© 2016 Jim Spence - There is an old saying. Don’t get into a pissing contest
with a skunk. You both will get hit, and the skunk will like it.
For several decades the GOP found itself in battle with progressive
skunks. GOP politicians have never quite known how to deal with them, since
outside of Fox News the progressive skunks have thousands of friends in the
media. In short, these progressive bullies have gotten their way in America for
some time now with very few cultural victories had by those who dare to
challenge them.
Along comes Donald Trump. The first thing Trump did in his new
career as a politician last year was to engage in high profile pissing contests
with Republican candidates. Both Trump and his targets seem to have gotten hit,
but Trump liked it and he won easily. Not sure? Just ask Jeb Bush.
Before we explore the latest pissing contest between Trump
and NFL players and teams who held the mistaken notion they could get political
at football games without being called out, there are some things about the NFL
that most people do not know. The NFL made a deal with Obama’s Defense
Department a few years back to “Support the Troops.” The Defense Department
handed over tens of millions of dollars to NFL owners to “stage shows” of their
patriotism in the hopes for the D.O.D. that it would be easier to recruit. Before these deals
were made, many NFL teams stayed inside during the playing of the national anthem to talk
strategy. However, once the taxpayer money went into NFL coffers, the NFL made it
mandatory that every player be on the field during the anthem. Essentially, the
NFL sold images of players applauding military heroes, who were introduced
prior to the anthem. So.......just in case you think the NFL decided to be a little more
patriotic on its own, think again. They got paid to put on a show. And a
portion of this money ultimately made its way into the pockets of the players
in the revenue sharing deals their union made with the owners. Only in America can you sell
faux patriotism at an enormous profit.
If there is one thing that we can all agree on it is this: Trump
loves to fight. And the NFL, which wanted to have things both ways, finally got
called out on its incredible hypocrisy. Trump, like many of us, became disgusted with the politicizing of
football. But unlike the rest of us, Trump is in a position to expose the way
in which the players and the teams wanted to litigate their partisan politics right before kickoffs.
The clueless NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and about 150 clueless players took the bait
yesterday. However, not every player took the bait. It seems that Pittsburgh
Steeler coach Mike Tomlin wanted every Steeler to stay in the locker room
yesterday to avoid the "appearance" of being involved in a pissing contest. It was sort of a pissing, without actually claiming you are pissing sort of strategy. Tomlin wanted to do a passive-aggressive piss at the
national anthem, if you will. Apparently, the consensus to do this was REJECTED by U.S. Army veteran Alejandro Villanueva. Villanueva, a Steeler, was not having any of it.
The three Afghanistan-tour veteran left the Steeler locker room by himself, and
stood visibly in the tunnel with his hand over his heart while the anthem
played. The image was startling and not at all what the would be pissers in the NFL
wanted to see. It was however, precisely what pisser in Chief Trump wanted to
see. The progressive Democrat media is going berserk with this battle as is Fox.
Rest assured Trump is going to win this tussle. The NFL was already
suffering from declining ratings thanks to its politicizing. Now the NFL finds that the spotlight
is shining brightly on what they have been doing. And instead of the players finding more appropriate forums for expressing their political views,
they have doubled down on stupidity with more than 150 scurrying out into the
open.
Watch how free markets work here. Contrary to what the players think, nobody “has to” watch the NFL
games and nobody “has to” buy a ticket to watch them live. The markets are about to teach the NFL that it is not “entitled”
to scoop billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy. Instead, the NFL must re-earn
customer loyalty. Predictions?
Watch for season ticket sales to plummet next year. Watch for
advertisers to re-think the bloated prices they have to pay to align themselves
with the NFL, a venue that is starting to reek. Ad prices on NFL games are going to plunge followed by bids for rights to broadcast the games.
Something about the
NFL was starting to stink last year. We all thought it was just Colin Kaepernick. The stench spread. And now the entire NFL, minus Alejandro Villaneuva, smells like a skunk. It would seem that the NFL has chosen to get into a pissing contest with a skunk.
Avoid pissing contests with skunks
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