Taking a Knee

Keeping to my pledge, I have yet to watch a single NFL game ... either on Sunday, Monday night or Thursday night ... and, you know what? ... I am beginning to know how to get along without this machismo palliative. I've gone cold turkey with my quixotic protest. Yes, I do Google the results of the Patriots' game after the fact ... but I no longer hang on Brady's passing performance (sorry Tom) or Gronk's receptions! And I have invested enough negative emotion so that I now intend to keep this up until Roger Goodell himself takes a knee and comes down hard on these anthem protesters. These highly-paid jocklets  need to realize from whence their pay checks come and learn that any gripes they have need to be settled in a more patriotic way.

If these crybabies insist on pissing on my flag, I, along with millions of other Americans, will piss on their hyper-inflated egos feed by their hyper-inflated pay checks. And, if they don't like our protests, then I suggest they volunteer for military service for a few years to understand what this meta-game is all about. The risk in this superior bowl involves their lives ... not just their ACLs.

NFL

The NFL (Not For Lace-undies) has had a rough week. The Ray Rice (a Baltimore Raven's running back) wife-battering scandal along with numerous other female- and children-abuse accusations has embarrassed the National Football League's Commissioner, Roger Goddell, and many of the more reticent team owners ... see Fox Sports Story. Yes, this league is not generally composed of Nancy-boys. It is, in effect, chock full of modern-day gladiators ... trained from their tweens in the more violent aspects of sports combat. And, much as we hate to admit it, most of we fans relish this violence and use it to keep our juices flowing on Sunday afternoons.

For us, in this increasingly sissified country, to imagine that this violent sport will not breed violent individuals is an obvious flight of fancy. We (by way of the TV sponsors) pay these pig-skin gladiators millions of dollars and inject them into the glitzy limelight of modern-day adulation. Really, how can we expect these combatants to be able to turn on their aggressions during game day ... and then be pussycats off the field? Yes, some may be able to live such a bifurcated life, but we really should not be surprised ... and exhibit feigned indignation ... at those who can't.

The effective solution ... either modify this sport to remove its violence ... (flag football ... and lose the fans) ... or possibly outlaw the sport altogether. Keeping the status quo will only result in many, many more of these upsetting brutalities. Therefore, if we choose to keep and pamper our precious NFL gladiators, we should not be high dudgeon when these abhorrent off-the-field incidents occur. Yes, punish any miscreants to the full extent of the law in the courts ... and too the league and team owners involved in cover-ups ... but keep the sport intact.

All you real football fans, let's stop being high-pitched hypocrites.

Afterthought: Even though Joe Scarborough was one of the "high-pitched hypocrites" I was thinking of when I used that above-term, I had to agree with him this AM on MSNBC when he called for the NFL to lose its tax-exempt status. This "trade association" will take in $10.5 billion in tax-free revenue in 2014 ... and its commissioner gets $30 million of this while $6 billion is distributed to the NFL teams ... see:CNN Story. To me, this seems a blatant and undeserved perk ... one that should be rescinded by Congress for the sake of keeping the NFL's head from exploding. Now seems a perfect time to do it.