Shit that Pissed me Off – 2/15/19
The Cleveland Browns Signed Kareem Hunt and Colin Kapaernick Still Doesn’t Have a Job
Hunt was kicked off his former team (the Chiefs) after video of Hunt assaulting a woman became public. They claimed they knew about the incident but that Hunt had “lied” about it to them.
So Hunt was out of Football. At least he might have been were he not so gosh darn talented.
I could point out that Colin Kapaernick is more talented than – well – just about every third string quarterback in the league, probably most of the second string ones and maybe even a few first string ones and he doesn’t have a job in the NFL. Because he didn’t hit a woman on camera. He kneeled during the National Anthem to call attention to systemic racism.
But Kareem Hunt deserves “another chance.”
I’m not even going to argue that he doesn’t deserve another chance. I don’t know. Maybe he really has figured his shit out and is going to make amends and be a decent guy.
Who doesn’t want to believe, right?
What I’m arguing is that a guy who punches women has an easier time getting a job in the NFL than a guy who kneels during the national anthem.
Moreover, the response to the Hunt allegations is muted. People are shocked but immediately say “we don’t really know enough to leap to judgement.” The response to Kapaernick isn’t muted at all. It is angry. Vocal. And filled with people who are telling him that they don’t give a fuck what he says until he says it the way they want to hear it (not that they plan on telling him what would make them listen).
The NFL is a business. And they know full well that in a game as violent as Professional Football, their audience has shown a willingness to accept players who are violent off the field. What they can’t accept is a player who peacefully points out institutional racism and – yes – violence.
Note: It was just announced that Kapaernick reached a settlement with the NFL in his collusion case that claimed the NFL colluded to keep him out of a job. Of course the terms are confidential so the NFL doesn’t need to actually admit to doing anything wrong…
Shit that Pissed me Off – 5/24/18
So for the last few years, some players at Football games have knelt during the National Anthem to draw attention to racial problems in America. The NFL had allowed it but clearly it pissed some people (like our whiner-in-Chief) off.
The reasons are spurious. It doesn’t disrespect the troops because the National Anthem never used to be about the troops. It doesn’t actually hurt ratings because television ratings are falling for the NFL at the exact same rate they are falling for all other network broadcasts. It doesn’t even disrespect the country because the right to voice concern with what is happening in our country is literally built into the first amendment. Yes, these people protesting are rich but they aren’t protesting for themselves you myopic dickbags. This may be hard to believe, but people can give a shit about others and some try to use their public platform to help those people.
I guess it just pisses off (mostly white) people who don’t think that (mostly non-white) people have anything to complain about.
I mean come on! Half of America fought a war to free you from slavery!
So the “compromise” the NFL has come up with is to require players to stand during the National Anthem or, if they can’t do that, they can stay in the locker room. Failure to do so will result in a fine levied against the team. The team then can decide what to do to the players including fines or suspensions.
Let’s recap.
32 people (all but two of them white) have decided that protesting players (who are mostly black) should stay out of sight rather than quietly taking a knee during the national anthem.
Our President has responded by saying that if you can’t respect our flag and country by standing for the anthem, maybe you should leave the country.
So our President has basically told black people in America that they should leave. Because apparently staying out of sight isn’t good enough.
What the President said is really important here. Because you can’t separate the rise of white nationalism from that asshole. When he makes statements like he made this week, he is empowering people who think that America is for white people.
The other part of this conversation is the number of people who respond to all of this by saying technically it is the right of the employer (a NFL team) to impose restrictions on how their players behave in public. Because technically it is. I mean, what the owners are doing is legal.
You know what else used to be legal? Slavery. Half of America fought to preserve slavery.
But it is a straw man argument. So what if NFL teams have the legal right to tell their players to stand up and shut up? By doing so, they are sending the message that their version of patriotism is more important than anyone else’s. Further, they are sending a message that rich people get to control the lives of everyone they pay.
They are forcing players to be patriotic. Which isn’t even patriotic. What will be patriotic is when players kneel knowing there are potential consequences for the action.
And that’s going to happen, by the way. Anthem protests were mostly over. This new policy means they will probably be bigger than ever next season as players engage in a game of chicken with owners to effectively say “OK, I’m kneeling. Now what?”
But please stop defending the billionaires because they can legally do this. Yeah. I get it. They can.
We all know that. Why can’t you all shut up about what they have the legal right to do? If you aren’t OK with it, don’t be OK with it. It’s like you want to hide behind the legality of the action to throw your hands in the air and say “what can I do? It’s their right!”
Are you OK with them taking advantage of that right or not? The rest is window dressing. It’s like saying “I agree with Black Lives Matter but they shouldn’t block traffic.” Fine. You don’t like that some protests block traffic. Do you no longer agree with Black Lives Matter because they blocked traffic?
Either you agree with what the owners did or you do not. Their right to do it is not relevant. When they exercised their right, were you OK with it or not?
