Posts Tagged ‘NFL’

Josh Gordon and Understanding Addiction in America

Thursday, December 27th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Getty Images

Image courtesy of Getty Images

For the 5th time in his troubled career, Patriots wide receiver Josh Gordon has been suspended for a positive drug test. Understand that for every suspension we hear about, there are other positive test that we never hear about…a function of the NFL’s due process on this matter. As it should be.

He had been productive with the Patriots catching 40 passes for 720 yards, which amounts to an average of 18 yards per catch.  From just a pure talent standpoint, he is on the short list of most feared deep threats in the NFL.

His talent has never been in question. His reliability has always been in question.

To understand Gordon and the larger issue of addiction in America, its’ important to distinguish what addiction is and is not about.

Addiction is not about stupidity or character. These are the two primary responses you get from sports fans. Their response is usually something like, “why would he risk all he has just to get high?” They attempt to apply logic and rational thinking to irrational behavior.  There is so much more to addiction than this. At its core, addiction, regardless of the type, is the manifestation of one attempting to self-medicate. Be the vice drugs, shopping, sex, or gambling, they are all attempts to treat that which has not been treated. Therefore, until one can get to the root of that which one is attempting to treat, the addiction will persist.  While there is a dopamine release in the brain in all cases, none have the biochemical impact of drug abuse, nor are they as socially stigmatized as drug use. This is what makes it more challenging in many ways than the others.

While there must be a desire to be clean, notions that it’s only about will power are overly simplistic as well. This myth was compounded by the former first Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign during the so-called “War on Drugs”.

This is what Josh Gordon is dealing with, and the fact that the Patriots literally assigned people to watch a 27-year-old grown man 24/7 and yet he still got away to do what his demons commanded him to do, should tell any thinking person that this is not that simple.

The even larger aspect that one needs to understand about addiction in America is the reality that under Capitalism, treatment, like everything else, is a commodity.

According to federal health and census data, in 2003, for-profit addiction treatment centers reaped $21 Billion in revenues. With the Opioid Epidemic, those revenues are expected to double by 2020. That rate is 3 times faster than the growth of inflation. Now most would say that there is no price that can be put on recovery for a loved one. The problem is, more often than not, they just don’t work. When treatment is a business, not only is there no incentive to truly treat, it’s the very opposite. The revenue stream is maintained and increased by recurring patients.

The 2015 documentary, The Business of Recovery, was made by a former industry insider named Greg Horvath. In it he poses the following:

“There are nonprofit treatment centers that cost $53,000 a month, while good senior care can cost $4,000 a month. What’s the other $49,000 paying for?”, asked Horvath. “It’s not like you’re using an MRI or an X-Ray machine. It’s a bed, food, and usually minimally-educated therapists. I’m really confused. Where’s the money going? No one has been able to show me.”

Of course, at the core of the issue is that addiction needs to be viewed as a health issue, as opposed to a stigmatized criminal issue. Furthermore, health care should be viewed as a human right rather than a commodity to the highest bidder or those fortunate enough to have insurance. Once we get the predatory insurance companies and for-profit treatment entities out of the way, we can begin to look at addiction in an entirely different way, and that paradigm shift will produce far greater results than what we have today. Part of that shift should include “Chasing the Scream”, by Johan Hari, as required reading for treatment professionals. This book provides a radical departure from traditional ideas about addiction and treatment.

There is a reason that the Canadians, the British, and even the Cubans do not have the recidivism among addiction that exist in America. They have greatly reduced the predatory element by adopting universal health care.

These models provide much more hope for recovery for the Josh Gordons of the world and those unable to pay what he can for remedies that have little to no track record of success. But only a continued mass organized demand will bring it about in America, where a Josh Gordon is the perfect customer; he has money and is not of sound mind.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Oakland, Washington, and the NFL Stadium Extortion Game

Tuesday, December 18th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

OAC

What do NFL fans and perpetually cheated upon wives have in common?

They both ALWAYS take the cheaters back. The cheaters know this, and thus there really is no reason for them to change.

The two latest examples are in Oakland and Washington.

In Oakland, the city has filed a federal lawsuit against the Raiders, who will be moving to Las Vegas for the 2020 season. The city’s principal claim is anti-trust and collusion of the other NFL owners, who are entitled to millions in relocation fees, once they approved the move. Meanwhile, the city of Oakland is left with the last of the “dinosaur” multi-use facilities, the Oakland Alameda Coliseum, in which the baseball team is in the process of trying to leave as well. Add to this the fact that the NBA champion Warriors, in the midst of one of the greatest runs in league history, will be moving to San Francisco, and it is easy to understand the collective trauma of Oakland sports fans. An underlying issue is the inferiority complex Oakland has always had in relation to San Francisco. It is similar to the relationship between Baltimore and Washington. While the merits of the suit make it a long shot, do not underestimate Oakland. The city has a long history of resistance to power, from the Black Panther Party to its support of the late great Congressman Ron Dellums and his struggle to dismantle Apartheid South Africa, to taking on Big Oil. Oakland does not just roll over.

