have you seen the sports headlines lately? Money is flying fast from
teams to players. I don't want to hear owners in the next union contract negotiations complaining about the cost
of doing business. It's obviously the owners driving up the cost of doing business and higher ticket prices
are next.
Time To Apologize
To Georgia. Major League Baseball moved its 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta because the Legislature passed
an election law that the Democrats and media claimed was designed to suppress the vote, especially that of
minorities. Yet somehow Georgia voters turned out in higher numbers earlier this week than they did in the two
previous midterm elections. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred owes Atlanta, the entire state of Georgia, the Braves,
and, in fact, the entire nation an apology. On April 2, the day after the 2021 baseball season began, Manfred
announced that he had "decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year's
All-Star Game and MLB Draft." Major League Baseball, Manfred explained, "fundamentally supports voting rights for
all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box." Making Manfred's cowardly capitulation to social
justice bullies even more infuriating was the fact that the game was moved to Colorado, where voting laws are similar to
Georgia's new rules. Unlike Georgia though, Colorado has a Democratic governor and practices blue state electoral
habits. So it was judged differently.
Report:
Augusta National, USGA and PGA of America now included in DOJ's investigation into golf. Augusta National,
the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America are now included in the Justice Department's growing antitrust
investigation into the PGA Tour, according to The Wall Street Journal. The initial investigation stemmed from the
Tour's feud with the controversial Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf, which has prompted lawsuits from each league against
one another in a lengthy legal battle. Initially, the DOJ was just looking at the Tour. However, according
to The Wall Street Journal, it now includes Augusta National, the USGA and the PGA of America.
Pro
Black Athletes Describe Their Teammates As "Little White Boy" And A "Good Players Despite Being White".
Tucker Carlson provided an accurate assessment of the overt anti-white racism in America that goes not only unchecked,
but often praised. His comparison to Rwanda's eventual genocide doesn't feel that far off when one considers the
daily reminders by many prominent media personalities and politicians of the "whiteness" that pervades this
country. So it comes as no surprise that sheltered, entitled, and ignorant professional athletes would share these
same anti-white views. For supposedly being oppressed, there is no shortage of self-esteem among leftist
blacks. If they truly feared for their lives, it goes without saying that they'd hesitate to make such
remarks. This clip pretty much sums up the lack of fear or concern or interest in seeing white people as human
beings: [Video clip]
Idolatry: Michael
Jordan's '98 finals jersey sells for $10.1 million at auction. Michael Jordan's jersey from the 1998 NBA
finals smashed records when it sold for $10.1 million at auction Thursday [9/15/2022]. The red away-game jersey that
Jordan wore in Game 1 of the Chicago Bulls' series against the Utah Jazz was the feature of the Sotheby's auction.
It is now the highest-priced item in sports memorabilia history, according to a report.
Where
did the NFL get the idea that they should race-norm cognitive tests? The NFL says it will quit race-norming
cognitive tests to determine damages for minorities in cases related to football players' concussions. [...] Where would they
ever get the idea that blacks started out with lower scores? Could it be that they thought if government agencies
throughout the country say that minorities start out with lower scores that they should follow their guidance?
Enes
Kanter Freedom Tells Tucker Carlson NBA Recordings Show League Is 'Run by the Chinese Dictatorship'. Tucker
Carlson, host of Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight," and his team obtained exclusive recordings of the National Basketball
Association (NBA) that indicated the league wanted to put a check on former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom who has been
outspoken about the league's ties with China, as well as Turkey and murderous dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter
joined "Tucker Carlson Tonight" to speak about the issue. At the time of Kanter Freedom's comments about the NBA-China
ties, in one of the recordings, the NBAPA (Players Association) lawyer, Ron Klempner, said he had recently spoken with the
league's counsel. He wanted to have a "conversation about their concern right now is not so much what you are saying
off the court but what it is that you're saying on the court when you step onto the court."
NFL
recommends Deshaun Watson be sidelined for at least a year: reports. The NFL has recommended a season-long
suspension for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson, who recently settled 20 of 24 civil lawsuits filed against him
for various sexual misconduct claims. Hearings started Tuesday [6/28/2022] over what type of disciplinary action the
star quarterback should face. The hearing will consider whether Watson violated the league's personal conduct
policy. USA Today reported on Monday that league officials notified former federal judge Sue L. Robinson, who is
serving as the disciplinary officer for the hearing, about its recommendation on Watson's case. A source also told the
newspaper that Robinson plans to review documentation from the league's investigation into the matter as well, adding that
she will listen to arguments from attorneys of the league and its player's union, the NFLPA.
The Editor says...
If an employee of (for example) IBM, Frito-Lay, or AT&T had similar accusations against him, he would be swiftly terminated. (How many
of your co-workers have been sued 24 times for misconduct?) But as long as Mr. Watson can throw the ball,
catch the ball, and run with the ball, he gets plenty of leeway.
Nike
to Fully Exit Russia, No Plans to Shut Down Chinese Slave Labor Plants. Nike has decided to fully exit Russia
three months after suspending operations in the country due to its invasion of Ukraine, the sportswear giant announced
Thursday. The company has no announced plans to exit China due to that country's gross human rights abuses and organized
use of slave labor in making Nike products. Nike initially suspended operations in Russia on March 3, a week
after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to invade Ukraine in an attempt to take over the neighboring nation.
However, Nike seems to have been motivated to leave the country entirely by the prospect of new criminal laws imposed by the
Russian government on foreign companies who protested against Moscow's war.
NBA
owners 'have a combined $10 billion of exposure in China' beyond league's $5 billion business in the country.
Forty principal owners in the NBA reportedly have more than a combined $10 billion tied up in China — investments that have
significant impact on the valuation of the teams. Between the personal investments and NBA China having grown into a $5 billion
business, 'the China value of each of the league's 30 teams [is] an estimated $150 million,' according to ESPN, which commissioned
the New York firm Strategy Risks to conduct an assessment. NBA owners invested in China reportedly include the Charlotte
Hornets' Michael Jordan, the Brooklyn Nets' Joe Tsai, and the Miami Heat's Micky Arison.
Mariners
Pitcher, Robbie Ray Ruled Out of Blue Jays Series Over Vaxx Status. Seattle Mariners' left-hand pitcher and
reigning Cy Young winner Robbie Ray is expected to sit out the team's three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays this
week. Ray is expected to return to the mound against the Boston Red Sox on Friday. [Tweet] While the team did not
disclose why Ray is missing the series, it is apparent that Canada's mandatory vaccination rule is playing a role; likely
indicating that the star pitcher is unvaccinated. Ray will be missing out on a significant return to Toronto after
winning the Cy Young as part of the Blue Jays in 2021.
Parents
find 15-yr-old abducted from Dallas Maverick's game through sex trafficking site, demand answers. A 15-year-old
teenager who went to a Dallas Mavericks game with her dad, became part of a living nightmare when she went to the restroom
and never came back, only later to be found through nude advertisements for sex trafficking online in Oklahoma City by her
terrified parents. The North Texas teenager disappeared on April 8th at the American Airlines Center. The girl
was caught on surveillance video leaving with a man. She was missing for 11 days.
Detention
of WNBA star Brittney Griner in Moscow extended by one month. The lawyer for WNBA star Brittney Griner said
Friday her pre-trial detention in Russia has been extended by one month. Griner's lawyer Alexander Boikov told The
Associated Press he believed the relatively short extension of the detention indicated the case would come to trial
soon. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at the Moscow airport after vape cartridges containing oil
derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
So
Much For Being Social Justice Warriors: NBA Adds Another Authoritarian Government To List Of Friends. The
players, management, and executives of the National Basketball Association care very deeply about social justice
issues. Just ask them, and you're sure to get an earful. Ask LeBron James about his thoughts on Black Lives
Matter and he's certain to go into a lengthy rant about his all-in support for the group and the movement. Ask league
commissioner Adam Silver about his commitment to LGBTQ causes, and you'll likely hear a lengthy lecture about his commitment
including that time he pulled the league's All-Star game out of Charlotte to protest North Carolina's reasonable bathroom
bill. The NBA even has a strong opinion on the 2nd Amendment, going so far as to launch an advertising campaign calling
for strict gun control. The NBA is all about speaking their minds and standing up for the oppressed and
vulnerable. So long as those being oppressed are in the United States and provided their support won't cause even a
remote bit of financial pain.
Blood
Money: How America's Sports Owners Are in Bed with Communist China. There is no question that basketball
is China's most popular sport. "Roughly 800 million people in China tuned into an NBA game. ... That's more than twice
the population of the United States," NBC News reported in 2019. That was before Daryl Moray sent his simple tweet, "Fight
for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong," in October of 2019 and started a firestorm that would shake the NBA to its core and begin
a nearly 18-month-long ban on NBA games aired on Chinese television. This was also before ESPN exposed Brooklyn Nets
Owner Joe Tsai this week, in a report titled "Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai is the face of NBA's uneasy China relationship."
Tsai, who also owns WNBA's New York Liberty and the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League, is worth $8.5 billion,
mostly from his Amazon-esque company Alibaba, headquartered in Hangzhou, China, with a revenue of over $700 billion per
year. Tsai is among many owners in the NBA and other sports associations who have shown public support for protest
movements that are publicly critical of America's supposed human rights struggles, while at the same time covering up, and in
some cases defending, China's abysmal human rights record.
NFL
sets meetings between owners and diversity coach, GM talent (white guys not invited). Pete Carroll said NFL
owners should "stop living in their own universe" and get more comfortable with minority coaches that don't look like them
during a session at the league's annual meeting in Palm Beach last month and that's exactly what the NFL has mandated will
happen. The league last week sent out a memo to all clubs announcing that 32 "diverse, prospective club-nominated head
coach and general manager prospects will have networking opportunities with club and league office executives" at the NFL's
spring meeting on May 23 and 24.
NFL's
hiring mandate for minority, female coaches prompts legal double-takes. It's illegal to discriminate based on
race, even in the name of increasing diversity, which is why the NFL's newly announced mandate on women and minority coaches
is already raising red flags. The league announced last week at the annual owners meeting that all 32 teams must employ
a woman or person of color as an offensive assistant coach, an effort to put diverse candidates in the pipeline for future
head coaching positions. Whether the hiring initiative can pass legal muster is another question, given that it looks
at first glance like a "pretty clear racial and gender quota," said Josh Blackman, South Texas College of Law Houston professor.
The NFL goes
even woker. National Football League owners recently approved a new mandate requiring every NFL team to hire
one minority offensive assistant coach. The mandatory hire will be in effect for the upcoming 2022 season and can be a
female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority. A statement obtained by United Press International noted that each
of the soon-to-be-hired coaches will receive a one-year contract and will "work closely with the head coach and offensive
staff to gain experience." Teams will reportedly be reimbursed for the female and/or minority coaching hires through a
league-wide fund that will go toward their salaries.
500
Laps of Dead Silence? NASCAR Considers Racing Electric Cars. If Hollywood ever gets around to rebooting
(as they're wont to do) the 1990 Tom Cruise NASCAR flick "Days of Thunder," will the new version be called "Days of
Moderately Loud High-Pitched Buzzing Noises?" Or maybe just "Days of Silence?" If they wait long enough, they may have
to. According to reports, the stock-car sanctioning body is considering the role electrification of cars will play
going forward, with officials floating at least an "exhibition series" featuring EVs.
Please do not ask for an exemption if you are not a celebrity. NYC
Mayor Announces Vaccine-Mandate Exemption for Professional Athletes, Performers. Newly elected Mayor Eric Adams
declared a special carve-out to New York City's employer vaccine mandate Thursday [3/24/2022] for professional athletes and
performers, allowing unvaccinated athletes like Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving back onto his home court. Adams
announced the decision at a press conference at Citi Field this morning. "Today I signed an emergency executive order
expanding the performance exemption to the private employer vaccine mandate," he said.
All the
idiocy of Covid and vaccine mandates in one neat package. In September, as part of his never-ending quest to
ruin New York, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio required Covid jabs for adults going to indoor venues like restaurants or
gyms. Including Barclays Center, where the Nets play. Then, in December, de Blasio extended the mandate to all
private workplaces. The mandates meant that [Kyrie] Irving couldn't play basketball at Barclays. He was allowed
to play outside New York, but in October the Nets said they wouldn't let him do that either if he couldn't play at
home. Irving was due to make $35 million this season, just shy of $400,000 a game (which made him only the
third-highest paid player on the Nets, amazing but true). Thus, every home game he missed cost him $400,000.
And I thought I was committed to staying unvaccinated. Though the team still had to pay Irving for the road games.
NFL
Agrees With NFLPA To Sack All Its COVID-19 Protocols. The NFL is done with COVID-19. Well, it's done with
COVID-19 protocols. In a memo sent to all 32 clubs Thursday, the NFL announced it had agreed with the NFL Players
Association to lift all protocols it had imposed and amended since March of 2020. [...] That means testing is over,
regardless of vaccination status for players, coaches and staff. That means masks are no longer required in the
workplace, regardless of vaccination status. That means signs within team facilities concerning social distancing and
mask wearing can come down. That means restrictions on weight room and lunch room capacity limits are lifted.
The
false doctrines of the Church of Woke. Here's an example. Blacks as a whole are 13% of society. The
NBA players are 90% Black men, and the NFL players are 70% Black men. The overwhelming reason there's such a high
percentage of Black men employed professionally in these sports is because of their superiority in playing basketball and
football. That's it. That's all there is to it. But a much lower percentage of Blacks are involved in
management in these sports. Under wokism, the management disparity is automatically attributed to racism. Woke
doesn't use racism to explain the selection of the players but does explain the management disparity as racism. In
fact, for various cultural reasons, Black people as a group underperform educationally but outperform in many sports.
There are lots of reasons for these disparities in management besides racism.
Enes
Kanter Freedom — NBA player and vocal China critic — suddenly has no team. Just like he
predicted. Enes Kanter Freedom — the NBA center who's made headlines for criticizing China's human
rights record, all while playing for a league that craves the communist country's cash — predicted in an PBS
interview that he'd soon be gone from basketball due to his views: [Tweet] "Soon" turned out to be 24 hours after
his above interview with Margaret Hoover. On Thursday, Freedom's now-former team, the Boston Celtics, traded him to the
Houston Rockets — and with that, the Rockets cut him, Outkick reported.
Let's
See if the NFL Really Is Racist. Diversity only goes in one direction — replacing whiteness with "color."
The reality that African-Americans make up only 13 percent of the American population yet represent over 70 percent
of NFL players is clearly a diversity problem. If the NFL were truly "equitable" (using the progressive definition of
equal outcome over equal opportunity), than the league should be roughly 60 percent White, 20 percent Hispanic,
15 percent Black, and 5 percent "other." Yet there have been no calls for player diversity or accusations of
systemic racism operating within the NFL Scouting Combine or player draft. No one questions the organic process of selecting
players based on physical prowess, raw talent, and skill level. It's collectively understood that those who make it in the NFL
are legitimate and deserve to be there.
Former
Dolphins coach Flores sues NFL saying league is run 'like a plantation'. Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian
Flores is suing three NFL teams and the league itself, which he claims "is racially segregated and is managed much like a
plantation". Flores, who is Black, was surprisingly fired by the Dolphins last month despite leading the team to
back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2003. The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan federal court on
Tuesday, seeks unspecified damages. In the lawsuit, Flores also depicts a Dolphins team with a troubling culture.
He alleges he was offered a $100,000 bonus for every game his team lost during the 2019 season in order to secure a higher
position in the 2020 NFL draft. When the team won games towards the end of the season, Flores says he was told Dolphins
owner Stephen Ross was "mad" that the victories were "compromising [Miami's] draft position."
Nebraska
[is] removing mascot's 'OK' hand signal to avoid White supremacy connection. The "OK" hand signal is no longer
OK at the University of Nebraska. Nebraska has updated the image of its mascot to avoid a connection with White
supremacism. The mascot is now pictured holding up the "No. 1" instead of forming the "OK" signal with his hand.
Herbie Husker, a cartoon mascot for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, had shown the "OK" hand sign for almost 50 years, but the
university is making the revision after learning the same gesture has developed a connection in recent years to some
far-right extremists. The change to Herbie Husker was first reported by the Flatwater Free Press on Friday [1/28/2022].
"That hand gesture could, in some circles, represent something that does not represent what Nebraska athletics is about," Nebraska
athletics licensing director Lonna Henrichs told the Flatwater Free Press.
17
NBA players make tens of millions off sneakers made with Chinese slave labor cotton. Enes Kanter Freedom's
opposition to China's nefarious labor practices and enslavement of Uyghur Muslims has been a recent narrative covered by the
media — courtesy of the player's determination. Behind the scenes, China's violations of human rights have
long been a topic of contention for major U.S. companies and the NBA — making their silent opposition to doing
business with China an ongoing two-faced partnership. Kanter Freedom reposted a report by ESPN that listed a roster of
17 NBA athletes currently dealing with Chinese brands that source their materials in China's Xinjiang region. The
region has been the focus of human rights advocacy. Reportedly "more than a million Uyghurs and other minorities are
held in detention camps" in Xinjian, highlighted by ESPN's Mike Fish and Michael A. Fletcher.
LA
Will Give Super Bowl Attendees 5-Layer Face Masks. If you're planning to attend February 13th's Super Bowl, you
might want to get busy coordinating your clothes. You'll need a team-colored shirt, jacket, hat, socks... and medical
mask. As reported by CNN, this year's stadium shindig will be an anonymous affair: Everyone's faces will be
obscured. And that's too bad, because the location is the "Land of the Beautiful People." The event's being held
in that haven of iconic American liberty, Los Angeles. Hence, per LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer,
vaccination booths will be set up outside — providing first, second, or booster doses of the country's favorite
pharmaceutical fix.
At this point in the season, there's too much money at stake to let Covid get in the way. NFL ends daily
COVID-19 testing for all players. The NFL is curtailing daily testing of all players, vaccinated or
unvaccinated, for COVID-19. In a memo sent to the 32 clubs and obtained by The Associated Press, the league said Friday
that medical experts from the NFL and the players' union agreed to the change. Those doctors have seen enough evidence
of a decrease in positive tests in the last month to feel comfortable with dropping daily tests.
Djokovic
Leaves Australia After Losing Visa Appeal. World No. 1-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic departed from
Australia after the full federal court on Jan. 16 dismissed his challenge to a government decision revoking his visa on
COVID-19-related grounds. Chief Justice James Allsop said that Djokovic's application to overturn the Australian
immigration minister's cancellation of his visa had been dismissed unanimously by himself as part of the court's three-judge
panel, alongside Justice Anthony Besanko and Justice David O'Callaghan, after almost eight hours of deliberations. All
costs are to be paid for by Djokovic, who is facing a three-year ban from the country. The 34-year-old Serbian player
went to the airport in Melbourne just hours later. Federal agents escorted him and his team from the business lounge to
the gate, where he boarded an Emirates flight bound for Dubai. The flight took off shortly before 11 p.m. local time.
Australian
Open tennis: Novak Djokovic loses deportation appeal, leaves country. Novak Djokovic left Australia on
Sunday evening after losing his final bid to avoid deportation and play in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated for
Covid-19. A court earlier unanimously dismissed the No. 1-ranked tennis player's challenge to cancel his visa.
Djokovic, a 34-year-old from Serbia, said he was "extremely disappointed" by the ruling but respected it. A masked
Djokovic was photographed in an Melbourne airport lounge with two government officials in black uniforms. He left on an
Emirates flight to Dubai, the same United Arab Emirates city he flew to Australia from.
French
Tennis Star Tests Positive For COVID-19 For The 250th Time. French tennis player Benoit Paire has tested
positive for COVID-19 just weeks before the Australian Open gets underway on January 17, 2022. This is the 250th time
Paire has gotten a positive test result from a COVID-19 test. The 32-year-old is now angry and can't "deal with the
COVID [...] anymore!" He has admitted that the regular quarantining required of him has taken a toll on his mental health.
NFL
threatens clubs with penalties if they ask recruits about drugs, mothers' prostitution. A new NFL rule
threatens teams with financial penalties and the loss of a draft pick if they ask prospective recruits about personal issues
such as their marijuana habits, sexual orientation and whether their mothers have ever been prostitutes. In a Wednesday
[1/5/2022] letter to the league's 32 teams that ESPN obtained, the NFL said clubs will forfeit a draft pick between the first
and fourth rounds and receive a minimum $150,000 fine if coaches ask "disrespectful, inappropriate or unprofessional"
questions during an interview. Team representatives also will face individual fines and suspensions over their conduct
with draft prospects. "All clubs should ensure that prospective draft picks are afforded a respectful and professional
NFL environment — one that is consistent with state and federal law and our shared commitment to respect,
diversity and inclusion," the memo states.
Vaccinated
33 Year Old Italian Football Star Weeps As He Announces His Retirement After He Learns His Heart Is Distroyed.
Argentina and Barcelona star Sergio Aguero has announced his retirement from football just over a month after the 33-year-old
was diagnosed with a heart condition. The former Manchester City player signed a two-year deal with Barcelona this year
but made just five appearances, scoring one goal against Real Madrid, before being taken to hospital with "chest pains" after
a match at home to Alaves in October. "I have decided to stop playing professional football," said Aguero at a press
conference at Camp Nou on Wednesday [12/15/2021]. [Video clip]
Lessons
from the National Football League. Nobody plays in the NFL because Daddy or Mommy owns the team or serves as a
league executive. Nobody plays because of famous relatives, sports figures or otherwise. Nobody plays due to race
or national origin. Nobody checks whether any team matches the ethnic proportions of society. It's all about
merit, and it's all voluntary.
Time
Magazine Names Simone Biles as 'Athlete of the Year' for Withdrawing from 2020 Olympics. Time magazine
revealed a controversial pick for its "athlete of the year" award on Thursday handing the crown to U.S. gymnast Simone Biles,
not because she did well, but because she pulled out of events during the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Biles had a
relatively poor showing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo winning only a silver and bronze medal in two events, compared to the
handful of golds she won during the 2016 Olympics.
The Fight for Civic
Nationalism. Not to put too fine a point on it, but here is a statement from the National Basketball
Association [link] condemning the verdict. Two things to note: Sports teams are owned by billionaire oligarchs,
the people who run the country. Second, the statement is a direct contradiction of observable reality. Calling
self-defense in the midst of a riot "vigilantism" and the riot a "peaceful protest" is deranged. They are either lying
or crazy. What the Rittenhouse case should do for the civic nationalists, especially the reaction to it from the halls
of power, is cause them to wonder if their opponents are fit for a civil society at all.
Enes
Kanter Says NBA Officials Threatened To Ban Him For Criticizing China. Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter was
apparently pressured to stop his criticism of China. The Turkish-born basketball player has become incredibly outspoken
against the communist dictatorship in China, and not everyone involved with the league is happy. During an interview on
CNN, Kanter revealed that two unnamed NBA officials borderline begged him to take off his Free Tibet shoes prior to a game
and later implied he might be banned for the move. The Celtics player asked if he was breaking any rules, and the
officials admitted he was not. He added the officials later apologized. Furthermore, he revealed that he's spoken
with commissioner Adam Silver about the situation. [Video clip]
PETA
Urges MLB to Replace 'Bullpen' with 'Arm Barn'. Animal rights organization PETA has called for Major League
Baseball to "strike out" the word "bullpen" in favor of "arm barn" because, as the organization claims, the current term is a
reference to a "holding area where terrified bulls are kept before slaughter." "Words matter, and baseball 'bullpens'
devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals," PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a
press release. "PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language
and embrace the 'arm barn' instead."
The Editor says...
[#1] If you don't like baseball terminology (or America), don't go to the games. [#2] The overlap between PETA people and baseball fans is near zero,
so the baseball announcers could have a field day with derisive mockery of this suggested destruction of our language and traditions.
The
WNBA Had A Parade For Their Champions And Literally No One Showed Up. A Twitter video of the Chicago Sky WNBA
championship parade went viral earlier Wednesday and it really was a sight to see — not in a good way either.
Here [...] you can see the streets of Chicago, or perhaps the suburbs of the city, had no fans lined up to meet the WNBA
champs. Literally no one besides the security, team and buses themselves.
Allison
Williams steps away from ESPN over vaccine decision. Allison Williams, a veteran college football sideline
reporter for ESPN, announced on Thursday that she will be opting out of the season because she will not take the COVID-19
vaccine. "While my work is incredibly important to me, the most important role I have is as a mother," she wrote in a
statement on Twitter. "Throughout our family planning with our doctor, as well as a fertility specialist, I have
decided not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at this time while my husband and I try for a second child.
NFL
Cancels Grammy Winner Victory Boyd's National Anthem Performance over Her Vaccination Status. The National
Football League has canceled Grammy Award winner Victory Boyd's scheduled National Anthem performance after she refused the
coronavirus vaccine for religious reasons. In an email shared with The Epoch Times, NFL Senior Director for
Media and Entertainment Events Seth Dudowsky to Victory's father and manager, John Boyd, on August 31 that her
vaccination status will make ineligible to perform the National Anthem.
Bob
Boone, father of Yankees manager Aaron Boone, to leave Nationals front office rather than get vaccinated: reports. Several cranky
former baseball players have decided in recent days that avoiding a COVID shot is more important than their post-playing career. The latest
is Bob Boone, a longtime Nationals executive after a decorated playing and managing career. Boone will be quitting the front office in Washington
after the team became one of three (with the Orioles and Astros) to require all non-player employees to be vaccinated. "Boone has not resigned yet,
but does expect to split with the Nationals rather than get the shot," according to the Washington Post. The Post also reported that the Nats'
minor league pitching coordinator was on unpaid leave because he was unvaccinated.
Titans
Coach Tests Positive For COVID Despite Fully Vaxxed, How Will NFL Handle These Cases? Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel
announced on Sunday [8/22/2021] that he tested positive for COVID-19. The head coach is fully vaccinated and cited having only
"minor symptoms" during a Zoom call with the media. Vrabel said he is currently quarantined and waiting on a pending test to
confirm primary diagnosis. If positive, he will not return to the Titans facilities for another week.
NBA
Game Ball Maker Is Controlled by Chinese Company Accused of Using Slave Labor. The maker of the NBA's official
game balls is owned by a Chinese company accused of using Uyghur slave labor that has threatened to cut ties with the league
for supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. In 2019, the Chinese-owned Anta Sports acquired Amer Sports and
its subsidiaries, including the sporting goods maker Wilson. The NBA inked a deal with Wilson to provide game balls for
the upcoming season. The league has also sold Anta brand shoes on its website. The NBA has faced a drumbeat of
criticism over its silence on China's human rights abuses. While many of its superstars have defended social justice
protests in the United States, the league has been largely quiet regarding China's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and
its alleged use of slave labor.
The
Generously Proportioned and Guaranteed 100% Simone Biles-Free RedState Sports Report. The NBA held the first
round of its annual draft Thursday evening [7/29/2021]. Given the COVID-driven oddball scheduling of college games
played this past season, the eligible players are a bit more on the unknown side to all but the hardest of hardcore
collegiate fans than is normally the case. That, plus the fact most professional-quality players these days already
have their bags packed before they set one foot on any given college campus just long enough to strut their stuff and pad
their résumé, makes keeping tabs on the talent a challenge for anyone who finds blinking a necessity.
The
Cleveland Indians new name [is] already taken. In announcing the Cleveland Indians will become the Cleveland
Guardians, management overlooked one tiny little thing. There already is a Cleveland Guardians team. The
Cleveland Guardians is a roller derby team. The Plain Dealer reported, "A spokesman for the Indians said Monday
[7/26/2021] that the team could not comment on trademark issues or on any dealings with the roller derby Guardians at this
time. "The Cleveland Guardians roller derby team did not respond to requests for comment." Indians,
Guardians. Maybe they can call the team the Custodians. Or the Meridians. Or in tribute to the quality of
the teams in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, they can be known as the Comedians. Of course, that may apply to the front
office now. However, the Guardians roller derby team seems to have gone out of business a couple of years ago, and its
web site seemed dormant until the new buzz surrounding the baseball team's name change.
Rick
Dennison out as Vikings offensive line coach after refusing COVID vaccine. The Vikings and assistant coach Rick
Dennison are trying to work it out. Amid reports Friday [7/23/2021] that the two sides had split over Dennison's
refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the Vikings released a statement saying they're continuing to "hold discussions" with
the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. "The Vikings continue to hold discussions with Offensive Line Coach
Rick Dennison regarding the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocols for training camp and preseason games," the statement read.
"At this time, Coach Dennison does not have an exemption to the vaccination requirements of those protocols. We will
adhere to the requirements of the protocols and of applicable law."
NFL
teams will be forced to forfeit if unvaccinated players cause COVID-19 outbreak. The NFL has laid out its
strongest incentive yet for players to get the vaccine. According to a memo shared on Twitter by NFL Network's Tom
Pelissero, the league has mandated that a game cannot be rescheduled due to a COVID-19 outbreak among unvaccinated
players — and that team will be forced to forfeit, resulting "in a loss for playoff seeding." The memo said
the league intends to play all of its games within the scheduled 18-week period and a 19th week will not be added to the
schedule under any circumstances — an idea that was floated in 2020 amid numerous outbreaks.
European Beach Handball Championships: Norway
hit with 1,500 euros bikini fine. Norway have been fined 1,500 euros for wearing shorts instead of bikini
bottoms at the European Beach Handball Championships. The European Handball Federation (EHF) said it had imposed the
fine because of a case of "improper clothing". Norway's players wore shorts instead of bikini bottoms during a bronze
medal match against Spain in Varna, Bulgaria. Norway's Handball Federation (NHF) had already stated it would pay if
their players were fined. An EHF statement said a disciplinary commission had imposed a fine of "150 euros per player,
for a total of 1,500 euros". It added that Norway had played with shorts that are "not according to the athlete uniform
regulations defined in the IHF [International Handball Federation] beach handball rules of the game."
