A dear
friend has requested that I weigh in on the football v flag controversy.
I have to
say that the whole brouhaha should be laid at the feet of the lawyers who
drafted the million dollar contracts between NFL players and the owners of NFL
teams.
Certainly,
the players are American citizens and certainly, like all other Americans, they
have the constitutional right to express their political opinions whenever and
however they choose.
Unless.
Unless they
have freely exercised their equally sacred constitutional right to enter into a
contract that limits their right of political expression.
Professional
football is a very successful enterprise. It has become a national pastime; an
important and powerful element of American life.
If you
doubt that, I suggest you look at the economic impact of the Super Bowl; not
only in the city where it is played, but in every city and town from Bangor to
Chula Vista.
Football is
a peculiarly American sport. Every high school and college has a football team.
And every
city of consequence has a professional team which bolsters home town chauvinism
throughout the land.
Not to
mention that professional teams are economic dinosaurs that make millions for
their owners and occasion huge expenditures by municipalities and their
football mesmerized inhabitants.
The playing
of the national anthem, and the raising of the American flag are typically part
of the pageantry that surrounds a professional football game.
That’s
because football is an American game. We love it. We celebrate it. It brings us
together as a nation.
Certainly
the owners of football teams must know that they are in a business that is not
defined and delimited by a couple of hours on manly combat on the field.
They must
realize that they are in the entertainment and recreation business.
And that
the celebration of patriotism is as much a part of their inventory as offense
and defense.
So I should
think that any well advised team owner would insist on player contracts which
require the players to participate in the patriotic aspects of their
entertainment business.
And that
would certainly include standing at respectful attention during the performance
of the Star Spangled Banner.
If any team
owners or their counsel should happen to see this blog, the old judge would be
happy to draft the appropriate contractual language.
For a fee,
of course.
Judge,
ReplyDeleteCan you appreciate that your "solution" can be viewed as both naive and smugly elitist? People who are aggrieved will nevertheless wish to express themselves by refusing to inauthentically play bit roles in political pageants. And the players can afford their own lawyers.
I recently had the pleasure of attending a very authentic local rodeo in a small town in Wyoming. Rodeos include similar patriotic pageantry. This one also included a very specifically Christian invocation that I'm sure is very much "inside the box" for Wyoming. But I'm also sure that among the many rodeo participants and their families in the stands (I and my family likely were the only outsiders) there had to be some significant percentage who were just respectfully stiffling their reservations and objections. How good and desirable is that?
Diversity is just as "American" as any iconic pastime.
In my opinion, the thing to do is to carefully listen to and try to appreciate the explanations being offered by the aggrieved, and NOT to ham-handedly and futilly try to shut them up. For a fee.
Yes, but "we the people" are providing our input into the situation that is reflecting in loss advertisement revenue, lower attendance, lowered purchases of team items (jerseys, etc.). The NFL still has yet to understand what they are doing. We'll see whether or not they will implement changes to their current courses of action.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Judge ! You're 100% right on this one, and as all the lawyers that I've ever known, never let the chance to make a buck go by.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail right on the head Judge!!! There is a time and place to protest, but during the national anthem is not it!
ReplyDelete