RFK Stadium - Former and maybe future (renovated) home of the Washington Professional Football Team

RFK Stadium – Former and maybe future (renovated) home of the Washington Professional Football Team

In Washington, the football team owner, Dan Snyder, is openly conspiring with the lame-duck, Republican controlled House of Representatives to bring the football team back to the city. The scheme is to add taxpayer dollars to a spending bill to finance the renovation of venerable RFK stadium. This urgency is caused by the incoming block of progressive Democrats whom most feel would not be nearly as accommodating, especially to a franchise that stubbornly keeps a racist team name. One of the complexities in this situation is that local DC officials are conspiring with the Republicans to make this happen. DC officials have a disturbing recent record of disregarding the voting will of their citizens to advance their own predetermined agenda, to accommodate moneyed interests. This is evident from their overrunning of voter-approved Prop 77, which would have gradually raised tipped workers’ base salary to $15 per hour. It should be noted that half of the council is Black. The mayor is Black and all are Democrats. So simplistic descriptions of villains and heroes do not apply here. If DC voters were only as concerned about this as some are about the Mayor’s annoyance with mambo sauce, maybe they could stop themselves from being shafted.

While the details vary somewhat, the fundamental process of NFL teams pimping tax payers for new stadium construction under the threat of the team moving is the historical play book. This is especially insulting, given that all 32 teams profit regardless of how bad the on-field product.

In the cases of Oakland and Washington, if we analogize their on-field play with sex, it is even more mind-blowing why their fans keep taking them back. It is clearly not very good!

In fairness to NFL teams, such behavior is the norm under Capitalism and extends beyond sports. Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. Nevertheless, the average salary of his Amazon employees is about $28K, and it’s only that due to the struggle for $15 per hour minimum wage. However, New York representatives were all too happy to sign off on giving him a $2 Billion windfall in tax breaks and subsidies to move Amazon operations to the city. The promises, as is the case with NFL teams, are the same: jobs, urban renewal, and blah blah blah. The fact is, in the case of Amazon, non-local residents will fill most of their best jobs. The remaining jobs are overwhelmingly low paying, part-time, and/or seasonal. This is true of stadium construction as well, except most of their jobs offer no benefits. It should also be noted that while politicians tout the jobs coming in, they forget math when it comes to jobs that are lost, which are mostly provided by small businesses. Unless you own a restaurant/business near the facility, you likely will not feel the economic return. In other words, public tax dollars are merely subsidizing the enrichment of the few whom are least in need. Stadiums promote a form of business gentrification. It is the typical Capitalism playbook both in and outside of sports.

How do the people fight back against this? Two things are essential; 1) a commitment to local organized struggle, and 2) the willingness to walk away and let the teams leave.

Ironically, the second need is more difficult than the first. Getting folks organized around an issue that is of passionate importance to them is not anywhere near as difficult as getting them to let go of that which they have an emotional bond. Both NFL teams and philandering husbands know this and are all too happy to exploit that bond.

However, it is necessary. Just as that philandering husband will keep doing what he is doing until the wife has had enough, so too will NFL franchises.  The absence of boundaries and a line in the sand when dealing with the predatory entities called NFL teams is tantamount to having a neon sign on your back that says, “Exploit me”. Will some cities lose their teams? Yep, but one should never cry long when your partner leaves an unhealthy relationship. Especially when the partner is the source of the toxicity.

There is even a successful model of grassroots resistance in Washington where the Reverend Graylan Hagler has led a fierce fight to repeal the repeal of Prop 77, as well as one to halt the closure of Providence Hospital. In addition to the short time window, the other thing working in the favor for the people of Washington is competition. The state of Maryland is proposing a new stadium near the National Harbor and the MGM Grand Hotel, which is the likely crown jewel for the coming sports gambling…I mean “investing”.

So, I say to the people of both Oakland and Washington; organize and resist. This especially includes football fans. Even before, we get to responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, by performance alone, neither franchise deserves a break.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

Chemistry in Sports is Overrated!

Saturday, December 1st, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

OA

Wizards All Star John Wall curses his coach. That’s why the team is having an underachieving season.

All Star Jimmy Butler made himself such a problem, which forced the Timberwolves to trade him. That toxic culture explains the Timberwolves underachieving season.

Both narratives reinforce a common myth in sports that says a team must have harmonious chemistry to win.

It just is not true.

DG

Draymond Green has gone off on his coach and cursed Kevin Durant, but it has not stopped the Warriors from winning three of the past four NBA titles. The conflict between Shaq and Kobe is well known, and yet my Lakers managed to be the last and one of only two NBA franchises to pull off a three-peat  (2000, 2001, and 2002).

The evidentiary examples are not limited to basketball.