Whitlock: I'm
happy NCAA amateurism is dead, but I'm concerned college sports will collapse. The NCAA's decades-long refusal
to reform its amateurism model will likely lead to a massive decline in the popularity of college football and
basketball. State politicians forced the NCAA to adopt the Name Image and Likeness (NIL) athlete marketing structure
that went into effect early this week. College athletes are now free to sell their name, image, and likeness to
businesses big and small. Rapper Master P's son, Hercy Miller, an incoming freshman basketball player at Tennessee
State University, reportedly cut a $2 million brand ambassador deal with a tech company. NIL is going to cause an
unprecedented level of chaos within college athletics. The impossible-to-control influx of cash into college locker
rooms will spark acrimony among the players and completely disrupt and negatively redefine player-coach relationships.
College
athletes get 'six-figure' endorsement deals after NCAA lifts rules against profiting off name, image, and likeness.
NCAA athletes are wasting little time in capitalizing on new rules allowing them to profit off their name, image, and likeness
(NIL), with some high-profile stars expecting to sign six-figure endorsement deals and possibly much more in the near future.
Leigh Steinberg, the famed sports agent who has negotiated deals for NFL legends such as Steve Young and Troy Aikman, told
DailyMail.com that a quarterback from a high-profile school 'could rival a pro' in endorsement earnings. Payouts will
vary 'client to client, deal to deal' sports attorney Darren Heitner told DailyMail.com, adding that contracts in excess of
$100,000 are 'absolutely' expected before the fall sports season starts in late August.
Spectator who caused
massive crash at Tour de France missing after fleeing the country. A spectator at the Tour de France who caused
a massive crash involving dozens of cyclists is missing as race authorities plan to sue her. Tour de France deputy
director Pierre-Yves Thouault told the AFP news agency they plan to sue the woman "so that the tiny minority of people who do
this don't spoil the show for everyone." However, French publication Ouest-France reported the woman, who is believed
to be German, got on a flight and is untraceable, according to CBS Sports. Video shows the woman, who held a long
banner on the sidelines of the race, stick the banner out a little too far, causing German cyclist Tony Martin to bike right
into it. Martin fell, setting off a domino effect for competitors as cyclists behind him also fell.
French
police arrest a woman in Brittany over the Tour de France's worst-ever crash. A woman facing prison for causing
one of the worst crashes in the history of the Tour de France has been arrested after four days on the run. The
suspect — who has not been identified — was on Wednesday in custody in the Brittany town of
Landerneau. Prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry following the collapse of an entire peloton on Saturday, when 21
cyclists including Britain's Chris Froome were seriously hurt. The woman was filmed standing by the side of the road
and grinning at TV cameras while holding up a large sign saying 'Go! Grandma and Grandpa' in a mixture of French and
German. She had her back to the approaching peloton and was hit in the left arm before spinning around.
French
police arrest a woman in Brittany over the Tour de France's worst-ever crash. A woman facing prison for causing
one of the worst crashes in the history of the Tour de France has been arrested after four days on the run. The
suspect — who has not been identified — was arrested today and is now in custody in the small Brittany
town of Landerneau. She lives in the Finistere department of Brittany, in which Landerneau is situated, according to an
investigating source. 'She did not have far to travel to get to the race, and clearly knew how to escape after causing so
much damage,' he said. 'Numerous witnesses were interviewed, and camera footage was also inspected in order to track the
suspect down.[']
Nike
CEO says sports giant is 'a brand of China and for China' in earnings call. The CEO of Nike said the company is
a 'brand of China' during a recent earnings call, defending the company's position in the country. The comments come
months after the sportswear apparel company was embroiled in controversy over alleged human rights abuses in the
country. This week, CEO John Donahoe conducted his quarterly earnings report for the company. He was asked about
the company's plan in China by an analyst. 'We've been in China for over 40 years, still invested significant time and
energy in China in the early days and today we're the largest sport brand there and we're a brand of China and for China,'
Donahoe responded, according to a transcript published by Nasdaq.
Nike: 'Of China and
For China'. Nike is between a rock and a hard place — or, rather, between two global powers, one of
which is complicit in ongoing crimes against humanity. After Nike issued a statement tepidly expressing concern about
forced labor in China's Xinjiang region earlier this year, nationalistic Chinese consumers boycotted the company, prominent
brand sponsors pulled out of deals, and sales in China plummeted. Nike's troublesome statement was partly a response to
the growing mountain of evidence that led the U.S. government, in addition to the parliaments of almost ten Western
countries, to call the Chinese Communist Party's conduct there — a sweeping campaign to eradicate Uyghurs through
arbitrary mass detention, population-control policies, and other horrors — genocide and crimes against humanity.
Leftists
Aghast at Rumors First Openly Gay NFL Player Is a Republican. Since announcing that he is a homosexual, Carl
Nassib, NFL defensive end with the Las Vegas Raiders, has received praise from President Joe Biden and the establishment
media. However, when rumors started to fly that Nassib is a Republican — and could have been a supporter of
former President Donald Trump — his newly minted hero status hit a snag.
Carl
Nassib Comes out Better Than He Comes After The Other Team's Quarterback. Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl
Nassib announced Monday [6/21/2021] via Instagram that he is gay, thus becoming the first NFL player to come out while active
in the league. Looking past the resultant media frenzy and love slathering Nassib, both facts unreported and questions
unasked by said media readily come to mind. The notion of homosexuality and football being somehow intertwined is
nothing new. In 1978, college professor Alan Dundes published Into the Endzone for a Touchdown: A Psychoanalytic
Consideration of American Football, in which he argued, possibly with tongue firmly in cheek, that the sport's inner
vernacular branded it as an obvious albeit unspoken male ritual rife with gay overtones. Dundes quoted fellow professor
William Arens in how, by his observation, even the football uniform is "not an expression, but an exaggeration of maleness."
Supreme
Court Rules against NCAA in Athlete Compensation Dispute. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday
[6/21/2021] that the NCAA can no longer bar colleges from offering student-athletes education-related benefits, including
free laptops or paid post-graduate internships, in the name of amateurism. The ruling does not specifically address the
question of paying athletes directly, however. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote on behalf of the court that the NCAA "seeks
immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws," adding that the court declines the request because "this suit
involves admitted horizontal price fixing in a market where the defendants exercise monopoly control." Justice Brett
Kavanaugh accused the NCAA of "price fixing" in a concurrent opinion. "The NCAA's business model would be flatly
illegal in almost any other industry in America," he wrote.
Connecticut
schools that use Native American mascots could lose casino revenue. Connecticut schools that insist on using
Native American nicknames and mascots without written consent from tribal leaders could see their budgets on the chopping
block. State senators passed a budget bill Tuesday [6/15/2021] containing a provision that cut districts off from the
Mashantucket Pequot/Mohegan Fund, which generates education revenue at the state's Indian-run casinos. Money would be
withheld from schools that don't have permission to use "any name, symbol or image that depicts, refers to or is associated
with a state or federally recognized Native American tribe or a Native American individual, custom or tradition, as a mascot,
nickname, logo or team name
Police
officer sues NFL over 'systemic racism' ad that is 'totally false, defamatory, and unacceptable'. An
Indianapolis police officer filed a lawsuit against the NFL after an advertisement it used last year appeared to suggest the
officer contributed to "systemic racism" after he shot a black man. Guy A. Relford, the lawyer for Indianapolis Metro
Police Department Officer De'Joure Mercer, said his client was misrepresented in materials for an ad campaign to "honor
victims of systemic racism, victims of police misconduct, and social justice heroes." The campaign featured 87 black men
and women who died during interactions with police, including more notable names such as George Floyd, Eric Gardner, and
Freddie Gray. One of the names was Dreasjon Reed, a man whom Mercer (who is also black) fatally shot after a vehicular
chase. Relford said the ad "gives rise to the inference, implication, and imputation that Mercer committed occupational
misconduct and even criminal acts during the May 6 (e)ncounter with Reed, similar to that which were inflicted upon George
Floyd." "This inference, implication, and imputation is false because Mercer committed no such acts," he added.
Former
Attorney General Edwin Meese III and American Constitutional Rights Union Take On Major League Baseball in
Court. Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III and the American Constitutional Rights Union, of which he is a
member of the Board, have filed a hard-hitting amicus brief supporting Job Creators Network in their lawsuit against Major
League Baseball. The Job Creators Network (JCN) is suing Major League Baseball (MLB) to force them to reverse their
decision to move the MLB All-Star game from Atlanta. MLB moved the game to protest Georgia's new election integrity
law. The move will cause major economic consequences to the greater Atlanta community. This has led to complaints
that Major League Baseball is not representing the interests of its owners as it participates in political cancel culture and
appears to do the bidding of leftist activists, such as Stacey Abrams, who maintain that measures such as voter
identification are racist. As a result of MLB's decision to suddenly leave Atlanta, Cobb County Travel and Tourism
Bureau estimates that local businesses will lose more than $100 million in economic activity.
Major
League Baseball Strikes Out Again on Black America. By moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver because
Georgia is protecting peoples' votes, Major League Baseball is hypocritical in its rationale. MLB Commissioner Rob
Manfred stated that the "best way to demonstrate our values as a sport" would be to move the upcoming All-Star Game and its
Entry Level Draft out of Georgia. The decision came after the state's legislature passed and Governor Brian Kemp
subsequently signed the "Election Integrity Act of 2021" into law. Opponents of the new law decried it as racist,
oppressive and disenfranchising. This voter integrity measure has been attacked for allegedly denying persons of color
the ability to vote. It's claimed it will punish those who simply want to offer comforts such as food or water to
voters standing in line or those without identification. But these premises are based on the bigotry to low
expectations that blacks cannot obtain identification or get to the polls without the aid and protection of government.
MLB nonetheless abandoned Atlanta, becoming the third league to move an event to exert political pressure.
Leading
the Memorial by six strokes, Jon Rahm forced to withdraw after positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Jon Rahm was
rolling in dominant fashion to his second consecutive Memorial Tournament win after an unbelievable 64 on Saturday [6/5/2021]
at Muirfield Village. Things took a devastating turn post-round, however, as he was alerted by the PGA Tour that he
tested positive for COVID-19 and would be forced to withdraw from the tournament after three rounds. Rahm was informed
by the PGA Tour on Monday that he was in contact tracing protocol as he was in close proximity to someone who tested positive
for COVID-19. Rahm tested negative throughout the week but a positive test popped up on Saturday while he was on the
course. He was informed shorty after shooting his 64 — one of the best rounds on the PGA Tour all
year — and immediately withdrew from the tournament.
The Editor says...
[#1] Golf is an outdoor sport in which the participants are widely spaced. Even if he had Covid-19, what's the problem?
[#2] A professional athlete is a person who is extremely unlikely to be at risk of serious complications from Covid-19.
[#3] Did Mr. Rahm really have the disease, or just a positive test result — which could easily have been a
false positive? With all that's at stake, especially since he was doing so well, a false positive could easily lead
some to suspect tampering with the outcome of the tournament.
What
Is 'Race Norming' and Why Is the NFL Just Now Admitting to It? AP News explains that the practice of
"race-norming" is the assumption that Black players have a "lower cognitive function" base, and thus settlements on brain
injury claims are calculated by adjusting for race. The result has been to make it harder for Black players to prove
that they have been cognitively injured during the execution of their NFL career.
MLB
sued for moving All-Star game out of Atlanta. Major League Baseball is being sued over its move of next month's
All-Star game out of Atlanta. A 21-page lawsuit by conservative small-business advocacy organization Job Creators Network,
filed Monday [5/31/2021] in federal court in New York, demands the immediate return of the game to Atlanta and $100 million
in damages to local and state small businesses. The suit also seeks $1 billion in punitive damages. MLB, the
MLB Players Association, Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark are named as defendants
in the suit.
Men
booted from Yankee Stadium after displaying 'Trump Won' banner. Two men were escorted out of Yankee Stadium
Thursday [5/27/2021] — one of them apparently in cuffs — after they hung a large pro-Trump banner from
the second deck. Video and photos show two men unveiling a "Trump Won Save America" flag on the first-base side of the
stadium which prompted a Bronx cheer of boos from many in the crowd.
Transgender
Censorship: USA Today Erases 'Hurtful' Words From Female Athlete's Op-Ed. On Saturday [5/22/2021],
USA Today published an op-ed written by Chelsea Mitchell, one of three female athletes at the center of a legal
challenge to Connecticut's unfair transgender rules that allow biological males to compete against females in women's
sports. Apparently facing some backlash a few days after publication, USA Today altered Mitchell's words
and claimed that she had used "hurtful language." On Tuesday, USA Today slapped an "Editor's Note" at the
top of the article. The note reads, "This column has been updated to reflect USA TODAY's standards and style
guidelines. We regret that hurtful language was used." What language was so "hurtful" that USA Today
altered it three days after publication? The publication removed every mention of the biological term "male" and
replaced it with the indeterminate word "transgender."
Sports
Illustrated now only illustrating wokeness. Sports Illustrated, like nearly all mainstream media, has leaned
left for many years, but has just recently completely abandoned all balance and objectivity in an apparently
desperate — if puzzling — attempt at virtue-signaling. The June edition of the magazine featured
stories on the WNBA, the NBA, the NFL (about a player who left the league), the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (and its effect on
women's sports), and basketball again, with reference to Prince and his song "Purple Rain." [...] I think "Purple Rain" is a
very good and emotional song. But, for the second straight issue, there was no mention of the National Hockey League,
though these issues came out just prior to and during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, one of sports most grueling and exhilarating
events. This could not possibly be a simple oversight. Nor could it be a calculated capitalistic reflection of
relative popularity and therefore its effect on the magazine's all important bottom line. Is the league too
white? Moreover, there was no article on Major League Baseball. Really? A June issue with not one feature
on the erstwhile "America's Pastime?"
Youth football drill
goes viral and causes massive outrage: 'This is child abuse'. A video of a youth football drill from last year,
with a coach who has since been fired, went viral Tuesday [5/11/2021] and sparked outrage on social media, with many
wondering whether children should be doing something like this. The 8-second clip shows a young ball carrier going
head-to-head with a would-be tackler. The ball carrier lowers his helmet and runs over the defender, and it appeared
the two connected with each other's helmets. The defender hit the ground and was a little shaken up, video shows.
Track
coach blasts mask rule after runner collapses from 'complete oxygen debt'. On Wednesday [4/21/2021], a
face-masked high school distance runner in Oregon collapsed unconscious on the track a few meters from the finish
line — due to what her coach deemed "complete oxygen debt." According to The Bulletin, despite Summit HS
800-meter star Maggie Williams' fall [...], she slid across the finish recording a blazing time of 2:08.45, a school
record. Maggie suffered a burn to her face along with scraped elbows and knees. "I was pushing so hard and
everything went blurry and I just fell," she said.
Los Angeles Dodgers
create section for vaccinated fans; masks still required for ticket holders. The Los Angeles Dodgers will attempt to incentivize fans to get
COVID-19 vaccines by creating a special section for those who are immunized. Select outfield seats will be open to fans this Saturday [4/24/2021] when
the team takes on the San Diego Padres. Details regarding the seats, which are in sections 166LG and 168LG in the loge level, include the following:
• Negative tests must be provided for children under 2 years old.
• Ticket holders must have received shots at least two weeks prior to attending the game.
• Children between 2 [and] 15 years old must have a virus test within 72 hours of admission.
• Masks must be worn unless ticket holders are eating and drinking.
A news release by the team notes that social distancing rules will not be enforced in the section.
The Editor says...
[#1] The outfield seats? Is that the best incentive they can offer? [#2] Children under 16 are the least likely to spread Covid-19.
[#3] If they can require you to wear a mask in the outfield, they could soon require you to wear a baseball glove. Just in case. For your safety.
We're all in this game together! [#4] I can confidently predict that I will never attend a professional sports event again. You go ahead.
Come for the BLM ceremony, stay for the game.
Dear
Red States: You Don't Need the NCAA. A few short months ago, Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota was a
rising star in the Republican Party, due largely to her deft handling of the pandemic. Unlike so many elected
officials, even on our side, she refused to sanction lockdown orders or mask mandates in her state. Then she caved to
the "transgender" lobby, declining to sign a bill that banned males from participating in women's sports —
legislation she had earlier promised to back. Overnight, she went from being a likely future Vice President of the
United States, and possibly even President one day, to being a future former governor of South Dakota. Memo to the
other 26 Republican governors: Don't be like Kristi Noem. The reason for Noem's reversal, she said, was a threat
from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to withdraw tournament games and other sporting events from states
that do not affirm "transgender rights." [...] Anyone can see what's going on here. It's basically a form of
extortion. The Left has never cared about sports, per se, except as an instrument of "social change."
Supreme
Court case could change the nature of college sports. A Supreme Court case being argued this week amid March
Madness could erode the difference between elite college athletes and professional sports stars. If the former college
athletes who brought the case win, colleges could end up competing for talented student athletes by offering over-the-top
education benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars. And that could change the nature of college sports.
General
Motors' Official SUV of NCAA 'March Madness' Is Made in China. The official SUV, produced by General Motors
(GM), of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) annual "March Madness" tournament is made in China. Last
week, Buick — a division of GM — announced its 2021 Buick Envision is the official SUV of March
Madness. [...] The Buick Envision is built in China and imported to the U.S. market to sell.
NCAA apologizes
for disparities between women's and men's facilities. The NCAA is promising to bring better resources to the
Women's Division I Basketball Tournament after videos and images of the women's facilities sparked outrage among fans and
athletes online. Ahead of March Madness, student-athletes and coaches shared comparisons between the men's training
facilities and a single rack of dumbbells and one stationary bike for the women. The NCAA initially blamed the lack of
space and vowed to improve the conditions. Lynn Holzman, the NCAA's women's basketball VP, said the plan was to provide
more space and equipment to teams that further advanced in the tournament. "We want to be responsive to the needs of
our participating teams, and we are actively working to enhance existing resources at practice courts, including additional
weight training equipment," Holzman said in a statement Thursday [3/18/2021].
Washington
state HS coach fired over post-game prayers loses Ninth Circuit court round. A former high school football
coach in Washington state who is fighting a school district's ban on post-game prayers with his players that cost him his
job, has lost his latest court battle. In the decision, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in
San Francisco appeared to accuse former Bremerton High School coach Joe Kennedy of seeking publicity rather than divine
intervention. "Kennedy's attempts to draw nationwide attention to his challenge to the District showed that he was not
engaging in private prayer," Judge Milan Smith wrote, according to Q13 FOX in Seattle.
Pittsburgh
Penguins are under fire for photoshopping masks onto fans' faces in stands to hide COVID safety violations. The
Pittsburgh Penguins have come under fire for photoshopping masks onto fans' faces during the team's first game in front of
home supporters for nearly a year. The scandal first unfolded on Twitter on Wednesday when the Penguins' official page
tweeted an image showing a group of fans all appearing to be properly wearing face coverings as they watched their team take
on the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday [3/2/2021]. 'We just had to say this again ... thanks for the continued support,
Penguins fans,' the post read. 'We can't wait to see you tomorrow night.'
Kyrie
Irving Demands NBA To Change Its Logo: 'Black Kings Built The League'. Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving
isn't afraid to speak his mind. And like many others across the league, Irving wants to see change when it comes to the
NBA logo. Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West has been the symbol of the league since 1969, but Irving believes that
the league should do whatever it takes to make the late Kobe Bryant the new logo.
The Editor says...
If the NBA logo shows the white silhouette of an obscure player from decades ago, or the white silhouette of this year's most overpaid black player, or the white
silhouette of The Editor tripping over his own feet while trying to bounce the ball and run at the same time, what difference does it make?
New
York's Plans to Reopen Arenas Won't Come Cheap for Fans Looking to Attend Games. New York City will soon take a
massive step on the road to recovery, with arenas and stadiums being allowed to reopen their doors for fans. But anyone
looking to see a game in person will have a very different experience than what they're used to — and will have to
dole out a lot more cash. Barclays Center is set to host the first game played with fans in New York in about 11 months,
with the Brooklyn Nets taking on the Sacramento Kings. Those looking to catch the Nets' big three of Kyrie Irving, Kevin
Durant and James Harden will have to agree to take two COVID tests before even stepping foot inside the arena.
The Editor says...
If almost nobody can attend professional sports events in person, and everyone watches online (if at all), there is no
longer any need to build billion-dollar arenas. The games can be played in a big TV studio somewhere. In the
absence of any fans, the athletes will learn how pointless their jobs are. When viewing the games at home by
themselves, the fans will eventually realize what a waste of time it is. Throw the ball.
Bounce the ball. Catch the ball. Who cares?
Valparaiso
to Drop 'Crusaders' as Team Name Because Term Is Embraced by Hate Groups. Valparaiso University announced
Thursday [2/11/2021] that is dropping the team name Crusaders, the school mascot and all logos associated with the term that
it says has been embraced by hate groups. The decision comes after a decades-long debate that had intensified recently
because groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began using the symbols and words. The school's faculty and student senates
each passed resolutions calling for the change and the university's alumni board of directors supported reassessing the
appropriateness of the team name.
The
public sector purge is beginning. Dawson Buchanan, a young Trump supporter, left a very disturbing thread on
Twitter. He asserts that he was all set to begin working for a company called Private Jet Services. However,
shortly before he was to begin, PJS fired him. He finally learned from the owner that PJS had a contract with the
National Hockey League. When the NHL learned that PJS had hired someone who had worked for the Trump company, the NHL
said PJS had a choice: Buchanan or the NHL. PJS opted for the company that helps pay its bills.
Buffalo
Bills' plan for testing fans could be the new normal for events. There will be fans on the stands at the
upcoming Buffalo Bills playoff game, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at his press briefing Wednesday, joined by Bills owners
Kim and Terry Pegula. "We're all so excited about the Bills," Cuomo said. It's the football team's first home
playoff game in over two decades, and 6,700 fans will be allowed inside the outdoor stadium to take part in a pilot test.
Penguins,
valued at $650M, received $4.82M COVID loan. There are 123 teams among the Big Four North American Men's Sports
Leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL). Only one of them received a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program. That team
is the Pittsburgh Penguins, who received a loan of $4.82 million through the program authorized by the CARES Act.
According to the Small Business Administration's website, "The Paycheck Protection Program is a loan designed to provide a
direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll."
The Editor says...
The term small business should be defined somewhere. The definition is probably
in this
incomprehensible document, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to hunt it down. Whatever the definition may be,
I doubt if the Pittsburgh Penguins qualifies as a small business.
Cleveland
Indians Surrender On Name Change. First, we had the arrival of the "Washington Football Team." Are we now about
to see the birth of the "Cleveland Baseball Team," or will they actually manage to come up with a permanent name and a new mascot?
We should know soon enough because the Cleveland, Ohio franchise announced that they will be doing away with the "Indians" name they've
had for more than a century. And like virtually everything else in the current era, it's all about the racism.
Cleveland
to drop 'Indians' moniker: Report. "Cleveland Indians" will reportedly go the way of "Washington
Redskins." The New York Times reported Sunday evening [12/13/2020], citing "three people familiar with the decision"
that the Indians could announce the change as early as this week, though the team plans to keep its current moniker for the
2021 season. According to the Times, it wasn't immediately clear what the team's exact time frame and plans are.
Should
we build football fields around our churches? Nothing illustrates the absurdity of COVID rules and regulations
more than college football. As coaches and players make a mockery of the "scientific" and idolatrous government ritual
of mask-wearing, maybe we should ask if healthy young men who play a game in which brain injuries, broken bones, and joint
dislocations frequently occur should really be concerned about COVID-19. A Google search of "athletes who have been
hospitalized or died with COVID" finds only one, a 20-year-old, 6'3", overweight (355lb) football player. Even in this
tragedy, it is unclear from official reports if this young man died from or with COVID. What is clear is that virus
policies that allow players to go maskless as they huddle on the field but require masks when they huddle on the sidelines
have little to do with saving lives. COVID's purpose is to create a fearful and obedient American population and to
destroy America as we know it.
How
Liberals Can Destroy Football with COVID, and Why They'd Want To. Football has always been reviled by the
left. It is quintessentially American: invented in this country; played by high-testosterone, masculine men; and
operating almost entirely as a super-competitive meritocracy — i.e., the test of whether someone gets to play in
the NFL is whether he can play, and play better than the other guy. In the NFL in 2020, there's no time to humor
racism or any other "ism" in fielding a winning team; there's only the all-defining imperative priority to put the best
players on the field and "coach 'em up" to play the game well. All of those attributes of the sport are precisely why
it has been so popular in America; it has been aligned with American cultural norms and preferences for decades. The
sport's popularity is in fact proof that America as a whole is not racist — systemically or otherwise.
Americans don't root for their team or watch the NFL in huge numbers based on a team's compliance with racial hiring quotas;
they root and watch because they appreciate the best playing the best using talents that most of us don't have, and deciding
on a level playing field who wins a competitive game and who loses.
Steelers players
furious after NFL postpones Thanksgiving game against Raven. The NFL thought it made the right move by
postponing Thursday's Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens game, but not everyone agreed with the league's decision. A
number of Steelers players expressed rage and frustration on Twitter on Wednesday [11/25/2020] [...]
First
all-Black NFL officiating crew to work Monday Night Football game. The NFL has assembled an all-Black
officiating crew for the first time to work Monday night's game between the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, citing
the opportunity to recognize the league's history and recent practices in diversifying its officiating department.
The Editor says...
If you really care what color the officials are at a football game, you might be a racist.
Vegas
Oddsmaker Says, "The Fix Was In, Trump was Robbed, This Election Was Stolen". I've been a Las Vegas oddsmaker
and sports gaming expert for four decades — long before I became known as a nationally syndicated conservative
talk show host. I understand odds and gambling in a way that no other conservative media personality, host, or
politician in this country could. And I can tell you something is very wrong with this presidential election. It
reminds me of a fixed football game. Remember the famous fixed 1978 game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia
Eagles. The Giants quarterback handed the ball off. The running back didn't want it. It fell on the
ground. Herm Edwards of the Eagles picked it up and ran it into the end zone with seconds left for a last second
victory. Every bettor in the world knows that game was fixed.
NBA
Reportedly Facing Billions in Losses, Steep Decline in Player Salaries. For obvious reasons, 2020 has been a
bizarre year for sports. The stark lack of fans at games, the various "bubble" environments to try and mitigate the
spread of coronavirus, and the awkward rescheduling forcing leagues to play much later in the year than normal have all
contributed to a sports year that fans won't soon forget. But one major aspect of 2020 professional sports that fans
might want to try and forget is the deluge of "woke" social justice protests that have proliferated the major three North
American professional sports leagues.
MLB's
debt at $8.3 billion after shortened 2020 season during coronavirus pandemic. There was a lot of money lost for
Major League Baseball in 2020. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told Sportico in an exclusive interview that the 30 MLB teams
are $8.3 billion in debt from their different lenders, and they are expected to post between $2.8-$3 billion in operational
losses this year. "We are going to be at historic high levels of debt," Manfred told the website. "And it's going
to be difficult for the industry to weather another year where we don't have fans in the ballpark and have other limitations
on how much we can't play and how we can play."
The Editor says...
I don't own a television, and don't care about politicized sports, so I was unaware until this morning [10/28/2020] that the World Series was
played in the new billion-dollar baseball arena in Arlington, which is less than an hour from here. (Plus another 30 minutes
to find a parking spot.)
Is
China Now In Control of Our Flow of Information? Prior to the outbreak of the virus, those few sport figures,
who stood up for the thousands of Hong Kong demonstrators marching in the street begging to be free, were quickly admonished
and told to stand down by team owners who sought to appease their Chinese overlords. LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick
proudly took a knee and denounced our flag and their teammates in unison followed suit.
Joe
Buck and Troy Aikman Caught Slamming Flyovers During Pandemic on Hot Mic. Military flyovers are a time-honored
tradition that are greeted with roars from throngs of patriotic fans at NFL stadiums all over the country. However,
given that there are virtually no fans at any NFL stadiums during the pandemic, flyovers over near empty stadiums don't make
a ton of sense. That fact was grasped, discussed, and recorded — unknowingly — by Fox
broadcasters Troy Aikman and Joe Buck on Sunday [10/18/2020] as the pair were caught panning the flyovers on a hot mic.
The moment of honesty and truth came at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, an arena that was only filled to 25% capacity due to
Covid restrictions. Buck and Aikman did not understand why the flyovers continued despite the diminished capacity, and
they discussed it. Aikman: "That's a lot of jet fuel just to do a little flyover." Buck: "That's your
hard-earned money and your tax dollars at work." Aikman: "That stuff ain't happening with [a] Kamala-Biden ticket,
I'll tell you that right now partner."
The Unapologetic
Bias of the American Left. [Scroll down] The new defiance and the glee that comes from open bias have now
saturated our culture, as if the liberated Left in today's globalized market has no need of half the U.S.
population — the supposed loser, unwoke half. The NBA intensifies both its worship of the Chinese Communist
Party and its utter disdain for American democratic culture. When revenues crash from eroding viewership and public
criticism of collaboration with a government that institutionalized concentration camps, democracy destruction, and
state-sponsored racism and murder, the woke players fire back in defense of China, with "So what?" certainty.
NASCAR
has become a microcosm of the Democratic Party. NASCAR, founded in 1948, was content to sanction races for
seventy years. Then, on October 1, 2018, it appointed Steve Phelps as its president. Of the appointment, Matt
Weaver, Autoweek columnist, wrote, "And for the first time since the decline of NASCAR's mainstream popularity began, the
sanctioning body is publicly admitting what Phelps is calling a headwind — the challenges major league stock car
racing will face as it looks to discover its place in modern American pop culture." It has become obvious what Phelps's
answer is to NASCAR's "headwind," to its looking "to discover its place in modern American pop culture." Play the race
card — no, not the auto race card, the human race card. Racism and racial inequality are thinking
characteristic of the country. As the cited commercial illustrates, NASCAR has clearly become an ideologue because it
has "an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology (a manner or the content of thinking
characteristic of an individual, group, or culture)."
