Pay-to-Play

<blockquote class=”imgur-embed-pub” lang=”en” data-id=”LPvj0vQ”><a href=”//imgur.com/LPvj0vQ”>Carolina's field as of Friday morning</a></blockquote><script async src=”//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

I love the NFL.

 

And I love my country.

 

I love the NFL despite so many look-the-other-way failures on <a href=https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/health/cte-nfl-players-brains-study/index.html>CTE</a> and <a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/sports/football/ray-rice-video-shows-punch-and-raises-new-questions-for-nfl.html”>domestic violence</a>. I should abandon the game on principle based on these two issues alone.

 

But I have watched NFL football on every Sunday (and beyond) of my life, and I can’t bring myself to quit it…

 

I love my country, warts and all, ESPECIALLY because I am granted the right to voice grievances about those warts. Even when it comes to the NFL.

 

I first noticed the trend early yesterday (11/04/18) during Steelers at Ravens (Pittsburgh Quarterback Ben Roethlesberger, himself no stranger to <a href=” http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/16/roethlisberger.incident/index.html”>untoward accusations</a> vs. Baltimore, where the brilliant linebacker and possible <a href=” https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/08/04/ray-lewis-hall-fame-weekend-atlanta-murders”>accessory to murder</a> Ray Lewis played – great story lines for TMZ). All sideline coaches seemed to be wearing ridiculous pseudo-military garb, and many players conveniently had military insignia on the back of their helmets. Hmm….

 

Fast-forward to Rams at Saints. New Orleans normally wears enough benevolence on its sleeves (the team wears a patch honoring the late team owner <a href” https://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2018/08/saints_tom_benson_patch.html”>Tom Benson</a>, while Quarterback Drew Brees proudly and deservedly wears his own <a href=” http://www.nfl.com/manoftheyear”>Walter Payton Man of the Year Award</a> patch), but every sideline coach of both teams was again ensconced in this pseudo-military panoply.

 

That was when I remembered <a href=” https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a39505/nfl-paid-patriotism/”>this</a> expose.

 

The Pentagon has paid millions of our tax dollars for pro-military displays to be sewn whole-cloth into our NFL (and etc.) games.

 

This is egregious advertising on our dime. The fact that this occurred two days before the election is, I suspect, not coincidental.

 

The subtle message: if you support the NFL, you support the troops (never mind that many NFL coaches/players never served) and if you support the troops you support the policy (never mind the <a href=” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/21/tammy-duckworth-iraq-vet-calls-trump-cadet-bone-spurs.html”>bone spur deferments</a> from on high).

 

As I have <a href=” http://reverbpress.com/politics/gop-slashes-veterans-benefits-because-support-the-troops/”>stated</a>, I think “Support The Troops” is one of the most banal, empty-headed slogans ever drudged up. I resent having my tax dollars spent promoting policies that I might not agree with, and then having my patriotism questioned as a result of questioning said policies.

 

Welcome to the New NFL. Nothing but pay-to-play “Patriotism” and a blind-eye toward real-world issues.

 

I really should protest. I really should walk away. In protest. Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have cable for tonight’s Tennessee/Dallas showdown (never mind that I hate Dallas…and 3-4 team vs. 3-4 team…..and……)

 

In 2015, at age 42, Brian Westbye returned to the University of Maine at Augusta, after 20 years, to complete his Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Contemporary Music: Sonic Arts (i.e. audio recording and filmmaking). A failed corporate drone, he is feverishly recording a solo record at home, creating films from scratch, penning op-ed, memoir, fiction and poetry, and working on his first book, a memoir ode to The Great American Road Trip and the great American midlife crisis. World domination will follow.

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