This thing…holy fuck this thing. Are you OK with it or not???
I’ll remind those who are paying attention that the two players most readily identified with the anthem protests – Colin Kaepernik and Eric Reid – still don’t have a job. Reid, especially, is considerably better than average at his position and he has been contacted by one team this year. That team owner specifically asked Reid if he would kneel for the anthem.
So making the choice to speak up (by silently kneeling) is costing some people jobs. But we don’t seem interested in the risks those players have taken for exercising their first amendment rights. Only the rights of the billionaires who don’t like what they are doing.
This week, I’ve been listening to white people talk about how these are “important issues” but the anthem “isn’t the right time” to call attention to them. They say that they watch football to “escape” from politics and that minute and a half when someone kneels quietly at the beginning of the game just makes it impossible to enjoy the three hours of football that follow.
Excuse me for being indelicate but fuck them.
While they complain about how politics “invades” their enjoyment of football, pretty much every black man in America sweats out a traffic stop because they want to make sure they don’t get shot. Do these assholes whining about politics invading their play time stand at attention during the anthem? Or do they simply expect the players on the field to do so while they can concentrate on their fantasy football scores?
If Tom Brady took a knee, nobody would complain as long as he kept throwing touchdown passes.
If you think this is just about the NFL, you are mistaken. It is about black people trying to tell white people something and white people constantly saying “you need to tell me in a different way.”
First, they said “you can’t block traffic or I won’t listen.”
Then they said “you can’t kneel quietly or I won’t listen.”
Now they are saying “Just stay out of sight. Then I promise I’ll listen.”
Shit that Pissed me Off – 9/18
A 9th Grader was Cuffed and Arrested Because he Made a Clock Was Muslim
I’m sure you’ve read about Ahmed Mohamed this week. He built his own clock and made the mistake of bringing it to school and showing his teachers. He was proud of himself because he made something cool.
His teachers were concerned he’d built a bomb.
Because, you know, most kids who want to blow up their school show the bomb off to their teachers first.
One more thing: REAL BOMBS DON’T LOOK LIKE THIS!
So this kid was cuffed and interrogated by police and then suspended for three days. Because he built a clock.
Now if Ahmed had been white, I somehow think this situation would have turned out differently. Strange given that most of the school shooters I know of were white. Maybe school bombers are different.
As of right now, two important things have happened. On the positive side, President Obama invited Ahmed to the White House, MIT invited him to their campus, and about five dozen tech companies already want to hire him. Because fuck the people who got scared by a Muslim kid with mechanical skills.
On the negative side, he says he has learned his lesson and he won’t bring his inventions to school any longer.
Which is precisely the lesson he shouldn’t have been taught.
Shit that Pissed me off – 8/14
Gunman Fires at Police in Ferguson Protests
The protests to mark the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’s murder (my bias may be showing in my selection of words) were mostly peaceful. And then some asshole shot at the police.
Now this idiot was not a protestor. He was an extremist who wanted to hurt someone and used the protests as an opportunity to do it. Even if he claims he was angry at the police for documented racism, there were a lot of people angry at the police for documented racism who didn’t bring a gun.
In this picture are dozens of people who didn’t bring guns.
When one guy does something stupid, though, it is as if all the other people who weren’t doing anything wrong become co-conspirators. What they have to say is no longer considered important because of that one dude who tried to shoot the police.
So please, everyone, can we stop bringing guns to word fights?
Shit that Pissed me off – 8/7
First Woman to Coach in the NFL Finally Gets Interviewed on ESPN
The Arizona Cardinals became the first team in NFL history to add a woman to their coaching staff when Jen Welter was hired as a pre-season intern working with the inside linebackers.
Don’t care about sports? That’s fine. The breaking of the gender barrier is still important even if she is not a permanent member of the coaching staff. If she does a decent job, one can assume she will open the door for as many as two or three other women to have temporary coaching jobs in the NFL.
Sounds a little bit like being a temporary honorary colonel in the state militia
The article linked above is in Welter’s own words and mostly she is talking about how excited she is by the opportunity.
Later, though, she talks about friends in women’s football being called up to do interviews with ESPN because of her. And she says this:
I won four championships and two gold medals and I was never asked to go on ESPN. None of us were.
Got that? She was an accomplished athlete before she temporarily joined the Cardinals coaching staff and nobody on a 24-hour sports station wanted to talk to her. Or anyone else involved in women’s football. Until now.
Have no fear, gentlemen (including the brilliant guy who commented on the article by saying women will never be equal to men until they have to sign up for the draft). The glass ceiling is still very much intact.
Shit that Pissed me off – 7/10
I was at CONvergence having a wonderful time last week so I apologize that I didn’t post my regular column. Today, I shall play catch up on a bunch of stupid shit stretching as far back as three weeks.