Mark
Cuban admits he's fine with doing business with China. Mark Cuban has condemned human rights violations, but
defended doing business with China, saying 'we have to pick our battles'. The billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner
appeared on former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly's new podcast The Megyn Kelly Show for an hour-long episode that aired on
Monday [10/12/2020] to discuss the NBA Finals, foreign business deals and the Black Lives Matter movement, among several
other topics. At one point during the heated conversation, Kelly referenced the NBA's dealings with China, a market
that is reportedly worth $4 billion to the league, and pointed out the country's controversial history of human rights
violations.
Mark
Cuban On The NBA's Support For BLM And China. Mark Cuban appeared on Megyn Kelly's podcast which was posted
today. The entire interview was 50 minutes long and Kelly spent a significant amount of time pressing him on the NBA's
support for both Black Lives Matter and China. Kellly pointed out that BLM was founded by a group of Marxists and
supports some fairly extreme views about things like the nuclear family and defunding the police. Cuban argued that the
NBA supports "the movement" not the official BLM organization which he referred to as "BLM.com." [...] "To pretend that Black
Lives Matter, dot com or otherwise, is not about defunding the police is to be dishonest," Kelly argued. "And the
basketball players who have spoken about this have made clear that they support that. They've talked about how they
want to defund and dismantle the police force," she added. "Individual players can have their opinions, right?" Cuban
said. The argument goes on like this for several more minutes.
How
esports is quietly spawning a whole new generation of problem gamblers. Most large sports events came to an
abrupt halt during the pandemic, but one category was not only unaffected but enjoyed accelerated growth: esports.
Esports is the competitive playing of video games such as League of Legends, Fortnite and Fifa Football. The audiences
for the biggest titles are now enormous. Fortnite alone has around 78 million monthly players and professional
tournaments draw in many millions of online spectators. League of Legends World Championship attracted over 100 million
viewers in 2019 with a peak of 44 million. In comparison, the Wimbledon men's final 2019 peaked at around 9 million
viewers.
Obama
Crashes NBA Finals to Push Democrat Party Propaganda. On Wednesday night [9/30/2020], the NBA held a 'More Than
A Vote' campaign during the first game of the NBA finals — because the NBA is now a political arm for the DNC
first and a basketball league second. President Obama crashed the party to push for the Democrat cause —
during the NBA finals! What a complete turnoff. During the NBA Finals the NBA worked in tandem with radical
liberals of the Democrat Party in an effort to get out the vote.
American
cyclist suspended by team after pro-Trump comments. American cyclist Quinn Simmons was suspended by the
Trek-Segafredo team on Thursday after posting antagonistic comments on social media in support of President Donald
Trump. The 2019 junior road race world champion replied to a journalist from the Netherlands who had criticized Trump
on Twitter. "Regrettably, team rider Quinn Simmons made statements online that we feel are divisive, incendiary, and
detrimental to the team, professional cycling, its fans, and the positive future we hope to help create for the sport,"
Trek-Segafredo said in a statement. "(He) will not be racing for Trek-Segafredo until further notice."
College
football coach leaves 'All Lives Matter to Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ' note, quits team. An Illinois State
football coach abruptly quit the team Thursday, leaving a note on the door while exiting the facility. Kurt Beathard,
who was the Redbirds' offensive coordinator, told The Pantagraph he let a note that said "All Lives Matter to Our Lord &
Savior Jesus Christ" before he left. Officials told the newspaper Wednesday he was no longer a part of the team and
declined to comment on why he abruptly left. His departure apparently followed an incident involving a "Black Lives
Matter" poster in the locker room.
Language
and Thought. Some of the greatest language mischief is related to terms such as racial "disparities," "gaps"
and "disproportionality." [...] For example, blacks are 13% of the population but 80% of professional basketball players and 66%
of professional football players, and on top of that, they're some of the most highly paid players. To be consistent with leftist
ideology, those numbers seem to suggest that there is some kind of injustice toward Asian, white and Hispanic basketball and football
players. But before we run off thinking that everything is hunky-dory for black players in football, how many times have you seen
a black player kick an extra point in professional football?
NFL
teams, 3 coaches fined over $1 million over masks. The NFL has fined teams and head coaches over $1 million
over their failure to wear protective face masks during games on Sunday [9/20/2020]. Following a memo last week with a
strong reminder about wearing face coverings during games, three head coaches and teams were hit with hefty fines totaling
$1.05 million, sending a clear message about how seriously the coronavirus guidelines are being taken by the league, CBS
Sports reported.
The Editor says...
[#1] Wearing a mask while playing football is like competing in a NASCAR race with a restrictor plate in the carburetor.
[#2] Does anyone at the NFL think the players are at risk from virus exposure during a football game, and that such a risk
is greater than the risk of concussions, broken bones, and torn ligaments?
Two
Weeks of Loud Silence at this Year's US Open. Although the location of the U.S. Open has changed over time, it
has been played in some form or another every year since 1881. While change is nothing new for the tournament, one constant
has always remained: there have always been fans in the stands — until this year.
Is Athlete-Role Model
Concept Destroying Sports And America? Nearly 30 years ago, in a 1993 Nike commercial, professional basketball
legend Charles Barkley fired the first shot at the "role model" concept popularized by Columbia University sociologist Robert K.
Merton in the aftermath of the 1960s counterculture movement. "I am not a role model," Barkley proclaimed in the half-minute
spot. "I'm not paid to be a role model. I'm paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role
models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids." [...] On the surface, the argument that young
people tend to model their behavior after high-profile, successful adults is harmless. However, in retrospect, the elevation
of athletes and other celebrities as primary figures in the formation of behavioral norms for young people helped create the
conditions that are powering the destructive Black Lives Matter movement today.
Gallup:
Public Favorability Towards The U.S. Sports Industry Has Collapsed. Gallup data out Tuesday shows public
devotion to America's great cultural pastimes has collapsed in the last year as political turmoil has infected what used to
be an escape for millions of Americans. According to Gallup, the sports industry now boasts a negative image among U.S.
adults: 30 percent see the sports industry positively, compared to 40 percent reporting a negative image.
This year's survey illustrates a 30 percent decline from American views on the sports industry a year ago, when the corporate
sports enjoyed a net positive 20 percent rating, with 45 percent of Americans reporting a favorable opinion compared to
25 percent who said otherwise.
77
Positive NFL Coronavirus Tests Were a False Positive Due to 'Isolated Contamination'. Over the weekend, 77
individuals from 11 NFL teams, including players, coaches and staff, tested positive for COVID-19. The results led to
altered practice schedules on Sunday, with affected players and coaches staying home and attending team meetings virtually,
ESPN reported. Then, the NFL retested the samples. Retests of all 77 samples came back negative. The NFL is
currently testing its personnel daily using a firm called BioReference, which claimed the false positives were the result of
an "isolated contamination" incident while the tests were being prepared.
Good
Riddance: NBA May Cancel Remainder of Season to Protest Jacob Blake Shooting. The NBA's COVID-shortened
season may soon get even shorter. It all began Wednesday afternoon when the Milwaukee Bucks announced that the team
would be boycotting Game 5 of its first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic. [...] Professional basketball has
become such a watered-down, almost defense-free game that there are a lot of old-school basketball fans who wouldn't miss
the rest of this season at all. The ridiculous thing here is that anyone involved with the National Basketball Association
fancies themselves to be occupying any kind of moral high ground. The league is so in bed with communist China that players
and coaches are afraid to say anything in support of Hong Kong's anti-government protesters. It's been embarrassing
watching them kowtow to the ChiComs, especially during the Chinese bat-flu pandemic.
The Editor says...
Why not go whole hog and cancel next year's season, too?
As
Sports Media Cheers On Athlete Boycotts, Fans Will Walk Away. It is sometimes underappreciated how new
professional sports is as a dominant cultural phenomenon. For the vast majority of human history, sports has been
overwhelmingly played by amateurs. And even in America, it is only in the past fifty years that this professionalized
version of sport became a route to wealth. Baseball, which has the longest professional sports history in the United
States, illustrates this: the average MLB salary is up an inflation-adjusted 3,000 percent since the late 1960s.
Professional sports only became big money in the era of television, as a form of mass entertainment that did not require you
to even go to the games to have a rooting interest, and for the multinational corporations to sell you beer and trucks and
sugary gas-infused water.
The
NBA Is Done. [Scroll down] Tens of millions of Americans would love to go to work today. They want to
return to the restaurant where they wash dishes. Or the theatre where they clean the toilets. They'd love to go back
to working at the airport where they unclog the toilets. They sell hot dogs and beer at arenas where basketball games are
usually played in front of tens of thousands of fans. The players were allowed to go back to work at those arenas but not
the ticket-sellers and janitors and security guards. They can't work. [...] The players have forgotten all about those men
and women. They've forgotten about all of the people who buy those tickets and buy those shirts and buy those shoes and
watch those games giving the network all those ratings so the league can get all those millions for broadcasting all those
games. They've forgotten about me. And now, I've forgotten about them. I'm done with the NBA because
they're done with me. And I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.
NBA
cancels three playoff games after players boycott over Jacob Blake shooting. I can't remember a wildcat strike
ever happening by a pro sports team, let alone an entire league, let alone during the playoffs. My guess is that it'll
alienate more people than it'll win over, but alienation never lasts very long in sports. A million fans will vow today
that they'll never watch the NBA again and most will be back next week, or at least for the Finals. And everyone who
isn't will be back next season.
Black
NBA player appears to call white player profanities during game, prompting call for his suspension. Los Angeles
Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell, who is black, appeared to make a racially-charged comment to white, Slovenian Dallas
Mavericks player Luka Doncic on Friday night [8/21/2020]. [...] Outkick columnist Gary Sheffield Jr. wrote in a piece
published Saturday that Harrell should be suspended over the alleged comment. [...] "The solution here is simple, even if
many won't like it: the NBA has to suspend Montrezl Harrell and send a message that race-based derogatory comments like
his on the basketball court won't be tolerated. The NBA has already set this precedent with gay slurs on the court, why
not with racial-based insults as well?"
Churchill
Downs says Kentucky Derby to be run without fans. There will not be any fans at this year's Kentucky Derby
after all. After previously announcing that up to 23,000 fans would be allowed to attend the world's most famous race,
Churchill Downs switched gears Friday by announcing that the Sept. 5 race will be run without spectators because of the
coronavirus pandemic.
How
the NFL is shooting itself in the foot, over and over. The NFL is on the verge of precipitous decline due to a
weakening of the three legs of the stool upon which the league's empire sits: attendance, viewership, and revenue. All
of these items are interrelated. All three are being eroded. Taken together, it is likely that the NFL has
reached its high water mark and instead of expanding, as it dreams, the league will instead diminish in importance from here
on out. As to the underlying causes for the NFL's problems, start with the most glaring: the Wuhan virus. [...] A
second reason for the NFL to be concerned is the number of fans the league's preachy leftward tilt has angered. This
factor affects not merely attendance, but also and more importantly the critical TV ratings. It is hard to say how many
fans are alienated due to the NFL's "wokeness" and its embrace of Black Lives Matter, but I hope it's significant. [...] As
advertisers see a falloff in viewership, they will cut back on spending for NFL games, hurting the league's revenue even
further.
Major
League Baseball games set to add cameras in stadiums that detect fans who are not wearing a mask. Major League
Baseball teams are looking into introducing camera technology to ballparks that could detect whether or not fans are wearing
masks in the stands. The software could also flag attendees who are wearing them improperly, like leaving their nose
uncovered or dangling them around their neck. Several teams are in talks with Airspace Systems Inc, a California
security firm with technology that can scan security footage for mask 'hot spots.'
Sources:
Big Ten votes to cancel football season; no games for Michigan, Michigan State in 2020. The Big Ten is expected
to cancel the 2020 college football season in a historic move that stems from concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic, multiple people with knowledge of the decision told the [Detroit] Free Press. "It's done," one high-ranking
source in the Big Ten said Monday afternoon. Sources said the presidents were in agreement Sunday to end fall sports in
the conference. Michigan and Michigan State — which both have physicians as presidents — were
among the schools in favor of ending the fall seasons, sources said.
ESPN
investigation finds coaches at NBA China academies complained of player abuse, lack of schooling. Long before
an October tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters spotlighted the NBA's complicated relationship with China, the league
faced complaints from its own employees over human rights concerns inside an NBA youth-development program in that country,
an ESPN investigation has found. American coaches at three NBA training academies in China told league officials their
Chinese partners were physically abusing young players and failing to provide schooling, even though commissioner Adam Silver
had said that education would be central to the program, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the
complaints. The NBA ran into myriad problems by opening one of the academies in Xinjiang, a police state in western
China where more than a million Uighur Muslims are now held in barbed-wire camps. American coaches were frequently
harassed and surveilled in Xinjiang, the sources said. One American coach was detained three times without cause; he
and others were unable to obtain housing because of their status as foreigners.
Rob
Manfred warns of MLB shutdown if coronavirus spread can't be contained. Commissioner Rob Manfred reached out
Friday to union executive director Tony Clark to urge that a redoubling of efforts to adhere to COVID-19 safety and health
protocols is necessary or shutting down the season could become a strong possibility. ESPN originally reported the
conversation and multiple sources confirmed it for The [New York] Post.
Hypocritical
Major League Athletes Wear Uniforms Made By Slave Labor. Major league athletes who kneel during the National
Anthem are wearing Nike uniforms made in Communist China using slave labor. Uniforms worn by all 30 major league
baseball teams are part of a 10-year deal between MLB, Nike, and the sports retailer Fanatics. The deal is valued at
more than $1 billion, a Forbes article reported. These uniforms are made in China by laborers who are virtual
slaves. Working conditions in forced labor camps are atrocious and would never be tolerated in the U.S. But Nike and
major league baseball teams are mute on the subject.
NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver Makes Maximum Donation to Biden Campaign. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made the
maximum personal donation allowable to Joe Biden's campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission
records. The donation appears on the FEC's website of itemized receipts for donations to the Biden for President
committee, OutKick the Coverage reported.
UIL
pushes start of Texas high school football season back to end of September. The University Interscholastic
League has pushed the first games of the Texas high school football season for its biggest districts to the end of September
due to the coronavirus. The modifications to the 2020-2021 UIL calendar and updated COVID-19 risk mitigation guidelines
are set to take effect August 1st.
The Editor says...
Football itself is far more dangerous than the coronavirus. An average of twelve high school and college football players die every year.
[1]
[2]
[3]
If the UIL wanted to save lives, they'd do away with football.
Watch:
Dr. Fauci Throws Out First Pitch at Nats Game. If you missed Dr. Anthony Fauci throw out the first
pitch for the Washington Nationals Opening Day game against the New York Yankees, it's probably because you were looking
where the catcher sets up at home plate. Fauci's first pitch did not go to home plate. Let's say it was juuuuust
a bit outside.
Basketball
Coaches Accuse SAT Of Racism So They Can Recruit Dumb Jocks. A proposal recently released by The National
Association of Basketball Coaches requests the NCAA remove an eligibility requirement to submit SAT or ACT scores. In
the proposal, put forth by the Committee on Racial Reconciliation, the NABC decries the two tests as wicked forces of
institutional racism that should be "jettisoned for that reason alone." The committee was formed last month, and the proposal
shows it. Their argument runs like this: the SAT was created in 1926 by the eugenicist Carl Brigham. Brigham
intended the test to demonstrate the racial superiority of white blood. His project, of course, failed. Brigham
himself admitted that the test did not measure innate ability but "a composite including schooling, family background, and
familiarity with English." Unsurprisingly, Brigham's conclusion is rather convenient for his position. It does not
admit that black students contain the capacity to succeed, nor does it admit that white students are not innately superior,
only accidentally. In other words, Brigham lamented that his test was not racist enough.
Coronavirus
prompts NFL to mandate face masks for fans attending games. NFL fans will be required to wear protective face
masks while attending games this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. Several NFL teams, including the Cleveland
Browns, had already announced individual mandates for face masks. The league's 32 franchises are preparing to play
games with reduced attendance levels this fall.
The Editor says...
The roar of the crowd will be muffled, won't it? How will anyone guzzle beer with a mask in the way? How will anyone in the TV
audience (if any) see your painted face? Here's a better idea: Have all the fans (if any) sit six feet apart.
Attendance was already sparse last year, with all the kneeling and stuff. There's probably enough room in the stadium for six-foot
spacing. You see, six feet away from you there's a magic force field, which the coronavirus cannot penetrate!
Jason Whitlock says NBA
'doesn't really care about' US audience: 'Real agenda' is China revenue. Outkick.com contributor Jason Whitlock
on Wednesday [7/22/2020] explained why the National Basketball Association does not care about its United States audience as
the league pursues massive financial interests in China. "They've put the goals and the agenda of China ahead of the
American agenda and that's why it is so easy for them to sit on their thrones and smear America while overlooking the fact
that there is Asian slave labor, and the Communist China Party are using a Lebron James, a Colin Kaepernick, a Nike to smear
America," Whitlock told "Ingraham Angle." Whitlock said that China's plot to undermine American values is similar to
the role Communist countries played against Western civilization historically.
The
NFL Is On The Brink. The National Football League celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. This should
be a time of self-congratulation for the brutal sport, which has no similar counterpart outside the United States. The
NFL's megaprofits dwarf those of other professional sports in the U.S. The Super Bowl, not the World Series, is America's
national sports event. The league survived all sorts of crises in the past. It was one of the first professional
sports to integrate its teams, doing so in the 1920s. But the integration unfortunately ceased, and the NFL didn't
reintegrate until the mid-'40s, becoming one of the last sports leagues to embrace fully a racially blind meritocracy.
The NFL successfully absorbed the rival American Football league in 1966. So far, the NFL has avoided federal
safety regulations that could curb the incidence of physical trauma inherent in the sport. The league's owners are a
cross-section of America's most successful entrepreneurs and old-money families — many of them politically
well-connected. Yet the NFL is in deep trouble like never before.
Throw the ball. Hit the ball. Catch the ball. I don't
miss professional sports, do you? As for baseball, let's be honest. It's boring to watch and it's even
boring to play. Ordinary people who aren't being paid to play baseball cannot endure it except by playing it co-ed with
beer, which makes practically anything endurable including watching paint dry. About 90% of baseball consists of the
players standing around while touching their privates whenever the TV camera is pointed at them or sitting around the dugout
pretending to watch the other team while touching their privates. They often spit. Why do people pay to see
millionaires lolling about in a park and hiding in a little concrete bomb shelter while spitting and touching their
privates? I can get that from the vagrants who live in the park and under the viaduct. For free. If you're
a baseball fan, your life is very small.
The
Texas Rangers' team name must go. To know the full history of the Texas Rangers is to understand that the
team's name is not so far off from being called the Texas Klansmen. I grew up in Dallas, raised on myths about Texas
Rangers as brave and wholesome guardians of the Texas frontier, helping protect innocent settlers from violent Indians.
At church, boys could sign up to be Royal Rangers, the Christian equivalent of the Boy Scouts. I still remember the
excitement when Chuck Norris himself, star of the television show "Walker, Texas Ranger," came to visit my elementary school
class. My dad sometimes took my younger siblings and me to Arlington Stadium to watch the Rangers play. No state
mythologizes itself quite like Texas, so of course, it made sense to have a team name that embodied that gauzy,
self-regarding history. At the same time, being from a Ghanaian immigrant family, we weren't that invested in baseball,
or the team name.
The Editor says...
If you don't like the Rangers, or America in general, go back to Ghana.
Washington
Post editor says Texas Rangers name 'must go,' gets slammed by critics. Washington Post Global Opinions editor
Karen Attiah argued on Monday that the Texas Rangers as a team name "must go." On the heels of the Washington Redskins
retiring its name and mascot amid pressure from critics and corporate sponsors, an op-ed written by Attiah made the case that
"to know the full history of the Texas Rangers is to understand that the team's name is not so far off from being called the
Texas Klansmen."
The Editor says...
Only a left-wing black troublemaker (and ungrateful foreigner) would look at the Texas Rangers — the cops or the
baseball team — and see Klansmen.
The
left should talk about Chicago rather than changing team names. Talk about messed-up priorities.
Apparently, Washington, one of the legendary NFL franchises, will retire the name "Redskins" to please people who get angry
about stuff like that. Seriously, have you ever met anyone who got that worked up about a team mascot?
Lou Holtz
decries push to scrap college football, other sports: 'What has happened to our way of life?'. Hall of Fame
college football coach Lou Holtz joined "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday to respond to the likelihood that the 2020 season will
be severely curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic — if there is a season at all. Holtz, who guided Notre
Dame to its most recent football national championship in 1988, told host Laura Ingraham that what Ingraham called the "war
on American life" brought by the outbreak will likely end "when we have the election."
Tone-Deaf
NBA Players Complain About Meals And Hotel Rooms Most Americans Can't Afford. As America's basketball
superstars head into the National Basketball Association's isolation "bubble" at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando,
Florida, for their delayed and shortened season, some have shared tone-deaf complaints on social media about their new living
conditions. Players are required to quarantine for two weeks before the league's July 30 relaunch, meaning they must
limit contact with others and will have all meals delivered directly to their hotel rooms. Nearly immediately after
entering "the bubble," players began sharing their complaints on social media about everything from the food and WiFi to
their resort lodging accommodations.
'Blackhawks'
name honors Native American leader, say Chicago. The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks said on Tuesday they will not
change their name or logo despite growing pressure on U.S. sports teams with Native American names and symbols to do so amid
a push to eliminate racially insensitive material.
Mark Cuban: NBA Players Kneeling
During Anthem Is 'a Beautiful Thing'. But the declining revenues for the NBA will not be a beautiful thing,
Mark! The NBA and the NFL are going to learn the hard way that insulting millions of their customers is very bad for
business. BTW, Sean Hannity is right. How did Mark Cuban become a billionaire?
Oklahoma
State's Gundy takes pay cut in wake of T-shirt flap. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy took a $1 million pay cut
and had his contract shortened by a year as part of an internal review prompted by sharp criticism from his star running back
for wearing a T-shirt promoting a far-right news channel.
The Editor says...
I wonder if that Associated Press writer has ever called any outlet a "far-left news channel."
Turning
Left — The Equality of Misery, NASCAR Edition. Socialism destroyed NASCAR, now the corporation is
marketing racism for a new audience. [...] Throughout the process of extra safety, speed-limiting regulation and
corporate-driven equality, guess what else happened... yup, NASCAR races became vanilla. All drivers were created equal
by corporate decree; audience share started dropping along with speedway attendance. The racetracks saw more and more
empty seats because corporate socialism was sucking the vibrancy out of an exciting and competitive sport.
NCAA
Football Star Says He's Boycotting Team Over Coach's Shirt. Oklahoma State star running back Chuba Hubbard on
Monday launched an attack against head coach Mike Gundy's choice of T-shirts by saying he would refuse to play for the team
because of a picture that showed Gundy wearing a shirt with the logo of a network Hubbard does not like. Hubbard ran
for more than 2,000 yards and scored 21 touchdowns for the Cowboys in 2019, making him an All-American and the Big 12
Offensive Player of the Year, according to KFOR-TV.
The Editor says...
That's it? He wore a promotional shirt from an internet news site? If that's all you've got on
Coach Gundy, you've got nothing! If you're such a "star running back," you should be able to take
your services elsewhere.
Oklahoma
State Football Coach Mike Gundy Apologizes For Wearing An OAN Shirt. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy
has apologized for wearing a One America News Network shirt. Gundy has been under an intense firestorm after a
photograph circulated of him wearing an OAN shirt, and star player Chuba Hubbard threatened boycott the team.
The Editor says...
Big mistake. Don't ever apologize when you've done nothing wrong.
Leftist
Boycott Jobs to Force Political Agendas. [Scroll down] In the case at Oklahoma State, the cable news
t-shirt worn by Coach Gundy on a fishing trip away from the team had absolutely nothing to do with the football
program. The player just didn't like the way the cable news channel reported news. He liked a different channel
better. So, in his mind, the Head Coach is not allowed to wear a t-shirt having the logo of that channel. Which
sounds ridiculous, but Gundy and the university agreed with that sentiment. So, in reality, the players do have that
veto power.
Judge
to unseal letter that allegedly shows MLB hid Yankees' sign stealing. A federal judge on Friday [6/12/2020]
said he would unseal a letter that allegedly shows that the Yankees engaged in a "more serious, sign-stealing scheme" than
Major League Baseball revealed publicly in 2017. But the Yankees want the letter to remain secret because it would cause
"significant" damage the team's reputation, U.S. District Court judge Jed S. Rakoff wrote in a memorandum order filed Friday
in the Southern District of New York. The judge defused that part of the Bombers' argument. "Embarrassment on the
part of MLB or the Yankees about the precise contents of the letter is not particularly weighty," Rakoff wrote.
NASCAR
announces ban on Confederate flags from all events and properties. NASCAR is finally showing a red flag to the
confederate flag. In a major move for the sport of stock-car racing, NASCAR announced it is banning the confederate
flag. "The presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming
and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry," NASCAR said in a statement on Wednesday
[6/10/2020]. "Bringing people together around a love for racing and community that it creates is what makes our fans
and sport special. The display of the confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties."
The Editor says...
Banning the Confederate flag due to political correctness is not going to bring people together. And here is another bad idea...
NASCAR
Removes Rule Mandating Team Members Must Stand During National Anthem. NASCAR has decided to remove a rule that
mandated team members must stand during the playing of the national anthem following George Floyd's death. NASCAR
eliminated the previous rule before last weekend's race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway therefore allowing for peaceful
protests during pre-race ceremonies when the "Star Spangled Banner" is played, per YahooSports.com in a piece published
Wednesday [6/10/2020].
Ray
Ciccarelli quitting NASCAR over Confederate flag ban. NASCAR turned off some fans on Wednesday by announcing it
was banning Confederate flags from all of its events. It also lost a driver. In a Facebook post, Ray Ciccarelli
wrote he was ending his NASCAR Truck Series career after this season because of the decision.
The Emperor's New
Mask. The NFL is testing face masks, not for the fans in the stands, but for the players. Is there a face
mask in the world that will stop virus particles from being inhaled when the players are inches apart and slamming into each
other at high speeds? Probably not. But masks have become a cultural symbol. That's why masks are being
deployed in environments where they're ridiculous and useless. [...] What a mask says is more important than what it does.
Yamaha's
"Remote Cheerer" brings fan applause back to empty stadiums. This week, Yamaha announced a plan to put fans
back in the stadiums for major sporting events this summer — virtually, at least. The company's new
smartphone application, Remote Cheerer, is designed to allow sports fans to cheer from home in a way their teams can hear in
the stadium. The app itself looks and functions much like a typical soundboard app you might use to summon up a Homer
Simpson D'oh! — but instead of just making a noise on your phone, it integrates the cheers of potentially tens of
thousands of fans and plays them on loudspeakers at the stadium where their teams are playing.
The Editor says...
Yes, but the stadium is still empty. Nobody is buying beer or souvenirs. Nobody is paying $25 to park the car.
Broncos
coach Vic Fangio apologizes after comments that he doesn't 'see racism at all in NFL'. Denver Broncos coach Vic
Fangio said Wednesday that his remarks about racism and discrimination in the NFL were "wrong" and apologized, saying in a
statement, "I should have been more clear and I am sorry." "After reflecting on my comments yesterday and listening to
the players this morning I realize what I said regarding racism and discrimination in the NFL was wrong," Fangio said in a
statement. "While I have never personally experienced those terrible things first-hand during my 33 years in the
NFL, I understand many players, coaches and staff have different perspectives.["]
NBA
announcer Grant Napear fired over 'All Lives Matter' comment. Grant Napear was fired by his radio station and
resigned as the Sacramento Kings TV play-by-play announcer Tuesday after his tweet that said "All Lives Matter" amid the
George Floyd protests was met with backlash. Napear, a graduate of Syosset High School on Long Island, tweeted "All
Lives Matter... Every Single One!" on Sunday after former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins asked the 60-year-old for his view on
the Black Lives Matter movement. The phrase, "All Lives Matter," is seen by many as mocking the Black Lives Matter
movement, which began in 2013 as a campaign against systematic racism and violence toward black people.
The Editor says...
If you lose your job over a perceived insult, it wasn't a job worth having.
Boston
Marathon Canceled for 1st Time in 124-Year History. Organizers said Thursday [5/28/2020] that they instead will have a
"virtual event" in which participants who verify that they ran 26.2 miles on their own will receive their finisher's medal.
The race had originally been scheduled for April 20 before being postponed for five months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In
the NFL, cowardice drives grievance. The NFL recently announced several proposals to increase diversity.
A few years ago, the NFL demonstrated its commitment to pleasing leftists by donating $100 million towards "social justice"
causes. But the left is insatiable. Shelling out truckloads of cash to grievance groups attracts more predatory
behavior than Bill Clinton and Joe Biden at a high school cheer competition. There's an abundance of white people
naïve enough to believe that appeasing Democrats will bring about a ceasefire — but it never does.
Cowardly compliance creates new targets for future shakedowns.
Kentucky
Wildcats fire cheerleading coaches after hazing, nudity probe. The University of Kentucky, which has won 24
national cheerleading titles in the last 35 years, fired all of its coaches on Monday [5/18/2020] following an investigation
into allegations of hazing and nudity. Head coach Jomo Thompson and assistants Ben Head, Spencer Clan and Kelsey LaCroix
were let go after a three-month probe into the program revealed they failed to oversee off-campus events that included hazing,
alcohol use and public nudity.
New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks
players stole $73,500 in watches, cash, cops say. NFL players and Miami natives Deandre Baker and Quinton
Dunbar have warrants out for their arrests on charges of armed robbery and aggravated assault, Miramar police announced
Thursday night [5/14/2020]. Baker, a 22-year-old starting cornerback with the New York Giants, has been charged with
four counts of armed armed robbery and four counts of aggravated assault. Dunbar, a 27-year-old cornerback formerly
with Washington, now with the Seattle Seahawks, was charged with four counts of armed robbery.