In the 1970s, Major League Baseball had a team of characters called the Oakland Athletics (A’s). They were in constant war with their cheap but visionary owner, Charlie Finley, and with one another. One of the players described getting into a fight with a teammate in the shower over a bar of soap. Still yet, the A’s won the American League Western Division five straight years, 1971-1975, and the World Series 3-straight, 1972-1974. The only other baseball team to win three straight is the mighty Yankees. It was not the obvious lack of harmonious chemistry that eventually stopped the A’s. It was the advent of free agency.

RJThe New York Yankees of the latter part of that decade were similar. Its clubhouse was nicknamed “The Bronx Zoo”. They also had a meddling and toxic creating owner in George Steinbrenner. Catcher and team captain, the late great Thurman Munson, did not like the team’s best player and never hid that fact from others. Speaking of the team’s best player; he was also a member of the previously mentioned Oakland A’s team: Mr. Reggie Jackson.

Jackson referred to himself as the “Straw that Stirred the Drink”. He rubbed people the wrong way. He was both self-promoting and self-hating, from an ethnic identity standpoint. He was also quite possibly the greatest clutch hitting slugger in postseason baseball history. He is the only position player to win two World Series MVP awards, one with the A’s and the other with the Yankees, while leading them to consecutive World Series wins in 1977-1978.

Production, when it matters most, trumps chemistry.

There is a saying in football: “If you have two quarterbacks, you do not have one.” The riff between 49ers legends Joe Montana and Steve Young was obvious and even more contentious than Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, formerly with the Patriots.  Montana was more advanced and the incumbent with two Super Bowl MVP awards, but the injuries began to pile up. When Young got his chance, he made the decision for the late coach Bill Walsh very difficult, especially in the back end of 1988, when the team lost consecutive games to subpar Raiders and Cardinals teams, to fall to 6-5, and was in danger of missing the playoffs.

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 6:  Quarterbacks Steve Young #8 and Joe Montana #16 of the San Francisco 49ers discuss strategy with head coach Bill Walsh during the game against the Phoenix Cardinals at Sun Devil Stadium on Novemer 6, 1988 in Tempe, Arizona.  The Cardinals won 24-23.  (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

(Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

For the rest of the season, they would only lose a meaningless season-ending game on their way to winning the Super Bowl. They would repeat in 1989 with what many of us feel was their best team and on the short list of greatest of all time.

None of this is to say that chemistry is not important at all. It is. This is not to say that a player cannot cross the line and warrant accountability. He can, and it seems to me that Wall, Green, and Butler all did. It is to say that teams should think long and hard about getting rid of exceptional talent under the banner of team-cancer or chemistry-killer. Talent has its privileges, be it in professional sports or not. Does anyone believe that Hollywood would have the seemingly endless tolerance for Robert Downey Jr. were it not for his being a proven commodity, from both a talent and box office draw standpoint? Former Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson puts it this way: “If a special teams player or back up lineman falls asleep in a meeting, I would cut him. If Troy, Michael, or Emmitt fall asleep, I would go over a wake them up.”

Some may now be thinking, if I curse my boss I would be out of a job. As well you should be…unless thousands of people are willing to pay to watch you do your job. In that case, you may very well get the same leeway as exceptional professional athletes get. The fact is in the NBA, if you do not have one of the best 7-8 players in the league, or two of the top 12-15, you have little to no chance of winning a title. In my lifetime, only two teams broke through without this: the 1979 Seattle Supersonics and the 2004 Detroit Pistons, both of which had Hall of Fame coaches to guide them.

The most interesting part of the tendency to cite a lack of chemistry or toxic culture when a team under performs is the why. I have a few theories that I believe are at play here:

 

  • Unrealistic expectations: both fans and even media routinely wrongly assess how good a team truly is. There are two sources of this one being the “fishbowl syndrome”, which basically gives people the impression that they understand more about something than they really do, because they see the end-product. The second source is a tricky human tendency to substitute our hopes for analysis. Human beings have emotional, ideological, and egotistical ties to their hopes, and as a result, often stretch their realistic possibilities;

 

  • Jealousy: A huge segment of male sports fans (myself included) and media wanted to be professional athletes. Do not underestimate this lingering resentment. The quarterback stole his girlfriend in high school and he never got over the pain of being traded in for a flashier model. Professional sports offer such tormented souls a platform to therapeutically vent about that unresolved teen-age rejection from years ago. I am only slightly kidding; and

 

  • Race: This of the “Shut up and dribble” mindset. More than a few of the fanbase feel that the Black athlete’s primary role in life is to entertain them. When they are not entertained, he is deserving of scorn. One of the best examples of this was the demise of the Eddie Murray/Cal Ripken era Orioles. Murray got all of the blame for the team that started 0-21 in 1988 and was traded the next year, while Cal was left without stain. Simply put, more than a few White fans have a problem….be it consciously or subconsciously, with Black athletes enjoying the privileges they enjoy.

