Open Letter to the NHL

Dear NHL,

I tend to be quiet during the season, just happily watching or listening to games and okay cheering or cursing, so quiet is in the eye of the beholder. 

So, I didn't comment on y'all letting a few players mouth off about Pride Nights last year, or teams happening to change planned warm up jerseys the day of the game night so it wasn't as obvious who was refusing to participate in said event. But it sucked. 

Hockey seasons are long and the theme nights are a thing. I know there are players who are from countries where freely acknowledging being LBGTQIA+ is, shall we say, punishable. 

But look, there are also players from countries that have clashed with the US militarily, and I assume they are expected to play along with military nights. I know they are expected to listen to a national anthem and sometimes two, regardless of their country of origin. 

But now, I hear the NHL is not only not doing Pride nights, but forbidding things like rainbow tape? Rainbow tape?

Hockey is not the only sport with a diversity problem, and I am well aware that half assed Pride nights do not make things more inclusive. But this choice is regressive. Hockey cannot claim to be for everyone if players are not allowed to express solidarity or allyship. 

And meanwhile, the Washington Capitals have a Hawaiian shirt night on the schedule, and the NHL has yet* to have a Hawaiian player.

So hockey can celebrate cultures it won't invite in. But apparently players cannot be or express solidarity with LGBTQIA+ folks, and somehow hockey expects to expand the fanbase this way? Because right now, I am thinking hard about my commitment to hockey fandom. 

*Happy to be proven wrong on this.

7 Things I (Re)Learned From the Olympics

1. Some days, no matter how hard you trained, no matter how many accolades you have already gotten, you cannot get all the things to work the way you want on the day you want. 

2. After you've done a very hard thing, it's normal to collapse in a heap for a bit.

3. Sometimes your very best day aligns with someone else's very best day. Sometimes that means incredible success. And sometimes that means people asking did you mind only getting the bronze even though you were faster than the world record that was on the books. 

4. People who are not you are very sure they know your future (This is probably her last Olympics...). You don't have to listen to them. 

5. There are only three medal winners but between personal bests, country, and continent records, there are lots of ways to measure excellence. 

6. Sometimes finishing really is achievement enough. 

7. Sometimes sharing the win is cooler than duking out who was the tiniest bit better. 

What Sports Demonstrates About Athleticism and Consent

People much smarter than I have already talked about the importance of protecting one's body and soul, even if you are an athlete, and even or perhaps especially in a pandemic. 

I want to talk about two things: athleticism and consent. 

On the athleticism front I think there is a weird thing that sometimes happens in sports, where we assume the sporting is a prelude. Like obviously so-and-do will win and we're all just here to watch it. Except obviously not, or we could just hand out trophies. Those other folks - sure not all of them expect to win each day, but you don't have to travel across the world and sleep in a strange bed just to run, or swim, or do back flips. 

Sports is about the unexpected. This is why I am fascinated when the weather factors in. The story could and often should be about the folks who had a great day, not just who wasn't. 

On the consent front, one of the most challenging things about consent is that we tell everyone it is an ongoing conversation and yet we don't really mean it. Let me tell a story, I swear is related. 

I had a train ticket and the folks I was visiting said, oh, let's go to breakfast beforehand. In the discussion the night before the cafe at the train station had been mentioned, so I assumed it was an option being considered. That morning there was some texting with one party and some focus on other things. And then it was decided we should breakfast. I mentioned the cafe at the station and was vetoed. Three other options were mentioned, including one that the last time I ate at it took two hours to complete our meal and we were now just over an hour from my train. 

I picked the one closest to the station, when I expressed time concerns, I was told that everything was very close and it was a weekday, nowhere would be busy. 

Well, we got to said place, and there were people standing around near the entrance clearly waiting to be called for a table. 

At this point I rescinded my vote for said place because by the time we got on the list, got a table, it would be too much to expect a packed restaurant to turn over our food that quickly and it would mean eating in a rush. 

So then we (after another attempt at an order and pay first place) we ended up at the train station cafe where we all finished well before the train arrived. 