Audit:
Brett Favre was paid $1.1M in Mississippi welfare funds for appearances he didn't make. Hall of Fame
quarterback Brett Favre's name has surfaced in an alleged multimillion-dollar welfare fraud scheme in his home state of
Mississippi. An audit of funds intended to assist at-need Mississippi residents alleges that the state's Department of
Human Services oversaw more than $94 million in improperly spent federal money. According to the state audit released
on Monday, $1.1 million of those funds went to Favre for appearances he did not make.
Pete
Rose accused of using corked bats by former Expos groundskeeper. Pete Rose, already banned from Major League
Baseball for gambling, is now accused of breaking another of the sport's rules. A former groundskeeper for the Montreal
Expos recently told the Montreal Gazette that Rose routinely had an Olympic Stadium staffer cork his bats in 1984. Rose
played most of the 1984 season for the Expos before he was traded back to his original club, the Cincinnati Reds, that August.
Weightlifting:
'The Mountain' Bjornsson deadlifts 501 kg to set world record. Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a
world record for the deadlift on Saturday [5/2/2020] when he lifted 1,104 pounds (501 kg) at Thor's Power Gym in Iceland.
Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, broke
the record previously held by Briton Eddie Hall who in 2016 became the first man to lift 500 kg.
Sports
Illustrated fires star writer for 'incomprehensible, me-first' behavior during coronavirus pandemic. Sports
Illustrated has fired one of its most well-known journalists, Grant Wahl, for what parent company Maven claims is
"incomprehensible" and "me-first" behavior amid the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News has learned. In an email obtained
exclusively by Fox News, Maven CEO and founder James Heckman, said the decision to let go Wahl was borne from the
"coronavirus-driven declines in advertising revenue," resulting in a $4 million reduction in compensation from senior
leaders and what it called "high-salary members of our team."
How
College Sports Turned into a Corrupt Mega-Business. College sports are a gigantic entertainment business that
have nothing to do with the missions of the schools. Frequently, the highest-paid employee of a school is the football
or basketball coach, and the athletics budget is hugely subsidized by fees paid by financially strapped students.
Players who read and write at a middle-school level (if even that) are recruited to help teams win, but the academic work
they do is laughable. Schools rack up big debts trying to win glory on the gridiron or court, even if it means
scrimping on faculty salaries and building maintenance. How did this lamentable state of affairs come about?
NCAA
defends its refusal to cancel men's basketball tournament worth nearly $1 billion, despite Ohio Governor warning fans to
avoid March Madness. As sporting events are being cancelled around the world amid fears of the coronavirus
outbreak, the NCAA is defending its decision to go ahead with March Madness — the three-week men's basketball
tournament that generates nearly $1 billion in revenue and accounts for roughly 75 percent the organization's annual
profits. After the Ivy League cancelled its men's and women's basketball tournaments on Tuesday [3/10/2020], the NCAA released
a statement, explaining that its decision to go forward with March Madness is being guided by public health officials and its own
COVID-19 advisory panel.
The Great Black Nope.
Can a white man box a black man without making everything racial? Absolutely. It's the black boxers who can't
seem to help themselves. On Saturday night in Las Vegas, two undefeated heavyweight boxers had a rematch to settle a
controversial draw from the first time they met late in 2018. Deontay Leshun Wilder was born in Tuscaloosa, AL and is
widely considered to be the hardest puncher in boxing history. He boasts a murderous swinging overhead right punch he
calls the "Alabama Slamma" that knocked out the first 39 men he faced. Wilder has openly stated that one day he hopes
to punch someone so hard that he kills them. Wilder won the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics and at the moment stands
as the last American boxer to win any kind of Olympic medal.
Rob Manfred
Is Ruining Baseball. Commissioner Rob Manfred is mulling a fundamental change to Major League Baseball, a
development that should not surprise anyone, given the obstinate disregard he's shown for the traditions and inheritance of
the sport since succeeding Bud Selig in 2015. The latest novelty entertained by his office is a proposal that would expand
the MLB playoffs from their current ten-team format — with three division winners and two wild-card teams in both
the American and National Leagues — to a field of 14. Per ESPN, the proposal would add "a reality TV-type
format to determine which teams play each other in an expanded wild-card round," the perfectly farcical cherry on top of a
perfectly farcical plan to further upend the game of baseball.
Fantasy
sports nightmare in N.Y. as games are ruled illegal gambling. For proponents of sports betting and fantasy
sports, a court ruling Thursday in New York is a nightmare. A New York appellate court ruled that fantasy sports
contests — such as those operated by FanDuel and DraftKings — amount to illegal gambling and violated a
state prohibition on gambling. The court upheld a lower court's ruling that the New York State Legislature unlawfully
authorized the activity by classifying it as a game of skill, not a game of chance. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the
2016 law that granted the New York State Gaming Commission, which regulates such online games, to issue temporary permits to
five fantasy operators: DraftKings, FanDuel, Yahoo, FantasyDraft and Draft.
The Editor says...
By sheer coincidence, the court made this ruling immediately after the football season ended.
Astros
fire manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow in wake of MLB punishment. Any doubts that the Houston Astros illegally
used technology to steal signs during the 2017 season, which culminated with them beating the Dodgers in the World Series, were
put to rest Monday [1/13/2020] upon Major League Baseball revealing the results of its investigation into the allegations.
The question is no longer if the Astros cheated. It's to what extent did the cheating help them topple the Dodgers
in seven games.
The
Media Claims That The NFL Discriminates Against Black Coaches. The Facts Tell A Completely Different Story. There
has been a renewed panic this year over the supposed lack of black head coaches in the NFL. To be precise, this panic is renewed
every year around this time, when the demographic make up of new coaching hires inevitably fall short of the media's arbitrary
expectations. USA Today tells us that the NFL is "failing coaching candidates of color." A column on Yahoo Sports laments
that "black coaching hires" remain at a "dismal level." We are not told precisely what the Black Coaching Level is supposed
to be. The Washington Post reports that black coaches are suffering from a "denial of opportunity."
Sports
media company files lawsuit in Ohio State letter 'O' dispute. A New York-based online sports media company is
asking a federal court to prevent Ohio State University from trying to stop the company from using the letter "O" in its logo
as part of a university effort to protect its brand. Overtime Sports Inc., which focuses on high school football and
basketball, has a pending application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its capital "O" logo that features
sloping, rounded corners. The university, home to the Ohio State Buckeyes, asked the company in July to stop using the
letter, saying it resembled its own trademarked octagonal "block O" letter it has used since 1898.
The Editor says...
This is a public notice: I now own the letter D and the color blue and
you'd better not use either one of them on your web site.
Computer
plate umps allowed in new labor deal. Computer plate umpires could be called up to the major leagues at some
point during the next five seasons. Umpires agreed to cooperate with Major League Baseball in the development and
testing of an automated ball-strike system as part of a five-year labor contract announced Saturday, two people familiar with
the deal told The Associated Press.
Wall
Street Journal Demands National Hockey League (NHL) Increase Non-White Players or Die. The National Basketball
Association (NBA) is 80.7 percent black. The National Football League (NFL) is 70.1 percent People of Color —
26.8 percent white. The National Hockey League (NHL) is roughly 90 percent white and under assault by the elite
corporate press for being too white, a charge never leveled at the NBA or the NFL for their paucity of white athletes.
Baseball's
Owners Plot Baseball's Demise. Major League Baseball's owners have never been short on terrible ideas.
Bud Selig didn't get his dream of demolishing the leagues and replacing them with regional conferences, but he did do the
next-worst thing — turn the Astros and Milwaukee Brewers into league-fluid franchises. So far, they've
somehow managed not to kill the game. But now, the Major League owners show how little they really understand the game
they steward, and the country that invented it.
Army
football drops motto due to white supremacy ties. The United States Military Academy has ditched an acronym
used by the Army Black Knights over the phrase's ties to white supremacist gangs, officials said. The acronym
GFBD — "God forgives, brothers don't" — was removed from merchandise and a team flag after West Point
officials and athletic department administrators were alerted to the issue in September, ESPN reports.
Men
would rather see favorite team win Super Bowl than candidate win election. More than a quarter of men in the US
would rather their favorite football team win the Super Bowl than their preferred candidate win the presidency, a new poll
shows. In a phone survey of 712 adults, 28 percent of guys admitted to caring more about the big game than the next
leader of the free world, according to a press release from Seton Hall Sports Polls. Women, by contrast, tackled the
question with more of a world view — with only 11 percent saying they'd rather their team score a championship.
Empty
Seats Abound as NFL Heads Down the Final Stretch. As Week 11 came to a close, it was clear that many fans are
still avoiding stadiums all across the country even as the league looks to expand its influence to foreign nations such as
Mexico and the U.K. The Detroit Lions were defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, 35-27, at Ford Field, but some fans noticed
that the seats seemed a bit empty.
Myles
Garrett: Mason Rudolph's racial slur ignited helmet attack. Myles Garrett said he didn't lose his temper
out of nowhere. It was the result of a racial slur directed at him by Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. That
was his explanation in his appeal hearing with the league on Wednesday, ESPN reported, following the brawl in which he swung
and slammed Rudolph's helmet over the top of his rival's head last Thursday. This would be the first known time
Garrett, who spoke after the game and offered an official apology the day after, mentioned a racial slur was used during the
incident. Garrett's appeal was deny and the NFL said it found no evidence of Rudolph using the slur.
Myles
Garrett Hit With Historic Suspension, May Face Legal Action for Helmet Attack. In the wake of Cleveland's Myles
Garrett ripping the helmet off of Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph and hitting him in the head with it, the 23-year-old
defensive end was hit with a historic suspension by the NFL and may face additional discipline off the field.
All
eyes on the NFL: Browns' Myles Garrett could have killed a man on Thursday Night Football. To understand why
the initial fight took place, you have to know football. In the replay, announcer Troy Aikman said "Rudolph didn't like
the way that he was tackled," so the quarterback began to angrily try to wrestle Garrett off of him. Aikman's
characterization isn't an altogether accurate way to put it, though. The object of football is to "tackle" players who
possess the ball. Rudolph didn't like being aggressively hit and wrangled to the ground while not possessing the
ball. At this point, the altercation between Garrett and Rudolph could very well have been a misunderstanding. [...]
But as they were tussling on the ground, they both began wrenching at the other's face masks.
Nasty
helmet-swinging fight mars Browns win over Steelers. Cleveland Browns player Myles Garrett is likely facing one
of the longest suspensions in NFL history after ripping off the helmet of Mason Rudolph and clobbering the Pittsburgh
Steelers quarterback with it in the closing seconds of Thursday's [11/14/2019] game. Garrett was one of three players
ejected for the wild melee but faces the harshest penalty because he appeared to be the main instigator.
The Editor says...
Why are football players immune to laws against (for example) aggravated assault, when the fans in the stands would get arrested for
the same behavior?
Cleveland
Browns waive Jermaine Whitehead after explosive Twitter rant. The Cleveland Browns have waived safety Jermaine
Whitehead less than 24 hours after he tweeted threatening language that the team deemed "unacceptable." The Browns
announced the news early Monday morning [11/4/2019]. Following Sunday's 24-19 loss to the Denver Broncos, Whitehead
posted a string of Twitter messages directed at people who criticized his performance. One tweet directed at a social
media user read, "Imma kill you (expletive).. that's on blood."
Here's A
List Of The Famous Athletes Who Skipped Visiting Obama In The White House And How The Media Treated Them. A
number of famous athletes declined invites to visit the White House during Barack Obama's presidency. Washington
Nationals players Anthony Rendon, Javy Guerra, Joe Ross, Wander Suero, Wilmer Difo, Michael A. Taylor, Victor Robles, Roenis
El'as and Sean Doolittle declined President Donald Trump's invititation to the White House Monday following the Nationals's
World Series win. But these Nationals players are not the first notable athletes to turn down a presidential
invitation. Athletes such as retired Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady
turned down Obama's invitation to come to the White House and were met with strong criticism from media.
$30
to park at American Dream mall? Welcome to N.J., suckers! For the better part of 20 years, the looming
American Dream mall — sorry, "retail and entertainment center" — sat unfinished in the Meadowlands,
leading daily passersby to wonder whether the gargantuan eyesore off Route 3 was in the process of being put up or
torn down. Now, as the waking nightmare is finally set to open some of its attractions Friday, it officially announced
Monday that patrons would need pay to park in the 11,000-space lot adjacent to MetLife Stadium. [...] If there's a Jets or
Giants game, concert or other event going down at MetLife, event parking pricing — a whopping $30 — is
in effect at American Dream's parking lot, too.
No
fans, no media and no goals as Koreas play out World Cup qualifier in empty stadium. Long-time foes North and
South Korea played a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, their first football match in the North in 30 years, but no fans were
allowed in the stands and Pyongyang refused to broadcast the game live. There were also no goals. The last time
the two sides met in a World Cup qualifier was in Seoul 10 years ago, when the North lost 1-0 before accusing South Korea
of poisoning their players' food ahead of the match.
The
Myth of the 'Exploited' Athlete. For example, regular students typically do not receive free housing. In
contrast, college athletes (at least those in the "revenue" sports) are housed in dorms or apartment complexes. If a
student athlete had to pay rent and utilities for an apartment or dorm, he'd be shelling out at least $10,000/year.
Over three years, this is a $30,000 benefit. The student athlete who redshirts and finishes his eligibility in five
years receives a $50,000 benefit in housing alone. College football and basketball players also receive all the food
they can eat. In most dining halls, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are spread out in a buffet style that Morrison's
customers would envy. Not only are student athletes not going hungry, they probably eat better than 90 percent of
Americans anywhere. How many Americans have the opportunity to choose from dozens of menu items —
waffle stations, omelet stations, fresh juice stations, four meat choices, eight vegetable choices, salad bars, deserts, any
drink they want, with repeat trips allowed? The answer: Probably only athletes who play high-profile sports at
big-time colleges.
The NBA and the Elephant on the
Court — Unwed Fathers. In 1998, Sports Illustrated published a cover story called "Where's Daddy?":
"Although there have been no studies on athletes and their out-of-wedlock kids, those who are familiar with the issue say the
numbers are staggering. 'I'd say that there might be more kids out of wedlock than there are players in the NBA,' estimates
one of the league's top agents, who says he spends more time dealing with paternity claims than he does negotiating contracts.
"Len Elmore, an ESPN broadcaster and former NBA player, worked as an agent but says he quit in part because of a 'lack of
responsibility' among his clients. 'For numbers, I would guess that one (out-of-wedlock child) for every player is a
good ballpark figure. For every player with none, there's a guy with two or three.'"
NASCAR
may switch to hybrids in 2022, series executive says. NASCAR has an all-new car coming in 2021, but a bigger
change may happen the following year. "Nothing is fully confirmed until it hits the race track. That said, hybrid
tech could certainly be in our cars by 2022, if all plans stay on track," NASCAR's senior vice president for racing
development, John Probst, told Tech Crunch this week. Probst said the plan is still very much in development, and that
the powertrains would be focused more on improving performance than fuel efficiency.
Weak
Three: Seas of Empty Seats Plague Several NFL Teams. By the time the NFL's Week 3 games had come and gone
on Sunday [9/22/2019], there were many fans on social media still left wondering why stadiums across the nation seemed so
empty. The Los Angeles Chargers may be second in the AFC West in this early part of the season, but some fans feel
their attendance is in last place.
The
Self-Destruction of Antonio Brown. Hours before week three of the NFL season got under way, the recently
unemployed wide receiver Antonio Brown took to Twitter, unloading a series of self-destructive tweets that may finally
dissuade teams from taking him on. The demise of Brown's career has been stunningly swift. Here's a brief
synopsis of his past two weeks: He's been accused of rape and sexual misconduct by two women.
Weak
Two: Empty Seats Outnumber Fans in Several NFL Stadiums. As Week Two of the NFL's 100th season kicks off,
a quick look through social media finds many fans still wondering about all the empty seats as their favorite teams hit the
gridiron. The worst example appeared to be at L.A. Memorial Coliseum where the Rams were battling the visiting New
Orleans Saints. Fans flooded social media with questions over the size of the crowd.
Lessons
Learned from the Drew Brees-Focus on the Family Ordeal. New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees recently
recorded a promotional video for Bring Your Bible to School Day, a project of Focus on the Family. It was posted to
YouTube on August 28th. [Video clip] Predictably, the media pilloried him. Left-wing activists quickly
wrote blog articles accusing the future Hall of Famer of being complicit in the spreading of hatred.
LGBT
Activists: Drew Brees Promoting The Bible Is Homophobic. Is being an openly Christian person so deeply
stigmatized as to be viewed as deathblow to your career and social standing in America today? From the media response
to NFL star Drew Brees' message to his young fans on being proud of and sharing their faith, this may not be a far-fetched
question. Brees released a short video encouraging young people to share their faith by bringing their Bibles to school
on October 3, 2019. The event is an annual celebration designed to encourage personal freedom, religious freedom,
and religious pride, and is sponsored by Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian advocacy organization.
Oakland
Raiders' shameful refusal to discipline Antonio Brown for 'cracker' comments and outburst. Oakland Raiders wide
receiver Antonio Brown threatened violence against his team's general manager, and the team is doing nothing about it.
On Wednesday [9/4/2019], Brown had a heated exchange with Raiders GM Mike Mayock where he unleashed a barrage of foul
language and went as far as threatening to punch Mayock in the face. [...] In letting Brown's inexcusable actions slide, the
Raiders are making a big mistake and setting an awful precedent. Threatening violence against one's higher-ups at work
is an unacceptable action and deserves to be met with disciplinary action.
Texts
and emails allegedly detail Nike's willingness to pay high schoolers, including Zion Williamson. Text messages
and emails from Nike executives entered in federal court on Friday [8/16/2019] paint a vivid portrait of the inner workings
of grassroots basketball. They include detailed plans to pay then-high school stars such as Zion Williamson and Romeo
Langford, line-item accounting of alleged payments to the people around eventual No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton, and an acknowledgement
by a top Nike executive that "the perception and resulting reality is that we dictate where players go to school."
I Get No Kick From
Women's Soccer. I happened to be in Paris when the final of the women's World Cup (soccer) was played.
Our little local restaurant, owned and run by Berbers, had a screen that relayed it, more or less inescapably, to the
customers. [...] When I uttered what seemed to me a truism, that women will never be as good at soccer as men, the reaction
was horror that such a heresy — no, blasphemy — should be pronounced out loud, though of course
everyone knew that it was true (which is why it was a truism). We are now required to go through all kinds of mental
contortions if we are to have "correct" thoughts. We are not supposed to say that women cannot play football as well as
men, and yet we are supposed at the same time to find an all-women's competition perfectly legitimate.
Can Major League Baseball
Be Saved? Every year baseball team owners gather to fret about their shrinking fan base. And every year
there are suggestions that would radically change the game in order to a) create more offense or b) make the game shorter.
Because that's what da yutes want, or something. The problem with the first is that baseball needs to maintain its
anchor to its traditions and stats, even though times change; the second can happen without changing the character of the
game. Baseball's biggest problem is that the owners are trying to squeeze ever more money out of the current fan base
instead of expanding their pie.
Transgender
Sports Madness Is The Fruit Of The Politics Of Title IX Exclusion. Bottom line: the government has made
thousands of male athletes "spectators in their own sports." The Title IX travesty leads to other galactically absurd
results. Daniel McGraw in The American Conservative reveals that to meet government-driven demand, participants in
women's college rowing exploded from 305 at 12 colleges in 1990 to 7,277 at 145 schools as of last year. Which, McGraw
points out, presents a problem: Last year 74 high schools fielded only 2,094 female rowers. McGraw quotes a 2007
report that University of Virginia female rowing coaches were "handing out scholarships like candy," while unsubsidized male
rowers lived hand-to-mouth — a phenomenon repeated nationwide as schools inflated rowing rosters to appease Title IX
overseers. And across women's college sports: An analysis in Forbes found that the ratio of female soccer players to
scholarships is 40-to-1, compared to 68-to-1 for men.
Report:
FIFA Investigates Palestinian Football Chief for Glorifying Terrorism. The Fédération
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world's governing body of soccer, reportedly launched an investigation
into Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub for glorifying terror and inciting violence, a report claimed.
Palestinian Media Watch said that the head of the Palestinian Football Association is being probed by FIFA's governing
council in response to a complaint lodged in 2017. The investigation was reportedly launched in January of this year.
Black Community
Leader Points to NFL Millionaires to Prove Slavery Reparations Idea is 'Fools Gold'. Woodson Center founder and
president Bob Woodson criticized the concept of slavery reparations, calling it "fools gold" that will do nothing to help the
black community in the long run. During a Friday night [6/14/2019] appearance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight,"
Woodson bolstered his point by bringing up an uncomfortable fact about once-rich NFL players, that the vast majority are
broke within three years after ending their football careers.
Another
NFL team goes "woke" as Seattle Seahawks get rid of Sea Gal cheerleaders & become Seahawk Dancers (with men).
What is it with these NFL teams? Are they purposely trying to decrease their ever-decreasing attendance/TV rating
numbers? Men at football games do not want to see men cheerleaders. They want to see cute girls in cute little
outfits. And for that matter, I don't believe many women want to see gay men prancing around on the field. They'd
rather watch the big, burly football players.
Sports
Stars and Bartenders Are Not Slaves. George Orwell once observed that "we have now sunk to a depth at which the
restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." Clearly, such are the times in which we now live,
considering that it's become necessary to explain why multi-millionaire sports stars are not, in fact, anything close to
resembling slaves. You wouldn't know that to hear some of them speak. On HBO's The Shop last year, Draymond Green
of the Golden State Warriors quipped that we shouldn't use the term "owner" to refer to NBA team owners, because it is racially
insensitive to the predominantly black players in the league. Now, at least two teams have "done away with"
the term "owner," ostensibly due to the word being a key component of "slave-owner."
Dodgeball
isn't just problematic, it's an unethical tool of 'oppression': researchers. The games children play in
schoolyards are famously horrible, if you stop and think about them. Tag, for example, singles out one poor
participant, often the slowest child, as the dehumanized "It," who runs vainly in pursuit of the quicker ones. Capture
the Flag is nakedly militaristic. British Bulldog has obvious jingoistic colonial themes. [Another game]
involves deliberate imposition of corporal punishment on losers. But none rouse the passions of reform-minded
educational progressives quite like dodgeball, the team sport in which players throw balls at each other, trying to
hit their competitors and banish them to the sidelines of shame.
Yankees
ban Kate Smith's 'God Bless America' over 'history of potential racism'. The New York Yankees' anti-racism
efforts have extended to pulling from their seventh-inning stretch a famous recording of the legendary Kate Smith singing
"God Bless America." Not because anyone has complained that the song is racist, but because Smith recorded other
racially insensitive standards from and during the Jim Crow era. The Yankees pulled Smith's "God Bless America" from
the rotation at the start of the season, but the New York Daily News reported the reason Thursday [4/18/2019] —
"the Yankees were made aware of Smith's history of potential racism."
Flyers
following Yankees lead and are dumping Kate Smith's 'God Bless America' over her racist lyrics. The Flyers
wasted little time in following the Yankees lead. A day after the Daily News reported the Yankees had stopped playing
Kate Smith's 1939 recording of "God Bless America" in the middle of the seventh inning over her racist lyrics, the NHL's
Flyers made the same call. And took the extra step of covering a statue in her honor outside the Wells Fargo Center.
Yankees
ban Kate Smith's 'God Bless America' over 'history of potential racism'. The New York Yankees' anti-racism
efforts have extended to pulling from their seventh-inning stretch a famous recording of the legendary Kate Smith singing
"God Bless America." Not because anyone has complained that the song is racist, but because Smith recorded other
racially insensitive standards from and during the Jim Crow era. The Yankees pulled Smith's "God Bless America" from
the rotation at the start of the season, but the New York Daily News reported the reason Thursday — "the Yankees
were made aware of Smith's history of potential racism."
The Editor says...
What is potential racism?
Report: FBI Went To Baton Rouge
to Investigate LSU Basketball Coach Will Wade. The FBI reportedly went to Baton Rouge to investigate LSU
basketball coach Will Wade. Wade is currently suspended after he was allegedly caught on a wiretap offering payments to
a star recruit. He didn't coach in the NCAA tournament, and it's unclear if he'll ever coach at LSU again. Now,
it sounds like he might have bigger problems to worry about than a return to the bench.
Major
League Baseball Ditches 'Disabled List' Over Social Justice Concerns. Major League Baseball will replace the
"disabled list" with the "injured list" for the 2019 season amid concerns that the term "disabled" was insensitive. The
"disabled list" has been part of professional baseball since the mid-1960s (though there are records of some teams using a
"disabled list" as far back as the early 20th century), and it's become second nature to refer to an injured or exhausted
player as "on the DL," but MLB has been reportedly playing around with the idea of renaming the injured roster in order to
better reflect the condition of players who skip games for medical or physical reasons, according to ESPN.
Foul ball officially blamed for killing elderly woman at
Dodgers game. A 79-year-old woman was killed when a foul ball struck her in the head at a Dodgers game during the 2018 season. Linda
Goldbloom died [8/28/2018] from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma, according to a Los Angeles County coroner's report obtained by ESPN.
While Goldbloom's family did not attempt to hide the cause of death — even saying the "end came by a foul ball at [Dodger] Stadium" in an email
notification the day she died — the Dodgers made no public mention of the incident, nor did MLB.
Woman, 79, was killed
by foul ball at Dodgers game last season: report. A 79-year-old woman was killed when a foul ball struck her in
the head at a Dodgers game during the 2018 season. Linda Goldbloom died from a brain hemorrhage caused by blunt force
trauma, according to a Los Angeles County coroner's report obtained by ESPN.
Another
Nail In The NFL's Coffin. As a lead up to the Super Bowl being played later today, there was a series of interviews of
NFL cheerleaders, past and present, including one of the original Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The big "bombshell" however, was
the announcement that for the first time, the Rams' Cheerleading Squad would include males. Following this announcement was a
series of discussions by current cheerleaders, including these males, who promoted this decision as "enhancing the dance' aspect
of cheerleading."
Patriots
Ignite Political Debate On Success. American politics at the moment can pretty much be explained by what you
make of the record sixth Super Bowl victory by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick, and owner
Robert Kraft. One view of it is to marvel at, and celebrate, the hard work, risk-taking, and skill that produced the
achievement. That's the more conservative view of it. Another is to complain about it and wish the winning were
more evenly distributed. That's the more left-leaning view of it.
Tribal
Battle? Senator Pocahontas Goes After Owner Of Washington Redskins. 1/1024th Native American Senator
Elizabeth Warren is attacking the owner of an NFL Team named after Native Americans for buying a $100 million yacht.
Senator Pocahontas also known as Fauxcahontas over her claims of Native American heritage has come out firing today against
the owner of the Redskins. The owner, Dan Snyder was in the news this week for purchasing a giant superyacht for
$100 Million.
10-year-old
proves Tom Brady is a cheater, wins science fair. The science is ironclad: Tom Brady is a cheater,
according to a 10-year-old's fair-winning project. Ace Davis, who attends Millcreek Elementary in Lexington, Ky.,
wanted to do something different for his experiment. With the help of his mom and his sister, Davis set out to prove
Brady and the New England Patriots cheated by conspiring to deflate footballs during the AFC Championship in the 2014-15
season. Hypothesizing that "under-inflated footballs provide a competitive advantage in a game," the Davis family took
turns throwing footballs at different PSI — measuring for distance and accuracy.
Why Is There
a War on Cheerleaders? In The Boston Globe, Margery Eagan, Globe columnist and co-host of NPR's
"Boston Public Radio," wrote a column titled "It's time to say goodbye to the NFL cheerleaders." She described NFL
cheerleading as "creepy and demeaning." USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour came to the same conclusion:
"The underlying premise of NFL cheerleaders is degrading. ... NFL cheerleaders need to go." Chicago Tribune sports
reporter Shannon Ryan wrote, "The league has shown only that it regards cheerleaders as pieces of sideline eye candy." To
make her point, she asked, "why aren't there scantily dressed male cheerleaders and dance teams?" Only the well-educated
could ask such a stupid question — because only the highly educated deny that, with few exceptions, the only
people who would like to see scantily dressed male cheerleaders are gay men.
NFL's
first male cheerleaders to make Super Bowl debut in Atlanta. When the Los Angeles Rams secured their spot in
Super Bowl 53, they ensured at least their cheerleaders would make history. As members of the Rams' spirit squad,
Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies, will be the first men to perform with an NFL cheerleading team during a Super Bowl.
The Editor says...
Why do NFL teams have cheerleaders? Why do NFL games have halftime shows? Why do NFL stadiums have half-acre video screens?
It's all because football fans have short attention spans, tickets cost a lot of money, and football itself isn't all that interesting.
Louisiana
eye doctor offers free exams for NFL refs after Saints crushing loss. A Louisiana eye doctor has graciously
offered free eye exams to the NFL referees who oversaw the New Orleans Saints' crushing overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams
in the NFC Championship game on Sunday [1/20/2019]. Taking to Facebook after the game, which headed into overtime shortly
after a controversial no-call late in the game's fourth quarter, Louisiana Family Eyecare said it would "hate for someone else
to feel our pain."
Trump
Administration Takes Aim At Online Gambling In Sudden Wire Act Reversal. First it was sports betting. In
May of 2017 when SCOTUS was debating whether or not to grant cert to New Jersey's bid to strike down the federal prohibition
of sports betting, Trump's Acting Solicitor General, Jeffrey B. Wall, filed an amicus brief recommending that the Court deny
cert. SCOTUS disagreed and took the case. And even though the federal government was not a party to the "sports
betting case" (Murphy v. NCAA), Wall participated in oral arguments in an effort to uphold the now defunct Professional
and Amateur Sports Protection Act ("PASPA"). Wall famously advocated that since New Jersey could theoretically repeal all
sports betting laws and allow 12-year-olds to place wagers in casinos that PASPA was constitutional. SCOTUS, in a 6-3
decision, disagreed. Despite taking a loss on sports betting, the Trump administration is now throwing a potential
haymaker at all online gambling, including poker, lotteries, and potentially even daily fantasy sports.