So yes, chemistry is important but nowhere near as much as talent, which is the default narrative often adopted when trying to explain unfulfilled expectations. The degree to which it is cited is more about our longing for simple explanations, even if intellectually lazy and impossible to verify. In 2013, the Houston Astros lost 111 games. That team is on the short list of one of the worst in baseball history. Five players from the 2013 team remained on the team in 2017, when they won 101 games, and the first World Series in franchise history. Of those five was an eventual MVP in Jose Altuve and a Cy Young winner in Dallas Keuchel. What changed? It wasn’t chemistry. All five have spoken about how close the 2013 team was despite the losing. What changed was the improvement of the those who remained and the addition of Alex Bregman, George Springer, Charlie Morton, and of course, Justin Verlander.

This is why I contend that chemistry in sports is overrated.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Trouble with Rewarding “The Biggest Loser”

Thursday, October 11th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of TeamRankings.com

Image courtesy of TeamRankings.com

A friend of mine plays several weekly football pools…straight picks…no point spreads, with the Monday Night total being the tiebreaker. He showed me the payoff breakdown of the largest, which has a pot of over $5000 per week.  First place takes home over $3K. Second about $1K, third about $500, fourth is about $400, and fifth about $300. Considering it’s only $10 per week, per sheet to play, and one can play as many sheets as one likes, it is a good deal. Merely placing once would get a weekly 1-sheet player his/her money back, plus extra.

All good, until I noticed a sixth payout slot: $100, regardless of pot size, would go to……………..get ready for this……….THE BIGGEST LOSER!

That is right. The person who wins the least gets $100.

When I first saw this, my thinking was it keeps the struggling players engaged, which after all, keeps the money pot high. More money for the winners and everybody is happy right?

Wrong!

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

Why reward the Biggest Loser when those who consistently miss only two games get nothing?

Understand that this particular pool has nearly 700 entries. It is not uncommon to go into the Monday Night game with only one loss and be out of the money because five with one loss picked the same team as he did, which means he cannot catch the five leaders. To consistently get through an NFL Sunday with only two losses takes some skill, and yet you walk away with nothing. However, the Biggest Loser gets $100? What this means is that in theory, one could tank the pool, lose on purpose, and win $1700. I know that this would never happen because losing the most has a degree of chance just as winning the most does. However, even if you were the Biggest Loser twice; the $200 would pay for your season and then a $30 return.

So, I asked my friend about this and his response was that they do not let anyone win “The Biggest Loser” prize more than once to prevent just what I feared.

Now here is how a “scheming demon” would get around this: He would simply pretend to have recruited new players, which would all in fact be him, so that he could continually tank games and pocket the $100 per week. Again, even though he would not be the Biggest Loser every week, he still games the system because we have set it up to essentially reward losing.
Now some will expand this concern of mine to the larger society and the debate over entitlements and a larger social safety net, and even calls to move toward a collective first society and away from predatory Capitalism.

It is not that deep.

Those of us who are adamant about moving away from Capitalism are simply saying the basic needs the collective 99% should take priority over the selfish desires of 1 percent and their never-ending attempt to horde the world’s resources for themselves.

The key term is needs.

Winning a football pool is not a need. Nor is the Biggest Loser’s plight the result of a rigged system, both historically and til this day.

He simply either does not pay attention or does not know what he is doing. It is ok. It does not make him a bad person, but it also does not warrant him a reward for his “pick em” incompetence.

Let everyone win by putting the work in and paying attention. Otherwise, this pool is destined for the participation trophy category.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Kryptonite to the Belichick G.O.A.T. Claim

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

BB

As Bill Belichick’s Patriots prepare to meet his former assistant, Matt Patricia’s Lions, it is hard to overlook the nagging blemish on Belichick’s claim as the greatest NFL coach of all time; the abysmal record of his professional coaching disciples.

BBCT

The collective NFL coaching records of Romeo Crennel (28-55), Eric Mangini (33-47), Josh Daniels (11-17), Bill O’Brien (31-34), Nick Saban (15-17), and now Patricia (0-2) is 118-172 for a winning percentage of .406.

One can be written off as an aberration. Two a concern. Three is a pattern.

So, what do we make of six, and not a one of them have a winning record?

BBCT2Some might ask how I can blame Belichick for the failures of his disciples. Valid question, to which I say, the same way we give him credit for winning five Super Bowls when he never made a tackle or caught a pass? Much of the discussion about coaching effectiveness is subjective, associative, and situational. The other factor is that several of Belichick’s competitors for the G.O.A.T. have compelling cases precisely because of their coaching tree.

Take the late great Bill Walsh. Not only was his offensive innovation the most impactful of the last 40 years, but his coaching tree has won seven Super Bowls, none of which were by the winningest coach in his tree, which is Andy Reid…whom I believe should go into the Hall of Fame some day.

Don’t we all consider that a part of Walsh’s legacy? Then it is fair game for Belichick.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, celebrates with head coach Bill Belichick after defeating the Miami Dolphins 41-13 in an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, left, celebrates with head coach Bill Belichick (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

In fairness to Belichick assistants, none of them had Tom Brady as their quarterback. The fact is that Belichick is sub .500 without Brady as his starting QB. The common response to this is, “but he won 11 games with Matt Cassel in 2008”.

