Well, given the extraordinary events of yesterday (NBA, MLB and other teams boycotting games), there is a clear intersection between politics and sports. And it may well trickle down to our beloved SEC and the Hogs. Don’t think for a minute these young SEC and Hog athletes don’t watch this. A slow boil could be developing. I would not be surprised to eventually see boycotts on the college level, too. Maybe even in Fayetteville. And especially if there is another shooting incident or the like.
How would the UA respond? And on this board, could we even discuss it? It’s political as all get out. I’m not sure where the line begins and ends these days. There has been some leeway. We can cross the bridge when or if we need to, but I have a feeling this is about to be a real issue, even in the college ranks.
It’s possible. It might take a similar incident to Kenosha in an SEC city or state, but I could see it. It seemed to me that the Bucks, the NBA team closest to Kenosha, kinda triggered yesterday’s events, although the Jacob Blake situation was awful no matter where it happened.
I’m sure we would discuss such a situation, and it would get out of hand quickly. Just like a lot of other discussions on WHS in the last eight months.
It is really depressing for a sports fan. What is happening is like a player committing turnover after turnover and the coach leaving the player in.
I am dreading the coming election and wonder if US sports can survive through it. I have visions that we will take a look of a third world country for the next 9 to 12 months,
Frankly, I fear America might become a third world country simply because we seem to not be able to discuss our differences, we have become a my way or none concept.
Until this country starts getting concerned about ALL killing this will continue, you can’t pick and choose to get upset about who kills who, it’s still a life that is lost!! THOU SHALL NOT KILL… LOVE ONE ANOTHER… will put an end to all of this.
True, sports and politics have never been so melted together. There will be moments to discuss particular events. We have given some freedom in certain situations. But if it gets to the point of ugly comments then it will get locked or deleted.
What happened was unforunate, but you cant put all the blame on the police. Same with the George Floyd incident. Neither of these men would have been harmed if they had Obeyed the police. To many individuals today think they do not have to obey or respect authority. Starting with their parents. I think that this issue has to be addressed as well as the use of uneccesary force.
Well, I thought about that. When do you think it us time to start playing again. When the social change they are demanding happens? Will that really happen?
I think black athletes are in “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” situation. They will be criticized by some segment of the population no matter what they do.
I think these boycotts are treading on very thin ice. VERY THIN ICE.
Coronavirus arrived in the US and it changed a culture. It shut everything down. We lost a lot of things that we took for granted. Sports was put on hiatus. Constantly eating out was brought to a halt. Large group gatherings came to an end. Companies learned new ways of doing business with fewer employees or public contact. We learned who/what was essential and who/what was not.
So I’d caution groups that think a boycott will have much if any effect besides killing their own platform. How much influence can the NBA really have when we have learned due to Covid that we can do without the NBA and the world will not come to an end. If they are not careful, they will just damage the NBA further. They are already having ratings issues due to their social justice stances or should I say kneelings. Boycotts when people have already learned how to deal without NBA in their lives could just be a nail in the coffin of further killing the NBA and its appeal / ratings.
We already learned the NBA is NON-essential… if they are not careful they will make themselves irrelevant as well.
Aloha,
Asking in all honesty, just exactly (specifically), what State legislation are the professional athletes requesting? All of these unfortunate, horrible shootings are local/State…not national. Either white cop on alleged black criminal or black on black. How can you legislate against stupidity and craziness?
If there is a shooting, the situation should be handled in court.
Boycotting sports will not stop any shootings. If the pro athletes truly want to make a difference, I recommend for them to serve as cops in these challenging neighborhoods and experience first hand the challenges cops face on a daily basis.
The only solution I can personally think of is to hire better cops and improve their training which requires raising the entrance requirements, pay and expenses of the local/State police. Which is the opposite direction of the BLM and Democrat positions of defunding the police.
If we are going to throw out statements about political parties, I’d like them to be truthful. Democrats/Biden are not for defunding the police. They just aren’t. Just because you hear it on TV doesn’t make it so. Some faction of BLM might be for that, admittedly. I disagree with defunding the police.