U.S.
Online Gambling Reversal Puts 'Chill' on Industry. The U.S. Justice Department's decision to expand a federal
prohibition on internet gambling will cast a pall on the industry as businesses and state lotteries evaluate the implications
of the change and the government's plans to enforce it. The U.S. now says the U.S. Wire Act bars all internet gambling
that involves interstate transactions, reversing its position from 2011 that only sports betting was prohibited under the law
passed 50 years earlier. While the federal law specifically prohibits transmission of wagers and related information
across state lines, the Justice Department's new interpretation will impact all online gambling because as a practical matter
it's difficult to guarantee that no payments are routed through other states, said Aaron Swerdlow, an attorney with Glaser
Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro LLP in Los Angeles.
Those poor
NFL wage slaves. Nobody forces anybody to play in the NFL. NFL players are well aware of the physical
ramifications of pro football — the high possibility of brain damage and crippling injury. They are also
aware of the financial ramifications and have not been slow to cash in. They enrich high-powered lawyers who find ways
to make them ever more money. Taking advantage of still other ramifications, they father kids all across the fruited
plain. No slave ever dreamed of such a life. Anyone making millions of dollars is no slave, and anyone paying
someone else millions of dollars to play a game hardly has a slave mentality. It's a hard-nosed business mindset on
both sides. Nothing more, nothing less.
Winning games may be important, but to some people it isn't as important as the color of the coach. With
4 Black Head Coaches Likely Losing Their Jobs, NFL Could Have a Problem on Its Hands. The NFL could be on the
brink of a battle with the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a diversity group that advocates for minority candidates to get NFL head
coaching opportunities. On Monday, three black NFL coaches are expected to be fired — Steve Wilks (Arizona
Cardinals), Todd Bowles (New York Jets) and Vance Joseph (Denver Broncos). And on top that, another black coach, Hue
Jackson, was fired by the Cleveland Browns earlier this season.
Empty
Seats Galore: Thousands of Empty Seats Plague NFL in Week 15 of Season. Regular season of the NFL is winding down
and the stadiums were plagued with thousands of empty seats. [...] Americans watch sports to escape the daily stresses of life and
work; we don't want to watch spoiled millionaire SJWs protesting the American flag and disrespecting our Veterans.
NFL's
Buccaneers offer free tickets amid sagging attendance. The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers are giving out free extra
tickets to season ticket holders ahead of Sunday's clash with the Carolina Panthers amid sagging attendance at home games,
according to a report Wednesday [11/28/2018]. Season ticket holders reportedly received an email this week offering two
complimentary tickets, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The free seats were being issued on a first-come, first-serve
basis and had to be reserved by Thursday.
Week
13 Proves Unlucky As NFL Continues to Struggle with Attendance. As Week 13 began to wind down on Sunday, it
became clear that 13 was still unlucky for getting fans in the seats at some games. As far as some were concerned,
Cincinnati's Paul Brown stadium could have used a few more fans as the Bengals got beat convincingly by the Denver Broncos, 24-10.
NFL
Thug Caught On Camera Brutally Beating 19 Year Old Girl. Seventy seconds. That's apparently how long
it takes to flush a promising NFL career down the toilet. [...] The league that had turned a blind eye to the endless
criminal infractions of its players (average of at least one arrest a week) can't afford to ignore violence against
women. Not in this #MeToo era, anyway.
NFL
Dumps Anthem Kneeler Reuben Foster Over Domestic Violence. You may have seen a version of this story before
because when Reuben Foster isn't protesting "police brutality" by hating on the anthem, he's allegedly smacking around his
better half. [...] Can the Nike campaign be far behind?
NHL
player Evander Kane facing $6M lawsuit as ex-girlfriend claims he reneged on $3M abortion payment. An unidentified woman
filed a $6 million lawsuit this week, claiming that NHL player Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks failed to compensate her for
abortion procedures undergone while they were a couple. The woman claims that Kane, 27, impregnated her three times after they
began dating in 2015, and that Kane forced her to end the last two pregnancies after they mutually agreed to end the first, TMZ reported.
Four
Jacksonville Jaguars stars involved in 4am London brawl over $60k bar bill. Three of the four Jacksonville
Jaguars involved in an incident at a night club over a bar bill of more than $60,000 have taken to the field less than 24
hours after their release. Safeties Barry Church, 30, Ronnie Harrison, 21, and Jarrod Wilson, 24, who were detained
early Saturday morning [10/27/2018], played Sunday when the Jaguars lost 24-18 to the Philadelphia Eagles at Wembley.
Cornerback DJ Hayden, 28, who was also detained in the incident, was out due to injury. The Florida American football
team confirmed that some of the squad was taken into custody by the Metropolitan Police because they didn't seem to settle
payment for the hefty check they racked up before they made their way toward the exit.
Mom
files federal lawsuit after son doesn't make high school soccer team. A St. Louis mom is making a federal
case over the fact that her son didn't make the high school soccer team. The unnamed woman, whose son is a junior at
Ladue Horton Watkins High School — located in the most affluent section of the city — filed a lawsuit
in federal court this week, claiming the coach's decision discriminates against her child. The boy, called John Doe
in the Wednesday [9/26/2018] filing at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, played on the junior varsity
team last year, and the suit claims he's good enough to do so again[.]
'Disturbed'
umpires revolting after Serena Williams feud. Fellow umpires don't want to be the next Carlos Ramos.
There is an uneasy feeling amid tennis umpires after the WTA and USTA took Serena Williams' side following her on-court feud
with Ramos during Saturday's US Open final. The Times of London reported that some umpires are considering boycotting
Williams' matches. Ramos, 47, was "thrown to the wolves for simply doing his job and was not willing to be abused for
it," one anonymous umpire told the English paper.
Serena
Williams fined $17,000 for code violations at U.S. Open. Serena Williams was fined a total of $17,000 for three
code violations during her loss to Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open final. The tournament referee's office on Sunday docked
Williams $10,000 for "verbal abuse" of chair umpire Carlos Ramos, $4,000 for being warned for coaching and $3,000 for
breaking her racket.
Whining Serena Williams
is tennis's Hillary Clinton. No one expected Naomi Osaka to win the US Open yesterday. Everyone favoured
her opponent. The crowd was solidly with Serena Williams, as were the bookies. But the 20-year-old
Japanese-Haitian, who became the first player representing Japan to win a Grand Slam, prevailed against all the odds.
Victory, however, was bittersweet. The crowd booed her. The announcers were in shock. 'Perhaps it's not the finish
we were looking for today,' said one prominent commentator, adding 'This mama is a role model and respected by all.'
Muted kudos at best for Naomi.
Wife
of former NFL quarterback 'terrified' he will kill her after domestic violence arrest. The wife of former
Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears quarterback Erik Kramer has told police she is "terrified" that he will kill her and her
daughter after he was arrested for domestic violence. Kramer, a journeyman who played in the NFL and CFL for more than
a decade, was arrested on suspicion of felony corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant at his home in Agoura Hills,
California, last week. The 53-year-old was released on $50,000 bond and was "cooperative" during the arrest, police
told the Los Angeles Times.
John
Daly quits USGA as golf cart war escalates. John Daly is taking his ball and carting home. The colorful
golfer said he will not play again in a tournament run by the USGA after the organization denied his request for use of a
golf cart during the U.S. Senior Open. "Just not worth it to me," Daly told USA Today, after withdrawing Monday [6/25/2018]
from the tournament. The two sides had dug in to their positions — Daly insisting he has a bad right knee, and
insisting he has medical evidence to prove it, while the USGA says it "offered Mr. Daly the opportunity to provide
additional information" to justify his cart use, and says he would not.
Not just the NFL, but NCAA
football has a hidden attendance problem too. The 2018 collegiate football season opened Thursday night [8/30/2018], a
happy time of year for millions of us fans who enjoy watching the game played eagerly by young men who aren't yet spoiled millionaires
with a political agenda to show off. But there's a problem, a hidden attendance problem. Maybe you've been at a game and
heard a strong attendance figure announced, then looked around and said, "This sure doesn't look like 48,000 people." You were
right. The Wall Street Journal has done a fascinating analysis of announced NCAA attendance last year and actual attendance by
real tickets scanned. Turns out, there's a huge difference.
More
players join high school sports nationally, but football declines again. As the academic and athletic school
years begin across the nation: A good sign for U.S. youth conditioning: For the 29th consecutive year,
participation in high school sports has increased, especially among girls. An ominous sign for football: For the
second consecutive year the number of boys in 11-man football has declined. And so slightly have the number of schools
fielding such teams. According to the latest numbers from the National Federation of State High School Associations,
the total number of students participating in high school sports was 7,979,986. The federation writes the rules of
competition for most high school sports and activities. This included 4,564,680 boys and 3,415,306 girls, a record for
girls and an increase of 15,000. Football remains by far the most popular high school sport. Last season 1,035,942
high school students played 11-player football. That's a decline of 21,465, or 2 percent, from the previous year, which
had seen a 2.5 percent drop.
Urban Meyer:
The Hillary Clinton of College Football. [R]eading through the full findings of the Urban Meyer investigation,
I couldn't help but notice the similarities between Meyer's scandal and those of ol' Crooked Hillary Clinton. Meyer was
aware that his assistant coach Zach Smith was arrested in 2009 for domestic assault of his pregnant wife while both coaches
were at Florida. Meyer brought Smith to Ohio State anyway. Meyer was aware in 2014 that Smith racked up a
$600 bill at a strip club while on a school recruiting trip, but didn't report him to Athletic Compliance. Meyer was
aware in 2015 that Smith was again being investigated for domestic abuse. But despite an entire other host of personnel
problems that led the athletic director to suggest Smith be fired, including frequent tardiness, misuse of funds, and drug
addiction, Meyer refused.
Will
the Soccer Bubble Burst? When I was a small boy in England, I would go with a friend and stand on terraces of a
stadium in a crowd of up to 70,000, having paid an entrance fee (in purely nominal terms) of 14 cents. A ticket to
watch the same team play today — in a much more comfortable stadium — would cost $70. In those
days, professional footballers had a maximum wage that was roughly equivalent to a skilled worker's wage. They were
stars only on the pitch, their lives off the pitch being both unknown and of no particular public interest. After the
match was over, they would catch the bus home. [...] Now, to be selected for a major team is virtually to become a
millionaire overnight.
Football's
in trouble — should you let your kid play? [Scroll down] Secondly, the concussion crisis is
not limited to football. In fact, some studies have revealed quite the contrary. A study of high school athletes
reported by the Winston Salem Journal in June of 2015 reported that, "In a population of 374,565 girls soccer players across
the nation, there were an estimated 55,598 concussions — a rate of 14.8 percent. Football players
suffered concussions at a rate of 13.5 percent in 1,094,949 players."
The Editor says...
If you add up the numbers, that comes out to 203,000 kids who suffered concussions playing soccer or football.
(And that doesn't include broken arms, legs and necks.) I can assure you that if 203,000 kids had suffered
concussions resulting from after-school firearms practice, the gun-related activities would be stopped overnight.
NFL orders
Jerry Jones to stop talking anthem, Fox 4's Mike Doocy cancels interview. Four days after seemingly defying the
NFL and letting the world know about his team's zero-tolerance policy regarding standing for the national anthem, Jones is
now not talking about the issue because he has been told not to by the league. Jones informed several local television
stations who had booked him for interviews on their Sunday night show from training camp in Oxnard, Calif., that questions
about the national anthem and his team's policy were not permitted because the NFL had told him to stop speaking on the
matter. It prompted Fox 4's Mike Doocy to cancel his interview with Jones.
The Editor says...
Please note that Mike Doocy didn't have to call Dallas to find out what to do. Notice also that even though Mr. Doocy had
every reason to be livid, he maintained his composure on the air, like the true professional that he is.
Baseball's Ministry
of Truth Strikes Again. For those not following the story, someone dug up some old tweets made by Hader while
he was in high school. The tweets are said to be racist, homophobic, and misogynistic. They may well be, though
after quite a bit of nubbing around online I've not been able to turn up the tweets themselves, just lots of stories about
how vile they are. Let's just assume they are. Hader has fallen all over himself apologizing for the tweets,
saying that he was young and stupid when he made them when he was 17 and that they in no way reflect the man he is today.
There's no reason not to believe him. But this didn't stop MLB from sentencing him to re-education camp —
both sensitivity training and to participate in "diversity and inclusion initiatives," whatever these might be.
Super
Bowl champion charged with attempted murder after incident with woman. Super Bowl champion Brandon Browner was
charged with attempted murder along with three other felonies Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted a woman and held her
against her will over the weekend in California. Browner, 33, also faces robbery, burglary and false imprisonment
charges, according to NFL.com. He's also facing two counts of child endangerment — both misdemeanors.
University
of Wyoming's 'cowboy' slogan rustles up some controversy. "The world needs more cowboys," the University of
Wyoming says in a new marketing slogan. But apparently not everyone agrees. The slogan has drawn backlash from
critics, including faculty members and Native American groups, who call the catchphrase sexist, racist and counterproductive
to university recruitment — because it excludes women and people of color, Reuters reported. "Honestly, I
thought it was a joke at first," associate professor Ellen Currano told the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I thought
it was a joke. And then I looked it up on the university web page and saw that no, this was, in fact, serious."
No
more tickets? MLB fans will soon use fingerprints, facial recognition instead. A tap of the finger will
soon replace traditional tickets at baseball stadiums across the country. Major League Baseball and CLEAR are teaming
up to launch biometric ticketing, allowing fans to use their fingerprints — and eventually facial
recognition — to enter the ballpark. A pilot program will arrive at select venues later this season.
In 2019, MLB and CLEAR plan to roll out biometric ticketing to ballparks that utilize CLEAR and Tickets.com technology.
"We'll be able to immediately link [fans'] CLEAR accounts to their MLB.com account. Your biometrics — your
face and fingerprint — become your ticket," CLEAR co-founder and CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker told FOX Business.
Should
The Bucs Cut Jameis Winston After Allegations Of Groping An Uber Driver? Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback
Jameis Winston will reportedly get suspended for three games, and it's time to take a look at his future with the NFL.
Winston is in hot water after he allegedly groped an Uber driver in Arizona back in March 2016. The NFL is now preparing
to hit him with a big suspension more than two years after the fact, and people are beginning to wonder whether or not the Bucs
should show the former FSU quarterback the door.
Wife
of former NFL quarterback 'terrified' he will kill her after domestic violence arrest. The wife of former
Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears quarterback Erik Kramer has told police she is "terrified" that he will kill her and her
daughter after he was arrested for domestic violence. Kramer, a journeyman who played in the NFL and CFL for more than
a decade, was arrested on suspicion of felony corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant at his home in Agoura Hills,
California, last week. The 53-year-old was released on $50,000 bond and was "cooperative" during the arrest, police
told the Los Angeles Times.
Educational
Fraud Continues. During a recent University of North Carolina scandal, a learning specialist hired to help
athletes found that during the period from 2004 to 2012, 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball
teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. Keep in
mind that all of these athletes both graduated from high school and were admitted to college.
Wall
Street Journal: Baseball in Florida 'has been a disaster'. The Rays and Miami Marlins "are at a moment of
reckoning" after histories of low attendance and an offseason in which they sold off many of their top players and were
singled out by the MLB Players Association for failing to spend revenue-sharing money, according to a story published
Thursday [4/19/2018] by the Wall Street Journal. Now, some are calling into question the experiment 25 years ago
to bring Major League Baseball to Florida, which has hosted spring training for decades and has a wellspring of local talent
as well as a large population of Latin Americans.
Ex-NFL
Cheerleader Says She Faced Discrimination for Christian Faith. Kristan Ware spent three seasons on the
sidelines cheering for the Miami Dolphins. But she declined to try out for a fourth season, claiming she faced
discrimination because of her Christian faith. Ware said on the Todd Starnes Radio Show that she was targeted for
ridicule and mockery after she posted a photograph of her baptism on social media — along with a Bible
verse. "Why can't I be a cheerleader and hold my faith and stand firm in that," she asked. Soon after, the
cheerleading staff learned she was a virgin and planned on waiting for marriage to have sex. That prompted a meeting
with cheerleading director Dorie Grogan. "Let's talk about your virginity," Grogan said, according to the complaint.
Does
faith fit in at the NFL? Two NFL teams have a lot of people talking, and it's not for off-season moves and
draft prospects. Former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Kristan Ann Ware is suing the Miami Dolphins for religious and
gender discrimination. "It was a year-long bout of incidences, and many got worse and worse" says Ware's attorney Sara
Blackwell. "It started with her being called into an interview, which was supposed to recap the year before the tryouts
for the next year, and when she sat down for the recap of the year, her director and the coaches were all sitting there, and
the director said, 'So, I heard you're a virgin; let's talk about your virginity.'"
Woman
declines to sing national anthem at minor league game because she can't bring her gun. After being offered an
opportunity to sing the national anthem before a Nevada minor league baseball game, a woman has decided to turn it down after
learning that she can't bring her gun to the stadium. Alishia Wolcott was picked by the Reno Aces to sing after she
submitted an audition tape in March, she told Fox News. But after she and her husband went to the stadium on Saturday
to attend a game as spectators, they saw security included metal detector wands, which she claimed was a new measure this
year. "Upon walking up to the stadium we saw the normal bag checks, and past that were men stopping guests and using
the wand metal detectors before entering the game, which was an action just implemented this baseball season," Wolcott said.
MLB making record money, as
fewer fans attend games. Here's the good news for Major League Baseball: Gross revenues were up again last
year, exceeding $10 billion for the first time. Local and regional TV ratings are grand. Sponsorship and digital
media are very prosperous. Now, here's the bad news: Overall, last year's prime-time TV ratings were down six percent
with one team (Detroit) down an ugly 38 percent.
White
Sox, Rays play in front of reported crowd of 974. The White Sox (3-6) and the Rays (2-8) aren't exactly must-see
attractions this season. That is very clear by the number of people who showed up to watch the two teams play Monday [4/9/2018].
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the official number of people who used their tickets to enter the game was 974. It's hard to
believe that many actually entered the ballpark based on pictures from Guaranteed Rate Field. The actual paid attendance for the
game was 10,377. This is the lowest attended game since April 28, 2015 when Camden Yards was closed off to the public for
safety purposes due to rioting in Baltimore. A total of zero people were in the stands that day.
Eagles'
Michael Bennett Indicted for Injuring 66 Year-Old Paraplegic Woman; Arrest Warrant Issued. Philadelphia Eagles
defensive lineman, who made headlines disrespecting the National Anthem at games last season, has been indicted for injuring
a 66 year-old paraplegic woman. The woman was working security at Super Bowl LI and, when she told Bennett to use a
different entrance, he got physical with her, KHOU reports: [...] Houston police say that, if they encounter Bennett before
he turns himself in, he will be arrested. The Philadelphia Eagles, who traded for Bennett in a deal with the Seattle
Seahawks in the off-season, say they're aware of the arrest, but have no comment.
Baseball
coach fired after refusing to recruit students from states where pot is legal. Texas Wesleyan University's head
baseball coach Mike Jeffcoat was fired on Thursday after an email surfaced in which he told a prospective student from
Colorado he would not recruit due to the state legalizing marijuana. Jeffcoat stated that he and the baseball program
would not recruit any player from Colorado because they were more likely to fail a drug test. "In the past, players
have had trouble passing our drug test. We have made a decision to not take a chance on student-athletes from your
state," Jeffcoat wrote in the email. "You can thank your liberal politicians. Best of luck wherever you decide to
play." The announcement of Jeffcoat's firing was made less than 24 hours later by Texas Wesleyan President Fred
Slabach and Athletic Director Steve Trachier.
Perpetual Victims.
If you wanted to write a satire of leftist journalism, you could hardly do better than the sincere Sports Illustrated
article on Meek Mill by DeAntae Prince. It concerns the friendship, meant to seem rather touching, between Sixers
co-owner Michael Rubin and the jailed black Philly rapper. Much of the emphasis is on Rubin's "efforts to liberate the
rapper" — as if Mill were France under the Nazi occupation. Mill is currently serving a two-to-four-year
prison sentence for repeated probation violations. With unintended comedy, Prince describes this as "legal complications
due to constant travel and a rapper lifestyle that clashed with his probation obligations." The evasion is palpable
here. Imagine explaining to the IRS: "I didn't pay my taxes, a legal complication, because doing so clashed
with my lifestyle. I prefer spending my money on gambling and whores."
Pro
Football Player Who Protested Police Brutality Arrested for Domestic Violence. An NFL player who protested the
national anthem has been arrested for allegedly striking a woman. San Francisco 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster was
arrested Sunday on charges related to domestic violence, possession of an assault weapon and threats. His bail has been
set at $75,000, per ESPN.
California
Lawmakers Moving to Ban Tackle Football for Kids. Joining the trend seen in a handful of other states, California
Democrats are preparing to outlaw tackle football for kids under 14. State Democrats have introduced the "Safe Youth
Football Act," and if passed, the bill would make California the first state to ban tackle football for kids.
The Decline
of the NFL. In 2015, the peak year, Katy Perry rode into the halftime show on a mechanical tiger in a body suit
and a super-tight ponytail yanked mercilessly onto the top of her head. She bragged to her audience, "I kissed a girl,
and I liked it." Then, while singing a duet with Lenny Kravitz, she kneeled beneath him as if about to perform a sexual
act on him. This was followed by Missy Elliott imploring her audience to "Get Your Freak On," an expression that Urban
Dictionary tells me means "to have sex." Families watching the Super Bowl together may not have wanted the embarrassment
of explaining to Grandma what "getting your freak on" means, or the suggestion to an eight-year-old girl of what Katy Perry is
doing kneeling beneath Lenny Kravitz that way. [...] Americans love football, but they are not willing to be bludgeoned over
the head by virtue-signaling leftists like these.
NFL
Imperiled Its Brand By Playing Politics. [Scroll down] One big surprise, however, is the NFL. It
ranks as the sixth most divisive brand, with a +39 approval rating from Democrats, but a -11 among Republicans.
This is particularly noteworthy, given that no other major sport has a negative rating (even NASCAR scores a +18 among Democrats),
and the fact that the NFL's fan base tends to skew Republican. One survey found that registered Republicans were 21% more
likely to be pro football fans than Democrats. The polarization is almost entirely the result of the fact that the NFL let
players play politics on the field all season long with their National Anthem protests. This, in turn, helps explain why
NFL ratings took a nose-dive in 2017.
'A
decline in civility': Inside the tensions between NBA players and refs. Saturday night brought more flare-ups,
as the Toronto Raptors were incensed at late calls in their loss against the Golden State Warriors. Raptors star DeMar
DeRozan said it felt like they were playing "five on eight," a comment that will likely bring a fine from the league.
The Dallas Mavericks' Mark Cuban chimed in via Twitter, maintaining his reputation as the most vocal critic in the ownership
ranks. And to think, it had been just three days since Chris Paul — the Houston Rockets guard who is also
the president of the National Basketball Players Association — teed off on longtime referee Scott Foster with
reporters after he received a technical foul in a game against Portland.
AP
Names Trump vs. NFL As the Top Sports Story of the Year. President Donald Trump has topped a second
year-end sports list, this time making the top sports story of 2017 as voted by the Associated Press. [...] The president's
criticism of the NFL's millionaire players for refusing to stand in respect for the playing of the national anthem became the
talk of the nation especially after the NFL refused to attempt to mute the controversy that caused millions of football fans
to turn off their TVs.
2
officials convicted at FIFA trial; 3rd awaits verdict. Two former South American soccer officials have been
convicted of corruption charges at a U.S. trial stemming from the FIFA bribery scandal, while deliberations will continue
next week for a third official.
NFL Ticket
Prices Plummet as Protests Continue. The NFL decided recently to move millions in donations to veterans groups
and breast cancer reserach in order to fund social justice issues. Colin Kaepernick's kneeling-for-the-anthem protest
has had a lasting effect whether America likes it or not. Now, because of all the nonsense on the field (which has
stretched into Week 14 of this season) ticket prices have plummeted. They're almost free!
NFL Just Doesn't
Get It. [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell is one of the enablers of the leftists, at the very least, and by
extending his contract, the NFL owners are thumbing their noses at the American people, who, by the way, have been the ones
who pay the salaries of the players and league officials, and allow those owners to reap their large profits. However,
the American people don't like to be insulted and have reacted by refusing to buy tickets, watch the games on TV, and not
purchasing NFL merchandise. All three of these money-makers for the league have shown sharp drops in income. It
is called biting the hand that feeds you. The American people have decided, in large numbers, to no longer feed the
NFL. The NFL and Roger Goodell might think this will blow over and the cash will soon return, but they are wrong.
Weak
14: NFL Stadiums Look Like Ghost Towns As Attendance Crisis Continues. The plague of empty seats which has
befallen the National Football League reached biblical proportions this week, as teams continued to find it hard to fill
stadiums. Naturally, a large number of players also continued their anti-American protests during the playing of the
national anthem as Week 14 rolled into stadiums everywhere. And as a result, ticket prices are plummeting.
Ticket
Prices Fall To $10 As Teams Struggle To Fill Stadiums. The NFL protests have been lucrative for social justice
charities — they'll receive a whopping $89 million in "settlement" money, redirected from veterans and breast
cancer charity funds — but they're also becoming a boon for cash-strapped football fans. It turns out, if you
can still stomach a professional football game, you can now get tickets for about the same price as a couple of Starbucks lattes.
Roger
Goodell's NFL contract is a slap in the face to all patriotic Americans. The decision by the NFL Compensation
Committee on Wednesday to give Commissioner Roger Goodell a five-year contract extension that could top out at nearly $40 million
a year is pure craziness. NFL owners are watching their brand implode and TV ratings for games plummet under a reckless
commissioner — and they fail to see that Goodell is running the wrong game plan. Giving Goodell a huge
compensation package like this — 90 percent of it tied to incentives — is like giving Hillary
Clinton an award for outstanding email practices and honesty.
New
Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons : More Empty Seats Than Filled Ones. Tonight [12/7/2017] begins "Week 14" of
the NFL and it's suicide season. It began with given failed commissioner Roger Goodell a $200 million contract
extension. It continued a Thursday night playoff game featuring two tams fighting for the playoffs (that I have no
intention of watching).
You
can get tickets to an NFL game this week for under five dollars. As of Thursday afternoon [12/7/2017], there
are actual NFL tickets that are selling on the secondary market for under five dollars. Of course, like all good deals,
these tickets do come with a catch: You need to live near Buffalo, have a high tolerance for cold weather and be
willing to sit through three hours of a Colts-Bills game.
NFL
Owners' 'social justice' bribe spectacularly fails. Another progressive delusion was exposed yesterday as NFL
owners discovered that their attempt to bribe angry black players into behaving themselves flopped as the nation
watched. Despite promises to donate almost $90 million to "social justice" causes (which seem to be charities
ostensibly benefiting African-Americans) if players would only respect the National Anthem the way their colleagues in other
major league sports do, various NFL players demonstrated their contempt during games.
Empty
Seats Greatly Outnumber Spectators As NFL Attendance Crisis Continues. With last week's Thursday Night
Football and Monday Night Football broadcasts closing out Week 12 with new lows in metered markets, and despite
the nearly $90 million in social justice spending for players to end their constant, anti-American protests during the
national anthem, Week 13 began with tens of thousands of empty seats in stadiums everywhere.
San
Francisco 49ers' Eric Reid Says NFL Will Shift Charitable Funds to Fund Social Justice Causes. San Francisco
49ers' Eric Reid told Slate Thursday [11/30/2017] he was told the NFL will allow funds from charitable campaigns to be
shifted to fund a new social justice cause program announced this week. Reid told Slate the plan to take away funds
from breast cancer awareness and military service initiatives was one of the reasons he is breaking away from the Players
Coalition. Reid and the Dolphins' Michal Thomas announced their decision to walk away Wednesday, saying we "don't
believe the coalition's beliefs are in our best interests as a whole."
Unconditional
Surrender: NFL Gives Players $89 Million for 'Social Justice' Spending with No Condition That Anthem Protests Will
End. The National Football League and player representatives came to an agreement on Wednesday evening, that
the league would throw $89 million at so-called "social justice" issues. The money represents a desperate attempt by
the league to put an end to the constant anti-American protests held during the playing of the national anthem. Though,
the agreement does not include a condition that the anthem protests will end.
NFL
owners appear poised to pay nearly $100 million bribe for nothing. NFL owners seem poised to donate nearly $100 million
(including some contributions from players) over seven years to support the favorite social justice causes of the players. But in a
perfect show of how incompetent they are, the owners will get nothing from the players in return. No promise to stop disrespecting
the national anthem or any other meaningful concessions. Who taught these clowns to negotiate, Neville Chamberlain? Obviously,
they are used to trying to buy their way out of problems. Can you even imagine the sum total spent bailing their pampered players
out of legal beefs, domestic violence and sexual misconduct issues? It would likely dwarf even Congress and Hollywood.
ESPN
to lay off 150 people, latest round of cuts at sports broadcasting network. ESPN President John Skipper
announced Wednesday morning [11/29/2017] the network will be terminating approximately 150 employees, bringing the total
number of employees the network has let go in 2017 to about 250. Of the latest round of layoffs, Skipper stated, "We
appreciate their contributions, and will assist them as much as possible in this difficult moment with severance, a 2017
bonus, the continuation of health benefits and outplacement services." The employees that were let go worked in "studio
production, digital content, and technology."
NFL
Plagued By Empty Stadiums As Anthem Protests Continue. The NFL is in deep trouble and it's just getting worse
with each passing week. Most of their games over the weekend had more empty seats in stadiums than fans cheering them
on. And it wasn't just the National Anthem protests in the mix. There were fights, scuffles and bad football to
contend with. It's exactly the opposite of what the NFL needs right now. Over a dozen football players continued
their protests over the weekend in their first test since the Thanksgiving holiday. The protests and the boycott both
continue. And it's destroying the NFL.
