WATCHING SPORTS that great escape from the problems of the world!

As a young man in the 60’s and early 70’s I enjoyed breaking up the monotony of everyday life by playing and watching sports. I know I’m not alone in that.

Buried in homework some weekend? Depending on the season I would get a few games of baseball, football, basketball, or hockey in with the neighborhood gang before I would “give in to the books.” We’d play with 4 or more on a team and make “ground rules” to make it work- Right field is out for baseball, 5000 count before rushing in football etc.

My dad loved to watch baseball and college football, but we were sports nuts and would watch whatever we could that was even remotely related to competition. I loved to watch the Wide World of Sports that had everything from demolition derbies to ice skate barrel jumping and ski jumping. Sports was the great escape from the cares of the everyday world, whatever those cares were. My dad would watch baseball to forget about his worries at work. I would watch to forget about the problems I was having with Ms. Heatherly, my 4th grade teacher.

Sports remained my great escape. After I married and my family grew I had to stop playing, but I kept watching. Now I was watching my daughter’s play basketball, run cross country and play softball. My boys played basketball, football, baseball and wrestled. We’d sit together and watch all the sports we could on TV and live. The Bull’s dynasty in the 90’s was like a taste of heaven.

Things started to change though. In 2016 Colin Kapernick started protesting by sitting at first and then kneeling. during the National Anthem.

Let me say first that he has every right to peacefully protest.

Fans also have a right to their opinions; I think that has been lost in this. It is not a violation of anyone’s rights to disagree!

From the beginning I did not like the protest for many reasons.

In my opinion the protest is based on a false premise. I do not believe there is “systemic racism” in policing. I base my belief on my experience as a police officer and other life experiences. According to pew research the U.S. has more immigrants than any other country in the world. The article I found adds that more than 40 million people in the U.S. were born in other countries. Pew also cited that only 40% of the Black population in the U.S. are descendants of slaves, 60% came here by choice. I don’t believe that would be the case if we had “systemic racism.”

As a police officer I am offended by Kapernick’s assertion that the police are the problem. The police in America have over 170 million contacts per year and the national media covers about 5 or 10 of them that seem to have gone bad. I say “seem to have gone bad” because “bad police shootings” we hear about for days are often proven to be necessary use of force situations- like Michael Brown in Ferguson. In those cases, after the police officer is exonerated the coverage stops immediately, I believe the coverage stops because the facts don’t fit what the national media is selling (Being a baby boomer I remember when the news was actually news- you know, with facts). If doctors did their job as well as the police we would be dangerously overpopulated!

I am further offended by the coverage the media gives these protests. When I used to watch football I would hear announcers make statements like, “These players are taking a knee to bring attention to police violence against Blacks….” When was that proven? Shouldn”t it be “alleged” police violence? Would it be ok for me to protest libelous announcers because one or two have been charged?

As a human who respects law and order I am offended by the socks Kapernick wore with cartoon pigs dressed in police uniforms on them.

If the real concern is saving Black lives why isn’t he concentrating on Black on Black crime. FBI statistics for 2016 (The most recent year I could find) show that 2,870 Blacks died violently. Black offenders were responsible for 2,570 of those deaths. Police Killed 39 unarmed Blacks in 2016 according to a Huffington Post article. Seems there is a much bigger target than the police who are actually putting themselves in risky situations to help people, often the people who are carrying signs to protest against them. If that doesn’t sound real to you, I read an article recently that told of a defund the police group calling the police to get extra security at their event, ironic isn’t it?

I still love sports, but not the millionaires who are protesting about how bad they are being treated. No harm, I will satisfy myself with watching my grandchildren’s games and then I’ll come home and watch reruns of Lassie.

I would appreciate hearing your comments on this

Please share if you agree with me.

Thanks