Explain this to me.. professional sports...

[RevolverRob]

I'm good with them voicing their opinions on their own time, but when they refuse to do their jobs as some sort of demonstration of the virtue of their opinions, I can't help but look at them sideways. If I flat-out refused to work because of a political issue, my employer would let me go right quick, and they like me A LOT.

For just you to do that, yes. But if all of the employees refuse to work over a political issue, we call that a 'strike'. And your management would be forced to help resolve the issue OR fire all of you and hire new employees. I mean, that's ultimately the situation here, right? The owners of pro sports teams are incapable of playing the sport themselves. As a result, they're a bit over the barrel with respect to their employees. Sucks to be a billionaire team owner, I guess.

I'll remind folks too - professional sports, in particular, have been politicized for more than a century. We're talking about something that was once solely pursued by elite heads of state. That transformed and sports have become a vector of change that now stratifies across class lines and blurs them. From Jack Johnson to NBA Boycotts today - if we think our sports have been apolitical this whole time - we haven't been paying attention.

[trailrunner]

Early on I was a bit bummed at all the revelations: Tyler Hamilton (seriously? chymera? that's your defense?) Floyd "One Beer" Landis. Beloki, Ulrich, etc. And of course, Lance "We Might As Well Win" Armstrong finally admitting he doped like everyone else. I came to my own personal revelation though... our heroes are not perfect. And at the end of the day, in the sport of professional cycling and at that time, nearly everyone at the top was doping. Who's to say the field wasn't "level" because of that. The battles were still fought by men, with heart and guts to push themselves beyond what mere mortals could do. Lance still won 7 tours against his doping peers. Floyd still pulled off the mother of all breakaways (seriously, I was watching that and was on the edge of my seat, practically jumping up and down as that stage ended.) Tyler still rode like a god with a broken collarbone.

I'm a little sympathetic to everyone except Armstrong. He was an ass, and he was an ass about doping. I was neutral on him until he bullied Simeoni and trashed Betsy Andreau. Turns out that was the tip of the iceberg. The only reason he admitted to doping was because there was overwhelming evidence and he had already lost all his sponsorships. At that point, there was nothing else to lose, and admitting it was just a chance to get some airtime and start spinning a new message about his road to redemption.

[BobLoblaw]

I miss the old days when a player would mosey off the reservation only to have his coach screaming in his face to unfuck himself and keep his head in the game. Their lives revolved around the sport and that's what made it interesting. Their identity was being a winner. Pro athletes now identify as being moral authorities with a day job playing sports. They're catty teenage girls in giant meat vehicles.

Furthermore, if a player says something that goes against the woke current, they get beat into submission by their own teammates (as we saw with Drew Brees). Maybe the woke audience can keep the lights on but I see a slow and steady decline.

[Joe in PNG]

Here's another thing- how many young people are basically ruined for life because they're almost, but not quite good enough for the pros? How many young people blow off classes because they are 'on the team', and then, after they graduate, that big chance doesn't arrive. For every Lebron you have hundreds of good enough, but not star quality players leaving school, but have nothing.

[JRB]

Here's another thing- how many young people are basically ruined for life because they're almost, but not quite good enough for the pros? How many young people blow off classes because they are 'on the team', and then, after they graduate, that big chance doesn't arrive. For every Lebron you have hundreds of good enough, but not star quality players leaving school, but have nothing.

I can't help but think of that old saying to the effect of 'yous pays your money, and yous takes your chances'.

What about all the countless small business owners that have lost everything because of COVID protocols and rules? What about Service Members that raise their right hand as teenagers for college money and come back from some desert shithole as a teenage paraplegic or amputee, or not at all? Life is NOT fair, and it never will be.

I find it incredibly difficult to feel sorry for anyone foolish enough to neglect their paid-for education and other opportunities to bet their future on a sports career.

[RJ]

Calling for Hollywood to join in.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainm...f-jacob-blake/

"Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors has demanded that the entertainment industry go on strike in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, arguing that “Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

“I think it’s time for talent, writers, executives, the guild and SAG to show up for Black lives as well,” Cullors said. “Join this strike. Now is the time and our movement is really looking to unions to step in in a particular way and say ‘We’re going to hold back on allowing for the exploitation and the degradation of Black communities to continue under our watch.’ I think Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

[Joe in PNG]

I can't help but think of that old saying to the effect of 'yous pays your money, and yous takes your chances'.

What about all the countless small business owners that have lost everything because of COVID protocols and rules? What about Service Members that raise their right hand as teenagers for college money and come back from some desert shithole as a teenage paraplegic or amputee, or not at all? Life is NOT fair, and it never will be.

I find it incredibly difficult to feel sorry for anyone foolish enough to neglect their paid-for education and other opportunities to bet their future on a sports career.

Different set of circumstances. Staking your future on a pro sports career is a whole lot different, with far worse odds, than opening a small business.
For every person who plays on a team, maybe one is good enough to go on to play in college with a full scholarship. And of all the people who play on college teams, maybe 2% of them go on to the pros. So, really really bad odds.

And let's face it- young people, for the most part, tend to not really be that good at decision making, nor do a lot of them have realistic goals, realistic aims, realistic view of how the world works, or a realistic view their own talents and abilities. But how many of them will get a heart to heart talk from the coach telling them "kid, you're just okay at this, but college is probably going to be as far as you're going to go, if that. Maybe you should concentrate on studying more?"

[Doug]

Calling for Hollywood to join in.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainm...f-jacob-blake/

"Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors has demanded that the entertainment industry go on strike in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake, arguing that “Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

“I think it’s time for talent, writers, executives, the guild and SAG to show up for Black lives as well,” Cullors said. “Join this strike. Now is the time and our movement is really looking to unions to step in in a particular way and say ‘We’re going to hold back on allowing for the exploitation and the degradation of Black communities to continue under our watch.’ I think Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

Most of the stuff put out now is unwatchable, at least to me.

While we are at it, why don’t most of the content creators on TikTok go on strike too.

[Shoresy]

Most of the stuff put out now is unwatchable, at least to me.

While we are at it, why don’t most of the content creators on TikTok go on strike too.

Just when I think I've seen the most vapid crap possible, the entertainment industry manages to dig a bit deeper. I'd be impressed if I wasn't so busy cringing at the garbage they can create. Just last night I came across this. Based on the trailer, it's exactly as bad as one would expect.

On a similar note I quit watching pro sports back in college (late 2000s) due to lack of time, and very little I've seen since then encourages me to start watching again.

[RoyGBiv]

It would be seriously awesome if the dream of making megabucks dribbling the rock got completely nuked, all those self aggrandized pseudo celebrities went to work for McDonald's, and kids came to understand that the only guaranteed way to improve your station in life was through education.