When I was in the Army in Europe, I was stationed in a
place where we couldn’t get the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network’s TV
broadcasts. We got the radio programs,
but not the TV. Anyway, I was not able
to watch American football on TV.
When I got back home in the fall of 1973, my American
girlfriend took me home to meet her family.
They lived in a part of the country where football is almost a religion,
and I spent a lot of my time there watching football with her brothers and
brothers-in-law. Even though I was a Yankee, they seemed to like it that I
could “talk football” with them.
The next year or the year after, (I think) the Denver
Broncos went to the super bowl. I got
invited to a super bowl party, and after Dallas walked all over the Broncos, I
sort of got involved again … support for the underdog I guess.
Later, I followed the game more closely. It is fun to watch with friends or family,
and it gives you the ability to have something to talk about with the other
guys at work or in the neighborhood.
I have always had misgivings, however. Colleges spend too much on their athletic
programs, and the pro players make a lot of money for playing a game. I realize it is an entertainment industry,
and that actors who make it in the movies, for example, make a lot of money,
too. It isn’t so much that I am envious,
or that I covet the money. What bothers
me is seeing poor kids who are working their way through school paying extra
fees so that their university can build a new stadium. Or, more money spent on the pro football
industry, than on … you name the worthy cause.
There is the background.
Now here is where I’m going. I
did not watch one football game this year; not professional, not college, and
not even high school. It was not a boycott,
per se. It was disgust. I do not necessarily agree with the point
being made by “taking the knee” during the national anthem, but I understand
that, from a certain point of view, people may come to believe that people of
color are treated unfairly in the United States.
What disgusts me is the contempt the players showed for
the rights of others; who may or may not agree with them. If a player wants to freely voice his opinion
in a free society, I fully support that.
What I object to is players hijacking the national forum provided by the NFL for their own personal purposes, and to the NFL allowing it.
Also, if I watch football, that is my time. It is for my entertainment. I do not want to
watch overpaid prima donnas treating the symbol of our country, which has done
more good than any other, with insolence.
