Weak Kneed NFL

In Indianapolis, Vice President Pence leaves the building when players don't stand for the National Anthem.

Eric Reid, an irony impaired millionaire safety for the 49's, says this is what systemic oppression looks like.

In Miami, Dolphin's ownership requires its players to stand.

In Dallas, Jerry Jones tells the team they will respect the flag or they will not play.

NFL ratings have tanked and their popularity has gone from a net +54 to a -5.

Networks are offering advertising discounts.

Look folks we were already weening ourselves off of football. The whole National Anthem controversy made it easy for us, and easy for millions more.

The game was already becoming unwatchable and on a day when the NYP has to guard Columbus statues symbolism matters.

President Trump targeted the most popular sport in American and brought it too its knees. In doing so he goaded the Dems into supporting a bunch of tattooed millionaires with long rap sheets.

Trump has always had an uncanny ability to sense weakness. Well done, sir.

Smartest man in the room

NFL Man

For the non-NFL fan,  Ray Lewis is a former linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens and two time Superbowl winner. During that time he became an iconic NFL star and is a future hall of famer.

Ray Lewis is also well known for being involved in a double murder. Via USA today:

Only Lewis pleaded guilty in relation to the case: for obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor. He originally was charged with two counts of murder but struck a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against two of his companions that night, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting. 

Lewis never directly linked his two friends to the killings, and they were acquitted. Lewis had testified that Oakley, Sweeting and another man had gone to a sporting goods store the previous day to buy knives. Baker's blood later was found in Lewis' limo. Having fled the crime scene, Lewis told the limo's passengers to "keep their mouths shut." The white suit Lewis was wearing that night — on Super Bowl Sunday — never was found.

Ray Lewis' suit had the blood of two dead men on it.

The USA Today report is extensive and we suggest reading article in its entirety.

Not being in the spotlight, Ray Lewis took it upon himself to go onto the field and kneel during the National Anthem with the Ravens.

Only he could provide the gravitas needed for such a moment.

Ray Lewis also hosted a reality TV show called Coaching Bad:

Spike TV is developing a television series where former Miami Hurricane and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will team up with anger management specialist Dr. Christian Conte to help coaches deal with anger related issues stemming from the stresses of the coaching profession.

Mr. Lewis is the man to lecture others about impulse control. The night his crew murdered two men he was coming off a $100,00 shopping spree.  Lewis also has six children by four different women.

A pillar of rectitude is he.

Blood on that suit too?

Michael Bennett Spins a Yarn

Michael Bennet is a Defensive Lineman for the Seattle Seahawks.

A few weeks ago he was briefly detained by Los Vegas Police who said he was acting suspiciously during an active shooter incident.

Bennett immediately exercised his Black Privilege:

Bennett described the incident as a case of “simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time,” in a Twitter post earlier this month, adding that an officer put a gun near his head and threatened to “blow my [expletive] head off.”

His explanation was too easy and convenient and as soon as we read it we knew Bennett is a liar.

Our insight is born out by facts:

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released footage Friday from the body cam of an officer involved with the detainment of Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett in Las Vegas on Aug. 26.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo played the videos in front of reporters and offered his thoughts as well as the results of an internal investigation.

Per Mike Shoro of the Las Vegas Review Journal, Lombardo said officers had "reasonable suspicion to stop Bennett" and said he didn't believe race was a factor.

That is, they had an active shooter incident, Bennett decided this was a good time to run crouching from position to position. Looks pretty bad to us.

Jesus, Bennett is supposed to be a college man.

Not a Mug Shot

*Note, we changed the headline as we felt 'Michael Bennett is a Liar' was unfair.

Der Kulture Krieg

In handling the National Anthem controversy Roger Goodell made a major miscalculation. To be fair  hundreds of organizations have made the same decision over the last 25 years or so.

Corporate America has long feared angering any number of groups: gays, blacks, Jews, Native Americans, QWERTies, etc etc.

No one's ever worried about offending white, Christian middle-America. That's about 75% of the country, by the way.

Corporate America has a Pavlovian response to calls of 'racism' by the Reverends Jesse and Al or the squeals of 'hate' from the professional Nazi hunters at the Anti-Defamation League: cave immediately.

Last season Goodell let Colin Kaepernick get away with kneeling during the National Anthem even though NFL rules clearly state players must stand in a 'dignified posture'. He was worried about making an enemy of the race-baiting class. Meanwhile he told the Dallas Cowboys they couldn't wear decals honoring the five officers murdered by a BLM terrorist.

People really didn't like that.

The NFL's response was to kneel more, early and often.

Andrew Breitbart (PBUH) used to say that politics flows downstream from culture. This fight is about culture and it is a major battle in the culture war.

The NFL gave the finger to 75% of America.

Well, middle America is giving it back.

The forgotten fans

Image via

The NFL is in Trouble

Television ratings are down 11%.

One poll shows 51% of football fans have watched less this year.

Another polls shows that the number of people listing football as their favorite sport has dropped from 53% in 2012 to 41% today.

Yet another poll shows 64% of the public think players should stand during the National Anthem.

Drudge tells us that a store selling Steelers gear is under threat of boycott and in Baltimore the house national anthem singer has quit.

DirecTV is offering refunds for the vaunted NFL Sunday Ticket Package.

The NFL has hired a crisis communications firm.

They should have gotten down on both knees

The NFL is in Disarray

In Arizona the Cowboys, led by their controversial owner Jerry Jones, all locked arms and took a knee in prayer before the National Anthem. Hugh Hewitt says this was an attempt to de-escalate the situation. We agree. We never thought Jones was evil and admire what he's done with the Cowboys. We say well done, sir.

The fans booed anyway:

In Pittsburgh Former Army Ranger Anthony Villanueva stood alone while the rest of the team cowered in the tunnel. Coach Mike Tomlin publicly criticized the Silver Star winner. After a sleepless night QB Ben Rothlisberger said the team made a mistake. That should be an interesting locker room this week.

Andrew Breitbart (PBUH) said politics is downstream from culture.  This is the culture war. It was a minor skirmish until Trump jumped in and turned it into a major battle.

Now the left is defending the right of tattooed millionaires to give the finger to middle-America. 

Still think Trump doesn't know what he's doing?

Trump vs Sports

It is customary in America for the president to invite sports champions to the White House.

Steph Curry, for all you non-Americans, is the best player on the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. He expressed reservations about attending the scheduled White House event.

So Trump basically said 'screw you' and revoked the invitation.

Other NBA players are chiming in on this, most notably Lebron James, one of the best players ever to play the game. Said Lebron, 'Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up!'

As he attacks the media, so Trump attacks sports. We support him. What, he's supposed to smile like an idiot while he dines with people who insult him?

This is culture war, people, and Trump is winning it.

We think this Yahoo Sports columnist has things about right:

He was Donny from Queens dialing into WFAN. First time, long time.
Stick to … politics? 

Whatever, sports is intertwined in American society, and Trump has found some low-hanging fruit here for his base to gulp down. And when it finds something it likes to chomp on, he’ll keep feeding it and feeding it. 

Protesters. Supposedly ungrateful millionaires. Wimpy regulations. Nostalgia.

Let's remember something. Donald Trump understands television. Anyone who ever watched The Apprentice  knows this.

Today more players will no doubt kneel for the National Anthem.

This is exactly what Trump wants.