By Richard Ray
The press is full of s***. I am not talking about fake political news. I am talking about the hypocrisy that they protect and contribute to while trying to shape narratives that they are fully complicit in controlling.
More specifically I am referring to the indignation that the pundits on ESPN, Fox Sports and print so vociferously denounce and demonize Lavar Ball, yet either remain silent in truthfully calling out the hypocrisy in NFL teams effectively blackballing a person because of his activism against police brutality and social injustice.
The commentators and sports reporters lather themselves into near hysteria every time Lavar Ball now says something politically incorrect or does something controversial. Forgot the fact that it is these very same networks and reporters that cast Laval upon us all because his outrageous comments and personality made such great television and copy. Yet, now that they have created the beast, far too many feel that he has failed to stay in his lane and yield to the power and persuasion of the press. He does not defer to them and many of them clearly feel it is their job to break the man for not knowing his place.
This is not to say that Lavar is not a loud mouth, who probably gets in his own way as much as he has proved to be a marketing maverick. Did Lavar go to far by threatening to pull his team from a second AAU tournament game if a female referee was not replaced? Possibly. Adidas bears the responsibility as the tournament organizer for acquiescing to such a juvenile threat. Did Lavar then go too far in making the attack on the female ref a little more personal by suggesting she was out of shape, incompetent and “should stay in her lane”? Probably. Is he a misogynist? I am not sure… but his comments and actions were over the top enough that they were deserving of backlash and debate. I have no problem with that…
My issue is that numerous reporters have no problem throwing down the gauntlet in proclaiming Lavar a scourge to all of sports, but most of those same pundits remain remarkably neutral on the obvious hypocrisy and injustice that Colin Kaerpernick is having toward not receiving a offer from a team. Even worse, many are responsible for promoting false narratives to somehow suggest that teams are shying away from Kaepernick because he is deficient as a football player.
Colin Kaepernick is not the same player that he was when he lead the San Francisco 49ers to the 2012 Super Bowl (losing 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens) and the NFC Championship in 2013 (losing to eventual Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks). Yet even playing for a subpar team in 2016 Kaerpernick still threw for 16 touchdowns versus 4 interceptions. There are approximately 96 quarterbacks in the NFL (32 teams). Kaerpernick is arguably better than 75% of the quarterbacks in the league. He probably deserves the right to compete for a starting job on several teams, including the NY Jets, but there is no way in good conscious an informed sports reporter could claim that Kaerpernick is still not better than 60-70 of the quarterbacks signed to NFL rosters.
Yet, they promote the propaganda and hypocrisy of the league by maintaining that Kaerpernick is still unsigned in part because the teams are unsure he can help them on the field. That is absolutely false and they all know it… Yet, they sit on television or behind their computers and spread the false narrative. Kaerpernick has committed no crime. He protested against brutality and injustice. Whether you agree with his methodology, it was well within his rights and he did so silently and non-violently for 5 minutes before a game. He has furthered stated that he will not engage in the same manner of protest this year. Yet, a team owner has to state that he needs our prayers to decide on an man’s employability…
Sure a few speak out on this farce, but far too few. Yet, those same people who have no voice for the injustice that Kaepernick is experiencing have mega horns and pulpits to denounce Lavar…GTFOH
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