Trump:
America is 'fed up' with NFL national anthem protests. President Trump said Tuesday [11/28/2017] that America
is "fed up" with the NFL's "disrespect" to the country, extending his feud with the football league and its anthem-protesting
players. Just hours after Monday Night Football, Trump slammed the NFL on Twitter for being "out of control."
Bucs
likely gambled and lost believing Jameis Winston would grow up. It's the headline everyone in Tampa feared, yet
no one in Tampa could ever rule out: The NFL is investigating an allegation involving Jameis Winston and an unnamed
woman. This was always the risk when the Bucs drafted Winston: their franchise quarterback would make the wrong kinds
of headlines as a pro, just as he did in college.
NFL to Jones:
Behave or we'll try to take away your toys. For the last few seasons, the NFL has looked more like the Keystone
Cops than a well-run sports organization. We've had Deflate Gate, inconsistent discipline for drug violations, criminal
charges, etc. This year, we've seen falling television ratings continue to plummet, especially for Sunday and Monday
night games. NFL profits are declining as well. Amid all this, word broke over the last 24 hours that some NFL
owners are considering ways to force Jerry Jones out of the league. Are they freaking crazy? I'm no fan of Jerry
Jones, never have been. He is crass and head-strong. He is also one of the most successful team owners. He
took a team that was losing in the area of $1 million a month and turned it around. The Cowboys are now valued at
more than $4 billion. That, apparently, isn't enough for some owners. It seems that certain owners have
decided that Jerry isn't playing nice. They have discussed using a clause in the ownership contract that would allow
them to force him to sell the Cowboys: [...] If the NFL survives the battle, it will not come out on the other side as the
same NFL we know now. That might not be a bad thing but are the owners really willing to risk losing millions, possibly
even billions, to try to make a point?
Knee-Taking
Hate Hoaxer Bruce Maxwell Arrested for Behaving Like Sociopathic Thug. The sort of athletes who refuse to
refrain from disrespectful antics during the national anthem are not cut from the finest cloth. Neither are inductees
on the Hate Hoax List. So the latest news on hate-hoaxing knee-taker Bruce Maxwell should come as no surprise.
Widespread
academic corruption lets UNC sports off the hook. [Scroll down] I take no position here on whether the
NCAA should have penalized the University's sports programs. But the key factual findings that form the basis for the
NCAA's ruling appear to be true and the rationale for its decision is coherent. The sham courses were, indeed,
available to all students. In fact, the majority of students who took them were non-athletes. Thus, it was
reasonable to conclude that the University did not provide its athletes with an unfair benefit. It's possible that the
sham courses existed for the purpose of helping athletes maintain their eligibility, and that other students simply took
advantage of a benefit created and/or maintained for jocks. However, the NCAA apparently found no evidence that this
was the case. Nor should we assume that the courses were created or maintained for the benefit of athletes. More likely,
they were created and maintained to benefit a much larger class of students — those who struggled in real courses.
Suspension with pay = vacation. ESPN's
Jemele Hill will get paid while serving suspension for ripping Trump, Dallas Cowboys. An ESPN host who got
sidelined for two weeks after calling President Trump a "white supremacist" and urging people to boycott Dallas Cowboys'
advertisers will pocket an estimated $40,000 or more during her time in the sports network's penalty box. Jemele Hill
was suspended for repeatedly violating the company's social media guidelines, but the punishment comes with a paycheck,
according to a tweet from author James Miller, who literally wrote the book on ESPN.
Budweiser
considers ending their NFL sponsorship over protests. In the wake of increased national anthem protests by NFL
players, Anheuser-Busch is reconsidering its NFL sponsorship, likely because the protests are very unpopular among everyday
Americans. Bud Light currently serves as the official beer of the NFL. So the company set up a hotline for fans
to call and give their thoughts about the protests and Anheuser-Busch's sponsorship of the NFL.
Budweiser
Considers Dropping The NFL — Asks Customers For Input. This is huge. If Budweiser ends its
business relationship with the NFL over the National Anthem protests, it will send a shock wave through the world of
professional sports. The company is asking for input from their customers. It's a very smart move.
How
the sneaker giants became the shame of college sports. The numbers are staggering. Ohio State has a 15-year,
$252 million deal with Nike, which is just ahead of Texas's $250 million deal with Nike. That's more than
$500 million for two schools. If you think that could buy a lot of textbooks, consider this: Nike's revenues in
2016 were $32.6 billion. The GDP for the nation of Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis' Latvia was $27.6 billion.
Adidas's revenue last year was $22.65 billion, slightly more than Starbucks ($21.31 billion). Under Armour's
revenue was $4.83 billion in 2016, more than double from $2.33 billion in 2013. "There is a major arms race
going on," George Belch, a marketing professor at San Diego State, recently told the L.A. Times after Under Armour
signed UCLA to a record 15-year, $280 million merchandise deal.
The NFL Leaves
America. With attendance and viewership in decline, the NFL has increasingly embraced gambling as a way of boosting its own
profits at the expense of those vulnerable to that addiction. Its decision to move the Raiders to Las Vegas will make football seem
more like a game of roulette or blackjack than family entertainment. [...] The current NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, has played footsie
with gamblers by making deals with weekly fantasy football games, which are thinly disguised gambling, while fans are deciding not to fill
stadiums in several major markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Why is the
FBI trying to enforce NCAA rules? In 2006 — to pick just one among the many, many NCAA scandals over
the years — two less-than-reputable agents gave the family of the University of Southern California's star running
back, Reggie Bush, gifts and benefits, including the free use of a house, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. They
did so in the expectation that Bush would sign with them when he decided to turn pro. (He didn't.) Although the
university was severely punished by the NCAA, the FBI chose not to look into the matter. Why would it? Giving a
star athlete's family the use of a house may be unseemly, and it may violate NCAA's rules regarding amateurism, but it
doesn't violate the laws of the United States. Not even close. And yet on Tuesday [9/26/2017], the US attorney
for the Southern District of New York — that was Preet Bharara's old jurisdiction, before the president fired
him — announced with great fanfare that it had cracked a college basketball bribery scandal.
Nine
suspended Florida players now face multiple third-degree felony fraud charges. Nine Florida players have been
suspended since the start of the season and are now facing third-degree felony charges related to an investigation into
improper debit card charges and alleged fraudulent use of credit cards. [...] The nine players all faces at least two felony
charges, one for fraud under $20,000 and one for impersonation.
Farewell
to the National Football League. For my health, sanity and productivity, I quit watching the NFL regularly on
television about the time Clint Longley single-handedly beat the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving Day, 1974. I tuned in
periodically in the early '80s, but gave it up entirely by the end of the decade — in part because I was then
living abroad. When I returned to the States nearly a decade later, I found I no longer cared, and eventually even gave
up on the Super Bowl. There was never the slightest chance I would go back, but even if I wanted to, I couldn't, as I
cut the cable long ago and learned I can live quite happily and more cheaply without it — no sports, no CNN, no
Fox News. But even if I hook up the old satellite dish again here in my rural New England community, I still wouldn't
watch pro football now that the NFL and some of its players have injected racial politics into a sport that, more than any
other, pioneered on-field integration and got white America cheering for black athletes.
Aaron
Hernandez's family sues NFL, Patriots amid CTE revelation. An attorney for former New England Patriots tight end
Aaron Hernandez announced Thursday [9/21/2017] a $20 million lawsuit had been filed in federal court against the New England
Patriots and the NFL on behalf of the ex-player's former fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, and the couple's daughter.
The lawsuit was filed the same afternoon as it was announced that Hernandez had been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy
(CTE). The 18-page filing, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports, contends both the league and team "were fully
aware of the damage that could be inflicted from repetitive impact injuries and failed to disclose, treat or protect him from the
dangers of such damage."
ESPN
host under fire again for calling Trump a 'white supremacist'. ESPN's Jemele Hill is under fire once again for
her controversial comments. The SportsCenter co-host has been slammed for describing President Trump as 'a white
supremacist' in a post on her Twitter page. The sports commentator ignited the social media tirade Monday [9/11/2017]
during a conversation regarding 'racist' singer Kid Rock's potential Senate run.
As
Brain Injuries Increase, National Enthusiasm for Football Fades. The head-injury epidemic in the NFL has
changed what was once a beloved pastime into a spectacle that degrades its viewers. [...] Football's kinetic
energy — a function of the masses and velocities of the hurtling bodies — has increased dramatically in
50 years. On Alabama's undefeated 1966 team, only 21 percent of the players weighed more than 200 pounds.
The heaviest weighed 223; the linemen averaged 194. The quarterback, who weighed 177, was Ken Stabler, who went on to a Hall of
Fame NFL career — and to "moderately severe" CTE before death from cancer. Today, many high-school teams are much
beefier than the 1966 Crimson Tide. Of the 114 members of Alabama's 2016 squad, just 25 weighed less than 200 and 20 weighed
more than 300. In 1980, only three NFL players weighed 300 or more pounds. Last season, 390 weighed 300 pounds or
more, and six topped 350.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
(CTE). is a degenerative disease found in people who have suffered repeated blows to the head. A subtype
of CTE is dementia pugilistica (DP), i.e. "punch-drunk," as it was initially found in those with a history of boxing.
CTE is most commonly found in professional athletes participating in American football, rugby, ice hockey, boxing,
professional wrestling, stunt performing, bull riding, rodeo riding, and other contact sports who have experienced repeated
brain trauma, such as concussions and blows to the head that do not produce concussions. The presence of CTE in
domestic violence is also being investigated. It can affect high-school athletes following just a few years of
participation in sports.
When did we vote on this? UN to name Yankee Stadium
a Palestinian Heritage Site. Well why not? If they own the Cave of the Patriarchs all bets are off and
they own everything, including Yankee Stadium, which to American culture is hallowed ground for the memories of Babe Ruth,
Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and at this rate, some day Aaron Judge. In fact I'd be surprised if Mahmoud
Abbas hasn't already put in his bid. All he has to do is ask and UNESCO says sure, it's yours. When it comes to those
UNESCO clowns — the 195 nations that make up the UN's "heritage center" — the other shoe always drops.
Every
female athlete I know has had an abortion: US gold-medalist runner breaks 'sport's last taboo'. A
double-gold Olympic medalist claims every female track-and-field athlete she knows has had an abortion. Sanya
Richards-Ross, 32, said pregnancy and abortions are issues 'that are not really talked about, especially in sports.'
The Jamaican-American athlete revealed in her new book that she herself had an abortion — just one day before
leaving for the Beijing Games in the summer of 2008.
ESPN
yanks poem honoring cop-killer Assata Shakur. An ESPN site targeting female sports fans on Thursday [4/27/2017] removed a
poem paying homage to a convicted cop killer after "an oversight in the editorial process" led to the poem being published several days ago,
the embattled sports giant told Fox News. DaMaris Hill's poem "Revolution" had led the April 25 ESPNW.com feature "Five Poets
on the New Feminism," which was produced "in honor of National Poetry month... to reflect on resistance, redefining feminism and movement,"
according to a site description. But Hill's poem opened with the dedication "(for Assata Shakur)," honoring the one-time Black
Liberation Army member who has been hiding out in Cuba to avoid finishing a prison term for her murder rap.
NCAA
Mixes Sports and Politics. After a hiatus of more than 10 years, during which time the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) refused to hold championship events in South Carolina because the Confederate flag was not
removed from the statehouse grounds in Columbia, an NCAA-sponsored event was held in Greenville, South Carolina. The
state was finally taken off the NCAA's "bad list" when the "offending" Confederate flag was removed in from the grounds of
the South Carolina Capitol in July 2015. [...] Ironically, the NCAA games were originally slated to be held in neighboring
North Carolina, in Greensboro, but the NCAA has now blackballed that state for political reasons. In the North Carolina
case, the Confederate flag was not the issue, but rather a North Carolina law drew the ire of the NCAA. The law required
"transgender" people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex found on their birth certificate.
Freedom or Football? The
National Football League has officially put the State of Texas on notice: if that state persists in denying men with peculiar sexual proclivities
access to public rooms full of young girls with their pants down, then Texas may be denied the privilege of hosting any more Super Bowls. To
be precise, as you probably know, Texas lawmakers are proposing a law similar to North Carolina's, restricting access to public bathrooms and
changing rooms to people of the actual biological sex for which those facilities were designed. [...] Why is this controversial? Because
it is "inconsistent with [the NFL's] values." Really? And when was this great table of NFL values etched in stone? Would the
NFL have taken up this issue as a matter of principle at any time prior to, say, five years ago?
Oh, he's got an illness, alright. Man
fakes illness in failed attempt to check into hospital with view of sold-out soccer game. Officials in the
small Italian city of Crotone figured things were going to get wild on Wednesday when Juventus, one of the country's best and
most popular soccer teams, came to town to face its squad. So they made a plan. Along with bumping up security
around the coastal city's sold-out, 16,000-seat stadium, officials also put extra guards around its hospital, according to reports,
which happens to be situated across from the stadium and offers some of the best views of the action from its higher floors.
Former
Baylor student alleges 52 rapes in 4 years by football players in lawsuit. A former Baylor University students [sic] is accusing the
football program to have fostered a "culture of sexual violence" in which coaches encouraged female students to have sex with recruits and players.
She says it led to at least 52 rapes by more than 30 football players over a four-year period. In the lawsuit, the student — who is
listed in the documents only as "Elizabeth Doe" — says she was raped by two football players in 2013 and that there were dozens more assaults of
women involving other players.
SF
49ers Honor Colin Kaepernick with Team's Most Prestigious Award. Following a season marred in controversy
surrounding him taking a knee during the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick has been honored by his teammates. The San
Francisco 49ers released the recipients of their team awards Friday [12/30/2016], and Kaepernick won the Len Eshmont Award, the
team's "most prestigious honor" given to the "49er who best exemplifies the inspirational and courageous play of Len Eshmont,
an original member of the 1946 49ers team."
The Editor says...
I guess I don't know what prestigious means.
NFL
to end 'Pink October,' teams can choose own charities in 2017. The NFL informed teams last week in a
league-wide conference call that "Pink October" — a three-week window in October in which the league dressed up
its fields, sidelines, and players in pink to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer — will not continue in 2017.
The Editor says...
The whole notion that the NFL players were universally enthusiastic about fighting breast cancer (and proudly wore pink shoes) was
a sham. The players — and even whole teams — do as they are told. Moreover, the idea that wearing
pink shoes will eliminate cancer is superstition at best.
Some
football positions linked to high blood pressure. It might not be obvious to those who spend Saturdays cheering
on their alma mater on the gridiron, but playing college football is linked to changes that negatively affect the
heart. However, not all players are affected equally — position makes a difference, a new study finds.
In the research, linemen were more likely to develop high blood pressure over the course of a season than players in other
positions were, according to the study, published Dec. 5 in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
Colin Kaepernick
scores $3.21 million NYC home. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — the soon-to-be
free agent who's nabbed headlines for kneeling during the national anthem and defending late Cuban dictator Fidel
Castro — can now call New York City home. In summer purchase records only just unearthed, Kaepernick snagged
himself a 1,733-square-foot condo in Tribeca for $3.21 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.
American
football could fall like the gladiators of ancient Rome. This season, ratings for professional football are down
27 percent across all of the major networks: ESPN, Fox, NBC and CBS, according Forbes. The decline in the
ratings underscores a bigger truth that no one wants to face: Nothing lasts forever. And that includes the
popularity of professional football, which now may be experiencing the slow, inevitable crumble of a Roman-style empire.
Three NBA teams
boycotting Trump hotels. It looks like three NBA teams — and maybe more — want nothing to
do with property branded by Donald Trump. The Bucks, Grizzlies and Mavericks have decided to stop staying at Trump
hotels on road trips to New York City and Chicago in an effort to disassociate themselves from the controversial President-elect,
according to an ESPN.com report. One other Eastern Conference team, which ESPN has kept anonymous, also reportedly will
abandon Trump SoHo hotel in favor of a different hotel in Manhattan when its contract expires at the end of the season.
Harvard
cancels men's soccer season due to sexually explicit 'scouting reports'. Harvard has canceled the remainder of
its men's soccer season due to what the university has described as continued production of sexually explicit "scouting
reports" by players, which graded recruits of the women's soccer team based on their appearance, according to the school's
newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. The practice of creating these reports dates back to a July 2012 email string created
by members of the men's team. The reports rate incoming women's soccer recruits on a numerical scale based on their sex
appeal. The ratings also included photos from the recruits' social media accounts, their positions on the team,
assigned hypothetical sexual positions and vulgar, descriptive paragraphs assigned to each recruit, per a report last
week from The Crimson.
Texas
soccer coach, an undocumented immigrant, accused of abusing 8 players. A soccer coach in Texas was arrested
after he was accused of sexually abused eight of his players — boys between 10 and 15. Police say more players
are likely to come forward. Marcos Ramos, an undocumented immigrant living in Corsicana, Texas, is also is wanted in
his native Guatemala for sexually assaulting children, police said. He faces three counts of aggravated sexual assault
of a child and five counts of indecency with a child.
The NFL is in Decline.
There have been signals that the NFL — and all of football — may soon be in for hard times. The
game is increasingly brutal, and that brutality is not some fixable flaw. Football is violent by nature, and if you
take away the violence, you have soccer without the grace. There is undeniable evidence of brain damage among former
football players, some of whom suffer dementia and a few of whom have committed suicide, the reasons for which are unknowable
but might plausibly include the beatings they took from the game. Improvements in equipment and changes in the rules
might make the game marginally safer, but perhaps not by enough to keep the lawyers outside the ramparts or, more important,
persuade parents that they should let their children play the game.
The Moral Merits of
American Football. [F]ootball as it stands is now threatened by an ever-encroaching worldview that confuses competition for
confrontation. Proponents of this worldview perceive competition and morality as being impossibly incompatible, suggesting that a
society's praise for competition becomes quickly antagonistic to cooperation and impedes the realization of universal equality.
How do these ultra-fragile people expect to survive college — or a career? Herky
the Hawk's grimace too 'aggressive' for fragile students, Iowa professor says. A University of Iowa professor
is asking the athletics department to make the university's mascot, Herky the Hawk, display friendlier facial expressions,
arguing that his angry grimace is traumatizing students. "I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming,
nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages," Resmiye Oral, a clinical professor of pediatrics, wrote Tuesday [8/23/2016]
in an email to athletic department officials, obtained by the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Why
Do Women's Sports Even Exist? My, my, there those feminists go, complaining again. This time the whining
concerns supposedly "sexist" Olympics coverage. Their problem? Many journalists are, we're told, using different
language when talking about female athletes than when speaking of male ones. Oh, the humanity! There's the guy
who credited a female swimmer's husband/coach for her success, the talk about a six-foot-three-inch South Korean woman volley
ball player's difficulty finding a boyfriend, and a reporter who called an equestrian rider "blondie." Putting aside the
female teacher who once called me blondie when I was 13, let's have a reality check. Do you really think sports
commentators don't look for storylines, often infused with frivolity, relating to male athletes? And insofar as the
treatment is different, so what?
OSU
basketball player dies after team workout. Junior college transfer Tyrek Coger died Thursday after collapsing
following an Oklahoma State basketball team workout, the university announced.
And this is why soccer is
just stupid. If soccer were an interesting game, that would be one thing. But it's not. Basically,
this seems to be the sequence with soccer: There's a rhetorical prelude with trash-talking and fans making drive-by
allusions to bumper-sticker versions of political history and social resentments. Fans leave huge messes at local
eateries. A bunch of people gather in a stadium around some "pitch." Referees show up with their armored personnel
carriers and security guards, contracted by Blackwater. A few guys run around on the pitch for a while in shorts.
Nothing much happens. The fans riot and pillage. Videos are posted on social media. It all starts over again.
$50,000
Ticket for NBA Finals Game 7 Breaks StubHub Record. A $50,000 ticket for Sunday's Game 7 of the NBA Finals has
broken StubHub's record for the highest price ever paid to see a basketball game. Actually, that's two tickets: the
customer bought a pair for one hundred grand. And that new record could still be broken: other seats for the historic
game on Father's Day at the Oracle Arena in Oakland are advertised for even higher prices.
The Editor says...
As a public service, I'll save you thousands of dollars by describing everything that will happen in the Big Game: Some young man will bounce the ball a few times while he's jogging
toward one end of the court, then some other big guy will take the ball away from him and go the other way. One of them will throw the ball, another will catch the ball. Before long,
some fellow will throw the ball toward the goal, and it may or may not go through the hoop. This will be repeated hundreds of times. Throw the ball. Catch the ball. Bounce the
ball. When it is all over, you will return to your house and find nothing has improved — especially your bank account. The game will have no lasting impact on your life,
with one exception: You will have been totally distracted and diverted from a number of serious problems that confront this country today and threaten your freedom. You don't care about
"politics." You only care about a contest to see who can throw the ball, catch the ball, and bounce the ball with the greatest success. Grow up.
The Greatest
Anti-White Boxer of All Time. Muhammad Ali, widely regarded as the world's most famous man, died Friday at age
74. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, he was a titan both as a boxer and a provocateur. Because we live in an era much
weaker and more sensitive than it was during Ali's prime, his death is being eulogized with the sort of solemn,
sanctimony-addled, weak-tea, low-T, hagiographic twaddle we've come to expect from neutered zombie bloggers on
antidepressants. Just as mainstream history has Photoshopped all the warts off Nelson Mandela and MLK, Ali
is now strictly framed as an inspirational figure who "spoke out against racism."
Investigators:
Top FIFA officials split $80 million in bonuses. Three top FIFA officials allegedly awarded themselves salary increases and bonuses
totaling nearly $80 million over five years, according to contracts released by FIFA on Friday [6/3/2016]. Former FIFA president Sepp
Blatter, former secretary general Jerome Valcke and former finance director Markus Kattner appear to have paid each other bonuses tied to the World
Cup along with other incentives in the last five years since their departure from world soccer's governing body.
Waco PD Took "Extraordinary
Steps" to Keep Baylor Football Accusations Quiet, School's Apology Rings Hollow. Baylor University released a
report yesterday [5/26/2016] summarizing an investigation conducted by the law firm Pepper Hamilton which found a systemic
cover-up of multiple rape and assault allegations against the private Christian university's football players by administrators
and the coaching staff. The report reveals how the school's culture of protecting its cash-cow football program trumped
all other concerns, including those of the victims of alleged sexual assault. What is not in the report, but which
was exposed by ESPN's Outside the Lines last week, is that the Waco Police took "extraordinary steps" to keep at least
one alleged incident of non-sexual assault by a Baylor football player from public view, "given the potential high-profile nature
of the incident."
Concussions
tied to more school problems than other injuries. High school and college students who get concussions may struggle more
with academics than their peers who get other types of sports injuries, a small U.S. study suggests. Researchers surveyed
70 students who received emergency treatment for concussions and 108 teens and young adults treated for other injuries.
With a concussion, students took an average of 5.4 days to return to school, compared with 2.8 days for other injuries.
Ballparks
keep unleashing insane gut-busting food creations. Concessions have come a long way from flavorless hot dogs
and lackluster soft pretzels, but in the past few years stadiums across the country have been rolling out over the top junk
food mashups that make a footlong seem tame. Since when did peanuts and cracker jacks morph into chocolate-marshmallow
covered bacon and burgers glazed with Monster energy drink?
Taking aim at New York's academic fat cats.
Gov. Cuomo has picked a truly obese target by telling New York's public university systems to get serious about cutting the fat — starting
with bloated executive salaries. Fact is, getting to the high rungs of both SUNY and CUNY looks to be the most lucrative career path in state
government. As the Empire Center for Public Policy notes in its yearly review of taxpayer-funded salaries, 47 of New York's top 50 publicly paid
employees work for SUNY — and the other three for CUNY. That includes SUNY Stony Brook's basketball coach and SUNY Buffalo's football
coach, each paid nearly $450,000 — more than 2½ times what Cuomo makes.
University
of California acknowledges negligence in death of football player. The University of California has acknowledged its negligence was a substantial
factor in the death of former California football player Ted Agu. The 21-year-old defensive lineman from Bakersfield died nearly two years ago after a
strenuous team workout. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that Agu had sickle cell trait and should not have been put through an exercise
where players sprinted up and down a hill while holding a rope together.
James
Naismith Created Basketball to Counter Football's Violence. This Christmas, Concussion will bring to the big
screen the latest saga in football's inherent reckoning with the damage and violence it inflicts upon players. This sort of
condemnation, however, is not new. Over a century ago, opponents of football charged that the sport was too violent to deserve
any reputable sanction in the United States. The Washington Star newspaper featured an article titled "The Game of Manslaughter"
lamenting that the 1897 football season had only just begun and "yet at least three deaths have already occurred as the direct results
of" football.
Two Americas soccer bosses
arrested as FIFA corruption scandal deepens. Soccer bosses from across South and Central America were among 16 people charged
on Thursday [12/3/2015] with multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights, in a dismantling of a Latin American soccer
network by U.S. prosecutors.
Attorney
General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Taking Bets in New York. The New York State attorney general on Tuesday [11/10/2015]
ordered the two biggest daily fantasy sports companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop accepting bets from New York residents, saying their
games constituted illegal gambling under state law. [...] The cease-and-desist order by the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, is a
major blow to a multibillion-dollar industry that introduced sports betting to legions of young sports fans and has formed partnerships with
many of the nation's professional sports teams.
Texas
high school football player dies after collapsing during game. A Texas high school football player died
Saturday evening after he reportedly collapsed during a game on Friday [10/16/2015]. [...] [Cam'ron] Matthews is the sixth
high-school football player to die since early September, according to USA TODAY.
The Editor says...
You can safely bet that if the schools had gun ranges instead of football fields, and six students died in gun classes in a period of
two months, the gun classes would be permanently outlawed. Why are football-related deaths acceptable?
Congress: Hold Hearings on Fantasy
Football. A new form of gambling has suddenly appeared in America, and the outfits raking in the money claim that
what they're doing is perfectly legal. In the last four years, two recently formed companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, have
collected billions from the mostly young men who place bets on their smartphones on what's called fantasy football. Many
people first heard about this when a DraftKings employee won $350,000 for coming in second place in a FanDuel contest that cost
$25 to enter and featured $5 million in cash winnings, including $1 million to the winner. The New York attorney
general is investigating whether the employee benefited from inside information, but the bigger question is the eye-popping jackpot.
Court Strikes Down Payments to
College Athletes. The N.C.A.A. may restrict colleges from compensating athletes beyond the cost of attendance, a three-judge
panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on Wednesday [9/30/2015] in an apparent victory for the college
sports establishment as it fights back efforts to expand athletes' rights. The ruling upheld a federal judge's finding last year
that the N.C.A.A. "is not above antitrust laws" and that its rules have been too restrictive in maintaining amateurism. But the
panel threw out the judge's proposal that the N.C.A.A. set a ceiling for members at paying athletes $5,000 per year in deferred
compensation, stating that capping compensation at the cost of attendance was sufficient.
Texas
high school football players say coach told them to tackle referee. The Texas high school football players who
brutally tackled a referee broke their silence, insisting their assistant coach told them, "You need to hit him." Victor
Rojas and Michael Moreno said the coach, Mack Breed, told them the referee "needs to pay the price" for hurling racial slurs
and making unjustified calls after a safety got injured. "His emotions just got mixed into it," Moreno, 17, said on Good
Morning America Friday [9/18/2015]. "He told us to do what we did."
Louisiana
high school football player dies from injury suffered at game. A Louisiana high school football player has died after
suffering an injury during a game Friday night. [...] Johnny Ogden, an investigator with the parish coroner's office, said the player
collapsed on the field after impact with another player. He was transported to the emergency room at Franklin Medical Center,
where he was pronounced dead. The coroner's office was still investigating the precise cause of death, Ogden said.
Star
HS QB dies after tackle during football game. The star quarterback on a New Jersey high school football team
died after suffering an injury on the field. Evan Murray, 17, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior, played for Warren Hills
Regional High School. During a game Friday night [9/25/2015] at home against Summit he was hit by an opposing player late in
the second quarter, the [New York] Daily News reported.
Priceless
Liberal reactions to allegedly violent black burglar shot by police. We don't know all
the facts. Maybe he fought with the cops and they shot him in self defense. Maybe he didn't fight at
all and they still shot him. What we do know, however, is that he rammed a dealership with his car
and started to deface the cars in the lot. He wasn't shot walking home from the library; he was
shot while committing an act of violence and destruction of property.
Police
Fatally Shoot Unarmed College Football Player. Officers were responding to a burglary
call about 1 a.m. Friday [8/7/2015] in Arlington when they discovered someone had driven a vehicle
through a front window of the Classic Buick GMC, according to a statement from the Arlington Police
Department. The statement said police approached the suspect and a struggle ensued. At
some point during the struggle, an officer shot Taylor.
The Editor says...
Why is the perpetrator identified, every time this story comes up, as a football player? What difference does it make if he plays
football? He certainly wasn't playing football in the closed showroom of a car dealership well after midnight. The clear
implication is that the liberal press considers football players to be on a plane above all others.
Swiss
widen FIFA money-laundering investigation. The Swiss justice authorities have received
new instances of alleged money laundering almost on a daily basis since the attorney general Michael
Lauber announced on June 17 an initial 53 cases to be looked into.
Swiss Chase 53 Fraud Cases Tied to
FIFA. Swiss authorities are investigating 53 potential cases of money laundering related to the FIFA probe, officials announced
Wednesday [6/17/2015]. They're also looking at an additional 105 bank accounts for suspicious activity as the investigation into the
world soccer body expands. "I am well aware of the enormous public interest in our investigation. Equally enormous is the public
interest in an independent criminal procedure," the country's attorney general said.
John
Oliver Toasts FIFA President Sepp Blatter's Demise by Chugging a Bud Light Lime. [Scroll
down] Yes, Oliver was understandably ecstatic. The sport that he loves had finally rid
itself of what he called its "Swizz lizard" of a president. "The timing of Blatter's announcement
was notable for two reasons: First, it was only four days after being reelected president.
