USA Today Sports' far Left ideologue Nancy Armour is having a cow because the Arizona Cardinals' owner is supporting President Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. The Cardinals' website featured a story Monday about owner Michael Bidwill supporting his former high school football teammate Brett Kavanaugh for the nation's high court.
Bidwill (pictured in file photo) initiated a letter endorsing Kavanaugh, drawing support from Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman and many others. The letter was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Armour is angrily denouncing Bidwill's actions as hypocritical.
"It’s not mixing football and politics the NFL finds so distasteful," Armour moaned. "It’s mixing football with politics the league and its owners find distasteful. ... So much for sticking to sports."
Two can play that game. The NFL is a long way down the road of mixing football and politics, but to a left-stream writer it's only bad politics when the conservative position or person is favored. LeBron James can endorse Hillary Clinton on his time and soak up media praise for doing it, but Bidwill can't endorse anyone? Not according to Armour:
"But Bidwill was not promoting Kavanaugh’s nomination as Mike Bidwill, anonymous rich white guy from Phoenix. He was doing it as the owner of the Arizona Cardinals, giving the team’s endorsement to a Supreme Court candidate who, given the gaping divide in this country, is being viewed by many with suspicion and fear."
More accurately stated, Kavanaugh is viewed negatively by many Democrats and their media sycophants.
Armour asks, "Did Bidwill survey his season-ticket holders to see how they’d feel about their team throwing in with Kavanaugh? Did he consider that the team’s promotion of Bidwill’s support might alienate and even anger some of the people who pay the Cardinals’ bills?" Why would a team survey the fans on Kavanaugh? Teams didn't survey ticket holders on Pride Nights popping up all over the ballparks last month or on giving $89 million to players for social justice causes opposed by fans.
Armour asked another over-the-top question: "Did he not stop to recognize the bald hypocrisy of an NFL owner dragging his team into a charged political debate less than two months after the league muzzled player protests during the national anthem because, as Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said, 'Our playing fields —that’s not the place for political statements.'" Did anyone hear Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald yell "stop dragging me into a politically charged debate?" He hasn't.
Armour says it's splitting hairs badly to say Bidwill's support for Kavanaugh is different than the player protests because it didn’t happen on a game day. "If the league wants to declare the game a politics-free zone, it has to apply to everything and everyone associated with it, and that line of separation has to be blindingly bright." Did the Cards have a game Monday night when they publicized Bidwill's letter?
The NFL is now paying players to engage in social and political reforms favored by Democrats and left-stream media. Commissioner Roger Goodell lobbied Congress on a political issue favored by Democrats and left-stream media. There were no media demands for a politics-free zone then.
Forgetting the Cardinals are a privately owned business, Armour warned the team not to engage in campaign advertising. Forgetting no one appointed her NFL commissioner, Armour wrote: "No candidate rallies at NFL stadiums for that matter, either. If you want to get political, you’re going to have to do it on your own time and away from league space." This from the woman who last year called the players' political protests "extraordinary" and one of the NFL's "finest moments." Armour then became the pot addressing the kettle:
"The NFL, its owners and, yes, some fans have absolutely no problem with politics or polarizing displays so long as they align with their way of thinking. Tim Tebow taking a knee after a touchdown to honor God? He’s a good Christian and we need more of that! Players protesting in an effort to draw attention to criminal and economic systems that are biased against people of color? They’re ungrateful SOBs who are disrespecting the flag, the anthem and the military!"
Tebow was not engaging in political protest, but prayer doesn't align with Armour's way of thinking. Free speech is best when it's coming from social justice warriors taking a knee to insult veterans.
"You cannot have dialogue when one side does all the talking," Armour whines. "And you cannot expect players to 'stick to sports' when the same rules don't apply to the owners and their teams." Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett, Harold Jenkins and other NFL players have done plenty of talking. Owners have done far less talking, and now one who does express his views is shouted down by USA Today. Support for Kavanaugh from professional sports simply cannot be tolerated. But it would have been a totally different story if Bidwill had opposed Kavanaugh. Armour would have declared it "the owners' finest moment."