So, the thing with consent is, you agree to do (or not do) something based on the information and circumstances you are aware of at the time. Sometimes you sleep like crap, sometimes there's way more traffic than you planned for, sometimes once you get there, the things you were expecting aren't as you expected. And we have to be okay with people changing based on new information, even if that information exists inside their own body. 

Sports in Pandemic Times

Years ago, I visited Barcelona and one of the things you could go see was the Olympic Stadium and the hotel built for the Olympics.  I was there in June, and I hope there are things in normal times that the stadium is used for, but wandering through a huge empty stadium was off, and the hotel looked odd, taller and shinier than most buildings in Barcelona, it just looked plunked down there.  

A cousin got married near Lake Placid and we went to visit some of the things leftover from that that are still used for training.  

I went on a work trip to Salt Lake City, and we took a look at the bobsled tracks still there.  

I started to wonder how many leftover bits there were in various cities that had hosted the Olympics. The housing, the various equipment needs, it's probably not anything that any city needs to speed zillions of dollars building for two amazing weeks.  

I used to love the reading of the Olympic oath.  These days it is ever more clear to me how much the athlete's rules are bendable if you are the right kind of athlete.  If you're a privileged white guy, it's fine to vandalize things, harm other players, and so on.  Some folks have been able to appeal their positive drug tests, and others have not.  It's not fair, and like so many things, it in part has to do with who has the time, energy, and social capital to make an issue of something.  To move forward and survive headlines associating you with scandal.  

When runner Dutee Chand's gender was questioned, her mother talked about the shame of all of this happening in public.  Likely plenty more athletes have run afoul of the narrow gender definitions and simply not wished to press it.  

And then you add in a pandemic.  A pandemic where gathering in groups increases risk.  A pandemic where the virus causes long term lung damage, a particular problem for athletes.  A pandemic where travelling and unequal access to vaccination increases the risk of variants developing.  A pandemic where vaccinated folks are more likely to contract asymptomatic versions and not know to further limit contact.  

All of this is to say, my love for the Olympics is tarnished, and it is completely ridiculous that we are asking these athletes, the many volunteers and staff, to do this so we can watch safely from our TVs.  

And I still cried when I saw who lit the flame.  

Setting Boundaries

I am at best a dabbler when it comes to paying attention to women's tennis. But I think whatever happens going forward with tennis, the current events with Naomi Osaka are worth talking about.

I want to say that while I'm about to share many, many thoughts and opinions, Osaka's choices are hers and hers alone. And the pro tennis circuit is of course balancing many competing priorities as well. 

So, for those who don't know, Naomi Osaka announced ahead of the upcoming tournament that post-game press was honestly not helpful to her mental health during a tournament and as such she had decided to pay the fine for not doing it.  Much hubbub ensued, including a now deleted tweet where the tournament itself implied she wasn't living up to her obligations.  And so now she has stated that hey, she was not trying to be a tournament distraction, and she was not trying to say all journalists suck, and she was not trying to trivialize mental health, and instead she was simply going to withdraw from the tournament. 

So, let's discuss. 

One could argue that press is just a natural part of the business of many things. I know that's an argument I have sometimes made myself. 

The thing is, it's honestly tiring. Not all of it of course. But I personally get bored of watching players who won demure over how lucky they were, players who lost try to explain that physics were not on their side, and so on. Sure, there are occasional moments of interest. But they are few and far between. And honestly this is why podcasts and other longform things that have the time and space to go deeper are often more interesting. 

So let's talk about another reality. These interviews are easier for men. They are easier for white men especially. And they are easier for folks with little to no mental health issues. And they are easier when it's not a pandemic, but that's true of almost anything. 

I'm not saying they are easy for anyone or even anyone male and white and without mental health issues. But any cursory look at sports press shows that male athletes get asked about technique and female athletes get asked about feelings. It's not the same. 

And if you are part of any group that is underrepresented in professional sports, you get asked about that too. And if you admit to mental health concerns, you get asked about that also. It's a lot. 

I haven't done the math on the fines to see if winning makes not doing press worth it. I suspect because the circuit requires a certain amount of tournament participation to maintain your ranking, it might be worth it if you have enough endorsements. 

And of course, I don't begrudge anyone who says it's worth it for my mental health. 