That is absolutely true…and highly misleading.

The 2007 Patriots went 18-1. They clearly had a great deal of additional talent to Brady on the 2008 team, including a “pretty good” wide receiver named Randy Moss. He had a track record for making average QBs look better than they really were.

Furthermore, other candidates for the NFL coaching G.O.A.T. have managed to fare much better than Belichick without elite QB play. His mentor, Bill Parcells, won his second Super Bowl despite losing a former Super Bowl MVP quarterback in Phil Simms to an injury. Don Shula managed to get to a Super Bowl with a two-headed QB combination of David Woodley (he was out of LSU…need I say more about him as an NFL QB) and Don Strock. Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different starting QBs, none of whom were Hall of Famers.

I am not suggesting that Bill Belichick is not a great coach. He absolutely is…perhaps the best ever. He has a case with the five SB wins, and coaching in arguably the toughest era to date. I also do not take it for granted that having a great QB makes winning automatic. In fact, there have been five Hall of Fame Coach/QB combos that never won a super bowl. It is nowhere near as easy as Belichick has made it look.

I am only saying that those of you who want to crown his ass, pump the breaks just a little bit. It is hardly an open and shut case.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

It’s Just About Selling Shoes, Folks

Thursday, September 6th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

CK

I am happy for Colin Kaepernick. He has clearly been blackballed from the NFL, even if there is no smoking gun paper trail to prove such in a court. So, if he can recoup some of the money he has lost for taking a principled stand, good for him. He has earned every dime.

I am also happy that his many detractors are mad. Of all the things that actually warrant a protest, they choose this? To them I say, go ahead and burn your already paid for property.

I am not happy about the narrative some are painting of Nike becoming some corporate ally of social justice. It makes about as much sense as believing that Exxon is going to be a partner in combating climate change.

How do I know? You are what your record says you are and Nike’s record is the polar opposite of a corporation interested in social and economic justice.

For years, it oversaw what amounted to sweat shops and facilitated, or at the very least, ignored child slave labor. Nike was the posterchild for international corporate exploitation of populations that had little other choice but to participate in their own oppression. So bad was Nike that at one point, reporters pressed Michael Jordan about the issues.

Reportedly, it has improved its wages and working conditions, but it is hard to tell by how much. About 80% of its production factories are in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Some of the workers are paid as little as $102 per month. Do the math on a 40-hour week (though many routinely work more), and it amounts to 63 cents an hour. Regardless of context or where it operates in the world, I am not patting a multi-billion-dollar corporation on the back for raising its wages for workers to 63 cents an hour, and I damn sure will not be hoodwinked into thinking it is in anyway an ally for social justice.

For those who contend that Nike has changed, as recently as July of this year, it raised the wages of about ten percent of its employees. There is a catch. Most view this as a sort of internal settlement for widespread workplace misconduct and discrimination against women.

It is not that Nike cannot afford to care. The corporation that is paying some of its workers in Asia 63 cents an hour reported 2017 revenues in the range of $34.4 billion dollars up 8%.

There are a few things that Nike could do to become an ally:

  • Pay all employees worldwide a living wage, not minimum wage, but a living wage, plus full benefits;
  • Allow its employees to organize and collectively bargain around wages, working conditions, etc.;
  • Build a factory in the top 10 urban areas of America, which are where the majority of police brutality takes place, and give residential credit in the application process for jobs;
  • Finance the renovation and (where needed) rebuilding of athletic facilities at the high schools in those same areas

If they did any of the above, it would put some substance behind the symbolism of endorsing Kaepernick. Of course, they will not do any of them because it is not what Nike is about.

When in a battle, it is important to understand how to make a distinction between a “ride or die” ally and an opportunist. Nike is an opportunist.

So let us keep everything in perspective. Nike could not care less about the cause that Kaepernick has championed. For Nike, it is just about selling shoes, folks.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Trouble with Dak Prescott

Friday, August 10th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

DP3

When Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doubled down on his total disregard for player protest and specifically Black Lives in general, he was simply being who he is; a “good ole boy” who takes a great deal of pride in his role as a modern-day plantation overseer. Jones declared that anyone that does not come out for the anthem and stand will be cut. I hardly think that anyone was surprised.

The team’s African American QB from Louisiana and Mississippi, Dak Prescott, essentially agreed with his owner. The phrase many of us Black folks use to describe his behavior would be “cooning”. For those who don’t know, it is a phrase Black people use to describe other Black folks who are obsessed with staying in the good graces of whites.

This is the most troubling quote:

“I never protest during the anthem. I don’t think that is the time or venue to do that.”

Are you f$%%#@%* serious?

Is that all you got?

It’s a good thing that one cannot be sued for plagiarizing the thoughts of others because Dak would be in big legal trouble if it were possible. He may as well have said to Jerry Jones, “You tell em massa”.

