All Sports should stop

With social injustice and civil unrest it should be a no brainer all athletes refuse to play

I agree totally! If they feel that their real calling is social justice and bringing awareness to everyone, they absolutely should walk off of their jobs, head to the streets and do what they feel is right.

I’d rather watch people who actually want to play a sport they get paid to play and do their campaigning on their own time.

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It’s not that simple.

Refusing to play can be deemed “detrimental to the team”. Therefore your contract can be voided and you could loose your job.

I don’t think refusing to play sends the right message. Just like kneeling for Kap sent the wrong message.

If you really want your message heard then do it the right way and it will be.

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NHL certainly won’t stop. They barely paid any attention to this BS because they’re not clowns.

Why do people care what athletes think? They’re paid to play a game…

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Why don’t athletes sit down and talk to cops about the issues they are having? Boycotting does nothing, just like taken a knee.

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Just seems kind of meaningless. I think this pandemic already showed us celebrities and athletes aren’t really essential for anything.

What are they going to be doing with their time off? Are they going to be doing social work or are they going to be visiting strip clubs?

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I find it so interesting that ppl will listen to celebs. I don’t care what my neighbor’s views on politics are, so why would I care what Lebron’s views are? Zero difference. Blows my mind that anyone cares.

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Exactly.

I think athletes are now beginning to play a dangerous game. In America, sports has always been a great distraction. It’s a way for people to escape everything that’s going on in the real world. It’s always been this way.

I understand athletes wanting to use their social media, and personal time to share and work on things that are their own personal convictions and beliefs. However, now they are bringing those feelings into the workplace. More than that, sports is no longer being an escape where you watch some professionals perform a sport at a high level and have a sense of local pride.

Now, rather than watching a sport and seeing it played to a high level, it’s become yet another pulpit where we are preached at. Its coming from the announcers and from the players themselves. Rather than root for a guy because he is a Detroit Lion, I now have to hear about how he feels personally on issues that I really don’t give a damn about. Or even if I do, I am turning on the tv or reading the news to find out about sports. Not their opinions.

Here’s why it becomes a dangerous game. Athlete’s make money by playing sports. Sports make money to pay athletes because of fans interest and the income that generates. If the fans stop watching sports, the owners stop making money, and can’t pay the players. The players will find themselves out of work, not because of censorship, but because they ran off all of the people who were responsible for their salaries.

I know just a few short years ago, it was impossible to think one day people would stop watching sports. Times change quickly, and it’s well documented that sports ratings are taking a bigtime beating. Due to covid, owners are already losing a ton of money on ticket sales. Now if people stop watching and stop attending, it’s going to create some serious economic problems for sports in general.

Sports has always been a huge part of American culture, but it’s not an irreplaceable part and it’s still ultimately driven on entertainment. If sports stop being entertaining, these athletes will find out that their “platform” is really more of an illusion they’ve created in their own minds.

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Former NHL player and NBC analyst Anson Carter nails it here… he’s black and guess what: Liberals all over Twitter are not happy with his take. Crazy isn’t it.

A quote I heard describes our celebrity culture as;
“There was a time a when important people became famous, now famous people have become important.”
Craziness, really.

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People bitching about athletes having an opinion, while they’re on a message board that was solely created for nobodies to share their opinion, seems a tad hypocritical, no?

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Simply put: athletes can do what they want on their own time. I post here on my own time. I don’t parade around my workplace chanting MAGA, I expect the same out of athletes at theirs.

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Fair enough Iggy.

However, I assume many do spend their time here during their work day. lol

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I saw a video saying ratings are down 40 percent. If true not a great look for the NBA. Mean while PGA is kicking some butt.

I get your point. Here’s where athlete’s are going to continue to show how disconnected they are. At your job, could you tell your boss “I am really upset about what’s going on in the world today, so I am cancelling work for today.” How long would you be able to do that before your employer would say “That’s great that you are concerned about social issues, but we need you to work while you are here.”

Athlete’s may think that by holding their league hostage that they are taking a stand and making a difference. Actually what they are doing is driving their only source of income away. How can you have a sport when the fans can’t attend due to covid, and now the players refuse to play? The networks may side with you and say we totally support your social justice cause, but they still have to actually have something to broadcast, and the sponsers who paid for advertising to be seen during a game, aren’t going to be very happy that now fans aren’t able to watch because the players opted to not play.

Like I said, I think sports is entering a very dangerous area right now. Yeah, everyone will SAY they are on board with this because they don’t want to be labeled a racist for not supporting social justice, but at the end of the day, sports makes their money from fans/advertisements, and fans can’t watch a sport if the players refuse to play it.

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You are trying really hard to shoe horn a faulty argument.

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Good post.

Appreciate much of what you have written in several threads as of late. Another very thought out post in a calm non antagonistic manner.

Appreciate the discourse and conversation.

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All sports should stop until career criminals and druggies everywhere with outstanding warrants agree to comply with police commands.

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By telling Iggy fair enough?

Wow, you read pretty deeply into things.

Please enlighten me Oh Grandmaster of opinions and shoehorns.

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