Good questions. I’d like to add another question: Would their boycott actually amount to anything? Awareness is already there and the way things are going, I believe people are getting used to not watching sports or at least to the point that the need to numb ourselves has gone down. I’m all for people using their platforms to exercise their first amendment right, but the blending of sports and politics is not helping address this nations issues.
I believe you are mostly true when it comes to Biden and probably most Democrats, but people like AOC are completely for getting rid of the police. As someone who is about to finish his degree in social work, the idea that they want to send social workers to deal with domestic disputes is ridiculous.
This is not all local or state. Not even close. You can bring a Section 1983 federal civil rights claims against local police officers if they violate your constitutional rights. Sue them for money damages. The lead defense in these cases is something called qualified immunity. Basically says that if a police officer is doing something that is discretionary (like making a quick judgment call on using his weapon in certain circumstances) and acts in good faith (something like that) then he or she can’t be sued civilly. It’s spun into being a pretty airtight defense in most cases involving arrestee injuries in police custody or when police use their weapons and death or injury occurs. There is a movement afoot to revise qualified immunity to make it less airtight and not as favorable for police. I don’t know the particulars but that’s going on. Also, there are federal hate crimes that I suppose could be beefed up and made easier to assert against local police officers. That may be on the table too.
Fine and I suspect AOC is for that. But the Democrat party is not AOC. Just like the Republican Party is not Louie Ghomert.
AOC appeals to a fairly small sliver of Democrats. More hype than anything. That could change in the future, but she ain’t carrying the banner right now.
George Floyd obeyed the police officers, but even if he hadn’t, yes, you can put all the blame on the police who did that. Police are to enforce the laws. They’re not allowed to break them. They’re not allowed to use unreasonable or excessive force. It is illegal–a crime in many instances. The way to deal with someone who doesn’t obey a lawful order by the police is to arrest them using the minimum force necessary to subdue them. Then prosecute them for their crime, which I guess would be resisting arrest. Even then, resisting arrest is not a capital offense. But a policeman has limited authority, not absolute authority. It is not illegal to disobey an unlawful order. It might not be smart at the moment, but it is not illegal.
We’ve had discussions on this board about whether an order by a mayor or governor to wear a mask during the pandemic is legal. Some have argued that it’s unconstitutional & others have argued that it falls within a governor’s emergency powers. Either way, if someone isn’t wearing one, I’ll blame a cop who shoots the offender just because he refused to wear one. I’ll blame him 100% for that crime. (Then I might prosecute the maskless scofflaw if circumstances warrant it.)
DEFUNDING was a terrible choice of words. I think what you said about training, etc., is a large part of what most BLM and Democrats and others have discussed. Restructuring would have been a better word. Maybe even purging would be better.
People say that there are just a “few bad apples” out there. Some days from the videos, it looks like a big ass orchard of them out there. If “good cops” won’t stand up to “bad cops” then the problem won’t be solved.
If the thin blue line protects corrupt or racist cops then the problem won’t be solved. When Sheriffs refuse to enforce existing laws because of some sovereign citizen BS, then the problem won’t be solved.
Instead of deescalating situations, tensions are ramped up to a breaking point. Police are seen over and over with Proud Boys and Boogaloo Boys shaking hands, high fiving them, and encouraging them.
Good cops deserve much respect. Do racist, bigoted, brutal cops deserve the same respect? Just because they wear a uniform, are they above the law? Should they be able to beat the crap out of anyone they feel like?
If a cop gets scared and shoots a black man in the back for being uppity, is that OK?
In Kenosha, it was reported that police told the armed “militia” that “We’re going to push them by you so you can deal with them.”
Will reallocating funds to non- policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources help? Would that reduce crime? Would that help change some of the root causes of today’s problems?
The militarization of community police sure hasn’t. Making our streets look like Mosul or Damascus hasn’t helped.