It’s Time for Fans to Take a Knee of Our Own
JoePa, Derrick Rose and the Pro Football HOF have us questioning everything
The most headline-worthy thing going on in sports right now is real life making its way onto the field like an unwanted streaker — and we just can’t look away.
Traditionalists just want us to let sports be sports. A refuge. An escape.
They don’t want to see athletes — whether it’s the WNBA’s Black Lives Matter protests, Carmelo Anthony’s comments or Colin Kaepernick and others kneeling during the national anthem—taking a stand, in protest of the treatment of black men and women in America. No siree. This type of protest does not belong on the court or on the field. The sacred field. Where all is pure and fair and All-American. Right?
This weekend, we saw a different kind of protest. We saw fans turning their backs during a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Joe Paterno’s first game at Penn State. The once beloved JoePa — who seems to have known about Sandusky’s sexual assaults of young players for years (how many years is still in dispute)— looked in the other direction to keep the illusion of Penn State football intact, when he could have helped protect countless children. Some fans gave him a standing ovation, while others turned their backs in protest.
And onto the NBA: There’s a great piece in The Ringer by a fan questioning whether he is actually going to be able to root for Derrick Rose and the Knicks, after the unnamed plaintiff in the civil case against Rose shared her story of being gang raped with ThinkProgress.
It’s brutal to read. (We’ll be following the case closely as it gets underway in early October.)
And now to the NFL, where the Pro Football Hall of Fame nominated convicted rapist Darren Sharper, a former NFL safety, to the HOF. To refresh your memory, Sharper plead guilty to charges of drugging and raping 16 women in four states, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison just last month. Yep, straight to the Hall for him. (Please tell us this was a clerical error of some sort?!) There has been a national outcry, with some Twitter followers suggesting an NFL boycott in the unlikely case that Sharper is elected to the Hall.
What does it say about our society when we allow egregious, horrifying behavior to occur, and continue to shower adulation and applause on the bad guys, just because they are winning … a game?
Athletes like Kaepernick are channeling their frustration and having impact by demonstrating their feelings on the field. As fans, perhaps we can stop turning the other way and channel our own frustration into something that will have an impact, by not supporting teams who hire, protect and celebrate people who don’t live up to our own personal moral codes.
This is a tough personal issue for me. I grew up in Pittsburgh. Last season, I turned to my sister and said, “Who do you think Tomlin’s gonna start — the three-time alleged rapist or the convicted dog killer?” It’s a pit in your stomach that you try to ignore, keep cheering and ask, “Can someone pass the guac?”
This much I do know: It’s a fascinating moment in the sports world. We are seeing athletes take a stand for what they believe in. I respect that and find it inspiring. Perhaps it’s time we fans take a stand of our own.
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