DP2

The issue is not that he refuses to kneel during the anthem. I actually believe that form of protest has about exhausted its effectiveness. I have 4 basic issues with the position:

  • Zero creativity: This is a classic case of someone simply repeating a narrative that they heard someone else say, without any critical independent thought of his own. If you are going to shovel BS, at least make sure it has a unique aroma;
  • Pitifully elusive: Whenever someone says it’s not the right time or place for resistance to injustice, you can be sure that for that person, there is NEVER a right time or place;
  • Stockholm Syndrome: is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors, as a survival strategy during captivity. Dak’s position clearly sides with his oppressor….I mean boss.
  • Illusion of separation: one gets the impression from this comment that Dak thinks he is above that which has stung Black America. It’s as if he feels his status would have saved him from the terrorist that went into a Black church in South Carolina and shot nine people to death simply because of the color of their skin.

I could go on and on about how problematic his position is on so many levels, but at the core is simply that the statement is not true. If it were, that would be tantamount to saying that all those prior, who used the athletic venue as a platform to advance the struggle for social justice to include Muhammed Ali, John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and yes, Colin Kaepernick, were all wrong. If that were true, there is no way that Dak would be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

The most hopeful thing to do is just assume that Dak is young and not fully conscious of how treasoness his position is to those whose lives are at risk every day.  After all, even the great Jackie DPRobinson stained his reputation with public criticisms of both Paul Robeson and Ali. To his credit, before he died, he came to realize the error of his ways and by the late 1960’s was supportive of the many student-athlete protests around the country. Maybe Dak will develop in a similar way and let’s hope it’s sooner than later. Right now, he is clearly in a “sunken place”.

This weekend, White Supremacist will be descending on Washington, DC on the anniversary of them literally killing Heather Heyer. She was the social justice activist killed when she joined many others to confront the Nazis at the University of Virginia. She was not a celebrity or of great wealth. She, nevertheless, chose to risk her life and ultimately gave her life to stand up for what is right. Oh, and Heather Heyer was White. That is relevant because she could have chosen the path of many whites and simply ignore the reality of racism, since it does not have the immediate impact on her that it does on Black people. For that reason alone, she should always be remembered and revered.

Dak Prescott, on the other hand, does have celebrity and wealth. Oh, and he is Black…..whether he knows it or not. If Heyer saw the need to take a stand, what possible excuse could he have?

It is for these reasons, with this backdrop why Prescott’s pitiful declaration of where the struggle should not take place is so shameful.

Dak Prescott is the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, “America’s Team”. With that title comes the capacity to represent what America has been and is, or what America should be and can be. The choice is his but no choice is not an option. It’s the price of the party.

Just as frustrating about Prescott’s failure to take a stand is the fact that he is one of two players that could cross Jerry Jones’ line in the sand and not be cut (the other being Ezekiel Elliot). As much as Jones detests non-compliance, he loves to win even more. There is no way that he would cut either. There is precedence. Before the 1993 season, Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith held out fresh off the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl. Jones refused to budge……..until the Cowboys started the season 0-2. Emmitt was back for the 3rd game and the Boys would go on to repeat and win again after the 1995 season. If the “stars” take a stand, Jerry will stand down.

It’s fourth and goal in the red zone of America, Mr. Prescott. You do not get to sit this play out.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

How to Bring NFL Owners to Their Knees

Saturday, May 26th, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of USAToday.com

Image courtesy of USAToday.com

How is that protesting the NFL working for you?

If the unilateral policy change handed down by NFL owners, which banned the kneeling sparked by Colin Kaepernick during the National Anthem is any indication, it is not working too well.

Then and again, the protesting tactic of not watching or going to games never had much of a chance to have the impact those who advanced it sought.  Why? Because the demographics of those most directly impacted by the police brutality that Kaepernick and others were protesting simply do not make up enough of the season ticket holders and television viewing audience to have made a dent in NFL profits. About 77% of NFL fans are Caucasian, compared to 15% being African-American/Black, and 8% being Hispanic. Maybe immigrants and others most adversely affected by police brutality may make up another 2%, which puts the number at 25%.

While 1 out of 4 is not insignificant, it will not make a difference because the appetite for the NFL, even with declining TV ratings, still far outpaces that of its competitors. Think of it like the difference between the wholesale and retail price. The mark up is so high that when they claim to be having a sale, the consumer is duped into thinking he or she got a bargain, when in fact the seller had plenty of room to drop the price and still walk away way ahead. Does anyone really believe that networks are going to drop out of the business of broadcasting NFL games? Does anyone believe that advertisers will decide to try to reach customers through bowling rather than football?

