Pirates, Politics & Pandering…today should be an interesting one
Aj Mansour
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Each and every week, there is intrigue surrounding the NFL. Most weeks, it’s a top-line story here, maybe another there and then intriguing football around the rest of the league.
This week is different.
Heading into Week #3 of the 2017 NFL season it was all eyes on Sam Bradford for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans. The starting QB had missed the team’s second game with a knee injury and the boys got blown off the field by the Steelers. Sam had returned to practice and was saying all the right things to better set the table for his return for week #3. But Thursday didn’t go so well.
Sam gave it a little more than he had in previous days and his injured knee did not respond well. That put him on a plane rather than a practice field for Friday’s final preparations and ruled him out of today’s game after getting a second opinion from knee surgeon of the stars Dr. James Andrews.
That should have been the “a-topic” heading into today’s game, that or the onslaught of the up and coming Tampa Bay Buccaneers opponent.
But that will play second fiddle today at U.S. Bank Stadium. In fact football will likely take a back seat throughout the league today and no matter what side of the aisle you may align with, it’s important. Today is important.
It was Friday night when the President of the United States decided that it was a good time to point his attention towards the NFL. His message was seemingly aimed at promoting patriotism but it was aimed at a player that isn’t even currently in the league and it was delivered at a time where the “politically correctness” of the silent majority was about to burst.
And it has.
However you feel about the President’s comments, they have proven to be divisive and the country, the NFL is no longer going to stand for it…some of them quite literally.
Over the past 24 hours NFL players, owners and teams have reacted to the President’s comments. Many of them demanding love, conversation and respect from one person to the next whether you are the President of the United States, and NFL player or a blue-collar fan attending today’s games.
“I am still hopeful for justice and love to win out,” Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said in a statement released Saturday. “I will resist the urge to return hate with hate and instead react in love and compassion for those who simply cannot. I encourage others to do the same.”
It’s that sort of sentiment, and certainly a few other more “colorful” opinions, that will lead the league to sit center stage today and not because it’s this biggest sport in the country.
Today there will be players standing, and there will be players kneeling. There will be players holding their thoughts in and players loudly speaking out. There will be signs in the crowd and decorated cleats on the field. There will be a lot going on pregame and probably even more happening postgame as the players step up to the microphones.
When Colin Kaepernick first took a knee in 2016 he was largely met with criticism. Since then more football players, soccer players, high school teams, orchestra members and most recently MLB players have joined his movement. Following the events from this weekend, I think we’re going to see this movement grow quite a bit today. It’s sure to be interesting, it’s sure to be impactful, hopefully it remains peaceful.
Of this one thing I am sure. Putting politics completely aside, it’s time for a change. Human to human we can do a lot better than we’re doing right now here’s to hoping today can be the catalyst we’ve needed.