USA Today columnist Nancy Armour received front-page treatment on Monday, swooning over how “extraordinary” the anti-Trump, anti-National Anthem protests were during Sunday’s NFL games that made for “one of its finest moments” ever.
Along with the gush and trashing Trump as a “racist,” she equated woke athletes with the actual heroics Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Billie Jean King, and Jackie Robinson from years past.
Here’s Armour’s lead paragraphs:
The scenes, and the statements, were extraordinary.
Empty sidelines in Nashville and Chicago. Jacksonville owner Shad Khan standing arm in arm with his players. The Miami Dolphins wearing “I’m With Kap” T-shirts during warm-ups. Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis eloquently explaining his change of heart about players protesting during the national anthem.
The NFL had one of its finest moments before the games even began Sunday, coming together from every corner – players, coaches, owners and league office – in forceful rebuke of the latest torrent of hate from President Donald Trump. Whether black, white or brown, on bended knee or with locked arms, the NFL’s rare show of unity was both a dignified condemnation of the wrongs we still must right and a reminder that, for all of our differences, America remains our common ground.
There’s so many questions to ask here after reading this: What “wrongs?” What “common ground” is still left? Does she not understand that some see these protests as not only about Trump, but as being anti-American? So many questions, so few answers.
“Be it Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King or Magic Johnson, sports has long been the prism through which we see society. And fondly as we regard those trailblazers now, that wasn’t always the case. Changing hearts and minds, getting people to shed their stereotypes and ignorance, took sacrifice, anger and, yes, even protest,” Armour added, as if she were Chris Matthews praising Barack Obama.
She vaguely referred to how the league didn’t allow “individuality or personal expression,” but never gave examples, like wearing cleats to commemorate 9/11 or wear a decal on helmets to honor fallen police officers.
On Trump, she denounced his Friday rally remarks for being “as ignorant as they were inflammatory, yet more racist dog whistles for his base” with Sunday as a sign that he “badly overplayed his hand.” Sure, go ahead and call 63 million Americans racists, Nancy. That always works out well for the media.
Hilariously, Armour tried to alleviate fears that this hullabaloo hasn’t been about the American flag or the National Anthem. Whether she likes it or not, it’s fair to say there’s plenty of people that not only don’t buy it:
The demonstrations by Kaepernick and the other players who have joined in are not about the national anthem or the military or the flag. They never have been. They are about the racism that continues to be pervasive in our society, manifesting itself in police brutality, economic inequality and disparity in education and opportunity.
They’re about who we claim to be as a country, what we really are and the very large divide in between. That gap will never be bridged unless we confront it and have conversations about it.
She then concluded:
No one is naïve enough to assume the NFL will now be the standard bearer in this latest fight for civil rights; moving as all the demonstrations were, it did not go unnoticed that the theme was “unity” rather than inequality, and that very few white players took a knee.
But for one day, people of all colors, backgrounds and political beliefs came together for a common cause. And that shows all of us that it’s possible.
At the end of the day, sports media showed how little they care about the actual games because of the broader mission, which is destroying Trump and pushing for diversity of appearance but uniformity of views.
Just look at Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin stating his disdain for how offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva chose not to participate in the team’s boycott of the National Anthem. Leftists claim they support free speech, but this weekend showed it’s only for speech that they support.
When the response should be oppose but tolerate the protests, it’s become quite the opposite.
