No, I have not abandoned my idea of posting a Part 2 of "The Three Kinds Of Communists (Or, A Democrat Is A Socialist Is A Communist"). This is just a brief interlude -- a calm before the storm.
While this National Football League (NFL) protesting subject is hot, I figured I might as well strike, too.
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It was 1972 when I fell in love with football. We were at my Uncle's house to celebrate a holiday (Thanksgiving or possibly Christmas), and I overheard my Pa and his Brother discussing some football team that no one could beat. That, of course, appealed to my 12-year-old male mind. And that started my love affair with the MIAMI DOLPHINS. (The '72 Dolphins are still the only professional football team to ever complete an undefeated season).
Before long, I was eating, drinking, and dreaming Dolphin football, and writing my favorite player's number on almost everything I owned. #39: Larry Csonka. Csonka and fellow running back Jim Kiick were nicknamed "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid", and Csonka ran just like his name sounded [link]: ZONK!
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As far as I know, Larry Csonka is the only athlete to ever appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine flipping "the bird" to the camera. Yep. Not kidding. Momentarily scroll back up to that photo at the top of this blog bit and take a closer look at Csonka's right hand. Yes, he did it deliberately, and Sports Illustrated didn't catch it until after that issue had been released to the public. Ha!
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I loved fullback Larry Csonka because he ran the football like a real man -- it was like seeing Rooster Cogburn or Pike Bishop in a football uniform.
Here's my all-time favorite quote about my boyhood football idol:
"Throughout his career, Csonka played fullback like a horse ploughs a field: doggedly, with a high pain threshold and with great determination."
If you need proof, here it is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvRQ0QKUMk
The first pro football game I ever attended was a preseason game that my Pa took me to. It was at the Los Angeles Coliseum ('73, I think - or perhaps '74). I got to see "The Zonk" run in person, and it was a memorable bonding event with my Pa (even though the L.A. Lambs actually won that preseason game.)
My interest in sports (primarily Baseball and Football) waned years ago due to the rampant use of steroids and human growth hormones totally skewing everything about natural athletic competition. For many years now, I've only watched the really big sporting events, and very often, not even those. (I'd rather read some great nonfiction while drinking a cold Mojito than watch ESPN.)
But now, I am 100% done watching football forever -- including the Super Bowls. I'm sure you're not living under a rock and have heard about the "National Anthem Protests" that started last year (in 'Crisco, California) and have since become headline news. Professional football is now hemorrhaging and in the process of dying because the SJW players and the idiotic Commissioner and owners underestimated the patriotic fervor of the average American football fan.
Tom Brady, you can stick a fork in your already deflated football. The end is near!
As is almost always the case, the brilliant thinker and writer Selwyn Duke has accurately analyzed this NFL public relations disaster and explained it succinctly in the following, brief articles.
In this first article, Selwyn Duke wrote:
"The football players are protesting at work, on their employers’ dime and time, something no one has a right to do (lamentably, NFL owners are now enabling this unpatriotic behavior)."
This is a point that so many people who are shouting out that the football players have First Amendment rights to do what they're doing are completely missing.
When you are "on the job" and representing the company that has employed you, you are required to follow their code of conduct or risk being fired.
As a personal example, the sort of work that I do requires me to wear a uniform which includes the company's logo in various places. I absolutely abhor abortion and it is my First Amendment right to express my thoughts and feelings about abortion on my own time. But if I want to wear a pin on my uniform shirt that states "Planned Parenthood Murders Babies", my company has a right to fire me if their rules stipulate that personal political stances are not permitted to be expressed on their company uniform.
Here's the great Selwyn Duke:
WHILE NFL KNEELS, COP INVESTIGATED FOR CALLING BLM "TERRORISTS"
In this second article, Selwyn Duke quotes the NFL's own printed rules which specifically deny the players the right to do what they've been doing (i.e., kneeling, locking arms, or refusing to appear on the field during the playing of The National Anthem).
In fact, Dr. Eowyn of the blog Fellowship Of The Minds has also made this same point HERE:
Here are the NFL’s rules governing the National Anthem, found on pages A62-63 of the NFL Game Operations Manual (Time):
The NFL Commissioner and NFL team owners have been permitting the players to break the League's own rules. Therefore, the Commissioner and the owners are also to blame for this incredibly widespread public backlash. (Many fans are burning jerseys, team banners, and season tickets and vowing never to watch NFL games again.)“The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL 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. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
This whole National Anthem protest began over the accusation that Blacks were being specifically targeted and shot by cops. In this next article, Selwyn Duke addresses that subject as well, with inconvenient facts and statistics:
NFL NOT PROTESTING TRUMP, THEY'RE PROTESTING AMERICA
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In an American Thinker article by William Sullivan, he observed...
The ... "free speech" argument touted by defenders of the NFL and the protesters fails on another front, beyond the immediate substance of the First Amendment. That is, the NFL is quite comfortable censoring free speech, though it's unmistakable that the speech they choose to prohibit runs afoul of a leftist ideological impulse. In 2016, the NFL threatened to fine teams who decorated their cleats with a "Never Forget" logo commemorating the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. They prohibited the Cowboys from wearing helmet decals honoring the five police officers killed by a Black Lives Matter advocate.
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In a different American Thinker website article, I felt the following commenter made an excellent point:
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