The day after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, at the behest of the National Football League, the host Green Bay Packers made the following announcement before the kickoff of its Thursday Night Football game:

The National Football League asks that you please join us in a moment of silent reflection following the murder of Charlie Kirk. The NFL condemns all violence in our communities. It will take all of us to stop hate. Thank you.

The next day, the NFL announced that for all future games, it will leave it up to the individual host teams.  Given the semi-independent nature of the teams and the reflection of their home city in their public announcements, I have no problem with that.  But that also means each team owns its own actions, as it should be.

The following Sunday, five teams decided not to pay tribute to Kirk: the Baltimore Ravens, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Detroit Lions, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Minnesota Vikings.  Add to the list the Houston Texans and Las Vegas Raiders the following night.  Lest you think the single determining factor is whether the team resides in a mostly leftist, woke city, the New York Jets (not to mention the Yankees) were among those who did honor Kirk’s memory.

The greatest ire should be reserved for the hypocritical Ravens, who held a moment of silence at a home game after George Floyd’s death.  Months later, numerous Ravens players disrespected our country by taking a knee during the National Anthem.  Among the players to do so was Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.

I don’t care how awesome Jackson is and how many Super Bowls he may lead his team to; I don’t forgive him for that, or the team (and many others) for letting its players do so on company time and in prime time.

We can debate whether or why the anthem should be played before a game, but since that is the custom, the players should show respect.  Kneeling during the anthem is typically described as an affront to our first responders (military, police, firefighters).  Though it certainly is, it is also an affront to our country and all citizens grateful to be living here, who believe that showing a modicum of respect during the anthem is the least we can do.  With all we know now about Floyd, the Ravens ought to issue an apology for his tribute, as well as the kneeling that followed, but you’ll never see that. 

The NFL is not the only sport to have wokeness and disrespect problems.  The NBA is the wokest of them all, allowing among other things warm-up suits with BLM logos on the players’ backs at games.  Does it have any regrets now that BLM has been discredited for riots and the death and destruction caused, as well as its money-laundering and tax evasion scandals?  Of course not.  MLB moved the All-Star game out of Atlanta because of alleged (black) voter suppression due to commonsense voter ID laws being implemented in Georgia.  In other words, it ran with the in vogue, woke, subsequently debunked narrative, hurting many local black businesses in the process.  It never apologized.

Although some NFL fans may be irate, for most, it’s just too hard to stop watching, or even to give up tailgating and attending games.  But the new normal after Charlie Kirk’s death is that the left and its media protection racket are finally being exposed and called on their behavior, with real consequences.  So here’s what we can do: relentlessly expose and embarrass NFL teams for such behavior.  Instead of instinctively pandering to the woke mob, a team will think twice the next time.  Yes, “conservatives pounce” will be the story, and it will be a badge of honor bringing results.

W.A. Eliot is a pseudonym.

Image via Pixabay.