Football Fans Tell a Player He Shouldn’t Talk about Anything but Football
This happens a lot. People tell someone they aren’t allowed to have informed opinions about anything except that for which they are most well-known.
In this instance, a white fan from Lacey, Washington, complained that a black football player from Charleston, South Carolina should not have an opinion about racism in the south. I mean sure, that makes sense. A white guy in Washington knows a lot more about racism.
He only lives – like – ten states away from South Carolina! He obviously knows better!
He certainly shouldn’t be subjected the opinion of a black guy from the south. Unless it’s about football.
The football player in question, Byron Maxwell, was responding to the recent massacre in his home town. His home town!
How entitled do you have to be to look at comments like that and think “I don’t want to hear the opinions of that guy because I know what’s going on way better than he does?”
Shit that Pissed me Off – 5/15
Men’s Rights Idiots are Upset About Fury Road Even Though They Haven’t Seen it Yet
I haven’t seen the film yet. I’m very much looking forward to the film and I have to admit, the fact a bunch of Men’s Rights jackasses are upset about the film makes me want to buy two tickets just to piss them off a little bit more.
The basic issue seems to be the idea the film has a woman who is, apparently, pretty badass. This, apparently, takes away from the badassness of Max because a dude cannot be badass if there is a badass woman around.
Here’s Arnold Schwarzenegger from Terminator 2. The one with the bad ass version of Sarah Connor. See how emasculated he looks?
I can see how this would ruin a movie for someone who has no interest in anything more than watching dudes blow stuff up.
Should that be their primary interest, I think they would be happier with the Expendables franchise. Or the Die Hard franchise. Or any number of other films that are all about dudes blowing shit up.
What I really want to do is buy an extra ticket and send it to one of these guys. Then I can tell them their boycott of the film failed because I bought a ticket for them.
Shit that Pissed me off – 3/6
One of the Top Picks in This Year’s Draft is Probably a Rapist
A new documentary chronicling issues with sexual assault on campus is out and the woman who has accused Jameis Wilson of attacking her is one of the people interviewed for the film.
Now I don’t know what happened between her and Wilson. Nobody else does, either.
But let’s just assume she is telling the truth because statistically speaking, she’s telling the truth.
You see, most rape claims are true. That means if you assume the victim is telling the truth, you are going to be correct almost all of the time.
That means the guy who is potentially the top pick in this year’s draft is a rapist. He wasn’t prosecuted because there wasn’t enough evidence (which means “the word of a woman saying she was sexually assaulted is not enough to prosecute”).
Still, we presume he will become a millionaire spokesperson and she, most likely, will be forgotten in a few months. It all just seems backwards, doesn’t it?
Shit that Pissed me off – 9/12
Ray Rice and the NFL
Even if you don’t follow sports, you probably know about the video that shows Ray Rice hitting his then fiancée and knocking her unconscious. Lots of people have offered their opinion, including Keith Olbermann, John Stewart, and Peter King.
What is messed up is the idea that the NFL, which is one of the most powerful corporate entities in the world, somehow didn’t get a copy of the video first. I don’t even understand how that is possible. Admitting such a thing means they are either lying or they didn’t really give a shit about what was on the video.
If they gave a shit about what happened to Janay Rice, they wouldn’t have interviewed her about the incident while she was sitting next to the man who had hit her.
If they understood anything about the mental state of an abuse victim, they would have recognized the behavior of someone who has probably been struck more than once. They would have interviewed her on her own, hopefully with a counselor present. Not only didn’t they understand, they didn’t care.
Just forget about it and watch football, folks! Nothing to see here!
That’s the crux of all of this. They don’t give a shit about the abuse. They give a shit about their image. So long as we didn’t have video showing the actual punch that knocked Janay Rice out, the NFL thought they could get away with a two game penalty because the public would be too focused on the game to think about domestic violence
The failure here was caused by a bunch of people who cared more about their business than anything else. Keep that in mind as this situation continues to unfold. Any decision they make will not be governed by what is best for Janay Rice. Or even Ray Rice.
It will be governed by what is best for the NFL.
Shit that Pissed Me Off – 8/22
Canadian School Board Candidate Wants Creationism Taught in Schools
Her picture looks adorable. I’m sure she’s twenty. Maybe.
She is firmly of the opinion that they should teach the controversy (that doesn’t exist). She also says that schools should focus on the “basics” of education.
Like evolution, right?
No no no no no no no no!
Well, she thinks it should be taught in science classrooms alongside creationism. She also thinks sex education should be abstinence only because that is also “basic.”
As basic as Abstinence-Bible-Contraceptives are tools of the Devil!
Is this barely not-teenager going to be elected? I doubt it.
And yet I’m tired of living in a world where people continue to believe that creationism should be given the same amount of time in the classroom. And I’m tired of living in a world where we continue to argue about abstinence-only sex education when the evidence clearly shows it is inadequate.
Grail Diary 