Tag Archives: Football

by

Stand Or Not: It’s America

I’m a hardcore Patriots fan. New England for life. Football really is one of the few traditional sports that I can sit through and love every second of it. I don’t care about the things off the field, mostly. I mean, if I heard that a player I liked sexually assaulted women and beat their kids, I would stop being a fan of them and root for their demise in the league and legally. But aside from being creepy, douche-y, or otherwise a harm to society, I don’t care. You want to play football with a Trump sticker on your Patriots helmet? Fine, I don’t care just do your job and score touchdowns. You want to kneel during the National Anthem? Cool, make those blocks. I honestly don’t care what your political ideals are any more than I care about what an actor thinks.

I pointed this out on a friend’s Facebook, specifically stating that one’s political beliefs don’t impact me like that. A person’s response? “I’m not watching that crap.” I didn’t respond back. I don’t care if they’re not going to watch it. Them not watching the game has 0 impact on my life and how I feel about watching the game. Your beliefs have 0 impact on me as long as you aren’t trying to force me into believing in the same things. Then, I have a problem. Otherwise, I’m not going to argue with you about why you should watch. I honestly don’t care. It’s your right not to and it’s my right to watch. One should not have an impact on the other.

Another person pointed out how disrespectful it is that they are kneeling. I countered the point: “Jehovah’s Witnesses typically don’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or National Anthem, but no one seems to care. What’s the difference?” They didn’t think about it that way. So what is the difference? One difference is that Jehovah’s Witnesses believe their allegiance is to God’s Kingdom and not the country. The other difference is that the football players actually kneel or stand in solidarity rather than ignoring the anthem. So, I would argue isn’t it worse that Jehovah’s Witness don’t even acknowledge the importance of these symbolic words than kneeling in respect of them? The only reason it’s a problem is because politicians made it a problem. Also, religious freedom so I don’t care as long as they stop ringing my doorbell at 9 am on a Sunday morning.

That’s really the problem with everything. Everything needs to be politicized and you need to fall on one end of the spectrum or the other. They don’t believe in a gray area. They just follow whatever they are supposed to follow rather than just thinking about things rationally for a second. It took me 2 seconds when politicians started complaining to remember a friend of mine growing up who wouldn’t stand for the flag during the morning announcements because of their religion. I didn’t think anything of it because I grew up with this silly notion that, and I know it’s crazy, that their beliefs didn’t affect me. What’s the difference if it’s religious beliefs or a moral belief? Isn’t religion just a moral belief system? I don’t necessarily believe in religion or believe that you need religion to have morals, but aren’t morals just morals no matter the origin?

So stand or don’t stand. I don’t care. It’s your right as an American to follow your beliefs and as long as you’re not forcing others to have those same beliefs, then it doesn’t matter.

by

The Big Game (Part One)

As you could easily gather about the title, today’s blog is part of a 2 part special dedicated to the Super Bowl. On Sunday my favorite team, the New England Patriots, get to replay the New York Giants for the very shiny Lombardi Trophy. Oh I can’t wait, though this game brings me sadness realizing the football season is over. That doesn’t make me very happy at all. This part is mainly focused on the game itself, while Part 2 (which will be on Monday) will take care of the silly stuff like hopefully bragging about a Patriots win and most importantly the commercials.

I’m not scared about losing because I think the Patriots are incapable of winning, but I am a little nervous going into this game. Firstly, they’ve been making really stupid mistakes. Such stupid mistakes that it took the Raven’s kicker failing to give us a win, and the same mistakes that let the Giants win last time we faced in a Super Bowl. The Giants defense scares me more than Manning does, by a lot. Our defense scares me too, but not in the “they’re going to crush someone” sense, but the “we’re going to make a few dumb penalties and give away the game” sense.

Maybe this was all part of a bigger plan they had. The optimist in me hopes that just maybe Belichick had this in his plan the whole time. “Okay guys, let’s make them think we’re good, just not that good. Then we eke out wins to make it to the Super Bowl. Then we can really actually play football!” Wishful thinking, I know but you can’t blame a girl for trying.

In the end, anything can happen at game time and the better team always prevails. The Boston fan community has been spoiled with all the wins our teams have given us, let’s be greedy and keep it up. I’d like little George or Lenore to be born into a Patriots Championship season. Do you magic boys, we’re crossing our fingers in between eating pizza cheering for you.