Osaka is coming into this choice with a lot of privilege. But I feel like some folks are focusing on that, and not on the idea that she, as a champion, is saying, hey here's a thing in place that makes this job exceedingly hard. Have we considered changing it? And honestly, that's what we want, right? For people to work their way up a ladder and say, okay, I have some thoughts on making things better. 

I hope the tennis circuit is able to really listen even if no press at all is not a stance they are willing to accept.

The world is changing. Athletes all have social media and are able to communicate with viewers and fans directly if they choose. Obviously that option is also not equally safe for everyone's mental health. But it exists. 

And I hope tennis and the press consider that. 

I think the best thing we can do when presented with a boundary someone is trying to set for their own welfare is consider how best it can be accommodated. I would rather watch Osaka play tennis than not. So I hope those aren't the only choices. 

Conflicted Thoughts About Sports

I miss sports. I can only imagine how tough this has been for the athletes, for the office, stadium, and arena staff.

I know testing availability has gotten better but I have very mixed feelings about prioritizing getting sports back in session instead of say schools. 

I wrote a letter expressing my concerns about librarians where libraries are open and almost all the issues with libraries apply to sports. 

I am pleased the various players unions negotiated new terms for this season including easy opt out. But I don't know that the folks who clean the stadiums, who staff the cameras, who wash the towels have been given the same opportunity. I hope so. 

And I confess that I feel like this is such an American approach, although I have seen comparisons to gladiators, that we have prioritized making stuff for us to watch over making it safer to shop and go to school. 

And I confess, I'm a little mad at how many tests sportsing safely will take. 

I may still watch. Which I know makes me part of the problem. (In the days when I still watched football, I had adopted a sports bar, using the convoluted logic that at least I wasn't adding to the ratings. Pandemic takes that option off the table.) 

I missed sports. But I remain a little conflicted about its return.

The Legacy of Harm

One of the exhibits that was at the National Museum of the American Indian last year talked about the battle of Little BigHorn aka the battle of the Greasy Grass looked at how the mainstream media at the time reported on the battle, how Crazy Horse was treated as a hero, interviewed, memorialized in painting and memorabilia.  And how Crazy Horse and other tribal leaders surrendered to the US Army a year later.  Not too long after Crazy Horse was arrested and died.  Libbie Custer however was still alive, and worked hard to change the narrative about her husband.  She worked to change him from a fool who got his column massacred, she worked to cast him as a valiant soldier who wasn't afraid to die to protect the land he loved. 

Why am I thinking about this today.  Well this week, the Washington football team announced that it was retiring the name.  I applaud those who have been fighting for this change for about fifty or so years. I even am willing to offer some applause to the various corporations who in the last few months suddenly realized they too were supporting racism.  

I am ever hopeful that they are not planning on something like the warriors.   Or birds.  (I hate bird teams.  And if you haven't noticed how many bird teams "accidentally" riff on native iconography, well, I invite you to take a moment to consider that.)  

The harm done by years of this racist team name with it's racist logo and racist fight song and racist mascot will not be fixed this year.  The ideas that the indigenous peoples of what we now call America were all good at cooking and good at fighting, and are basically all dead now, oopsie, elides much of who those people are and were.  

Oh and also, Kansas, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, and many others, don't think we've forgotten about you.  

Dog Watching

I am on the Internet enough that I knew about Blair Braverman. Dog pictures make it far and wide, as do dog stories. I have mixed feelings about sports that reply on animals, even dogs who always seem happy. But I admire (from my couch) people who wish to undertake long endurance tasks. And I usually tune into the last hour or so and move on. 

And then I subscribed to the Iditapod and well, learned a lot of things. Always fascinated by the people that keep going for the honor of 30th place. It is easy to remember that fastest is just one metric. Past winners this year came in in the double digits or had to scratch all together. One team crossed the line only to have the finish discounted when a dog fell ill and died. 

Stories floated about teams where the lead dogs quit wanting to lead and no dog stepping into the gap, so everyone was happy but unfocused. A team that got so worried about the human while crossing the river that they kept trying to turn back to the closest shore. Teams traditionally plan to drop dogs along the way, either illness, or team dynamics, or other issues.  Such that there's an extensive process for having folks along the route ready to help care for non-racing dogs. 

