HuffingtonPost has urged us to boycott the NFL: don't go to games, don't watch at home, don't even check the scores on your cell phone. Wow. That's tough. I don't like what the NFL has done. But I love my football! And my Giants are defending champs and seem to be on primetime tv every week.
Seriously, they opened the season on Wednesday night against Dallas. Thankfully I didn't even know-when has football been on Wednesday night before?!-I was watching Bill Clinton. I loved the speech but even more when I realized Bill saved me from witnessing a loss to the Cowboys of all teams-the one team I hate losing to more than any other.
Gavin Shulman at least is a football fan. For those of you who don't watch the game, I don't even want to hear your self righteous denunciations. It's easy for you as you don't like the game anyway-heck half of you are probably in the PTA chapter of banning the NFL because it's too violent.
Gavin knows what he's asking:
"Right now I feel sorry for football fans. Next week I won't. Because we can bitch, moan, tweet, read columns, and blog posts, tune in to commentators, listen to interviews, sit, stew, and generally get more and more pissed off, or we can do something about it. Stop watching. If we really want something to be done about the replacement refs were going to have to speak up. And not with social media, but with our money."
"We're gonna have to tune out. Trust me, I love football more than I love waking up the days a game isn't on, but right now it's not football were watching. It's some three-team sport where you have to hope an athlete makes a play and then an old chemistry teacher doesn't screw it up. The games are terrible. It's not fun to watch. It's not fun to be a fan. And there's only one thing in our power to change that. Turning it off."
"It's like Steve Young said, and I paraphrase, the NFL doesn't give a shit about you. They just care about the shield, and how much money they can pack behind its protective face. Well, that shield is not impenetrable. In fact, there's a real easy way to make it obsolete. Look away. I know it's going to be tough. I know it's going to suck. I know it's not fair. But if you love something, let it go. And when they come crawling back because they realize they need your money, it will feel even more special."
"We, the fans, are not powerless in this. In fact, we're complicit. We may not have Drew Rosenhaus, but we have agency. We have the ability to end this National Football nightmare. With the click of a button. Sure, it'll suck more than a vacuum to have to miss your team's game this weekend, and live in one, but that's what it's going to take. It's going to take all of us manning up, Eli, not Peyton, and boycotting. It's going to take all of us uniting together this Sunday to skip football and go see a movie or hang out with our significant others. As awful and terrible as that sounds."
"Listen, I'm not trying to be all Che and power to the people and march on Washington here, I just want my football back. And there's only one way I see that happening: a mass black out. We can ease into it with the Thursday game, Browns vs. Ravens, which no one wants to watch anyway. We just got prime-time Ravens and the Browns are just the replacement officials of NFL teams. So no one tune in. See where that gets us. And then if we still have scabs heading into the weekend, we're going to have to sit out this Sunday. All of us. For the sake of the game we love."
"Let's take a pledge right now. We will not watch professional football until the professional refs return. It's literally the least we can do. Unless we just want to complain, criticize and cry. Because that's totally in our power too."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gavin-shulman/doomed-to-fail-boycott-th_b_1913400.html?utm_hp_ref=sports
So will you follow Gavin? If you are good luck to you, but I'm not. I admit it, I can't handle these kinds of divided loyalties. Even Chicago was hard. Yes, I support the teacher unions. But I also support Rahm Emmanuel. How to choose? Then again, was what he was asking for all that onerous? Maybe seniority is out of hand. Might some level of merit based pay be in order? I'm asking these questions as I don't know the answer. There has certainly been way too much union bashing and roll backs since Reagan neutered the airline union in 1982. Maybe though, Rahm's reform is reasonable. Maybe-again, I'm not sure.
I don't know. I just hate when Democrats fight unions. That's not the way it's supposed to be. I remember how when I used to write at Firedoglake-before they banned me-they would claim that we "Obamabots" rooted for the Democrats more like a sports team.
Maybe there's some truth in that. But if I am a diehard Demcorat how about how diehard I am about the NY Giants?
I guess what I say to the FDLers is quote Thaddeus Stevens: "Principles indeed! Betray your principles and stand behind your party!"
Then again, considering how much FDLers love socialism, notice that the loyalty of me and others to the Democratic party is nothing like what happens with the Communist party in "Socialism as it has hithero existed." Then it's against the law to be in any party but the Communist party which has total control of society.
I feel similarly torn here. But I can't tell you I'm going to boycott the games. Maybe you will. Maybe many will. If so, more power to you. Let's hope you and Gavin are right.
What is notable about this is why the NFL owners have done it. It's not like when we hear how Detroit is going bankrupt and "we all have to sacrifice"-which of course means the autoworkers have to take pay cuts.
There is some truth at least in that Detroit was going bankrupt, though it's coming back now, thanks to Obama. The NFL is doing great.
What's truly outrageous is that this wasn't because they had to "bend the cost curve" but because they saw workers across the country getting shafted and unions getting scaled back, so they figure they're entitled to the same roll backs of player rights.
This morning on NBC they had a discussion about the new fees banks are charging. They suggested that depositors can always vote with their feet for another bank. Yet, this ignores that if one bank successfully charges a new fee, the others will watch to see how it goes. If the bank doesn't see it's business model crater, but even maybe squeezes out some new profits, the others will soon copy it.
This same copycat phenomenon is at work here. The NFL has no need for this but says if everyone else kicks the unions in the teeth, why can't they?
P.S. As far as the current ref lockout, I guess I will bitch and complain while still watching it. I see Gavin's point about hitting them where it hurts. I don't criticize those who do that-maybe I even admire you. But that's my solution. Of course ti could be argued that this will do no good if everyone follows my example.
I have two things to say in answer to that. First of all, maybe they wont follow my example.
Maybe Zizek is wrong and I can count on the Big Other to do those things for me I don't want to do for myself. Ie, maybe many other fans are more virtuous and farsighted than I am, so I can benefit from their greater prudence.
Secondly, bitching, complaining, and writing comments on angry websites aren't without any power either. If the NFL continues to get really bad publicity, this could have some major effects too. You have the President and other politicians criticizing it. There's now in New Jersey a bill to disallow replacement refs.
So the political fallout by itself could be enough.
UPDATE: This just in. There's a report that the refs may be coming back this week.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/report-locked-out-nfl-refs-could-return-this
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