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I’m watching the first
Monday Night Football game of the season. Eagles versus Redskins. An easy pick
for me. Philadelphia is my favorite NFC team and Washington has the single most
racist name in professional sports. Then Vick takes the field and I inevitably
recall his history too. Damn, can I not just enjoy football without my restless
brain distracting me? Does a persons private life effect the way fans feel
about or support that person? Hello, Michael Jackson fans? Anyway, just when I
get focused I hear Ray Lewis doing commentary. Cmon! Later Kurt Warner would
re-cap the game and it was just too much.
Maybe my point is we should
use morality, a least a little more, in our choices. We sure do have power as
consumers. For instance I’ve found myself eating healthier. Not so much for my
health but because I have a real attitude about paying for bad “food like”
substances. But I digress.
The facts about the players,
on and off the field, that Monday Night.
“Redskins” - Is simply a
racist term, period. Unlike other team names that honor First Nation Peoples. I
wish their fans would realize they can still love the team and even their
history without that name. Not all our history is good or worth repeating. It’s
history. I am far from being “politically correct”. In this case I am just…
correct. I suggest changing the name to the “Washington Warriors”. It would not
only be respectful but it’s a damn cool name. Is it not?
Quarterback Michael Vick -
In July 2007 Vick was indicted by a federal grand jury charges of sponsoring a
dogfighting operation so grisly that the losers either died in the pit or
sometimes were electrocuted, drowned, hanged or shot.
What struck me about the
incident at the time was during his next game, just hours after the story
broke, some “fans” were holding up signs of forgiveness and support. The
expression “Too Soon” came to mind. And I started to wonder about my fellow
human beings. Is there no crime so heinous that these people would take a whole
24 hours before being so forgiving? Hello, Penn State fans?
At least he paid for his
crimes and as awful as they were we should probably give him the benefit of the
doubt that he is repentant and a better person. Still one has to wonder what
makes up a person capable of torturing dogs in the first place? And on the
subject of “paying for ones crimes” that brings me to something worse.
The unpaid crimes of Ray
Lewis. - On the evening of Jan. 30, 2000, Ray Lewis was looking to party. He
had flown to Atlanta to watch Super Bowl XXXIV. A fight broke out. Two people
were murdered. Did Lewis kill either of them or just hide the murder weapon and
destroy his bloody clothes? We may never know.
Cops would never find the
clothes Lewis wore that night, not even the mink. Nor would they find the photo
taken of Lewis’ entourage that night. 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.
Meanwhile, those two young
men died in street: Richard Lollar, 24, and Jacinth Baker, 21.
And all these years later,
Ray Lewis holds no regrets about what happened that night in Atlanta. “If I had
to go through all of that over again . . . I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said
recently. “Couldn’t. The end result is who I am now.” As if that statement was
not outrageous enough he continues to speak way too much about God, and God’s
will. As if it was “God’s will” for him to get away with that crime.
Nauseating!
Pete Rose is banned from the
Baseball Hall of Fame for Gambling. Lewis should never get into the Football
Hall of Fame. Even if we are a little loose with “morality” we are talking
about murder here!
Next came the recap by “Scab”
Kurt Warner – He and Terrell Davis crossed a SAG Strike to do a Campbell’s
Chunky Soup commercial in June 2000. If you think they should have respected
the strike because they too were in a union, it’s worse than even that. They
are also in SAG the Actors Union that was on strike.
Still not convinced? Well,
Al Pacino agrees with me. I’m not big at name dropping but… Al Pacino! I love that guy. I had the pleasure of
watching Super Bowl XXXIV with him. Titans versus Rams. This was months before
Warner became a Scab and I was in the rare mindset of not knowing whom to root for.
I liked the Rams as a kid, but they bailed on L.A. The Titans were new and
underdogs so that was appealing. Al pointed out the actions of Ram team owner
Georgia Frontiere and convinced me that the Titans were the “Good Guys”. With a
choice like that, it’s easy. We should root for the good guys!
Back to MNF.
Philadelphia Eagles defeated Washington Redskins 33-27 and Congress would go on to overshadow most other
immoralities in entertainment or elsewhere. But that’s why we need good forms
of escapism. A new team name, a different announcer would add to the
experience. My Browns giving me the blues and my Raiders refusing to move back
to L.A. (or to the Super Bowl) should be the only sort of things on my mind when watching my favorite
sport. That and maybe “Where’s the Pizza?” Hello?