That's like being elected pope and immediately announcing, 'Judaism makes some good points... I think
I may have got this wrong,'" joked Oliver. "And secondly, Blatter stepped down just days before
the U.S. release of United Passions — a suspiciously glowing movie history of FIFA."
Amid
Sepp Blatter resignation and FBI probe, some skeptical FIFA can change. Several U.S.
news outlets were reporting Tuesday [6/2/2015] early evening that the FBI is investigating Blatter
for corruption. While many are relishing in the possibility of a post-Blatter era in soccer,
some analysts are less optimistic that any impactful change will happen immediately.
Sepp
Blatter resigns as FIFA president amid bribery scandal. Sepp Blatter is now at the
centre of the FBI's corruption probe after the FIFA president sensationally announced he will be
resigning after 17 years in world football's top job. Federal agents, who last week charged
14 FIFA officials with corruption, have told the American media that they are hoping those men will
help them build a case against their former boss.
FIFA's
Corruption Is Typical of Unelected Globalist Institutions. What does FIFA, the
international soccer federation, have in common with the United Nations, Formula One, and the
International Olympic Committee (IOC)? They're all international organizations and they're all
notoriously corrupt. The corruption at FIFA, including the payment of millions of dollars in
bribes, has now been uncovered by Department of Justice sleuths who indicted a number of senior
officials and forced the resignation of longtime chief Sepp Blatter. Whether this will bring
long-term changes in the way that FIFA is run is questionable, however. Certainly the track
record of the IOC and UN would indicate otherwise.
Blatter's
Top FIFA Deputy Is Said to Have Transferred Money Central to Bribery Case. Federal
authorities believe that Sepp Blatter's top lieutenant at FIFA made $10 million in bank transactions
that are central elements of the bribery scandal engulfing international soccer, United States
officials and others briefed on the case said Monday [6/1/2015]. The revelation puts the
money trail closer to Mr. Blatter, FIFA's president, than had been previously known.
Nike
becomes suspected player in alleged $150 million FIFA bribery scandal. The
international investigation into bribery, fraud and corruption at FIFA involved some surprising
American names: The Miami chairman of a popular nationwide soccer league, and a major U.S.
sportswear firm some believe could be Nike. For more than two decades, the Justice Department
said Wednesday, five "unscrupulous" U.S. and South American sports and banking executives helped
funnel more than $150 million in bribes to officials atop FIFA, the multibillion-dollar goliath
governing the world's most popular sport.
FIFA
Shows How Government Poisons Sports. Rumors of corruption in the world of international sports
are everywhere. Shady advertising deals, fixed matches, and other misconduct amount to open secrets in
the sports world. Sochi's Winter Olympics were well understood to be more a front for graft than a sports
competition. Yet, somehow, last week's arrest of top FIFA officials stands out above the rest, and, if
true, would be one of the most egregious events in the history of corruption in sports.
Players. Any breaking
story involving scandal among the powerful inevitably entails other recognizable names, either as victim,
confederate or kibitzer. Headlines in the last few days have been dominated by the arrest of top ranking
members of FIFA, an acronym for a sports association that stands for the Fédération Internationale
de Football Association. It controls the revenues which flow out of soccer football and has known cash
reserves of $1.4 billion dollars, which — or so investigators allege — represent only
a fraction of the actual moneys that the association deals with. It's president, Swiss German "Sepp"
Blatter, is so powerful that he is described in the press as a de facto head of state, a sort of president
or prime minister.
Corrupt
FIFA Has Clinton Foundation Ties; World Cup Host Qatar Gave Millions. And just like
that, another Clinton Foundation donor is in the news. The Clinton global charity has received
between $50,000 and $100,000 from soccer's governing body and has partnered with the Fédération
Internationale de Football Association on several occasions, according to donor listings on the foundation's
website. Several top FIFA executives were arrested Wednesday [5/27/2015] in Zurich and face corruption
charges stretching back two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
FIFA corruption probe
targets 'World Cup of fraud,' IRS chief says. The next step in the FIFA corruption investigation is extradition,
whereby federal officials will attempt to bring suspects to the United States to face allegations they arranged bribes at
meetings on U.S. soil, employed the U.S. banking system in conveying the bribes and created documents to cloak their activity,
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday [5/27/2015]. "In short, these individuals, through these organizations,
engaged in bribery to decide who would televise games, where the games would be held and who would run the organization overseeing
organized soccer worldwide," she told reporters.
Report:
Christie racked up $82,594 bill at sports stadium. Chris Christie racked up a $82,594
bill at the concessions operator at MetLife Stadium during the 2010 and 2011 football seasons, the
New Jersey Watchdog reported on Monday as part of a broader look at how the New Jersey governor
spent $360,000 of his state allowance over five years. The New Jersey governor spent $300,000 of
that amount on food and alcohol, the report said, and pointed to the stadium bill as the most notable
spending spree.
Chris
Christie Spent $82,000 of State Money on Snacks at NFL Games. New Jersey governor
Chris Christie is a big football fan, but he is also apparently a big fan of snacks at football
stadiums. According to New Jersey Watchdog, Christie reportedly spent over $82,000 of taxpayer money
on concessions at MetLife Stadium. Christie paid for food and drinks at MetLife with a debit card
58 times over the 2010 and 2011 NFL seasons, accruing a bill of $82,594. That means he spent
an average of nearly $1,500 on food and drinks every time he attended a football game.
Report:
Christie spent $300,000 in taxpayer money on food and drinks. New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie (R) has spent about $300,000 of taxpayer money on food and drinks during his five years in
office, according to an analysis released Monday. The report from New Jersey Watchdog found
Christie spent more than $82,000 alone at MetLife Stadium, the home of the New York Giants and New
York Jets, during the 2010 and 2011 football seasons. The New Jersey Republican State Committee
later reimbursed the state for the full amount, and Christie has since stopped using the expense
account at sporting venues.
Deflated:
the Statistically Impossible Patriots Fumble Record. Patriots partisans are deflating
the deflation controversy by arguing that their impermissible deflation of the footballs wasn't what
allowed them to beat an overmatched Colts team. Perhaps. But a new statistical analysis reveals
that if it weren't for deflation of the footballs, the Patriots might not have even been playing a series of
home playoff games as the top seed. Careful analytics reveal that suddenly in 2007, a strange and
statistically impossible phenomena [sic] began to occur at Patriots games.
In
Baltimore, game at Orioles' locked stadium is safe, serene — and sad. It
was, by design, the safest and most serene baseball game in major league history. It was also
quite possibly the saddest. When the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday
[4/29/2015] at a locked Camden Yards in riot-torn Baltimore, the word "empty" described more than the
stands. Against a backdrop of thousands of vacant green chairs, amid such a deep silence that
diving catches sounded like strikeouts, it was an afternoon filled with empty.
NFL Gives Up Tax-Exempt
Status. The National Football League is disavowing its tax-exempt status, which could
help shield the sport from Congressional inquiries and financial disclosure requirements.
Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the decision Tuesday [4/28/2015] in a letter to team owners and
members of Congress, calling the league's tax-exemption a "distraction," Bloomberg reports. The
move involves minimal sacrifice on the part of the NFL, because the tax break is only worth about
$10 million per year — a fraction of the league's roughly $10 billion in annual
revenue.
Orioles
to Play White Sox on Wednesday in Closed Stadium. After a pair of postponements caused
by rioting in Baltimore, the Orioles and Chicago White Sox will play Wednesday at Camden Yards in
what is believed to be the first game without fans in major league baseball's 145-season history.
In
Boston Olympic Bid Vote, More at Stake Than Games. The bad days have seemingly far
outweighed the good since Boston was chosen in January over Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Washington as the American candidate to host the Summer Games in 2024; it would be the first
Summer Games in the United States since Atlanta in 1996.
2016
Rio Olympics: Sailing with sewage. If Rio de Janeiro can't clean up Guanabara Bay in
time for its use as the sailing and windsurfing venue for the 2016 Olympic Games, competitors could
confront some unaccustomed challenges: millions of dead fish, sewage, "floating sofas, plastic bags
and even dead animals" and a deadly "super bacteria." With the games only 17 months away,
athletes are concerned and disappointed.
Watchdog
Calls on NASCAR to End Funding to Al Sharpton. A government watchdog group is calling
on NASCAR to cut ties with the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in response to the cable
news host's comments about police in the wake of the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and
the questionable financial activities at his nonprofit groups.
Sex-trafficking
survivor: The truth about Super Bowl and sex. The Super Bowl [...] draws a massive
audience from every demographic and pumps millions if not billions of dollars into our economy.
And every year, as if on cue, the city hosting the Super Bowl announces an awareness campaign to
combat sex trafficking around what many in the media have referred to as "the biggest weekend for
U.S. prostitution."
Falcons'
Arthur Blank on crowd noise: 'What we've done ... is wrong'. Atlanta Falcons owner
Arthur Blank introduced new head coach Dan Quinn, fresh off the plane from Phoenix, on Tuesday
[2/3/2015]. And after the requisite excited-to-be-here's from Quinn, talk turned to the ongoing
investigation of the Falcons regarding allegations of faked crowd noise at the Georgia Dome.
Blank was unequivocal, saying he was "angry and embarrassed" that the NFL is looking into whether
Atlanta piped in crowd noise to impact play during Falcons home games over the last two seasons.
Fear and Loathing at the Nanny
Bowl. [Fortunately] the on-field action was so compelling, because the ads were so unpalatable.
By my rough count, there were at least two ads featuring people with no legs, one with a missing father, one with
misogynistic anti-male crack from comedienne Sarah Silverman, and one ad bullying a ten year old boy because he
said someone "plays like a girl." (The horror.) And perhaps most infamously based on comments on
Twitter and even the London Daily Mail, one dead ten year old boy, thanks to Nationwide.
Super
Bowl sex 'sting' nabs 570. Some 570 would-be sex buyers were arrested in a national
Super Bowl "sting" that ended on Super Bowl Sunday, an Illinois sheriff said Monday [2/2/2015].
Another 23 people were arrested for trafficking or acting as pimps, and dozens of adults and
juvenile victims were recovered.
Media
overinflate Super Bowl 'heroes'. Let's remember a key fact as we prepare snacks and
grab the remote to watch the Super Bowl. The people playing in the game are important only because
they happen to be good at football. They aren't super heroes. They aren't necessarily good at
anything beyond football. Some are philanthropists who give back to their communities, but even
those efforts are the result of being good at football.
Sex-trafficking
survivor: The truth about Super Bowl and sex. The Super Bowl [...] draws a massive
audience from every demographic and pumps millions if not billions of dollars into our economy.
And every year, as if on cue, the city hosting the Super Bowl announces an awareness campaign to
combat sex trafficking around what many in the media have referred to as "the biggest weekend for
U.S. prostitution."
The
NFL Doesn't Want to Know How Deflate-gate Happened. [W]e are just ten days from the
Super Bowl and there is very strong evidence of cheating. If the league quickly learns who is
responsible, it would have to suspend the cheater(s) from the big game or be mercilessly ridiculed
for turning a blind eye. The NFL obviously does not want to suspend star players or coaches
from its showcase event.
How the NFL
leaves players broken — and broke. "Is There Life After Football?" brings
us inside the lives of NFL players to show why so many wind up in dire straits after their time on
the field, from depression to debilitating lifelong injuries to catastrophic financial
mismanagement. While much-publicized concussions and head injuries account for some of the
problems, they're just one possible hardship of many for those who spend years slamming into each
other at full speed.
Can't a professional football team afford to pay the minimum wage? Tampa
homeless program uses unpaid, destitute residents as steady labor force, revenue source. Before every Tampa Bay Buccaneers
home game, dozens of men gather in the yard at New Beginnings of Tampa, one of the city's largest homeless programs. The men —
many of them recovering alcoholics and drug addicts — are about to work a concessions stand behind Raymond James Stadium's iconic
pirate ship, serving beer and food to football fans.
For
an F.S.U. Football Player, a Hit and Run Becomes Traffic Tickets. In the early morning
hours of Oct. 5, as this college town was celebrating another big football victory by Florida State
University, a starting cornerback on the team drove his car into the path of an oncoming vehicle
driven by a teenager returning home from a job at the Olive Garden. Both cars were totaled. But
rather than remain at the scene as the law requires, the football player, P. J. Williams, left his
wrecked vehicle in the street and fled into the darkness along with his two passengers, including
Ronald Darby, the team's other starting cornerback.
Educational Fraud.
Academic fraud benefits the entire university community except the black students. If universities
can maintain the scholar-athlete charade, they earn tens of millions of dollars in sports revenue.
Other than as a pretense, academics can be ignored. The university just has to create academic
slums, where weak students can "succeed." Stronger academic departments benefit because they do not
have to compromise their standards and bear the burden of having to deal with weak students. Then
there's that feather in the diversity hat upon which university administrators are fixated. I
guarantee you that academic fraud is by no means unique to UNC. As such, it represents gross
dereliction and dishonesty on the parts of university administrators and faculty members.
LA
Lakers 'Showtime' Threatened by Class Action Over Text Messages. On their home court
at the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Lakers are known for giving their fans "showtime" in the form
of exciting basketball. One fan, however, wants to give back to the team in the form of a class
action lawsuit. Why is he suing the Lakers? During a game, the team offered fans the chance to
have their custom text message displayed on the "Jumbotron." Because of the Telephone Consumer
Protection Act of 1991, a law originally designed to stop telemarketers from systematically calling
huge batches of numbers, this fan and others are able to sue the Lakers and the Clippers for getting
any text sent back to them, even though they initiated the first text to participate in the offer.
Former UNC athlete sues school
over academic scandal. A former University of North Carolina football player has
become the first to sue the university over an 18-year academic scandal that kept athletes eligible
to play sports by taking classes that never met. Mike McAdoo was a football player who lost his
eligibility in 2011 when he was accused of getting too much help with a paper, and was one of the
first athletes revealed to have taken part in "paper classes," for which the only requirement was
completing a single paper. Now he's suing the university in federal court, saying UNC broke its
promise to give him an education in return for playing sports.
The Editor asks...
He's just now figuring that out?
Time To
Abandon The Scholar-Athlete Charade. Rampant academic cheating is not confined to
primary and secondary schools. Cheating occurs in the nation's colleges, as discovered during an
investigation at the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina, the state's flagship
university. Over two decades, more than 3,100 students enrolled in and received credit for taking
nonexistent phantom classes in the university's department of African and African-American studies.
Nearly 50 percent of the students taking the phantom classes were athletes on the university's
football and basketball teams.
College
president calls on Univ. of North Carolina to lose accreditation over athlete grading fraud. There is
no question that the University of North Carolina committed fraud for almost 2 decades by giving fake grades to
college athletes taking fake or non-existent course, in order to profit from football and basketball revenues.
While the University is blaming a low level administrator, there is plenty of reason to suspect that senior levels knew
or should have known of the fraud, as Robert Weissberg points out today on our pages.
Massive academic
fraud uncovered at UNC. A scandal involving bogus classes and inflated grades at the
University of North Carolina was bigger than previously reported, encompassing about 1,500 athletes
who got easy A's and B's over a span of nearly two decades, according to an investigation released
Wednesday [10/22/2014].
UNC report finds 18 years
of academic fraud to keep athletes playing. For 18 years, thousands of students at the
prestigious University of North Carolina took fake "paper classes," and advisers funneled athletes
into the program to keep them eligible, according to a scathing independent report released Wednesday
[10/22/2014]. "These counselors saw the paper classes and the artificially high grades they yielded
as key to helping some student-athletes remain eligible," Kenneth Wainstein wrote in his report. He
conducted an eight-month investigation into the scandal, which has plagued the university for nearly five years.
Probe:
Athletes took fake classes at University of North Carolina. More than 3,000 students
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received credit for fake classes over an 18-year
period as part of a program that allowed many of them to remain eligible to play sports, according
to a report released on Wednesday [10/22/2014].
11 colleges ban booing at soccer
games. Fans attending men's college soccer games in New England are expected not to boo if they don't like something
on the field, according to a recent letter sent out by the New England Small College Athletic Conference. "As a supporter,
we ask you not engage in any unsportsmanlike actions, which include booing, taunting, profanity, rude language or gestures, or any
other action that could be potentially construed as negative or confrontational," the NESCAC letter read.
The
NFL Is Full of Ray Rices. The Baltimore Raven was indefinitely suspended but even one
of his teammates suited up after punching a girlfriend in the neck. So much for zero tolerance.
NCAA
takes $70M first steps to helping players with head injuries. The NCAA agreed on
Tuesday to help athletes with head injuries in a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit that
college sports' governing body touted as a major step forward but that critics say doesn't go nearly
far enough. The deal, filed in US District Court in Chicago, calls for the NCAA to toughen
return-to-play rules for players who receive head blows and create a $70 million fund to pay for
thousands of current and former athletes to undergo testing to determine whether they suffered brain
trauma while playing football and other contact sports.
Why
California banned full-contact football practices. A new California law bans full-contact
football practices for middle and high school students due to concerns over possible concussions.
In Los Angeles, a high school now has mandatory baseline testing for concussions for all students.
The Editor says...
If the public schools (or colleges) had extracurricular firearms training that resulted in concussions, broken bones
and paralysis, in addition to a dozen fatalities per year, those programs would be banned in no time.
But if the same injuries and deaths occur while playing football, somehow they are acceptable.
Average
12 high school and college football players die each year. Researchers from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports
Injury Research studied 243 football deaths recorded between July 1990 and June 2010. Their study found heart conditions, heat and
other non-traumatic causes of death are twice as common as injury-related ones.
Claim:
Warriors Coach Fired for Christian Views on Homosexuality. Was Golden State Warriors head coach
Mark Jackson fired for his Christian views on gay marriage? That's what Ann Killion is asking at sfgate.com,
noting that Jackson's lukewarm reaction to the coming-out of Jason Collins, last year was something of a mismatch
for the Bay Area, which is the global capital of gay politics and culture.
NFL to penalize use of racial
slur. The head of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors diversity in the NFL, expects the league to institute a rule where
players would be penalized 15 yards for using the N-word on the field.
A flag and 15 yards for a
slur. Seventy percent of the players in the NFL are black, and by the math, most of the 15-yard penalties assessed
for violation of the dirty-speech rule will be black. Beyond that, say some black players, the use of the n-word is cultural,
and in friendly conversations between black players it isn't always a slur spoken in anger. In the NBA, where nearly all the
players are black, there's even greater skepticism of how such a rule could be applied.
Report:
NFL Considering Penalizing Players 15 Yards for Racial, Anti-Gay Slurs. The NFL may penalize players 15 yards for racial and
homophobic slurs and eject them from the game after a second offense. John Wooten, the head of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, a group that monitors
diversity, told ESPN that he "expects the league to institute a rule where players would be penalized 15 yards for using the N-word on the field."
The Editor says...
What's the penalty for using words like honky and cracker, or the F-word, or the MF-word? Only one spectator in a thousand can hear
what the players say, so who cares what words are exchanged? The fans don't come to a football game to see the players treat one another with
courtesy and civility.
What happened to E pluribus unum? Seahawks
block game ticket sales to California, 43 other states. The good feelings between the 49ers and Seahawks could never last.
Last week, fans from both teams decided to donate money to children's hospitals in Seattle and San Francisco. Now, the Seahawks are
limiting ticket sales to just six states and the Canadian Provinces.
College basketball, football athletes can barely
read. The headline over the dispatch this week says it all: "CNN Analysis: Some college athletes play like adults, read like
fifth-graders." For those familiar with college athletics — especially the sports that bring in the millions — that's
not exactly a news flash. But a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Mary Willingham, came in for particular vitriol after
reporting that of 183 Tar Heel football or basketball players, 60 percent were reading at levels between fourth and eighth grade.
Ashes from
cremated remains left on Auburn's field after Iron Bowl. In Alabama, college football is life and death, and following the Tigers'
incredible 34-28 win over the Crimson Tide on Saturday, one fan scattered the cremated remains of a loved one on the turf at Jordan-Hare
Stadium.
Alabama
fan shot dead outside football party. An Alabama fan was shot dead after a fight outside a football-watching party shortly after the Crimson
Tide lost in a stunning upset to the Auburn Tigers Saturday [11/30/2013]. Michelle Shepherd was attacked by fellow fans of the University of Alabama after she
commented that she didn't care that much that the team had lost, her sister says.
How much of the NFL breast
cancer gear revenue actually goes to research? The NFL has been promoting its breast cancer awareness program through pink equipment and
Web campaigns. Players are wearing pink shoes, cheerleaders don pink outfits and the NFL official merchandise website is full of gear that fans
can buy to support the American Cancer Society's breast cancer research. But how much of the money raised through gear sales actually goes to
breast cancer research? Only $8 out of every $100 spent on merchandise, according to an ESPN reporter.
New
NFL security sacks some fans. Twenty minutes after kickoff for the Bears' final preseason game, swaths of people were still heading through
tunnels south of Soldier Field after unsuccessfully trying to get backpacks, large purses and fanny packs into Thursday night's game. They were
headed to a block of about 600 lockers that could store their prohibited items for $10 cash.
Fran
Tarkenton: NFL covering up biggest sports scandal of all time. "Here is the biggest cover-up of all," Tarkenton warned.
"They talk about safety in the National Football League. How can you have safety in the National Football League when you have
performance-enhancing drugs?" Tarkenton insisted performance enhancing drugs were "all over" college and professional football,
which made the game more dangerous.
NFL Bans Purses From Stadiums. Starting
with preseason games in 2013, women will no longer be allowed to bring purses to NFL games unless they are made of clear plastic or clutch
bags no bigger than the size of a hand. Fanny packs, seat cushions, briefcases, and computer bags will also not be allowed.
Blankets, though, will still be permitted.
Is Football on Its Deathbed? Lawsuits over players' brain injuries
have some saying football is dead. In fact, it has dislodged baseball as the national pastime and will remain America's passion for decades to come.
Bread and Circuses:
The Last Days of the American Empire. Pan et Circenses (Bread and Circuses) famously described the relationship between
the Roman Emperor and his people in the decadent years of the Empire, and they seem fairly applied to America today. We have, in line
with our technological advancement, upgraded (if that is the term) to food stamps (47.5 million and counting) and sports, but the broad
scenario hasn't changed.
The Super Bowl Veers Left. During
Sunday's Super Bowl, the advertising and programming executives in Hollywood and New York graced us with their version of what we want to
see. And if it's any reflection of reality, we're becoming a coarser, stupider, and less value-oriented nation.
The Toy Department. A common claim is, "We watch sports to
take our minds off the real world." How this can be true is beyond me, unless they consider the doings of unions, lawyers, agents, drug-testers
and congressional investigators not parts of real life. Mix in the all-too-often accounts of wife-beating, DUIs, drug busts, and the occasional
murder charge, and you're sometimes unsure of which section of the newspaper you've wandered into.
Bob
Costas, NFL Surrounded by Armed Security. Bob Costas' gun control rant was bad but made worse by one key point —
he lives much of his life with the benefit of armed security. If you've ever been to an NFL game this point is academic. The
number of armed policemen you pass between the gate your seat is incredible. And if you get behind the scenes, in certain corridors,
the armed presence can be just as strong (or stronger). Those policeman and security personnel are there to preserve order and to
protect their assets, be they football players, football coaches, or the celebrities and news anchors in attendance.
Study Reinforces Link Between Head Trauma, Brain Damage.
An extensive Boston University study of head trauma found strong evidence that repeated blows to the head can lead to long-term brain damage.
The study, conducted by the BU Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, looked at the brains of 85 football players, boxers and
military veterans. Sixty-eight of the subjects — or 80 percent — showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Old-school cheating.
Before steroids and HGH and the cream and the clear and other substances of superpower magic, we had old-school baseball: You know,
stealing signs from center field, corking the bat, spitting on the ball, using the catcher's belt buckle to cut the ball, nail files, watering
the dirt around the basepaths if the visiting team had speedy players, rubbing pine tar or other sticky goo on your glove, maybe a little
K-Y jelly on the bill of your cap, pitching from six inches in front of the rubber, using superballs in your bat, taping a thumbtack
to your index finger ...
Why College Football Should Be Banned: In more than
20 years I've spent studying the issue, I have yet to hear a convincing argument that college football has anything do with what is presumably the primary
purpose of higher education: academics. That's because college football has no academic purpose. Which is why it needs to be banned. A
radical solution, yes. But necessary in today's times.
Texas Rangers ready to roll with $26 hot
dog. When fans belly up to stadium concession areas on opening day on April 6, they will be able to purchase a
one-pound hot dog priced at $26.
$26 Hot dog!
Team president Nolan Ryan did not mince words with ESPN Radio in Dallas regarding the Texas Rangers' most recent
acquisition — a two-foot-long, one-pound gourmet hot dog that feeds three or four fans and costs $26.
America's One True Religion:
The hold of sports on the American psyche and imagination is so complete, so absolute, that for some poor souls,
it's their one true religion. And if fans worship certain athletes, those athletes join in their adoration,
exulting, gloating, and prancing in the end zone. ... To cater to our new religion, most major metropolitan
newspapers devote an entire section to sports.
School
Fears "Cougars" Mascot Will Offend Women. A Utah school district decided not to select a cougar as the
mascot of a new high school partly because school officials and some parents believed the word is disrespectful to women.
The Editor says...
One by one, legitimate and harmless words are being hijacked by the amoral dregs of society.
Giants-Cowboys tix
reaching $7,000. You'll need to strike oil to afford a seat at the Giants-Dallas game on Sunday
night. The do-or-die game against the Cowboys is one of the NFL's hottest tickets of 2011, with an average
price that's nearing a record for the season.
How
football took over our culture. Nothing brings us together like the NFL, which last year provided
America with eight of the top highest-rated telecasts and the highest-rated TV program of all time (Super Bowl
XLV). Last week a football program was the week's highest-rated show in 29 different markets — even
in Indianapolis, where yet another loss by the now 0-13 Indianapolis Colts drew 50% of the viewing audience.
Freaks
Who Forbid Footballs. A public school in Toronto has put a ban on most balls their kiddos toss
around during recess because school administrators have deemed such projectiles dangerous. ... In this day of
Puss 'n Boots squish, do we really need more softies who don't have enough sense to avoid getting
hit in the mouth by a slider? Getting rocked up in the face by a fastball could be the best thing that
ever happened to your stupid kid. Pain is God's way of telling your lackluster boy to quit texting and
watch the game.
Rep.
Bobby Rush: NCAA is dirty, 'would make the mob look like choirboys'. Issuing a call for Congress
to involve itself in monitoring college sports, Democratic Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said the NCAA "would make
the mob look like choirboys." "I have this innate understanding of the NCAA, and I think it is one of
the most vicious, most ruthless organizations that was created by mankind," Rush said Tuesday [11/1/2011]
during a roundtable discussion he organized.
Buy Me
Some Peanuts and Crackerjack. Ah, baseball! That hallmark of summer; those men in their
dusty uniforms, the sound of the loudspeakers, the electronic scoreboard. Beer vendors crying out their
presence amidst the sweating crowd of boosters, and the smells of the concession stands where a plethora of
American fare may be purchased and consumed. Hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, nachos, etc. Ballpark
food is party food, treats to be indulged in by reveling fans to celebrate the joys of summer and their
favorite teams. Nobody goes to the ballpark to eat a major meal.
Point to heavens means penalty for Tumwater
running back. Tumwater beat East Valley 63-27 on Monday night at the Tacoma Dome during the 2A state
semifinal game, but a post-touchdown penalty call was a big surprise for the player responsible. In the second
quarter of the game, Tumwater running back Ronnie Hastie scored on a 23-yard run, took a knee in the end zone and
briefly pointed to the heavens above. For that the referee threw a flag, saying it was unsportsmanlike conduct.
Bean-Counters
and Baloney. The bean-counters have struck again — this time in the sports pages.
Two New York Times sport writers have discovered that baseball coaches from minority groups are found
more often coaching at first base than at third base. Moreover, third-base coaches become managers
more often than first-base coaches.
Soccer ball makers in
poverty. Thirteen years ago companies such as adidas and Nike joined labour and development organisations
to end the use of an estimated 7000 children to stitch soccer balls. However, "child labour continues to exist" in
the three main ball-making countries — Pakistan, China and India...
The reality of
international soccer — anti-American bias. International soccer is an artistic
expression painted by referees on a canvas of grass with athletes as brushes. Neither current public
comments of frustration or the reactions of American players sufficiently explains how international referees
create and render the game of international "soccer." The referees do not specify any foul when they
are called. So "offsides" or "tripping" are never named when they are called by a referee. The
referees do not have to provide any clarification apart from where the kick shall proceed from as
it re-enters play.
Osama
bin Laden and jihadists love soccer and the World Cup. We're not the only ones who love the
World Cup. Osama Bin Laden and his fellow jihadists do, too. Several prominent Islamist
organizations have ties to soccer, according to Newsweek. And jihadists use the sport to bond
with potential recruits.
Soccer: The Perfect
Socialist Sport. The world's most popular sport? Puh-leeze. This is like saying that
dirt is more popular than gold simply because there is more of it. Last time I checked, soccer was very
popular where starvation, archery, and badminton were the alternative activities.
A Global Sports
Problem: The 2010 World Cup opens in South Africa in a few weeks. As a sports event, it is
unrivaled in its popularity. It promises to bring a half-million soccer fans to that country. But
it will also draw out the worst of the worst. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the economic
promise of an expected half a million largely male incoming consumers is attracting a massive influx of
prostitutes from across the border in Zimbabwe.
Police: Star
Athlete at Texas School [is] Really 22. A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team
to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday [5/11/2010].
Permian
High's basketball version of 'Blind Side' was a mirage. Jerry Joseph's story was inspiring:
He arrived in West Texas as a 15-year-old, homeless Haitian immigrant. ... Much to Odessa's chagrin, Joseph
turned out to be an impostor and a liar. Investigators confirmed last week that his real name is
Guerdwich Montimer. He is 22 and he already had graduated from a Florida high school in 2007, almost
two years before he arrived in Odessa.
