BLM Floored

[ERAChamp]

Really been encouraged lately that athletes, especially college athletes, that have found a voice and realize they have more power than they knew they had before. I hope they continue to use their platform to make voices heard on important issues. Sports shouldn't just be a place where people go to forget about the outside world, because those issues affect the athletes too and they have every right to speak up on them.

The NBA basically responded to the COVID-19 pandemic better than the federal government, and they've done a good job of speaking out on social issues as well.

That's your opinion and your entitled to it. I happen to disagree and think the long term impact on these leagues will be far reaching and negative.

As far as the NBA is concerned on social issues - as long as it fits their narrative. If I remember correctly they have been SILENT on anything dealing with their golden goose - China. Remember what happened when there was a tweet, a TWEET about supporting the Hong Kong protesters - that got shut down IMMEDIATELY and apologies were issued.

[knowitall]

What are all these fans going to do now with their freetime if they aren't sitting in front of their TV all day and night watching sports?

But what about China? Give us all a break.

[abpk2903]

I will never take "social injustice" protesting seriously from players, leagues, and organizations that receive funding from China or shoe/apparel deals from large companies that use slave labor to make their products.

What a friggin' joke. Actions speak louder than words and in the case of Nike athletes, money speaks louder than action. How can you in good conscience take a shoe deal from Nike then speak out against social injustice? It blows my mind.

I think we have always "overestimated" the voice that pro athletes have. Look, I have been a huge sports fan my entire life but I have not once been influenced socially, politically, or religiously by the views of an athlete. I really don't care. I watch them for entertainment and once the game ends frankly could care less. I think the majority of sport fans probably really feel the same way.

Let me ask you this...let's say you absolutely hate Trump. Would the best player on your favorite team saying after the next game "I support Trump" really make you change your vote or views?

We also tend to forget that just 40-50 years ago most pro athletes struggled to earn a full-time wage playing a pro-sport. They had to ride charter buses or trains from city to city. Stay in the mid-grade hotel rooms. Leave their families completely behind for a large portion of the season. I think we could go back to that type of situation a lot faster than we realize.

1) Revenue streams got completely away from ticket sales and they really can't go back making that the bulk revenue stream ever again. Many stadiums are reducing capacity and still having a hard time even meeting black-out requirements.

2) TV money became the bell-cow but cable subscriptions are declining at a unimaginable rate. ESPN, for instance, is losing 4-5% of their subscriber base per QUARTER. They have lost 62% of their year over year viewer audience from April 2019-April 2020. I tend to believe as more people suffer from COVID related budget restraints even more people/bars/etc. will "cut the cord." Will major sporting events still be televised, sure but I think the days of cable companies parking a convoy on Brinks trucks outside these league offices in order to get the broadcasting rights may be over.

3) A lot of the merchandise sales are for people to attend the game. I for one know that I spend hundreds of dollars per year on clothing just to attend 7 Penn State football games per year. How many times have you went out to buy a shirt/jersey/jacket/hoodie before attending a live event? Go to a big tailgate at a college football or NFL game and look around at how much money was spend on merchandise. They are going to lose a large portion of that until they get fans back in the stands.

4) Corporations aren't going to spend huge marketing budgets for a stadium that is sitting mostly empty or for an ad on TV when viewership is at record lows.

[ERAChamp]

What are all these fans going to do now with their freetime if they aren't sitting in front of their TV all day and night watching sports?

But what about China? Give us all a break.

C'mon man, with all our free time now - we're out protesting.

[konjo78]

The players have a voice and i think it does have an affect on some people, not everyone or a majority but for some it does. Thats why its extremely important when you speak/stand up in regards to something it needs to be researched and thought out precisely as they do have influence. This Jacob Blake situation highlights the damage that can be done wirh you voice up without going over the full details of the situation, and when you say things like we need to do extreme things to make people listen, you are somewhat guilty of inspiring some of these riots.

For me its not a problem they are speaking out, more that the issue they are presenting is a false one and only creates more division/hate because of pushing forward that falsehood

[Crimson's Ghost]

If I turned my back to the cops, I wouldn't be shot seven times.

I don't think there's a falsehood of facts about what NBA players are upset about.

[konjo78]

If I turned my back to the cops, I wouldn't be shot seven times.

I don't think there's a falsehood of facts about what NBA players are upset about.

If you were known to be armed, had a violent record, werent able to be stopped by tazers or physical methods, and reached into a car you probably would. Hence why white, and people of all races are killed by the police.

[ERAChamp]

If I turned my back to the cops, I wouldn't be shot seven times.

I don't think there's a falsehood of facts about what NBA players are upset about.

I don't think you have an active arrest warrant either.

[abpk2903]

C'mon man. You're a bright guy. Are you really going to summarize that entire event to "if I turned my back to the cops?" Reform needs to happen but when people generalize like this nobody takes it seriously.

Let me ask you this, let's say the person you are closest to (child, parent, sibling, spouse, etc.) is the cop in that very situation. At what point would you want them to protect themselves? If they waited until they identified whatever he was grabbing at under the seat, it quite possibly is too late. The cops in that situation did a bad job but the victim in that situation did a bad job. If either one of them (cops or suspect) had any respect for the other person, this would not have happened.

Law enforcement has definitely earned most of the reputation that they have. At the same time, society needs someone to enforce law and order. They need someone to defend public from the most dangerous of our society. What do we do? I have advocated for a long time drug law reform. It would fix A LOT of these issues. It will immensely cut into the revenue source of many criminal organizations, it will greatly reduce the number of police encounters (which ultimately leads to more police shootings/killings), it will free up our court and prison systems, it will somewhat bandaid the failing family structure of inner cities, it will reduce the need for immigration visas for the need of labor due to less imprisoned Americans, and much, much more.

We can also start to pay police officers a fair wage. A higher wage leads to more candidates. More candidates leads better qualified hires. Better qualified hires leads less "bad cops." The number of bad cops will never be zero but we can definitely do better than we are today. Who in their right mind would become a Baltimore City Police officer with a starting wage of $42,000? Or a NYC police officer with a starting wage of $47,000? You can't live within 2 hours of NYC for $47,000. A livable police wage also will cut down on police corruption.

At the end of the day, until every reasonable, sane American says "I have got to be better, I am going to be a better person." Expecting others to change while not doing your part does nothing. If everyone just said "today I am going to do everything I can to treat everyone I come across with respect" things would change. But the problem is everyone wants to have change by blaming just the other side of their viewpoint. That is not ever going to work.

[Crimson's Ghost]

All fair points. So that's why it isn't or shouldn't be #DefundThePolice it should be let's #ReformThePolice. They can change tactics, they can train better, they can find more qualified candidates etc.

I'm all for deescalation until you can't, but we're seeing that just isn't happening in some of these scenarios.


I think it sucks that if you are black at some point when you're young your parents have to tell you to be careful around law enforcement. I didn't get that talk growing up.