Professional teams in all four major U.S. sports—baseball, basketball, football and hockey—have all gone woke over the last few months. As the Too Long Flu has shut down everything except mostly peaceful anarchy, American sports have decided that the only fans who matter are those that embrace Black Lives MatterTM or “black lives matter.”
The NBA resumed play last month with “Black Lives Matter” painted on the court, allowed players to substitute social justice messages on the back of their jerseys in place of their last names, and knelt for the national anthem. They’ve also committed $300 million over ten years to empower black communities economically through education and youth employment through the newly formed NBA Foundation.
Baseball’s shortened season opened with “BLM” stenciled on mounds across the league and players knelt during the national anthem. Major League Baseball has committed to donating $1 million “to groups supporting Black Lives Matter: the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Equal Justice Initiative, Color of Change, Campaign Zero and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.”
The NHL, now in post-season, seemed to have an impenetrable wall against social justice virtue signaling. All that changed on August 1 when Filipino-Canadian Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Timberwolves became the first hockey player to kneel during the American national anthem. Players will wear “#WeSkateFor Equality” or “#WeSkateForBlackLives” helmet decals. Current and former NHL players recently formed the Hockey Diversity Alliance, which will focus on youth and community engagement.
Football is where the wokeness in major league sports got its start. Colin Kaepernick (dunked on by Matt Walsh, above), a mediocre, fading talent with the San Francisco 49ers, began kneeling during the national anthem four years ago. Fast forward to last month when Dan Snyder, who owns the Washington Redskins, caved to social justice warriors and changed the team’s name to “Washington Football Team” for the 2020 season. When the NFL season kicks off, all teams will play “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (the so-called “black anthem”) ahead of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before every Week 1 game across the league.
Having two anthems played before the game will unite us for sure!
No one watches professional sports for the social activism. Sports are competitions showcasing our top athletes who exhibit their athleticism, strategy, and drive to win. We reward them with hefty contracts, appearances on national media and apparel sales. Sports are (or were) one of the common cultural experiences that men and women of all colors and backgrounds could enjoy together.
But the focus on black lives and the in-your-face lectures fans now get is only deepening the divide in our country. Major league sports (and other professional sports like NASCAR and the WNBA) have chosen not to stay neutral, but to pick a side, necessarily pitting those who support BLM activism against those who don’t.
Since the bottom line in sports is advertising money, major leagues sports must be reading the tea leaves and have decided that “all our future is belong to BLM” (classic reference here). The choice of major league sports to become social justice platforms implicitly tells those who disagree that they don’t matter to them. Our viewpoint doesn’t matter, our money doesn’t matter, and our loyalty doesn’t matter. Either that, or they think we are so addicted to the sport that we won’t leave.
But the majority of those who enjoy sports as a pastime will have no problem giving them up. Sports are a diversion, an amusement, a leisure activity. They are the equivalent of a favorite dish or a car or a hobby. In other words, they aren’t a necessity. Nobody needs sports. I can easily live my life—and frankly, have occasionally lived my life—without watching or otherwise paying attention to sports.
When you put your pet cause up against my country in the form of kneeling during the national anthem, you’ve lost me. When you implicitly accuse me of being something I’m not, you’ve lost me. When you make more money in your short years as a professional athlete than I’ll ever see in my lifetime and complain about oppression—you’ve lost me. Every time.
The worst part? Sports are now one more traditional American bond that is being pried apart by the cultural Marxists. They have weaponized our national pastimes in their quest to destroy this great country—and league commissioners and owners have allowed themselves to be co-opted in its destruction.
So, I’ll see you professional sports. I’ve got some preparing to do.