Coach Tuesday

OMG the Sean Hannity-level windbaggery that I am waking up to here. The most amazing thing about your posts is that you seek to defend “the booers” and complain they are being painted with a broad brush, urging everyone to consider that there is nuance and diversity to their thought process - all the while painting the entire other side of the debate with one broad, sweeping brush, suggesting that anyone standing for unity or wearing a George Floyd tee shirt is part of the radical left and must be supporting looting and burning. Nuance exists. It exists everywhere. I actually agree with you that racism is a cop-out, cheap and unhelpful explanation. But egads- you’re such a a partisan hack you don’t see that both sides of the debate use the exact same tactics, engage in character assassination, reduce their arguments to simple extremes, etc. I get that you really believe that only The Left does these things, or does them with greater frequency. You’re dead dumb wrong.

Shut up and play! We’ll be sad to “loose” you, Gordon.

No one said that.

The best quote I’ve heard is, “Professional sports are a reward for a functioning society.” I get that you wish you could be entertained without having to hear or think about what’s going on in the world. I’m sorry it doesn’t work that way. The people who are doing the entertaining want to be able to sleep in their beds and drive to their jobs without being shot and suffocated. Last night they picked a very mild and inoffensive way of expressing that. Sh— is messed up in this country almost beyond repair right now and tuning it out is a luxury we can’t afford and don’t deserve.

It’s not cool but it’s their right. They are snowflakes offended by mild forms of self-expression they disagree with.

If you came away from last night with the view that politics were being forced down your throat, you are incredibly sensitive - dare I say a snowflake? - and against even mild forms of self-expression that contain messages you disagree with. In short you are a fascist. Let’s recap this “overwhelmingly political” display: - one player knelt during the anthem - the anthem singers wore tee shirts displaying George Floyd and Breona Taylor - the Texans stayed in the locker room for the anthem so as not to offend anyone by kneeling publicly (which IIRC many of the anti-kneeling mob had advocated for as a less-offensive alternative) - the players locked arms on the field as a brief display of unity against inequality - several players wore symbols and names on their uniforms - there was nothing said that was anti-military, anti-veteran, anti-first responders, or anti-U.S. - a bunch of southerners booed the players for locking arms - all of the “politics” lasted a few minutes and then the players went about doing their jobs and entertaining all of us I’ll repeat: if you find the above to be overly political, the problem is 100% with YOU. It was just about the mildest, most thoughtful, dare I say, most AMERICAN display of free and individual expression I can fathom. It made me proud to be American, honestly, and if you have a problem with last night’s display (not talking about the protests generally, just specifically last night), YOU are the one who hates this country and probably doesn’t belong here.

Let’s just have a weekly thread keeping track of where Jerome Boger and Walt Coleman are.

There is usually less pearl-clutching. But considering how much POLITICS are on full display tonight... I mean this is basically like watching C-SPAN.

It ended at the kickoff. And it was about as mild as it gets. Please.

Omg the POLITICS. My eyes!!!!! My soul is burning. I will never recover.

Because the Townes version is still the best and only.

(I say this every year) Too bad Greg White no longer plays for the Jets, because then when Tre covers him we’d have White on White in White on White. A glitch in the Matrix!

Man, Cousins is unimpressive. No twitch or explosion in his throws, is late on his reads, stares down his receivers, doesn’t have a cannon. Never understood the hype. (Diggs looked great.)

Phillips and Johnson are needed for special teams so I don’t think the case is closed...

Epanesa behind Darryl Johnson.

And whatabout all that violence in Chicago, amirite??

Oh really??? Ever heard of Muhammed Ali? The Black Power salute in the 1968 Olympics? The media coverage leading up to (and following) the Miracle on Ice? This is SUPER uniformed take wrt sports and politics.

Dude picks receivers' pockets. Sign me up!

He doesn’t even work at SI anymore...

No Bill, I do not condone lighting businesses on fire. Neither does the NFL. There is an argument to be made that allowing people to protest peacefully - even if their message and timing offends you - lets off steam and helps prevent more destructive forms of expression. Saying that is not the same as justifying it. As for the OP, he has made his feelings about the protests known here and elsewhere and IMO this thread was a totally unnecessary multiplication of this tired discussion in which no one ever convinces anyone else of anything. Minds are made up, including it seems yours.

Obviously. But I’d have been fine with it as a strategy.

Man. As someone else said, they really just should’ve drafted Dobbins when they had the chance. Would’ve been fine with Dobbins AND Moss.

I think this is accurate. He kind of mails it in now, writing columns while sipping lattes in his Brooklyn loft. He’s just not plugged in like he used to be and gets clicks based on his brand, not his scoops. Albert Breer is a much better read.

But you know that isn’t the issue. We have had about 100 threads about “keeping politics out of sports.” Here. On a sports message board. We have had about 100 threads about “I’m tuning out sports.” Here. On a sports message board. Do you really fail to see the irony?

He literally said that though in a Q and A column. I’ll try to dig it up. Stunned me. Someone asked him why he didn’t cover the Bills as much and his response was, “I guess I just find that organization to be boring” or something to that effect.