Author: DefeatingTheCurse

If you have been listening to the DTC podcast with any regularity over the past months you know how we feel about ESPN… you also know how we feel about people who are in a constant state of “I’m offended” with or without cause. Earlier this week, ESPN pulled a game announcer from his assignment this weekend in Charlottesville Virginia where he was to call the college football game between the University of Virginia and William and Mary. Now, that on its own is not news. Game assignments change all the time but leave it to ESPN to turn non-news into national-news by issuing this absurd original statement [below] about the game announcer Robert Lee pictured on the left; not to be confused with Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General.

ESPN statement reads in part:

Now would anyone, of logical and sound mind, confuse the Asian man pictured above with the Confederate General? It would take some really serious mojo to someone conclude that Robert Lee was an ancestor of General Lee, or that his parents were so found of the General that they named their son after him. Just please let this just sink in for a moment, how could ANYONE be offended by someones name and furthermore who would they ask for an apology? Would the triggered nut-bags of mostly left-leaning ideology demand Robert Lee the Asian to change his name? This is literally the most absurd actual news story that reads like something out of the Onion. But this is the current state of ESPN… here is a clip of DTC host Joe on the CBS DC show OffScript talking about this exact issue earlier this week…

http://interactive.tegna-media.com/video/embed/embed.html?id=2698869&type=video&title=#OffScriptOn9:%20Announcer%20Robert%20Lee%20won’t%20work%20Va.%20game&site=65&playerid=6918249996581&dfpid=32805352&dfpposition=Video_prestream_external§ion=home

ESPN has now been nicknamed MSESPN for the better part of all of 2017 and the reasons just keep on becoming more and more apparent. The network that raised so many of us on sports highlights has now shifted and continues to try to use its sports-base-appeal to further left/liberal points of views. Don’t believe me… here is a short list.

2014 – Michael Sam, openly gay player, drafted into the NFL by the St. Louis Rams. ESPN had to make sure everyone knew his name leading up to the draft, put a camera in his house on draft day to hopefully catch a kiss to his boyfriend (to prove they are inclusive) then had a camera crew on him every single day after he was drafted. The talking heads praised him and hailed him as a hero… but there was one big problem, he was horrible at football and ended up being cut. After that the tide shifted and it became all about how he was being treated unfairly because he was gay. Nothing like having ESPN run to your aid to pressure employers to employee you when you aren’t good at your job. ESPN covered Sam as if it was the only sports story of the year… people noticed. People got fed up by turning on an sports channel and hearing constant political banter about a gay man blaming his lack of skill on others.

2015 – Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner awarded Arthur Ash Courage Award at ESPN ESPY show. Man becomes woman wins award. Don’t think I missed anything here, except all the other logical and more appropriate recipients of this once prestigious award. Leave it to ESPN to not award the courage award to Lauren Hill who at 19 years old overcame an inoperable brain tumor to achieve her dream and play college basketball while raising money for cancer research. She died two months before the ESPYs; or Iraqi war veteran Noah Galloway who lost two limbs but continues to enter physical competitions and even Dancing with the Stars! Either of these two options would have been better than the nonsense ESPN decided, we the people needed, which was a man dressed as a woman, crying about his extravagant and wealthy life has been unfair and thus he deserves an award… please.

2016 – Colin Kaepernick decides standing for the National Anthem was the wrong thing to do and to raise awareness he will sit or kneel until police forces nationwide stop, eh, working? No, I remember he will sit down during the anthem to allow for more dialogue between black people and police officers? Honestly not really sure because it changed so many times. The highlight of every 49ers game on ESPN started with Kap taking a knee or sitting, discussing which players joined him, and how other players reacted around the league and on social media, quick actual game highlights, then interview Kap about what kneeling means to him which is where we learned things such as he feels the “system is broken” and “black people are targeted by white police officers.” (Both completely untrue of course.) But the highlight for me was after weeks (and weeks) of Kap taking a knee and talking about social issues, and things needing to change, and the importance of dialogue and involvement in local politics, he decides to NOT vote and then doesn’t understand why normal, average fans turned on him in a second.. assuming they hadn’t when he started sitting during the NATIONAL ANTHEM. But this story doesn’t end with Kap getting caught. It has continued into 2017 where ESPN pushes for him seemingly on every show, every day, all the time. If he was talented, he would be employed. But frankly how many fan bases coast to coast are SO left leaning that they would embrace someone sitting during the National Anthem. Football is a blue collar sport where more people attend in the elements than in the suites but ESPN refuses to acknowledge that and continues to push their elitist agenda.

