The sports media is getting frustrated about the way in which NFL teams have learned not to hand them the hammer with which to hit them:
Let’s get it all out in the open. Regardless of how you feel about a player’s right to kneel during the national anthem, two men have peacefully risked their livelihood and dreams to prove a point they feel is vital. It’s time for the coaches and general managers who have enjoyed playing both sides of the issue to throw their cards on the table, too. Don’t leave an amateur psychologist like me to guess, because here are my notes:
• You might be scared that a billionaire owner will fire you if you press them too hard on signing Reid or Kaepernick and, like them you will be unemployed.
• You might feel like signing and supporting players unafraid of speaking their mind will lead to you losing command inside the facility, and you will no longer be able to walk around pretending you are George S Patton in Nike khakis.
• You might resist having your opinion out there because you don’t want good players who care about social justice issues but only speak about them in societally approved ways to not come to your team in free agency.Don’t leave it to your favorite reporter to clean it up on television via “sources,” either.
We might not like the answers, but what about this flimsy, hollow middle ground feels good to anyone right now?
No, let’s not. If the sports media wanted honest answers, it should have it should never have started prosecuting and calling for the disemployment of those whose answers it didn’t like. They destroyed the very information flows upon which they relied; if you bite the hand that feeds you, you probably shouldn’t expect dinner tomorrow.
The minute any team official admitted that they will not sign Kaepernick or Reid due to the fact that they are known troublemakers who put politics ahead of their jobs, the entire sports media will tee off on them and sic the social media mob on them. Which is why no team official who cares about keeping his job will ever admit that.