As for season ticket holders, let us say all those from the most affected groups decide today to give up their tickets. Have you seen the waiting list for season tickets in places like New England, Dallas, Washington, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and New York? They would be replaced without a blink of an eye. Moreover, the NFL has moved in the same direction as the larger society, which accommodates the privileged through corporate suites etc. at the expense of the dwindling working and middle-class customers, who have not been already priced out of season tickets. Simply put, as long as the money keeps rolling in, NFL owners could not care less what those affected by police brutality think or feel, and they certainly do not care about the freedom of speech rights of its labor. It really was no surprise that the owners did not even bother to consult the NFL Players Association about the policy change. They have been emboldened by the recent Supreme Court ruling against labor that allows class-action waivers in favor of arbitration agreements to be a condition of employment. There is no reason to believe the right-leaning court will not rule against labor again in the upcoming “Janus” case, which seeks to literally bust unions.

Image courtesy of the NY Daily News

Image courtesy of the NY Daily News

So how can we bring NFL owners to their knees to both lift the obvious blackballing of Kaepernick and get on the right side of history regarding police brutality? First, we have to accurately access whom we are up against. Righteous indignation and well-meaning passions are not substitutes for effective tactics. The 32 NFL owners are not just any part of the 1 percent. They are especially powerful among that 1 percent. To use the mafia analogy, these are MADE MEN and anyone that knows “the code” knows that going up against a “Made Man” often creates more problems than it solves. Because these men are extraordinarily powerful, any tactics used to bring them to their knees must be extraordinarily powerful, and the only one that I can think of would be the withholding of NFL player labor.

There is some recent precedent. When the University of Missouri football players refused to play until issues of institutional racism were acknowledged and addressed, then and only then did the college get serious about the issues. Can you imagine what would happen if even a quarter of the Black NFL players refused to play until Kap was back in the league and other larger issues regarding police brutality were addressed? Some of the very intractable issues that grassroots groups have been struggling to address would be done almost overnight. Keep in mind that during WW2, the Russians were US allies while the Germans, Italians, and Japanese were enemies. By 1950, within 5 years of the end of the war, the entire narrative flipped in the minds of the general public, as did foreign policy. The Russians became the enemies while the Germans, Japanese, and Italians became allies. Power can do whatever power wants to do, when it is compelled by a people’s movement to do so. The people with the most leverage in this case against NFL owners are the players.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

The Crap Shoot Called the NFL Draft

Tuesday, May 1st, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

2011 NFL Draft

That annual rite of sports passage is mercifully over.

I am referring to the National Football League draft, which is quite possibly the single most over-analyzed, unscientific spectacle in American society.
Without even going into the aspect that has an undeniable slave auction feel and optics, can you think of any other event in America that has produced more self-appointed experts with less reliable outcomes than the NFL draft?

It’s not that the Mel Kipers of the world don’t do their homework. Most of them do. It’s not that the information provided is useless. Some of it is valuable.

The reason why the draft is largely a crap shoot is because no matter how sound the information gathered about a player, it is impossible to predict, with any degree of certainty how a 21-22 year old man will react to the NFL cultural environment. It’s bigger than just the football itself. First round picks become instant millionaires. In college, none have an abundance of expendable cash. In college, he must study subject matter he may not care about for the sake of staying eligible. In college, he did not have a multitude of parasitic people around him, some of whom are his own family. He will have that in addition to opportunistic women in the NFL. Lottery winners twice their age do not have a good track record of handling such a situation and we actually believe that we can forecast how a 20-something who has not even reached full brain maturity will?

Human behavior and performance is actually relatively predictable based on past behavior and performance. The wildcard caveat to such forecasts is that one must be able to replicate the environment and circumstances under which that past behavior and performance occurred. The best college football programs cannot replicate the NFL culture for their players.

This is why so few teams have a long track record of quality drafting. As a matter of fact, only one team comes to mind that has mastered this process over multiple generations and it is not the New England Patriots. The Patriots’ success is almost exclusively a function of the Tom Brady/ Bill Belichick era and let’s be honest, they got lucky with Brady. How else can you describe it when they waited until the 6th round to pick him? Do you really believe they would have waited that long had they had any inkling he would be what he has been? The other side draft benefit to having this sustained greatness for nearly 20 years at OB is that they have not had to take a QB in the first round. First round QBs are the most expensive picks and therefore the Patriots have had more cap space to pursue other players.

Call it “homerism” if you’d like, but the team that has had the most sustained draft success since the 1970 merger has been my own PITTSBURGH STEELERS!

That year was the last time the Steelers had the overall number 1 pick, which the team used on Terry Bradshaw. He is now in the Hall of Fame! Since then:

  • The Steelers have been the only team that has won at least 5 games every year. The Cowboys have hit rock bottom (4-28 in 1988-89). The 49ers have hit rock bottom (4-28 in 1978-79) and recently. The Patriots hit rock bottom on multiple occasions (9-39 from 1990-92 and 2-14 in 1981) prior to their current run. The Steelers have never hit rock bottom;
    • Four of their first 5 picks in 1974 (Swann, Lambert, Stallworth and Webster) are all in the Hall of Fame. Safety Donnie Shell was a free agent from that same class, signed out of HBCU South Carolina State and went on to become a perennial Pro-Bowler and may have his Hall of Fame name called soon;
    • The entire 1979 Super Bowl Champions roster were made up completely of their own draft picks. That had not happened before or since; and
    • The Steelers have won the most post season games (36), games overall, and of course Super Bowls (6) since the merger in 1970.