And of course like lots of project teams we have all been on they all started the same day and at the same time and they all had different experiences. Timing of rests and regroups affected everything from stamina to where you were when the snow hit. One racer was able to lend his sled after he scratched to a team that had been patching the sled together. 

Much like reality show teams, much of what filters out to the public is snippets, and of course one-sided since we never get the dogs' perspective. Fans helped schools fundraise while waiting. 

The last two teams are still out there, as I write this.  But the 2019 Iditarod has turned out to be an interesting experience to witness through the internet. 

 

NFL

I wrote this open letter to the NFL a while back. I revisited it briefly here.  I love football.  It is tied to a lot of childhood and college memories, to say nothing of my having found the perfect sports bar.  (The sports bar, is, in my opinion perfect because it is mostly a soccer bar, and so there is a small but dedicated group of American football fans.) One of the early things I did with this blog was post my football picks. 

It's always an interesting thing, to me, to see where you hit the line.  Where you look around and say, I put up with, excused, ignored a number of things, and I hoped the following things would change with time.  And where you look around and say, yep, I can't support this any more.  Part of the reason I had switched to the sports bar was because I figured some small changes I could make included - not purchasing or wearing NFL gear, not attending games in the stadium, and not contributing to the ratings.  It was a tiny thing - the ratings part at least - but I figured these changes I could make. 

But I can't ignore that the NFL has continued to allow and pretend neutrality when it comes to racist team names that support and encourage racist fan behavior. And I cannot ignore that every time a football player breaks the law or cheats, we have to wait and see if they will be punished at all.  And yet, the clearest most obvious punishment is being doled out to a player who simply made a political statement. 

The NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick is just utter unexcusable crap. Even if the NFL had a leg to stand on as far as player morality, it would be crap. Teams have ditched quarterbacks that weren't working in their system before, even ones that had won Superbowls.  I am well aware.  (And yeah, I am still a little mad at the Ravens for that.) But actual low and underperforming quarterbacks have gotten chance after chance after chance.  The fact that the Ravens have an injured quarterback and and playing the we'll see if it won't make people mad game, is further irritating. The Ravens stood behind a player who stood up for marriage equality, even when a politician wrote to them to stop it. Behind countless players who committed crimes.  But apparently speaking up for the rights of black people is somehow too much?  You have to be kidding me. 

So, it turns out this is where I am drawing the line.  This is where I reached the too far moment in my head.  The NFL is a business, and they are free to not hire people.  Just like I am free to decide their pretense of separation from politics is crap, and choose not to watch.  

 

About That Team Name Again

I am aware of the recent Supreme Court decision regarding a band name that is expected to possibly have an impact on the Washington football team's trademark status. Apparently my discussions of the team name were primarily confined to usenet because I (and the internet) are old.  But, to summarize.  I am Hawaiian, which is a kind of native American, even if the history is a little different for us than those who also fall under the American Indian or first nations umbrella.  I am Chinese.  I am a native Washingtonian. 

The team name of the Washington football team is racist.  There is no way around this.  If any other color preceded the word skin, it would have been changed a long time ago.  I'm not going to go into the long history of Americans using team names of people perceived to be savage and less than that applies to names that aren't on the face of them racist.  All of that is true and something to consider, but teams with non-racist names can have that discussion.  Our team name is racist.  

So, I agreed with the trademark office's decision to rescind the trademark.  I have supported the news outlets that decided not to use the name, and understood those that decided not to, because it is hard to talk clearly about a thing without naming it.  

Personally, I have stopped wearing anything that references the team name.  I had a great chat with the bartender at the sports bar when one beer company sent them shirts that said Washington Football this year, because it meant I had a shirt I could wear that helped new bartenders know which TV I needed to sit near and still, no racism across my chest.  

In my lifetime, the Washington men's basketball team changed it's name.  Baseball returned to DC with a brand new team name.  And the hockey team changed it's logo and color scheme at least twice.  But the football team has continued to not only act as if changing would be the worst, but to actively spend money to support continuing with a racist name. 

