Don't be that guy? Deadspin hate-monger Jesse Spector proudly claims to be "that guy" and his latest diatribe proves it. In his article "Sit down, jerk ― the flag doesn't have cancer", Spector says the people who complain about politics in sports are themselves politicizing it, in numerous ways.
Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon set Spector off by going on a Chicago radio show and saying, “I don’t think they should be disrespecting the flag or the national anthem. There’s so many different platforms if people want to protest whatever they’re protesting.”
That sentiment has been repeated a million times by the political right, earned McMahon some kudos from The Federalist and "revoked any punk cred he ever had," Spector raged.
Spector's cynical response:
"Time and place, show some respect, yada yada yada, keep politics out of sports. Sports, after all, are supposed to be an escape from real life, a sacred bubble into which no social issues shall ever incur. We’ll honor the First Responder of the Game, and the Veteran of the Game, occasionally do a military flyover, and of course play God Bless America, and those things will remind us of what is Really Important and Bigger Than The Game and Brings Us All Together As Americans."
Spector goes lower than low when he begrudges Friday's StandUp2Cancer awareness efforts (see file photo from 2019 World Series above) in sports, at a time when the radical Left is obsessed with Black Lives Matter, racial angst and protest on the fields of play:
"Once a year, though, we really can put everything aside and have a moment — yes, it’s got a corporate sponsor, it’s still sports — of pure sentiment and unity for something that isn’t the game itself. It’s the annual moment at the World Series when everyone in the stands, all the players, all the players and umpires, and even the broadcasters hold up signs on which they’ve written the names of people close to them who have been affected by cancer."
This cancer awareness moment happened at Friday's World Series game. It was a much anticipated break from maddening obsessions with the "systemic racism," "police brutality" and BLM messages chasing viewers away from television sportscasts.
Spector moaned: "Fox did its usual series of cuts to people on and off the field with their signs, and they got into the crowd, and…
"I STAND UP FOR
"THE FLAG
Not really. Spector was hot under the collar about this and gave a mock shout-out to people seated in luxury suites who not only held up signs but were not wearing masks. He calls this "a different kind of political statement, because somehow preventing the spread of a highly infectious virus became polarized." Implying that the people complaining about politicized sports were themselves politicizing the World Series.
Holding sports events and allowing fans to attend are political acts. When games begin, politics don't go away, Spector adds. People are using cancer signs as their platform to share a message, which is as political as the decision to play the national anthem before games, he insinuates.
MasterCard tries to look good by sponsoring the cancer awareness moment, says Spector, who conveniently overlooks the mass hysteria of corporate America sheep cowardly displaying support for BLM on every forum imaginable in recent months.
Spector ends his rant with a final caustic moment.
"So, you’re free to use that moment and your sign to say whatever you want, but when you take the anti-cancer moment to espouse a position that isn’t 'cancer can kick rocks,' you look like an asshole."