Horsehide Hangover. I
have given up wondering when sports — which used to be a way to encourage young men away from more dissolute
pursuits — has now embraced all that is debased in our modern culture; the objectification of women as sex
toys, vulgar language, egotism, and violence. All of this was on display during "The Hangover" promo and another
one for a flick aptly titled, "Drag Me to Hell;" both of which would have never appeared in prime time a few short years
ago, but now invade our homes on a Saturday afternoon. Sadly, the trash emitted from Hollywood has now found its
way onto the playing field; so much so that I sometimes feel that baseball itself has become some kind of perverted
cross-promotion.
An in-depth look at the "Rooney Rule": The NFL's Affirmative Action Deception.
Imagine an America in which employers faced steep fines for failing to interview a sufficient number of minority
candidates for a vacant management slot prior to making a hiring decision. Even in this day and age, where
diversity rules, that might seem a far-fetched scenario. Yet for the last half-dozen years, this has been
the way the National Football League has operated. And its advocates are seeking ways to expand this
regime to a variety of venues — and with a strong assist from government.
'Bullies'
Team Name Draws Protests. Anti-bullying advocates are beating up on the name chosen for the new
professional basketball team in Syracuse, N.Y. The Syracuse Bullies will play in the American Basketball
Association beginning this fall.
Ballgame keepsake goes electronic.
The paper ticket might be on its way to joining AstroTurf and scheduled doubleheaders in the graveyard of sports
obsolescence. A host of professional teams, including the Washington Nationals, are introducing new systems
allowing fans to enter games using their cell phone, driver's license or similar means, potentially making paper
tickets a thing of the past.
NFL Steroids Dealer Found Dead.
A convicted steroids dealer who recently met with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said
bought steroids from him has been found dead in his home. Just after midnight on Thursday, Plano police
made a welfare check and found 35-year-old David Jacobs and 30-year-old Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell dead.
Both had been shot.
America's Newest 'Victims':
There's a new class of victims in America: former NFL players. [...] There's no doubt that many
former players are physical wrecks. But should we feel sorry for them? After all, many
players reveled in the fact that they could punish their bodies week after week and continue to
play. Noticeably absent from this debate is any discussion about the personal responsibility
these players bear for their post-career conditions.
The TV Deal
the NBA Wishes It Had Not Made. Roughly once a month, the NBA cuts 31 checks to NBA teams as
revenue from its multibillion-dollar national television contract. There are only 30 NBA franchises, so
who gets the extra check? … Ozzie and Dan Silna, co-owners of the long-forgotten ABA team, the Spirits
of St. Louis. It ranks as one of the best sports deals in modern times, one that has paid the
Silnas about $168 million and continues to pay off.
The Gratingest Generation. Does it ever
occur to media chatterboxes that people watch tennis because they want to see tennis, not hear about some
celebrity's latest movie or TV series? If those who lived during World War II were "the greatest
generation," this must be the gratingest generation. It's not just the constant meaningless chatter
that grates. There is the incessant self-dramatization.
Bigotry and Sports:
Although not too many years ago, sports-writing was considered the "toy department" of journalism, the boys and
girls in the press box have been eager to catch up to their counterparts in the "real" world. And so, they
are also no longer content with merely reporting the scores, trades and what have you; they must now generate
the news. And, similar to the mainstream media, they need divisive issues in order to push the agenda of
all J-school graduates: to change the world.
Bills confiscate critical banners from
fans. Motivated by the failure of his Bills, season-ticket holder Mike Allenbaugh
carried a sign of protest to the final home game. But security forces took it away shortly before
kickoff Dec. 17. … "It's just ridiculous," he said this week. "I can go in there
and say, 'Go Bills.' Why can't I say, 'I don't like you as a manager?'"
Judge Calls NFL Coach's Home
"A Drug Emporium". A judge who sentenced Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid's sons to jail on
Thursday [11/1/2007] likened the coach's home to "a drug emporium" and questioned whether his adult sons
should live there. … O'Neill noted that searches of the Reid home found illegal and prescription drugs
throughout the house. He said both boys had been overmedicated throughout much of their lives….
A
Cut Above: Why wait for an injury? The next-generation performance
enhancer is elective surgery.
$3.5 Billion
bid to buy the entire NHL. An investment firm and a sports advisory
company reportedly made a joint proposal to buy all 30 NHL teams for as much as $3.5 billion.
A gesture
from the NFL. Neither the Vikings nor the NFL could have been surprised by
[Randy] Moss' misbehavior. "An assault charge had cost him time in jail and a
Notre Dame scholarship," Newsweek noted in a profile two seasons ago. "A drug
offense sent him back to jail and off the Florida State team."
Annual
Survey of Football Injury Research: Some football fatalities result directly
from participation in the fundamental skills of football; others are caused by systemic
failure as a result of exertion, e.g., asthma, heat stroke, and heart problems.
More and
more banks are placing their names on ball parks and arenas. Banks
are warming up to the idea of paying for the national exposure that only
professional sports teams can offer. And several major league baseball teams that
have seen attendance drop and revenues fall in recent years, have been spreading
out the welcome mat to banks willing to put up some dough.
Non-athletic corporate welfare: CEO Makes the Case Against Corporate
Welfare. With nearly 100 stores in 18 states, Gander Mountain is the nation's third-largest
outdoors retailer. Unlike its two larger competitors, Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's, Gander Mountain has
achieved impressive growth without seeking targeted tax incentives from state or local governments. In
this interview, Gander's chief executive, Mark Baker, tells us why he believes government officials should
oppose retail tax incentives.
Costco's Corporate Welfare:
Tracking published reports on the abuse of eminent domain, one finds Costco is the leading beneficiary of this
kind of corporate welfare, having taken government-confiscated land three times more often then its next rival.
Don't spend millions for billionaires. King
County is building a $36 million sewage treatment and irrigation plant in Redmond, but so far the only
private customer is the Willows Run Golf Course, owned by multi-billionaire Paul Allen and his brother-in-law.
Airport Privatization in the U.S.:
With all of the furor in the recent past over airport security, one fact has gotten lost in the shuffle:
All 10 of the busiest airports in the U.S. are owned and operated by municipalities. Public ownership
and operation of airports is often taken for granted, but that doesn't mean it's best. Public ownership
and operation — which brings a political dimension to hiring and operations — may result
in increased operating costs and other inefficiencies.
Fans Want to Watch Sports, Not Hollywood
Gimmicks. The idea that sports are not enough for sports fans seems to have been behind the fiasco
of putting Dennis Miller's silly chatter on Monday Night Football. Fortunately, the producers of that
program finally got the message that football fans want football. How long will it take producers of
baseball telecasts?
What's
Wrong with Players on Steroids? So athletes use steroids to perform
better. Wall Street traders take Ritalin and everyone uses caffeinated drinks
during work to stay alert. News anchors get face lifts and actors take
Botox so more people watch them. What's different about athletes?
Hey, it wasn't
my fault. Rafael Palmeiro, the Baltimore Orioles star, told Congress that
he had absolutely, positively never used steroids, but then he failed a urine test. So
last week, he repeated his never-ever statement but inserted a new word: He never
intentionally used them. He said: "I am sure you will ask how I tested positively
for a banned substance. As I look back, I don't have a specific answer to give. I
wasn't able to explain how the banned substance entered my body."
Separation
of Sport and State? The Imperial Federal Government is once again sticking their
collective noses in places where they do not belong. The House Committee on Government
Reform is scheduled to hold hearings next week on steroids in baseball. They have "formally
requested" the presence of some of baseball's past and present stars and have threatened to
use their subpoena power for others if they do not cooperate willingly.
Baseball, steroids
and kids. Distributing steroids carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison
and $250,000 for the first felony offense. So, why are there no prosecuted athletes?
The great halftime
threat: Are we really so starved for entertainment that we can't go a few moments without
some no-talent has-been fresh out of rehab banging out an alleged song that you've already heard too many
times through your car window at the nearest intersection? ... Halftime has morphed into a monster that
overshadows the game.
Super Bowl Host Is the Poorest Big
City in the US. Before the Super Bowl kickoff this weekend, private planes will land here,
limousines will clog the streets, and lavish parties will be thrown for those with famous names or lots
of money. The kitchens of Ford Field will be stocked with two tons of lobster. Much of the
rest of Detroit, though, is a landscape dotted with burned-out buildings, where liquor stores abound but
supermarkets are hard to come by, and where drugs, violence and unemployment are everyday realities.
[In other words, hosting the Super Bowl does not provide an automatic boost to the
local economy. Only a handful of people benefit from it. The same is true
when a new stadium is built.]
$400 for a Day at the Ballpark?
"Only the Yankees would think a $1,200 ticket is affordable and a $2,500 ticket isn't." That was the
reaction of New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat and vocal opponent of the team's new stadium,
upon learning that the Yankees were cutting the price of premium seats in hopes of filling empty rows near the
field.
This isn't a stadium, but it's not too far off-topic: Sen.
Durbin Wants Illinois Taxpayers to Help Fund Obama's Presidential Library. Sen. Dick Durbin (D- Ill.) is
urging the State of Illinois to put in seed money for the creation of a Obama Presidential library in Chicago.
"It's going to have a long-term positive economic impact and this is where it ought to be," Durbin told reporters last
week. "I believe an investment in this library by the State of Illinois will pay back in terms of visitors to our
state, more business, more jobs and people paying taxes." Durbin did not go as far a endorsing a bill in the Illinois
legislature that calls for up to $100 million in state seed money to create the Obama Presidential library.
Site
identified for New York's Obama library bid. Columbia University in New York City
will make a bid to build the Obama presidential library on its Manhattanville campus in West
Harlem, where the structure would be a cornerstone of the university's $6.3 billion expansion into
the economically depressed neighborhood, a university source confirmed. The source said that the
university planned to vigorously pursue the library as part the campus expansion at 130th Street
and Broadway. President Barack Obama earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia in 1983.
The Editor goes way off-topic:
How does the writer of this article know that Obama graduated from Columbia? Where are Obama's transcripts?
Somewhat related:
Black
activists shout 'Shame on you!', at Chicago aldermen supporting Obama Presidential Center. Now that the huge monument to
Barack Obama won't be a presidential library and is purely a private endeavor, the gift of precious park land belonging to the people
of Chicago to a private group is questionable. And federal permits are necessary for certain aspects of the planned center.
This isn't going to be simple or easy. Plenty of people, black and of other races, are not thrilled with the impact the monument
will have on their neighborhood, their parks, and their lives.
America's bread and circus society. With many, sports are not just a
hobby; they are a religion. I cannot count the number of conversations between men that I overhear in restaurants, airplanes, boardrooms,
and, yes, even church houses, in which every man in the circle is literally consumed with all sorts of sports facts, information, and opinions.
In many such discussions, these men will talk about nothing else. To these men, there is absolutely nothing in the world more important than
the latest sports score, announcement, or trade.
Football Is the New Smoking. This morning, fat
kids across America ran wind sprints until they vomited, drove sleds like beasts until muscle collapse, and alternated between jogging in place
and hitting the deck so frequently that it jarred even the insides of onlookers. And they do it all again this afternoon. This
isn't a federal anti-obesity initiative. It's football.
Surprise! Arts Center Predictions
Flawed. The Washington Post reports that the financial projections for a government-funded arts center,
Artisphere, in Arlington, Virginia, don't seem to have panned out. Do they ever? ... And yet millionaire
owners and mayors with Edifice Complexes keep commissioning these studies, and council members and editorial
boards keep falling for them.
City-owned Hilton Baltimore lost $11.5 million last year.
The city-owned Hilton Baltimore lost nearly $11.5 million in 2011 — about $400,000 more than it lost the previous year, according to a recently
released audit. In addition to losing money last year, the hotel dipped into its reserves in February to make payments on its debt service. The
Baltimore Hotel Corp., created in 2005 to oversee the hotel's operations, withdrew nearly $4 million from its $12.4 million of debt-service reserve
accounts to make a semi-annual bond payment in March.
Wichita
Voters Overwhelmingly Reject 'Incentive' for Hotel Developer. Voters in Wichita, Kansas have trounced a
proposed $2.25 million tax rebate for a hotel development that had the support of the Wichita City Council and the
Wichita Downtown Development Corporation. Despite the urgings of city leaders, the tax rebate proposal lost by 61-38 percent
in the Feb. 28 special election. Opposition came from groups including Americans for Prosperity and the newly
formed citizen-activist organization Wichitans for Tax Fairness.
The NCAA's battle against politically incorrect mascot names:
Apparently even the most oblique reference to Indians is perceived as hostile and abusive by the NCAA.
Someday soon, even the word "Indian" will probably be taboo.
The latest: The NCAA Political Correctness Witch Hunt.
Now in its seventh year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's battle with the University of North Dakota may be reaching a final
conclusion. In 2005, the NCAA announced a complete ban on hosting post-season competition by 18 colleges that were using Native
American mascots, logos, or nicknames. The ban was to become effective in February 2006. The college sports governing body
backed off its strident demand regarding some schools after learning that Native American groups endorsed use of their tribal names by
their adoptive schools.
Voters In N.D. Reject Fighting Sioux
Mascot. In yet another victory for the forces of politically correct insanity, voters in North Dakota voted to dump the mascot of the
University of North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux are no more. According to the Bismarck Tribune, more than 67 percent of voters
approved of Measure 4, a ballot initiative that ended the long struggle between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its supporters,
on the one hand, and those who love and revere the formidable-looking Indian logo the school has used for many moons. Backers of the logo vow to
keep fighting.
Oregon considers
banning Native American mascots. Oregon's Board of Education on Thursday [3/8/2012] took up [Che] Butler's
plea for the second time, rejoining a longstanding national debate about racial tolerance and school traditions five
years after issuing a nonbinding recommendation that schools stop using Native American regalia.
Tribe
sues NCAA to let school use name. The Spirit Lake tribe Tuesday sued the NCAA for blocking its
attempt to let the University of North Dakota use the sports nickname Fighting Sioux.
North
Dakota to give up attempts to keep Fighting Sioux logo. The end may finally be near for the
University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and logo. After a six-year battle, the state appears
ready to declare defeat and retire the nickname, which was deemed unacceptable by the NCAA in 2005. The
Fighting Sioux has been associated with the university's athletic teams since 1930. State Sen. Lonnie
Laffen, a Republican who voted earlier this year to codify the nickname into law, recently told the Grand Forks
Herald that he will sponsor legislation to shift authority over the issue to the State Board of Higher Education.
ND House votes to keep UND Fighting Sioux nickname,
logo. The North Dakota House has voted to keep the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux
nickname and logo. On a 65-28 vote, the House approved House Bill 1263, which states University of
North Dakota athletic teams shall be known as the Fighting Sioux. Neither UND nor the state Board of
Higher Education may take action to discontinue the use of the nickname or logo.
Fighting
Sioux on warpath over nickname. When North Dakota's state board of higher education voted to
phase out the "Fighting Sioux" last year, that seemed to signal the end of the lengthy battle over the
University of North Dakota's nickname and logo. Except that it didn't. Two Fighting Sioux
supporters have since launched Save Our Suhaki, a tongue-in-cheek campaign ostensibly aimed at preserving the
suhaki, a Russian antelope whose name is pronounced exactly like "Sioux hockey."
Wisconsin law lets
residents challenge race-based mascots. The homecoming pep rally Friday at Kewaunee High School
will have extra drama this year: Everyone in town will learn whether they'll be rooting for the River
Bandits or the Storm to beat the Valders Vikings in the big football game.
North
Dakota decisions end Fighting Sioux nickname. A state Supreme Court ruling and a Board of
Higher Education decision have retired for good the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname
after a four-year legal battle.
End
near for Fighting Sioux mascot? The end of the Fighting Sioux could be near as the University
of North Dakota appears ready to abandon its mascot over calls of racism despite a petition drive by local
tribe members to preserve the school's nickname and logo. Supporters from the Standing Rock Sioux want
to collect at least 600 signatures before the next tribal council meeting in March.
Chancellor Supports Retiring 'Fighting Sioux'
Logo That Threatens Hockey Arena. Bill Goetz, North Dakota's university system chancellor, said
Thursday [11/15/2007] at a Board of Higher Education meeting he will support retiring University of North
Dakota's "Fighting Sioux" logo and nickname in less than three years if the school and Sioux tribes cannot
agree to keep it.
NCAA
wants sealed court documents. The NCAA will ask a Grand Forks Circuit Court judge on Wednesday
[3/7/2007] to shield documents from public view in its court case against UND over the Fighting Sioux
nickname. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said most of the documents the NCAA wants
concealed from the public have to do with discussions among the association's Executive Committee while
drafting its 2006 policy on American Indian nicknames and imagery.
Wisconsin may fine
schools $1,000 a day for Indian mascots. Democratic lawmakers are proposing a bill that would require
the state to investigate complaints about American Indian mascots in Wisconsin schools. If the complaints are
justified, the state Department of Public Instruction would have to order the school to drop the mascot or logo within
a year or face fines of up to $1,000 a day.
Illinois'
Chief Illiniwek performs last dance. After 20 years of pressure from activists who found
the University of Illinois mascot offensive, the school did away with Illiniwek and his antics. Dan
Maloney, a graduate student who portrays the controversial American Indian mascot, performed for the final
time in front of students and fans at a men's basketball game Wednesday night [2/21/2007].
Our First
Thoughts on the Chief Debacle. It's bad enough that Chief Illiniwek has danced his last
dance. That fact visibly slammed sorrow into the hearts of thousands of faithful Illini on Wednesday
night as men, women, and children hung their heads and even shed their tears. If the fight to retire
the Chief by so-called "oppressed" minorities and hypersensitive leftists is about retribution and vengeance,
then they got what they wanted. But the story unfolding in the aftermath of the Chief's departure is
larger than our beloved tradition.
North Dakota to sue NCAA over mascot
ruling. The University of North Dakota plans to sue the NCAA to avoid penalties for using
the school's Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo, which the association considers demeaning to
American Indians.
W&M
will drop the feathers from its athetics logo. William and Mary will drop the feathers from its
athetics logo to comply with the NCAA's request, the school announced Tuesday [10/10/2006]. The phase-out
process will begin during the 2007-08 school year. The NCAA in 2004 identified W&M, whose nickname is
the "Tribe," as a school with a logo or nickname that could be viewed as "hostile and abusive" in relation to
Native Americans.
High
schools defend use of tribal-themed mascots. Educators from small-town Oregon came to the
capital Tuesday [10/23/2007] to argue that their high schools should remain the Indians, Warriors and
Braves as a respectful way to honor Native American culture and history. Fourteen superintendents and
principals from Amity to Warrenton spoke forcefully at a state Department of Education meeting against a
proposal to ban their Native American mascots.
Name blame by the NCAA is just so
lame. The NCAA hates — and has vowed to crush — any school with a sports
nickname that doesn't measure up to politically correct standards. … The NCAA considers
Fighting Illini, Fighting Sioux and Indians hostile and abusive. Worse yet, those names
are "inconsistent with the NCAA commitment to diversity, respect and sportsmanship," the
organization said in a news release.
NCAA says Newberry agrees to drop
Indians nickname. Newberry College has agreed to drop its "Indians" nickname and has been taken
off the list of schools facing postseason bans because of hostile or abusive logos and mascots. The
school was taken off the list Friday [11/10/2006] after it told the governing body about the planned change,
NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Sunday.
Those fighting Sioux nickname lose sight of most
Indian views. Never mind that a well-known Indian artist designed the UND logo of a proud Sioux
warrior. Never mind that this image resembles the stately Indian on U.S. "buffalo" nickels, and on North
Dakota's highway patrol cars and highway signs. Never mind that sports teams choose names that symbolize
what they honor — courage on the battlefield — not what they mock or despise. The
forces of political correctness have embraced this latest victim-creating issue and won't
let it go.
Nickname debate gains steam before NCAA
appeal. The nickname debate is heating up at the University of North Dakota, just days before
the NCAA plans to hear an appeal of the school's Fighting Sioux logo. The NCAA has listed UND among
schools with nicknames or mascots deemed "hostile or abusive," barring those colleges from holding postseason
games unless they get rid of the Indian imagery. Some schools, including Florida State, have won appeals.
NCAA Declines
Three Appeals on Indian Mascots. The NCAA's executive committee on Friday [4/28/2006] rejected
appeals by Illinois, North Dakota and Indiana University of Pennsylvania to continue using Indian nicknames,
mascots and imagery deemed "hostile" and "abusive" at NCAA championship events. The committee also
placed Bradley on a watch list for five years, the first school in the nation to earn that
distinction. Friday's actions leave seven of the original 18 schools on the offenders list.
Bradley
loses its mascot appeal to NCAA. The NCAA on Thursday [10/20/2005] denied Bradley University's
appeal of its inclusion on a list of schools with banned Native American mascots, saying the nickname Braves
"leads to a hostile or abusive environment." It was the first decision on an appeal from a school
without a namesake tribe from which it could cite support.
Editor's comments:
If the term "Braves" really is abusive and so universally offensive, why didn't the NCAA take action
twenty or thirty years ago? The answer is
simple: Political Correctness is
their motivation. The NCAA isn't acting out of generosity toward the Indian
tribes; on the contrary, it is responding to the threat of civil litigation from America's
over-abundance of lawyers.
The PC NCAA: Now
that the NCAA has banned the use of Native American nicknames and mascots during tournament competition,
it's time to make sure all other offensive nicknames and mascots are likewise eliminated.
Chief among the
silliness. Censorship — e.g., campus speech codes — often are academic
liberalism's preferred instrument of social improvement, and now the NCAA's censors say: The [University of Illinois] Chief
must go, as must the university's logo of a Native American in feathered headdress. Otherwise the
NCAA will not allow the university to host any postseason tournaments or events.
NCAA rejects Illinois' appeal of
mascot ban. Illinois lost its appeal of the ban on the university mascot
Friday [11/11/2005] and will remain on a list of schools prohibited from hosting NCAA
postseason events after February. The NCAA will allow Illinois to keep its "Illini"
and "Fighting Illini" nicknames. The university contended those nicknames derived
from the name of the state.
NCAA denies UND's appeal over
Fighting Sioux nickname, logo. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has denied
an appeal by the University of North Dakota asking that it be removed from a list of schools subject
to restrictions because they have American Indian nicknames, mascots or images.
Playing politics and
Indians. The National Collegiate Athletic Association passed a new rule saying
college teams with Indian names and mascots cannot participate in NCAA championship events. "We
believe hostile or abusive nicknames are troubling to us and it can't continue," said Walter Harrison,
the NCAA committee chairman. "We're trying to send a message, very strongly, saying that these
mascots are not appropriate for NCAA championships." Hmmm? Teams can still have Indian
mascots, but only if they're not going to be champions. That's the silent bigotry
of low expectations!
Attack of the
Nannies. Polls keep showing that American Indians aren't really offended
by college team nicknames such as warriors, braves, Indians, Seminoles, and Fighting
Illini. But many sportswriters, campus "diversity" officials, and now the National
Collegiate Athletic Association think they ought to be. So the NCAA says it will ban
from championship play all college teams with "hostile or abusive" nicknames and
mascots. It apparently took this action without consulting tribal leaders.
The NCAA's nickname
ban: I cannot conceive of a college with an Indian nickname that has hostile
intent. Most colleges using these nicknames and logos do so in admiration of the
indigenes' spirit. What seems at play is the left-wing campus orthodoxy searching
for some offense against a designated victim group or subculture.
Don't
Offend Indians. Offend The Evil White Man! The NCAA is now attempting to tell
member colleges that use of mascots and symbols they deem "offensive" to American Indians are to
be banned from post season play. That means teams like the Florida State Seminoles, and other
mainstays of post season college football bowl games would be denied the chance to
compete if they refused to cover up or change their logos and names.
College team names are
harmless compared to the NCAA. Athletics and sports in America are
fueling destructive obsessions. The inordinate wealth and celebrity garnered
by professional athletes is converting many youth sports leagues into training mills
that initiate career tracks for aspiring child athletes. Such hopes have helped
to birth an industry of training gadgets, sports schools, and instructional books and
video tapes. The desire for athletes to cash in on their talents has driven demand
for chemicals that supposedly enhance strength and agility.
American
Indian Mascot Under Fire in North Carolina. The University of
North Carolina-Pembroke is fighting a request from the National Collegiate
Athletic Association to dump its "Braves" nickname and logo.
Students
put twist on mascots: Indian students in Colorado have
turned the tables in a debate on racism by naming their intramural
basketball team "The Fighting Whities."
And it's not just the NCAA ... Tribe
joins battle over Fighting Sioux logo. The most prominent defenders of the University of North
Dakota's right to call its teams the Fighting Sioux are neither alumni nor hockey fans. They're Sioux.
A group of Spirit Lake Sioux won a temporary restraining order last week to stop the North Dakota University
System from retiring the nickname and logo, one of the last in the country associated with an American
Indian tribe.
Franklin
Lakes considering a change to logo, but Ramapoughs say not so fast. The Washington
Redskins have stuck with their name and logo for years, despite ardent and escalating protests by
Native American organizations and their supporters. Even the U.S. Patent Office weighed in this
year, calling the logo "disparaging." Now, Franklin Lakes is thinking about changing its own
longstanding depiction of a Native American on its letterhead, business cards, vehicles and website.
But this time, it's the Ram — a — pough Lenape Nation — the
closest tribe to the borough — that is objecting.
Native
Americans, others protest Indians' logo. As excited baseball fans, many of them wearing Cleveland's
smiling Chief Wahoo logo, headed into Progressive Field for Friday's home opener, a smaller group stood by unable
to share their enthusiasm.
Christian
college drops 'Crusaders' nickname from its sports teams so it doesn't offend 'global society'. A Wisconsin Christian university is
dropping the word 'Crusaders' from its sports teams, saying the word doesn't fit with a 'more global society.' The Maranatha Baptist
University in Watertown and its sports teams have used the name since the college's founding in 1968. The decision coincides with a
recent name change, from Maranatha Baptist Bible College to Maranatha Baptist University.
In Wisconsin, Big Chief Walker signs
new Indian mascot bill. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed an Indian mascot bill on Thursday that will make it harder for politically
correct meddlers to force public schools around the state to change their mascots, logos and team names.
Scott
Walker Signs Bill Making it Harder to Change Native American Mascots. As pressure mounts from activists nationwide on schools
that use Native American mascots for their sports teams, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation last week that would make it harder
for Wisconsin public schools to change their name.
Chief Wahoo Gets Cut from Memorial Day Cleveland Indians
Cap. Major League Baseball pulled the plug on a Cleveland Indians cap that caused some controversy
last year. MLB started producing a line of "Stars and Stripes" baseball caps but many thought that Chief
Wahoo adorning Old Glories red, white, and blue was out of bounds.
Braves strike out in
Richmond. The United Methodist Church has rejected Richmond for its 2012 international
conference because the city's minor league baseball team is named the Braves. "Many Native
Americans, if you ask them what they think about team mascots, will tell you that they find [them] to
be demeaning," said Stephen Drachler, a spokesman for the United Methodist Church. Apparently,
nobody asked Virginia's Monacan Nation, located near Lynchburg about 130 miles west of
Richmond. Kenneth Branham, Monacan chief, yesterday said, "The mascot thing has been
blown out of proportion."
Complaints and tradition mark
high school mascot struggle. While efforts to remove American Indian themed mascots from college
campuses continue to command a high profile, quieter struggles are ongoing in high schools, where the response
is just as mixed. Some schools, citing tradition, are resisting and insist their use is a sign of
respect even if Indian advocates disagree.
NCAA won't expand
Confederate flag ban. Wofford athletic director Richard Johnson wasn't sure what to think
last summer when the NCAA agreed to hear a request to expand its ban on South Carolina because of the
Confederate flag. … Enhancing the ban to include championships awarded on merit — like football
playoffs and baseball regionals — would've seriously hurt Wofford's chances of advancing in
future tournaments.
Formerly
Pork Chop, the mascot's new name is Ferrous. A handful of complaints from [Guillermo] Lopez and others, as well
as a steamed online community, prompted team officials to change the name of the mascot for the Triple A affiliate of
the Philadelphia Phillies to Ferrous. Team officials announced the switch midday Monday [12/3/2007].
Context of mascot's
name made it inoffensive. Five-year-old Kylie Shimkus of Easton thought it up, entered a contest and won. The
Lehigh Valley IronPigs had a name for their mascot, and it seemed like a darn good one: PorkChop. The name became official
Sunday. Monday, it was gone. Members of the area's Puerto Rican community protested the name as a common racial slur.
The IronPigs quickly changed it to Ferrous, a name which emphasizes the iron, not the pig. Was this necessary?
The effect is spreading to other fields as well: 'Squaw' still Utah moniker.
In 2008 alone, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names has renamed 22 geographic features to eliminate the word
"squaw" from locations throughout Arizona, Maine, Montana, South Dakota and Washington. The board's
actions effectively approve revision of federal maps and documents to reflect the areas' new names. The
term squaw is considered highly offensive by many American Indians.
PETA Asks PBAU To Change Mascot Name.
The animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is asking Palm Beach Atlantic
University to change the name of its athletic mascot. In a letter sent Wednesday [1/14/2009] to PBAU
President Dr. David Clark, PETA urged the school to change its mascot from the Sailfish to Sea Kitten "to
reflect the gentle nature of its current marine namesake."
Board advocates dumping UND nickname, logo.
North Dakota's Board of Higher Education has agreed to drop the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux
nickname and Indian head logo, a move intended to resolve a decades-long campus dispute about whether the name
demeans American Indians.
Does Public Investment in Municipal
Sports Stadiums Pay Off? Critics of public investment in new stadiums also note that the
multiplier effects of new stadiums is likely to be small since most new stadiums contain larger parking,
restaurant, souvenir, and other concession facilities. This reduces the amount of spillover benefits in
the neighboring community. Most economic studies have found that the local economy receives at best
only limited economic benefits from the construction of such stadiums.