Code Switch did an interview with the leader of the Slants, about their fight to get the ability to trademark their band name. I've been aware of this case for a while, due to the corners of the internet I hang out it.  Pretty regularly the Slants have been asked about the Washington football team, and pretty regularly he has said that the situations are different, since the band is fighting for the right to reclaim a slur.  (The article discusses how there were other approaches.)

So, here's what I would hope.  I would hope that the Washington team does not take the victory in the Slants case as their own, and try to re-register their trademark.  I would hope that we would work to bring in a new name for the new season.  Here's why.  

During the season I was at the sports bar watching the game.  It was a game that went well for the burgundy and gold.  As such, one particularly drunk group of fans began singing the fight song.  The loudest fan sang all the lyrics.  Even the ones they no longer put on the screen at the games, because even the organization agrees that those lyrics are super racist. I have never been so embarrassed to be a Washington football team fan.  And I've been through some bad seasons.  

I want a football team with a name I'm not embarrassed to be associated with.  We're not reclaiming.  I don't care how many studies we do of people who maybe don't care.  Plenty of people do care and are offended and so we should stop using it.  We have a solution. I want us to make use of it.  

7 Things In the NFL that I Did Not See Get This Level of Media Coverage

Look, the NFL is problematic.  I wrote this open letter to football a few years ago. None of those issues have gone away. And certainly we get a lot of coverage of often silly things especially when it's still pre-season and we can't really convince ourselves those games are anything other than glamorous practice. 

But this level of coverage, and the way just about ever current and former player has been asked to weigh in is unprecedented. A small list below of things that have not received this intense level of coverage. 

Also, as you may suspect, trigger warnings for racism and domestic and sexual violence as we move ahead. 

1. Rape.  Sexual assault. There are many players with rumors.  There are numerous players with allegations.  And there are plenty with for real actions against them. 

2. Domestic violence.  It is rampant.  And quickly swept under the rug.  And only dealt with after terrible outcry, and we mean dealt with, as in press conferences, adorable donations, and no actual change. 

3. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).  Which it turns out to cause, among other things, depression, erratic behavior, and possibly violence.  So, yeah, other than we don't have a good solution, it may turn out to be counter to the NFL's interests to solve it.  This is the list Wikipedia has of known and suspected players affected.  It is staggering. 

4. Cheating.  We keep getting stories of coaches illegally taping other players, offering bounties for causing injury, and sure, every once in a while, a team gets fined, a coach or player gets suspended for a bit, but eh.  

5. Racist team names.  And I don't just mean my hometown team, although certainly that is the most egregious one.  See also racist mascots. 

6. Substance abuse. I have seen the most passing mention to the idea that as we learn more about CTE we might see that a lot of this substance abuse is self medication, since most of the known stuff is not performance enhancing. But we may never know they way the coverage is going. 

7. Money problems.  And the relationship to plucking kids out of college giving them ridiculous amounts of money and no skills to handle such a thing.  Or awareness of how safe sex procedures might reduce the liklihood that you'll be paying child support to four different women and how that cuts into your pension. 

Also, just FYI, there's a website that tracks NFL arrests.  So, yeah. 

Now, it occurs to me that the only thing I can think of that maybe came close to the level of coverage is Michael Vick's dog fighting charges.  He has served his time and been brought back into the league and played on.  

The sad thing for Colin Kaepernick is that he has done nothing wrong, and yet this small tiny act has gotten incredible amounts of attention, and if he stops, if he keeps going, it almost doesn't matter.  So much of the discussion is about what he did, and not why.  I wish him and others the best of luck in directing the conversation toward the issues in our country that make both protesting such a huge firestorm.  Because yes, it is not lost on me, that we are mostly talking about who stood when, not why.  Because why is hard.

It does not interfere with my loyalties at all to also be a 49ers fan this year. But I'm also going to keep working to address some of the issues that might encourage a player to sit down or take a knee during the anthem. 

7 Things: The Flag Code Edition

My grandfather had a flag pole and flag, and it was an honored grandchild duty to be able to assist with the flag removal at sunset each evening.  So, I learned parts of the Flag Code early.  My family belonged to a country club that every summer raised and lowered the American and club flags, with instructions for the order of operations on this.  And I was a member of Civil Air Patrol where the second leadership test, the one some people had to take a few times, was entirely about the flag.  All of this to say, that I recognize that my exposure to Flag Code is greater than at school or the occasional sports game.  Most people don't even realize that the reason you stand during the anthem at a sports game is because the anthem is accompanied by a flag (and these days often a full color guard).

