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From a reader:
"Don't Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater" I've heard that a lot in my lifetime. It's great advice. So is "Act in haste, repent at leisure." Often they go hand in hand. What sounds great at first has unintended consequences. It's better to think things over before reacting strongly.
This weekend I heard and read a lot of heated rhetoric promoting a boycott of the NFL due to the actions of Colin Kaepernick. Seems like a lot of people want the entire NFL held responsible and economically punished for the actions of Mr. Kaepernick and his supporters.
I'd encourage those people to check out the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh game this weekend (CBS). During the Anthem, watch the Steeler's #78. He's 6' 9" and north of 325lbs.He's kind of hard to miss. He'll have his hand over his heart and he will sing every word. See,# 78 is Alejandro Villanueva. Born on a military base in Meridian, Ms.to Spanish parents, his father was there with NATO so AV was born a US citizen. He grew to love his country. He graduated from West Point and served 3 tours of duty in Afghanistan. He was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor for rescuing wounded members of his squad. After fulfilling his military obligation, he looked to return to football. He'd played receiver, tight end, offensive tackle at West Point. The Eagles gave him a chance to play d line but cut him. Pittsburgh picked him up as an offensive tackle project. AV just wanted to play. Since 2014 he's moved from practice squad to back up to starting left tackle. He makes around $500k, extremely low for a starting tackle. It's less than 5% of what Kaepernick makes. Is it fair? Is life? AV will tell you that he lives in the greatest country on God's earth. And that he plays where the best of the best perform.
There are approximately 2000 young men playing in the NFL. Most are decent people. Don't believe me? Ask most any charity in any NFL city if the players contribute time and money. Check their web sites to see what causes they support. It might surprise you. What surprises me is the level of animosity directed at the entire NFL. I don't remember seeing or hearing calls to boycott college football when the Baylor scandal broke. So why the hatred for NFL? It makes no sense to me. Maybe someone can explain it to me. But anyone trying to throw AV out with the bathwater is probably going to end up with a hernia.
John A. Nutbrown
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We have had two writers weigh in on Colin Kaepernick, so we'll offer our opinion. Kaepernick knows as much about the plight of black Americans as we at Shoalanda do. Can you say "tempest in a Gatorade bottle?"
We're reminded of a blog from 2014; scroll down to #5 in the Gang Signs category:
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As we publish this, Robert DeShawn Childers has been missing for four and one-half days. Unless he's with someone. he has no food. We ask that our readers continue to look out for any sign of Shawn.
We had one reader who questioned our opinion of Leroy Darby. In case there is doubt...
There are potentially....15,000-odd social agendas possible in the US. So, you could be sitting there and watching tens of thousands of "codes" or "signals" each week as various players hype their social agenda against such-and-such. Personally, if some marginal player is making $300,000 a year as a back-up defensive player....I think he ought to be there at the game and focused on his best game. If his thing is to hype some social agenda, I doubt that he's really concentrating on the game or focusing. And at the end of all this "on-knee" business or sitting....what exactly does this do? Is there anything accomplished of value? Seems to me that the only agenda you really need is a "vote-the-idiots-out" agenda, and dump whoever is in charge....republican or democrat. But maybe I'm being too logical.
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