Star Spangle Banter!

Has Barnes ‘n Noble’s stock gone up? Are piano lessons being sought after at an astronomical rate? Has Fort McHenry received an absorbent amount of attendance? The reason I ask these questions is because for some reason the National Anthem has become so idolized that the NFL has now enacted a National Anthem Policy.

The policy is relatively broad and straight forward, which for those who have delved into any policy, law, or rule, realize that a broad law/rule tends to be challenged regularly and exceptions are enacted to narrow its scope. The Policy states, according to Sport’s Illustrated’s Albert Breer, that “the league’s new policy will allow players to choose whether or not they come out for the anthem, but require them to stand for it if they’re on the field when it plays.”

So there are three issues that need to be discussed with this rule:

1.       How the new policy was passed

2.       What’s the NFL’s reason for enacting such policy

3.       What parties are hurt by this policy.

Let’s start with the first issue of how this policy was enacted. The first reports indicated that the NFL’s owners voted on whether this policy should be legislated.  It was concluded that thirty-one of the thirty-two owners voted in favor of the policy, with the lone owner (the 49ers owner) abstaining from the vote. However, as reported by ESPN.com’s Seth Wickersham, the NFL did not actually conduct a vote, but rather polled the owners. From this poll they assumed that the owners would vote in favor of this policy.

So the NFL effectively decided to end an already dying protest by an authoritarian method – shutting down a peaceful demonstration by non-peaceful means. History has shown in America the consequences of such a strategy. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Selma March would not have been the same, nor would it have been as effective, if it was not for the government (i.e. the municipal police officers) using violent means to try and quash a peaceful protest.

What is more appalling is not the fact that the NFL lied by stating that new Anthem Policy was a vote made unanimously, but rather the fact that the NFL has not learned from its past lying.  This is the same league that only a few years ago botched handling the Ray Rice incident.  In that public relations embarrassment, the league was originally going to just hand Rice a two-game suspension, but then decided against it only once it felt the general public outcry toward the horrific elevator camera footage of the violence Rice inflicted upon his wife.  From that experience, the NFL should have learned it’s always best to “measure twice and cut once.” However, here in the flag issue the NFL handed down a broad policy, and wanted the general public to believe that every club was for it, but this was not true. This is exemplified by the Jets owner coming out and saying that he would not punish (i.e. pass down the fines that the club received) any player who violated this policy.

The other issue is the fact that the NFL did not discuss this new policy with the players, prior to it being announced. Now, legally, the NFL is a private corporate entity and therefore its employees are not provided with Constitutional protections – i.e. free speech. However, I would argue that NFL stadiums and owners who beg for their stadiums to be paid by local municipalities (taxpayers) are in fact a governmental entity and therefore subject to the Constitution. Regardless, the NFL, like any professional sports league, is unique in that its labor is extremely rare. In other businesses a policy like this anthem policy would be easily enacted as the company’s labor is easily replaceable. So input from its labor is less needed as they are more likely to succumb to the demands and policies of the company’s owners for fear that they could be terminated and quickly replaced. However, the NFL is made up of extremely gifted and rare individuals who make the game what it is – entertaining. In turn, it is important for the NFL to work harmoniously with its players, because, if they have an unhappy workforce, the product on the field could suffer. The NFL failed in this respect and has strained its relationship with its players even further.

The NFL claims it enacted this policy, reported by Tadd Haislop of Sportingnews.com, out of “respect for the flag and anthem.” Anyone who believes that reasoning probably also believes that Donald Trump is the “least racist person ever!” The NFL created this rule because it thought it would boost its perception. For instance the NFL recently passed a new rule, reported by George Henry of the Chicago Tribune, “that says any player who initiates contact with his helmet is subject to ejection after an in-game video review that will be decided in New York.” This rule includes lineman. If the referees are to follow the letter of the law, then lineman will be ejected at a rapid pace. So the rule will not be enforced, but just used to give the average fan a “perception” that the NFL is trying to make the game safer.

The same principle of “perception” is used with the National Anthem Policy. The NFL believed this would make them look more patriotic, so fans would feel that the NFL is “All about America.” The NFL really is trying to mitigate any “bad” press (largely stemming from the President). What the NFL really did was pour gasoline onto a dying fire, enrage its players, and preach “patriotism” through authoritarian means of enforcement. The irony is everywhere.

The Issues With The 2018 NBA Playoffs

I sit here watching  Game Four of the 2018 Western Conference Finals between the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors, unimpressed. So far the series has been anything but competitive. All first three games, of the series, have been blow outs. The closest of these three games was game one in which Golden State beat Houston by 13 points to take away home court from the Rockets. With the Eastern Conference being weaker than in prior years (and that’s saying something), many analysts and pundits figured that the Western Conference Finals would determine the 2018 NBA Champion, as the NBA Finals are predicted to be more of a formality than an actual “Championship Series.” So far that prediction is not producing, and that is costing the NBA. 


The 2018 NBA Playoffs, up to this point, have been noncompetitive and boring. This is a problem considering a sport survives, albeit a professional sport, so long as it draws viewers.  Take the eight first round matchups – only half went to six games or more. What is even more disappointing is that it was the Eastern Conference’s most recognizable teams that were forced to extend their first round series past five games; whereas the more competitive, and as the pundits have suggested, more entertaining West, finished three of their four series’ within five games. 


Logically the first round of any sports playoff would be considered the least entertaining. That is not the case in this year’s NBA. In the second round, no series went more than five games.  Luckily the jury is still out regarding the NBA Conference Finals. It appears that the Eastern Conference Finals will at least go six games.


A counter argument to the above claim is that although the series themselves have been “quick,” the games themselves have been close. This may be true, but there is something to be said for the psychological aspect of one team consistently beating another team in nail biters. In the 2007 World Series an average fan remembers that the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies, but they forget the fact that in two of those four games the Rockies only lost by one run. That’s the issue with one team in a series winning a bunch of close games – it’s competitive but not captivating. When Boston went up 3-0 against the 76ers in the second round, no reasonable fan was thinking that the 76ers were going to come back, but rather was wondering if Boston would finish the series in Game 4 or Game 5 (as an aside it doesn’t help that Boston is without its two best players for the entire playoffs). 


Assuming that Cleveland and Golden State make it to the NBA Finals for the fourth time in a row, it doesn’t mean much. The reason for this is because in order for a rivalry to be worthwhile, there needs to be some level of expectation that each side could win. That will not be the case this year, just like it was not the case last year, especially now with Cleveland struggling to defeat a deficient Boston team. 


It should be noted that no matter how bored I might be by the recent NBA playoffs, the rest of the country has been entertained. Since 2015 the NBA Finals have had an average viewership of 20 million and I will most likely continue to be one of them.