But, not that it's too surprising, a lot of people, and I am being specifically American here, because I have no idea what the rules for this in Canada, the UK, or really any other country are, think they know the rules and can then lecture people who have violated them. 

1. It is Federal Law*.  As such it only applies on US soil.  However, the only penalties associated with it are in regards to desecration of the flag, and even that part is not widely enforced.  There sometimes are additional state laws, although after the Supreme Court ruling on flag burning a lot of those were dismantled. How do I know it's rarely enforced?  Keep reading.

2.  Flags should be displayed from sunrise to sunset.  (And now you know why my grandfather usually got to hoist the flag alone. There are some exceptions, mostly for specific government buildings and if its lit, but there's nothing in there that says the lighting rule overrides the next rule.) 

3. Flags should be taken down in the rain or other inclement weather. 

4. On Memorial Day Flags should only be flown at half staff until noon, at which point they should be raised to full staff. 

5. The flag should never touch anything - the ground, dangling in a manner that it touches merchandise, or water. If it does the flag is considered to have been desecrated, and should be appropriately disposed of. 

6. The flag not to be placed on anything that is intended for disposable use. Napkins are specifically mentioned but I would have to imagine toothpicks fall under that rule also. 

7. The flag is not clothing.  Also, no part of the flag can be used as costume or athletic clothing.  (The exception is military members in uniform are allowed to wear a flag patch.)

*This is not intended to take away from folks who have pointed out the right to protest.  Protesters often block roads or do other things to grab attention as they protest.  The grander point is that it applies to all of the citizens in the stadium.  If you don't think the dude who kept chewing his hot dog during the anthem should be arrested, then I'm not sure why you care about anyone else. 

Food and Sportsball and Books

The big game, or possibly the football season finale was last night and there were a few things that were different for me. I watched at home with my cat instead of with friends.  It did mean I could do silly things like eat stuffing cubes and alternate knitting projects.  When I say I watched it with my cat, I mean she was present, my attempts to convince her she cared about the team with cats on their helmets were fruitless. 

It also was the first year in a while a team I don't automatically hate participated.  And in fact, two teams I have general fond feelings for participated, so while I had technically picked a side I really was okay with either outcome, and mostly hoped for a competitive game.  (Next time, assuming I actually am in control of such things, I will wish for slightly more competition on the offensive sides.) 

And the halftime show was great.  I do always wonder about the dueling demands of things that are televised like that because things that make a great in person stadium show with the crowd tend to seem a little more toned down at home, and great dance moves and what have you are likely lost to the stadium crowd who can't see some of the subtleties. 

It also wrapped up a nice week where I finally managed to get together with a friend and try a new to us restaurant, as well as see Ruta Sepetys at the Lithuanian Embassy.  One of the things she talked about was finding messages in bottles.  She was talking about her new book Salt to the Sea about a large shipwreck of evacuees during World War II, that people had put messages in bottles, sometimes saying some thing as simple as their name, their age and where they were from.  It reminded me that as much as we blame social media for this desire to be remembered, it really is a universal thing, we want people to know we were there. 
So, yes, the Superbowl is a game, but the spectacle, the shared experience, the fun, the food, I am happy we have all of that.

If we all spoke like press conferencing QBs

Quarterbacks present and former often talk about the balance, that quarterbacks receive a disproportionate amount of attention, and since on winning days that often means accolades, since on paycheck days that means money, that therefore means it's fair (and very politic since you want those nice people in front of you to keep those opposing team members away) to also take a lot of blame when things go wrong, and to share a lot of credit when things go well. 

One of my favorite moments in "Bull Durham" is the five things you will need to handle every press conference ever lesson.  But, I was watching a post-game interview and wondered, what if we all adopted this philosophy.  What if, when things went well at work, we were all quick to spread the kudos around to our supporting team members?  What if, when things went badly we accepted blame and promised to work on working better with our team in the future?  I know, it would never happen.  But, it would be awesome if it did. 

