You are right. I do have a lot to get off my chest. Partly because on this board we are cautioned to not get "political" or we'll be admonished, even banished. But today that has become impossible since politics has infected sports the way cancer infects people. I don't advocate a partisan position; I only advocate that Right or Left, politics has no place in sports.
I love sports..... for the game itself.....mostly football. I want escape from politics and social issue for just a few hours. But it is becoming harder and harder to follow because just as Robert Woods said, politics and football have become intertwined. He said some very courageous things that are NOT going to win him points with his teammates. All I'm doing is pointing it out. And it is sad, I don't like it, and it does nothing useful to continue this strange aimless political theater (even at the same time agreeing that we have some work to do in this country). These symbolic gestures don't incite people to be better people; it polarizes. But it also permits only ONE viewpoint. Cancel Culture. Conformity is mandatory. Get in step, or else be pointed out, isolated, and demonized.
Coaches don't want polarized locker rooms; and players don't want to be at odds with their peers. In the past, players, coaches, and commissioners stuck to their knitting. Doing sports. They of course are entitled to their opinions about all things not-football off the field. But they kept it to themselves, out of the locker room, outside the playing field, and that's how it ought to be.
For years on this board I have been flashing the red light that Goodell is leading the way in sports for becoming heavily partisan and politicized. I've been told I'm wrong and should shut up because we don't do politics. I get it. But the NFL is doing politics. The players and coaches are doing politics as part of their football activities. So who here wants to tell Robert Woods to shut up? Get in step. Conform. Don't notice that the Emperor has no clothes, and for goodness sake don't say it out loud!
Let's get back to sports and fun. The fun is desperately needed right now. I haven't seen our country in a nationwide funk like this since the Viet Nam era. If I want politics, I'll watch the news and read a newspaper.
