Even with Tom Brady playing for a new team and Joe Burrow doing his best to bring the Bengals back from the dead…I spent my Sunday without compulsion to watch either.
They tell me that Tom Brady was less than electrifying in his Tampa Bay Buccaneer debut on Sunday. I wouldn’t know.
They tell me that Joe Burrow was uncharacteristically cool under fire in his Bengal debut, showed he was worth the #1 pick in the draft…and almost won it for them. I wouldn’t know.
They tell me that the Browns stunk the place up against the Ravens. I wouldn’t have known had a neighbor not texted me to say he’d started Sunday binge drinking two weeks earlier than usual.
They tell me that some teams knelt for the Star Spangled Banner and stood for the Black National Anthem. I had no clue.
Because I didn’t watch. The only access I had to the National Football League Sunday came because I was working at an associate’s house and the Bengals game was on in another room. I could hear the noise as I struggled with an external hard drive.
I didn’t watch because I’m tired – tired of the contradiction, tired of the hypocrisy. I’m tired of hearing about platforms – athletes lecturing me on how bad America is while they benefit from the country’s appetite for sports, make their fortunes, and live in mansions behind locked gates.
You want a breakdown?
It’s contradictory when they kneel for the national anthem, then say…it’s not about the song. They have no beef with the song. Yet, they stand for an alternative anthem because IT IS about the song, as the NFL writes in the end zone…IT TAKES ALL OF US! Meanwhile, the politicians running for the White House tell us the country is divided. Duh!
The hypocrisy comes by athletes who live double lives, demanding that others should inspect their hearts, while they give lip service, play for millions, and throw a few shekels to the seething masses as a token of their concern. The Scriptures say…give all your money away to the poor if you want to serve your fellow man. Then I shall know you are of Me (Matt: 19:21).
Enough!
We hear it so much it’s like the boy crying wolf – the morning, daytime, and evening news. We’re bombarded with guilt, public service announcements, compliance inspectors at high school football games, and patrolmen taking license numbers of those attending church during quarantine (in Kentucky). By the weekend all you want to do is watch sports to forget about what’s wrong with the world – not to be reminded of it.
But no. LeBron is doubling down, saying he’s had enough of the very people who’ve made it possible for him to live like a ‘king’.
And while it may not be about the song…you cannot separate the Star Spangled Banner from the millions who’ve served to ensure that which is right about America. And nowhere in it is there a lyric claiming perfection.
I spent my day on worthwhile endeavors. Did some writing, and made a few calls to others. Some of them weren’t watching, either. And if you did, maybe you could benefit from backing away from the noise. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, but my Sunday was just fine.
They tell me…it could have gone better for the Browns!