Dear Football

Dear Football,

We need to talk.  I was raised on football.  Our family would gather on the couch and watch games.  Even after I had moved out, my parents would invite me over to watch the games together. After my father passed away, my mother ended up married to a (horror) Giants fan, but has remained loyal to the Washington team. 

But, well, here we are.  There have been revelations about concussions and that the NFL not only knew about the issues, but colluded to keep important medical information away from players.  The NFL has never has a particularly good record as far as rape and domestic abuse, but this latest ridiculousness, where rendering someone unconscious gets you punished less than an illegal move on the field might, is hard to take.  Despite the large number of female fans, the NFL has done little beyond wearing pink one month a year to welcome them.  In fact, the NFL hates that you might have a purse. (Yes, I know it's supposedly security.  But, given that no one is searching pockets, it just suggests the manner of carrying your things is the problem.) 

And well, the Washington team has always had a racist name.  We could argue that the name is no longer associated with it's racist origins, I know I tried to make peace with it for a while.  These are issues of varying sizes.  But on the whole it makes justifying supporting this enterprise an increasingly difficult set of ethical calculus.  I'm not quite ready to give football up.  But boy do I wish football wasn't making it so hard to justify my loyalty. 

7 Things the Olympics Remind Us

1. National pride is an amazing thing.

2. This is true whether the country you are competing for is the one you were born in, or your parents, or your grandparents.  Or, ahem ice dancing, one newish to you.

3. Everyone here is trying to do their best and that's something to be applauded even if their best is more or less good than the next person's. 

4. If you fall down, get up and keep going.  Sometimes your worst day might be televised. 

5. Winning is excellent.

6. Competing is excellent. 

7. Sometimes openings occur because other people fail.  You take those, but you also applaud the efforts of your competitors. 

Three Interesting Things: Olympic Edition

1. Given that watching Olympics where they sometimes refer to a sixteen year-old's last shot at glory, it's nice to see a story about some "older" Olympians, as in the forty year-old's.

2.  I don't watch cross country outside of the Olympics, but even still had missed the change that the skiathalon involved a mid-race ski swap.  And speaking of skiathalons, I adored US competitor Jessica Diggins and not just because she has pink and blue streaks in her hair along with glitter makeup, but because in the media's focus on things like medal counts and such it is easy to forget that just competing at the Olympics is amazing, that the number of athletes that medal is tiny but that doesn't make competing a waste of time.  And in her interview she, well, glittered with happiness over finishing eighth, because it exceeded her goal of trying for top twenty.  I'm sure there are plenty of other athletes thrilled to have set a new personal record.  It was lovely to see. 

3. A skiier broke a ski mid-race.  Obviously that impacted his ability to win, but he still wanted to finish the race.  A coach from another team/country went onto the course and helped the racer into a spare ski he had. 

The Power of Song

I think everyone knows that songs can be moving, happy making, dance inducing, and, well, annoying.  My siblings and I discovered that "The Song That Never Ends" hit a particular nerve with our mother and might have spent a month or so singing it a lot.  (Sorry, Mom. I still like singing it though.)  I have been known to offer up the advice to folks with songs stuck in their heads that I could sing a different annoying earworm of a song. (In addition to "The Song That Never Ends", there is "It's a Small World" and a teen in youth group taught me "I Know a Song (That Gets on Everybody's Nerves".)  I'm helpful like that. 
And certainly the use of song in protest (by which I mean more official protest, rather than parental or sibling protest) is well known.  But I'm heart-warmed by folks in Norway who have gathered to sing a song outside a courthouse. There is a man on trial for bombing a building and then going on a shooting spree.  He has stated that his killings justified because his victims were being too left-wing and allowing Norway to taken over.  In his comments, he mentioned the song "Children of the Rainbow" as the kind of silly multiculturalism he is against. (It's possible he used stronger wording.)
So, folks have gathered across Norway to sing the song.  They gathered outside the courthouse in the rain to sing while his trial continued, to make the point that he does not represent the vision of Norway they wish to see.

No Words (Except These)

Note: Contains reference to a racist sports team name.