The term we card-carrying members of Steeler Nation use to describe our draft acumen is “STEEL CERTAIN!” And still yet, even with our great history and success, in 1983 we took Gabe Rivera out of Texas Tech instead of homegrown Dan Marino. It took the organization about 10 years to become a consistent playoff team again and about 20 before Big Ben’s arrival put us back on the top. No team is above blowing it in the draft.

So the next time you find yourself watching the draft “analysts” pontificating about the grades of each team’s draft before any of the picks have put on the team pads and uniform, take it with a grain of salt. Enjoy it for the entertainment it may be and nothing else.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports

 

Washington was Right About Cousins All Along

Thursday, February 1st, 2018

by Gus Griffin

gus

 

 

 

 

KC

With the agreement to acquire Kansas City QB Alex Smith, the marriage between Washington and its QB, Kirk Cousins, is all but over. Though Smith’s contract extension details have yet to come out, my guess is that it is front loaded for him and back end friendly, which would allow Washington to get out should he start to decline quickly. Cousins will become a free agent and command in the range of $27-29 million per year, making him the highest paid player in the league.

The issue was not if Washington would have saved money signing QB Kirk Cousins to a long-term deal two years ago. They obviously would have. If I had purchased a nice car in 2016, it would have cost me less than in 2018. But could I have afforded the maintenance and up-keep necessary for that vehicle to function at its maximum best? If the answer is no, why buy the car?

The issue was if they had signed him, would they have been any better off than the Baltimore Ravens have been since they re-signed Joe Flacco? Is Kirk Cousins a top 5-10 caliber QB that will keep you in the hunt for a Super Bowl every year? If the answers to these two questions are no, then Washington was right all along about Cousins.

Kirk Cousins is a more than adequate starting NFL QB. He was never as bad as ESPN talk show host Bomani Jones suggested, comparing him to Ryan Fitzpatrick. He also is not a top 5-10 guy, which is the only QBs teams should lock up with the big money.  The two glaring concerns I have about Cousins as a QB are: 1) that he is not a confident down field passer; and 2) he is not a good improviser. These happen to be the two QB aspects that defenses fear the most. They do not fear a guy whom they know will stay in the pocket and throw short passes most of the day. That is what Kirk Cousins has been.

It’s about now when some reading this will respond with stats. They do in fact look good for Cousins over the past 3 seasons. They are also terribly misleading. At no time in football history have QB stats been as artificially embellished as they are today. There are several factors that have created this environment: 1) the generational influence of the West Coast offense which emphasizes the short passing game (of which Washington Head coach Jay Gruden is a disciple) and; 2) increased defensive sophistication in scheming, especially in taking away big plays.  As a result, what was at one time the 3rd or 4th option, the check down pass to a back has now become the second and sometimes primary target. This leads to higher pass completion percentages and appeals to the defensive-minded coaches as well, as it is more risk averse. These same coaches are from the school of thought that says, “just don’t lose us the game”. This philosophy leads to a game manager mindset in the QB and less down field passes.

Don’t feel bad for Cousins. He is going to benefit greatly from a perfect storm of factors, most of all being the fact that the demand for quality QBs so far outweighs the supply. That is how the likes of Brock Osweiller and Mike Glennon could cash in and neither are near as good as Cousins. Some team will make Cousins the highest paid QB/player in league history. That’s just the way this thing works.

It’s not that you can’t win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins as your QB. You can. The 2000 Ravens won with Trent Dilfer, the 2002 Bucs won with a Brad Johnson past his prime, and of course the 2015 Broncos won with a washed-up Peyton Manning. What did all 3 of those teams have in common: all-time great defenses and the inability to sustain the success on an annual basis. Bill Cowher kept my Steelers in contention with a QB list of Neil O’Donnell, Kordell Stewart, and Tommy Maddox. But they could not get over the hump until Big Ben came. The Steelers were also an aberration in that they draft and develop players on an exceptionally high level, which makes them less desperate to over pay to sign free agents or re-sign their own proven players.

Don’t let this year’s NFL conference champion QBs fool you. Yes, you can win with a less than top 5-10 QB, but good luck at sustaining a team in the Super Bowl hunt without one. There are only two viable tactics for getting an NFL QB: you either lock up the top 5-10 guy to a long-term deal or you get a guy at a discount and invest the rest in your defense and other areas of your team. What hamstrings a team is when it locks up a guy in the 12-15 range, which is where Cousins is, to a long term deal that won’t allow it to add the talent around him.

Washington concluded this about Cousins and they were right. As one analyst put it, they wanted a prenuptial agreement with him and he found it insulting and refused to sign it, knowing what he could get on the free market. I don’t blame either side.

 

Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports