06-16-2020, 06:05 AM
After living in Memphis for 6 months (that's all I could take), it has always amazed me how so many black athletes wanted to stay in the South and why they wouldn't use their influence to demand better treatment for black people. It's nice to see some signs of change, but I still wonder why more wouldn't want to go to Washington, Oregon, and CA, where the larger areas are very diverse and multicultural. Washington, Oregon, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, and USC should have been able to pull many more athletes out of the South than they have, IMO.
As for Gundy, it sure was fun watching the internet freakout as the pics of him in the OAN shirt spread yesterday. My stance was the players have a right to be skeptical, but we have no idea what the coaches and players discussed, and how that shirt fit into it all. Chuba Hubbard's reaction suggested deep dissatisfaction, but everyone needed to let it play out before drawing too many conclusions. Now a video was released that featured Gundy and Hubbard saying all is good, although my gawd did it look scripted. I'm not even gonna post it because it looked so bad.
One thing I can declaratively say with 100% confidence (not a Rob Manfred 100%), is systemic and institutionalized racism is so deeply woven into society, that calls to remove it will result in many things being stripped to their core so any hint of racism is rooted out. And if people refuse to act, they will be seen as part of the problem, not willing to go as far as needed to end it. It's very analogous to cancer. When a tumor is removed, the surgeon doesn't leave a little cancer and declare someone cancer free. Only when all cancer is removed, does that happen. One of my dogs had a malignant surface tumor removed. The doctor took out way more tissue than had the cancer, to be overly cautious it wouldn't return and it didn't.
There are many more challenges coming. Voting rights is going to be right on the heels of police and criminal justice reform. Then it is going to turn to income inequality. Athletes aren't going to be backing down on these issues. Any college coaches that in any way align with anyone who wants to deny voting rights, is going to have a very large problem with angry players. I'd go so far as to say if the coaches don't proactively themselves advocate for voting rights, they will have a problem.
On a related note, the Big Ten Conference announced an initiative to end voter suppression. I wonder how this squares with the state of Iowa - home of the Iowa Hawkeyes - state legislature working to implement laws to making voting harder? Should be fun to see!
As for Gundy, it sure was fun watching the internet freakout as the pics of him in the OAN shirt spread yesterday. My stance was the players have a right to be skeptical, but we have no idea what the coaches and players discussed, and how that shirt fit into it all. Chuba Hubbard's reaction suggested deep dissatisfaction, but everyone needed to let it play out before drawing too many conclusions. Now a video was released that featured Gundy and Hubbard saying all is good, although my gawd did it look scripted. I'm not even gonna post it because it looked so bad.
One thing I can declaratively say with 100% confidence (not a Rob Manfred 100%), is systemic and institutionalized racism is so deeply woven into society, that calls to remove it will result in many things being stripped to their core so any hint of racism is rooted out. And if people refuse to act, they will be seen as part of the problem, not willing to go as far as needed to end it. It's very analogous to cancer. When a tumor is removed, the surgeon doesn't leave a little cancer and declare someone cancer free. Only when all cancer is removed, does that happen. One of my dogs had a malignant surface tumor removed. The doctor took out way more tissue than had the cancer, to be overly cautious it wouldn't return and it didn't.
There are many more challenges coming. Voting rights is going to be right on the heels of police and criminal justice reform. Then it is going to turn to income inequality. Athletes aren't going to be backing down on these issues. Any college coaches that in any way align with anyone who wants to deny voting rights, is going to have a very large problem with angry players. I'd go so far as to say if the coaches don't proactively themselves advocate for voting rights, they will have a problem.
On a related note, the Big Ten Conference announced an initiative to end voter suppression. I wonder how this squares with the state of Iowa - home of the Iowa Hawkeyes - state legislature working to implement laws to making voting harder? Should be fun to see!