WASHINGTON: Athletes gain money when they gain attention. Which was proven by the 2017-2018 football season antics of Colin Kaepernick? Not unlike like our Congressmen whose political value increases with grandstanding. So they think, at least.
Today’s Cohen testimony once again proves that when Democrats open their mouths, their value decreases. That aside.
Athletes, many of whom have academic pedigrees from high school that suggests borderline literacy, take a knee, make a speech, join a protest for something or against something. Who the hell knows why these muscle-bound morons do what they do.
Related Read: The rage against Southern conservatives: will rewriting history kill the GOP?
However, the reality is that they do it to get attention. The proverbial 15-minutes of fame. And with attention, will also come money.
To wit, Colin Kapernick’s social justice crusade is over now that he has the NFL’s payoff. (What’s next for Colin Kaepernick now that his collusion case against the NFL is settled?)
However, the attention seldom analyzes what such idiots are protesting.
For example, it would be a surprise to learn that any of these athletes could affirm the first thing about Fort McHenry and its history, from which our anthem was born. And that they are protesting.
Here’s a timeline of how the national anthem became a sports tradition in the first place (The history of singing the national anthem before NFL games):
- 1814: Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, while watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
- 1889: Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy called for the song to be played whenever the American flag was raised.
- 1916: President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order declaring the “Star Spangled Banner” the American national anthem.
- 1918: The song was played spontaneously during the seventh-inning stretch of game one of the World Series between the Cubs and Red Sox, while the country had been in World War I for a year and half. After this, the song was often played on holidays or special occasions in many baseball parks.
- 1931: Congress passed an act officially confirming the “Star Spangled Banner” as the national anthem, and President Hebert Hoover signed it into law.
- 1941-42: Playing the national anthem before the start of regular season baseball games became the standard. And with the U.S. in World War II now, the National Football League also included the playing of the anthem before games.
- 1945: NFL commissioner Elmer Layden said, “The playing of the national anthem should be as much a part of every game as the kickoff. We must not drop it simply because the war is over. We should never forget what it stands for.”
- 2009: NFL players began standing on the field for the national anthem before the start of primetime games. Before this, players would stay in their locker rooms except during the Super Bowl and after 9/11.
- 2015: Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake released a report revealing that the Department of Defense had spent $6.8 million between 2012 and 2015 on what the senators called “paid patriotism” events before professional sports games, including American flag displays, honoring of military members, reenlistment ceremonies, etc. The DoD justified the money paid to 50 professional sports teams by calling it part of their recruiting strategy.However, many teams had these ceremonies without compensation from the military, and there was nothing found in the contracts that mandated that players stand during the anthem.
Will these demonstrations continue due to Colin Kaepernick’s financial gain?
The former QB’s nonstop whining and misadventures in professional football have made him rich. Maybe he can now afford a haircut. If he can do it, they can do it. ( NFL Paid Kaepernick $60 to $80 Million in Collusion Settlement)
The Ole Miss basketball team decides on a copycat protest when T=two pro-Confederate groups held a rally in the middle of campus in support of confederate symbols. Counter protests were held on the campus, including eight University Of Mississippi basketball players taking the knee during the national anthem ahead of the home game.
They want to kneel like so many groundhogs who have seen their shadow and must hide from an extended winter. From this, they gain attention. Fame follows attention. Fortune follows fame.
Related Read: Colin Kaepernick: The dilemma of deciding between dollar or duty
They previously had not wanted the band to play Dixie. Now they don’t want the band to play the Star-Spangled Banner. What would they like? Maybe Tara’s Theme?
Meanwhile, coach Kermit Davis, who has had more coaching jobs than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made stupid comments, cannot bring himself to coach those six kneeling players on history.
However, perhaps he doesn’t know history.
Before the season he told his players they would respect the anthem. After the incident the other day, he said:
“I was not (aware). This was all about the hate groups that came to our community. It’s created a lot of tension. I think our players made an emotional decision. We respect our players’ decision to do that.”
Davis rattles on about those from outside the Ole Miss campus coming in and creating a disruption. However, if Davis believes this why does he go to the far reaches above the Mason Dixon line for players to come in and claim Ole Miss as their own.
Is New Jersey inside Mississippi?
One wonders how coach Davis faired on the geography part of his own entrance exam. Breein Tyree that heartfelt Mississippian from Somerset New Jersey who can dribble a basketball regardless of whether he can pass an ACT or SAT pontificated for the press.
We are allowed to see his scoring averages but not his academic scores. If articulation is a clue to his academics, then he is a backbencher.
Related Read: As Confederate statues go, where do we stop rewriting history
The so-called disruptors Davis complained about were demonstrating for their ancestors who died in a noble cause of self-government.
“That government of the people, by the people, for the people,” should not perish from the earth.
It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in that battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves. – H.L. Mencken on Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address | Faith & Heritage.
Davis and Breein, a guard, were babbling about hate that brazen watchword of subjective thought. Any side that disagrees with theirs is a “hate” group. Why do these people ever get a moment of attention?
Moreover, following up was a member “of the community” (Dodge City, Kansas) Athletic Director Ross Bjork lecturing to the tune of:
“Our job is to teach and educate every single day. They’re human. They’re students. They see what’s happening on our campus. These people that come here and they spill hate and bigotry and racism, we don’t want them on our campus. Our players stood up for that.”
That would be comical if not so pitifully laughable: An Athletic Director committed to teaching and educating? Even the general population of students are hard-pressed to receive an education in an American Univerity.
For the record, someone should tell academic stalwart Breein that New Jersey had slaves in 1861-1865. Moreover, they were sold for a lot less money than he and his attention seeking coach and players will get for their attention collusion.
If he ever gets to the NBA, it will be Mississippi’s gain and the NBA’s loss.
Keywords: Kaepernick, Colin Kaepernick, Social Justice Warriors, Athlete, Protests, Southern, Confederates, Racists
