DANTE’S INFERNO, USA – Wow! A lot has been going on in the world lately, eh? COVID 19 seems like small potatoes compared to all the other stuff happening. 
Don’t ya think? Well, I’m here to follow up on my brothers-in-arms, Junoir Blaber and Buddy Diaz’s comments and defy Management (Short Matt said white guys should zip it) and speak my piece on all the crap going on and let you know How Sports Can Save the World…
First off, I am a white guy. There is very little disputing that. My parents are white, my wife is white and my kids are white. However, being a certain age I was in college and grew into the person I am today during a different era- the 90’s. I remember when in high school in the 80’s we looked back at the 60’s like this era that we all missed out on – peace and love and free love and sex and drugs and Rock-n-Roll and all that. It’s true. But the 90’s offered a different promise to me; one of cultural unity. When I arrived at college in Southern California in the fall of ’88, the people I associated with were latter day hippies. They listened to the Grateful Dead and pretended the Summer of Love was still a thing. Then 1989 happened and things started to change. The music moved from 1960’s relics into music of the present. The Golden Era of Hip Hop was upon us and I soaked it up and appreciated it all. I heard new voices that opened my eyes, from Chuck D of Public Enemy, KRS–One, the Teacher and Ice Cube and the mighty NWA. Chuck D called rap music black people’s CNN and as an avid news junkie I took it all in like a sponge. It changed my perspective on the world and it still resonates with me to the day.
Now the sports angle… One my favorite sports movies is Remember the Titans. It makes me cry every time. If you are not familiar with it, it’s the story a football team in the south that is forced to have a black head coach and an integrated team for the first time in its history. At first the white players and black players divide along racial lines but are then forced by the new coach (Denzel Washington) to room with a member of the other race and things begin to change. Soon the team finds its identity and becomes undefeated and unifies the town like never before. The scene where a couple of black players are approached by a police officer and are at first fearful – then relieved – when the cop commends them on their amazing defense this year.
Okay, now here’s how I tie this in to the current situation our country finds itself in and How Sports Can Save the World. I am sure they won’t do it, though, because they are too steeped in the dogma of yesteryear.
First – The NFL needs to apologize to Colin Kaepernick on live TV and say, “Sorry dude, we were wrong. We know you weren’t disrespecting the flag and you were trying to point out to us what we all now see. And now we will announce you will no longer be blackballed from the league and get a fair shot.”
The team that should sign him – in my opinion – should be Angry Ward’s own Minnesota Vikings. Every fan of that team hates Kirk Cousins and would welcome a replacement. Kaep needs to be that guy. The team is built to win now and would benefit from his style of play being inserted in the offensive scheme. I see them going on a run and beating the Tom Brady Bucaneers in the playoffs and facing either the Chiefs or Ravens in the Super Bowl. Knowing the Vikings, they will still probably lose but like the Bad News Bears, it wouldn’t matter that they are runners up. America would win.
This is all a pipe dream fantasy and it’s hard for me to see Roger Goodell eating crow and admitting what a jackass he has been, but if not dreams what else do we have now?
Add your comments below and come back tomorrow for Short Matt’s rebuttal that as a white guy I should shut the hell up. But F him.