So, given my minor rant about a player discussing medical history as a reason to bash more, you can only imagine how disheartening I find the current news about injury bounties. (So far it's Gregg William's defenses under the Saints and the Redskins.  Some players are saying they know of other programs, we shall see how this develops.)
I understand the purpose of incentives.  I have heard coaches talk about how fascinating it is that offering dollars* to players with million dollar contracts has an intriguing result, particularly if that reward is presented in front of the rest of the team after a fame of say forced fumbles or blocked kicks.  But, again, there is a huge difference between offering rewards for tackles or any actual legitimate defensive maneuver and rewarding injury.  As someone who injured myself standing by a water fountain, I agree that injuries can happen in the most benign of circumstances, but that does not excuse rewarding players for injuries or inciting players to injure others.  There is an absolute world of difference between making plays to win games and making plays to harm others, and if the players and coaches cannot see that, then I'm not sure they deserve to participate.
The NFL does already prohibit such things, so this isn't really news that it's wrong, just apparently news to some teams that violating these rules is a bad idea. 

*Some of the articles indicate that even this is against the current rules. These were former coaches so I assume this behavior was accepted at the time of their coaching.

Any Given Sunday

...your heart can be broken. Or filled with joy.  That's the beauty of sport, and well, so many other things, but I believe I have recovered enough to talk a moment about football. 
So, I recognize that I am terribly unforgiving about receivers who, you know fail to receive (yes, I have been known to say that's your whole job dude, even though I know that there are many factors involved in catching, and that despite their job title it isn't entirely their whole job, just, you know, a really big portion of it and no, I am clearly not still over that year we had that supposedly lauded receiver who could not catch) and yet I often feel really bad about kickers.  Partly it's just the nature of the thing, any game that is hanging on the outcome of one final field goal has already had a few ups and downs and some missed scoring chances by all those other folks wearing the same color, and yet, the kicker gets picked on.  And look, I am not suggesting that kicking isn't, you know, a really big part of being a kicker, because it absolutely is, I just feel like we expect a ridiculously high amount of accuracy from kickers compared to other players on the field.  (And death threats, people.  Really?  Even in jest, that's not funny.)
Interestingly enough, the folks at Grantland have an interesting note on how icing the kicker never works, but people do it because it's a low risk/possible high reward situation. And the folks at Deadspin have a nice analysis of how rushing a kicker might result in over-rotation like some folks watching this weekend might have seen.
Now, I want to point out, that while I certainly haven't read all the coverage of the games, it is my understanding that the folks who made the last errors in each game that sent their team home to rest up for next year were all apologetic, didn't try to pass the blame to anyone and said they were sorry they couldn't do better for their team.  So, gracious.
Perhaps the training they may or may not have had (I personally think everyone should watch that scene in "Bull Durham", but that's just me) would have been well spent on some of the players from one of the winning teams. Of course, this is not to imply that I am for dishonesty, but I think if you don't see anything wrong with saying we just figured he was so concussed all it would take was another hit or two and he'd be done, well, hopefully someone will sit you down and explain that. 
And don't get me wrong, if the player in question was in fact concussed, then he should not have been playing.  But, as the folks at ALOTT5MA helpfully pointed out, that doesn't mean you want to be the guy who tries to sweep the leg.  Given football's ongoing concerns with the long term results of brain injury, one would hope people wouldn't be attempting to concuss their fellow players.  I have a cousin who suffered a mild concussion banging his head getting out of a car, and I am certainly not advocating that the car was at fault here.  Sometimes things happen.  Football is a contact sport.  But, there is a critical difference between people being injured as a result of play and people being injured as a result of their fellow players attempting injury. 
Now it's possible, that we're over-interpreting what the players meant.  They might have meant, he got up slow, so we figured, he was hurting and another tackle or two and he'd be out.  And certainly, I understand that any play in football where you have the ball, makes you a target.  (And no, I haven't forgotten the linemen either.) But man, does it break my heart to hear players using past incidences of concussions to try and psych themselves into tackling another player. It's stuff like that that makes it hard to justify the entertainment value exceeds the risk of long term injury to the players. Football is already at risk of losing future generations as more and more parents dissuade their kids from participating in the sport until the concussion issue can be better addressed.  Players hoping to bang the brain of a fellow player one more time, will do nothing to assist this.

h/t to ALOTT5MA for the links