And now we have Robert Lee, the asian, being reassigned by ESPN because they didn’t want people to be offended by a man, asian man, named Robert Lee, calling a game at UVA a few weeks after rioters demanded that confederate general Robert E Lee be removed from the quad. Makes sense right? Of course not. Instead of letting him do his job or re-assigning him quietly behind the scenes they do it publicly and everyone picks up the story and calls them on their horrible decision making yet again. The real question is what did ESPN expect to happen and the answer is they expected the left to give them a golf clap and bravo for being “aware” but that may be a limited view of reality… by in large fans of college and professional football are not left leaning and to them this is absurd, stupid, dumb, and raises eyebrows as to why would they do something like this…

The answer is either ESPN has a political agenda ESPN thinks you, the viewer, are too stupid to tell the difference between an Asian man and a white Confederate General who has been dead since 1870.

NFL owners were so close! After an entire spring and summer of one owner after another speaking about the negative impact of potentially signing Colin Kaepernick, owners thought they had done away with the issue altogether. After all, training camps had begun and lesser quarterbacks such as Ryan Fitzpatrick and Case Keenum had received invites, but not Kaepernick. Then the preseason began with the backdrop of the events happening in Charlottesville clouding the political landscape. Suddenly, there was no escaping the tension and divide in America today. After all, it was that tension stemming for policy brutality against young African American males that spurred Kaepernick to protest in the first place. Mershawn Lynch sat during the anthem, then it was Michael Bennett, then in week two countless players expressed themselves and their displeasure in various forms with the racial tension today.

All of a sudden, NFL players were back to being asked questions about Kaepernick, but not just his stance. When asked about why more players haven’t protested, Bennett’s brother, Martellus said, “They fear for their jobs, they fear for their well-being,” keenly aware of how various protests might silently lead to players losing their jobs. Pittsburgh Steeler Cameron Heyward, speaking regarding why Kaepernick hasn’t been signed, “Among players, we want him back in this league. I don’t think anybody is trying to keep him out of the league as a player. He’s a heck of a talent. He played in the Super Bowl. It’s crazy to think that guy doesn’t have a job.” Now again it seems that the NFL has another PR issue on their hands.

Where does this leave the NFL? One word: vulnerable. This preseason, not only have the protests continued, but countless NFL stars have been involved in various forms of protests. Moreover, white NFL players have joined their teammates in their shows of protests around the NFL. From Chris Long to superstar quarterback Derek Carr putting his arm around a protesting Khalil Mack, the protests have expanded all across the country. While Carr said he was merely showing his love for a teammate, it’s hard not to see his action as a show of support for not just Mack’s protest, but all those protesting around the league.

After conducting research to figure out the reason for the drop in attendance and viewership last season and determining that the National Anthem protests were part of the reason, the NFL tried to rid itself of the Kaepernick issue “organically”. When a respected owner like John Mara speaks on his own regarding Kaepernick and says, “All my years being in the league, I never received more emotional mail from people than I did about that issue….If any of your players ever do that, we are never coming to another Giants game.” This is the owner of the same organization that employed Josh Brown, a kicker with several counts of sexual assault and domestic violence.

When someone such as Mara speaks those words, other owners take notice and whether or not they’ll admit it, they defiantly took a stance against Kaepernick and his actions. They thought they had sent a clear message to the rest of the players in the league, but the continued racial tension has prevented the players from heeding the message as much as was expected by the owners. A league that is already dealing with the backlash from CTE studies, a sometimes chilling response to domestic violence issues, and numerous other issues could ill afford another PR nightmare such as these acts of protests. It will be interesting to see how that affects the NFL this year. The league and its owners can no longer ignore this issue and hope that it goes away. With an ever-changing social landscape, continued silence on such important justice and ethical issues might be the beginning of the end for the league as we know it.