While native son Ezekiel Elliot’s suspension rocked the NFL last week, the events in Charlottesville, Va. could ultimately have a larger impact on the game of football and society.
A gathering of Nazi thugs and right-wing whackos gathered in the college town home of the University of Virginia on Friday and marched through the streets with burning torches screaming racial epithets. On Saturday, peaceful counter protesters were on hand and violence was unleashed upon them. A woman was killed and more than 20 people injured when one of the nut jobs crashed into them with a vehicle.
On Sunday, Seattle Seahawks star defensive end Michael Bennett sat during the playing of the national anthem. His action has not set off the level of controversy that has dogged Colin Kaepernick since he took the same action a year ago. Bennett will also not be blackballed by NFL team owners and front office personnel.
“With everything that’s been going on the last couple of months and especially after the last couple of days, seeing everything in Virginia, seeing what’s going on out there earlier today in Seattle, I just wanted to be able to use my platform to be able to continue to speak over injustice,” Bennett told reporters after in Los Angeles after the Seahawks 48-7 win over the Chargers. Earlier Sunday, people clashed in downtown Seattle in either support or protest of President Trump.
Bennett said fans had better get used to his sitting for the anthem because it will continue all season.
“I think everybody has a time where they feel like they need to be who they are and stand up for what they believe in,” Bennett said.
“I want people to understand I love the military. My father was in the military. I love hot dogs like any other American. I love football like any other American, but I don’t love segregation. I don’t love riots. I don’t love oppression. I don’t love gender slander.
Of course, I’m going to face backlash. This is bigger than me. This is bigger than football. This is bigger than anything that we have. This is about people. This is about bringing opportunities to people, giving people equality. This is bigger than a sport.”
Let the record show that Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during the anthem on Saturday night. He took the first action regarding the racism and hatred displayed in Charlottesville.
As the late Curtis Mayfield sings in “Freddie’s Dead,” ‘Why can’t we brothers, protect one another?’
If all – or at least most – black players refuse to stand for the national anthem, it would not matter what the hypocritical NFL, fans or abject racists think. Backlash would be the last thing on black players’ minds because their unity would shelter them from punishment.
Amazingly, my guess is that many white players would join them – at least for a game or two. Kaepernick would also find himself on a NFL franchise roster.
Bennett has authored a book entitled “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable.” His refusal to stand for the national anthem makes a lot of black and white people uncomfortable. But his stand should – MUST – be backed by his fellow black players. It’s time, guys. In fact, it’s way past time.
Elliott’s appeal and race
Did I think Ezekiel Elliott would be suspended for a game? Yes. That was based on several off-field incidents since he entered the NFL.
Did I think he would be suspended six games because the NFL – not the judicial system – convicted him of physically abusing a woman? No.
It hasn’t been broadcast to the nation that the woman Elliott supposedly abused is white, but it will be part of his appeal that will be presented by St. Louis attorney Scott Rosenblum and others.
Elliott will allege that on July 22 Tiffany Thompson said “You are a black male athlete. I’m a white girl. They are not going to believe you.”
She made the statement after she allegedly made multiple threats to “ruin his career.” The appeal will include text messages from Thompson that encouraged a friend to lie to police about an alleged domestic assault in July 2016.
Her alleged threats included “You better be smart. And not be a dumb man,” and after not being granted entrance to a party attended by Elliott she shouted, “Your career is over.”
I’m not naïve. It is possible that Elliott did what she alleges. But the NFL suspended Elliott because he could not explain how she got bruises on her arms and body. Innocent until proven guilty in the legal system. Guilty until proven innocent in the NFL.
The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL Players Union and the NFL allows Commissioner Roger Goodell to literally take the law into his own hands. It doesn’t protect him and the NFL from real laws and the real legal process.
If I’m Elliott I’m thinking about filing a defamation of character lawsuit, which would be heard by jurors – not people employed by the NFL.
Corey the cat lady
I know Corey, the nice lady who rescued the frightened Busch Stadium kitty, then lost it in City Garden later that evening. The frisky feline has since been found and the Cardinals are planning a Ralley Cat night later this month.
Corey sports a St. Louis Cardinals tattoo on her forearm. If there is one thing she loves more than cats and dogs in peril, it is the Cardinals. I mean she is really into the Redbirds. But she feels like the team has treated her unfairly.
“They made it sound like I stole the cat from them. It only happened after they threw it out on the street,” she told me last week.
I asked if the Cardinals had contacted her about attending Ralley Cat night. She hasn’t heard a word from them since the evening the cat took the field.
OK, Cardinals. Get in touch with Corey at Kirkwood Ice and Fuel, invite her and family members to the game and treat them like VIPs. There is no Ralley Cat without her.
Also, spell Ralley Cat like I have here – it’s cuter.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows, including Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box” on KFNS. His Twitter handle is #aareid1.
