Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Not all heroes wear capes.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Bark louder, little dog.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

“But what about the lurkers?”

We are aware of all internet traditions.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Let there be snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Open Thread: Trump’s Reverse-Midas Touch, Sportsball Edition

Open Thread: Trump’s Reverse-Midas Touch, Sportsball Edition

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From the Washington Post, “Trump is over the NFL (mostly). But the league still is feeling the fallout.”:

On a Friday evening in late September, President Trump and a group of aides gathered in the executive office of Air Force One.

A television was tuned to Fox News, which was replaying and deconstructing a clip from Trump’s rally earlier that day in Huntsville, Ala. Though he had appeared in support of Luther Strange in a primary runoff for the Senate, the footage had nothing to do with Alabama politics.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say: ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now,’ ” Trump had told the crowd in a state he won in 2016 by nearly 30 points. “ ‘He is fired. He’s fired!’ ”…

… Reliving his words during the flight back to Washington, Trump pointed out to staffers that his off-the-cuff remark had been perhaps the biggest applause line of the night.

Four months later, with the NFL approaching the finish line to a turbulent season with Sunday’s Super Bowl, America’s most powerful sports league remains wounded from an ongoing culture war that started almost by accident…

For a president who thrives on conflict, the league served as just another convenient foil — and, perhaps, a particularly satisfying one given Trump’s unsuccessful attempts to buy an NFL franchise. But for the league, which had attempted for years to build a connection to the flag and patriotism as it replaced baseball as America’s pastime, his comments initiated a full-blown crisis, exposing social fault lines that had always been there — but those the league had been reluctant to confront. For months, the league has struggled to figure out how to respond to Trump amid a genuine sense that he had gotten the upper hand. In many ways, as the NFL gathers in Minneapolis this weekend for its glittery showcase, the fallout continues even as the president has mostly moved on.

“It put us in a position where we had to be political, and I don’t think it’s what any of us wanted,” said one NFL team executive, among more than a dozen league sources who requested anonymity so as not to draw Trump’s attention back to the league or any particular franchise.

“It was a terrible year.”…

In a few impromptu minutes in September, the president had — at least among his supporters — pivoted anthem protests away from race relations entirely. Now it was about respect, patriotism and the flag itself. The NFL — despite wrapping itself in the stars and stripes more than any other sports body with almost weekly salutes to service, field-length American flags and military flyovers — had lost its way…

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  2. 2.

    CarolDuhart2

    Or start a rotation, like “America the Beautiful”, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and so forth.

  4. 4.

    Feebog

    It is frustrating to discuss this with conservatives who insist taking a knee is disrespectful. Of course it is, that’s the whole point. NFL players are in a unique position to share their protest nationwide to millions of fans. Conservatives would rather cut the argument short by claiming this is about patriotism rather than discuss the underlying problems of racism and discrimination that people of color experience every day.

  5. 5.

    B.B.A.

    The XFL is going to replace the NFL. Just like last time, when it totally wasn’t an embarrassing flop that shows why you can’t run wrestling-style feuds and storylines in a “real” sport.

  7. 7.

    frosty

    So they’ve been doing all this patriotism and flyovers and wrapping themselves in the flag on purpose and now it’s backfired? Well deserved.

    Fuckem

  10. 10.

    PaulWartenberg

    If the Eagles win, I hope the whole team votes to ignore visiting the trump White House.

    I know the Patriots are evil enough to have half their team go anyway.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    That picture of the First Couple — even from this side of the planet I can hear her thinking, “If only I were someplace else.” Before he became POTUS I never suspected der Scheißgibbon had so great a talent for sowing misery and discord. He needs to be kept away from decent company.

    A frustrating weekend for my team Liverpool FC. Led twice against visitors Tottenham Hotspur through goals by Mohamad Salah, only to be denied all three points by a last-minute penalty. 2-2 at the final whistle.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @Feebog:

    It is frustrating to discuss this with conservatives who insist taking a knee is disrespectful. Of course it is, that’s the whole point.

    I don’t find it disrespectful at all. I believe it’s about having respect or demanding respect/acknowledgement.

  14. 14.

    CarolDuhart2

    I don’t see how the XFL even begins to work. Back in the USFL days, there were some fairly large cities that didn’t have an NFL team, so there were some just-at-the threshold players available to play, and some decent places to have a team. Now? Nashville has a team. All the big cities of Florida now have teams. Seattle has a team. All the places that don’t have an NFL team are no-population states like Nebraska or no hopers like Columbus (between Cincy, who got in early enough, and the Cleveland Browns (founding team), there still isn’t enough people for a third NFL team. )

    And he wants players that are squeaky clean and capable. Not gonna happen. The combination of skill and character gets snatched up by the NFL when available. And I wouldn’t doubt that the NFL will take some and hold options for some more to make sure the XFL doesn’t have any good players.

  16. 16.

    MJS

    @Feebog: Taking a knee is disrespectful? Here’s what happened. Kapernick first sat for the national anthem. Then, after consulting with a teammate who had served in the military, the decision was made to take a knee instead. Taking a knee in virtually any setting is not disrespectful.

  17. 17.

    The Simp in the Suit

    WaPo story — does it mention how it’s not TRUMP that

    pivoted anthem protests away from race relations entirely

    It was the effing PRESS that allowed, and then simply ran with, that narrative. I don’t recall a single time anywhere in the MSM that accurately reported that the Trump and the GOP were misrepresenting the protests.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Coincidence that every Stupor Bowl’s Roman numeral since Dolt 45 took office can readily be pronounced “lie?”

    ;)

  23. 23.

    brendancalling

    Fuck Donald Trump for fucking with football. And for that matter, fuck Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, who endorsed the Orange Shitstain. And for THAT matter, fuck the New England Patriots, which employs Tom and Bill. I want to see the EAGLES DESTROY the Pats.

  24. 24.

    gene108

    @CarolDuhart2:

    so there were some just-at-the threshold players available to play,

    The USFL attracted some top flight talent. Jim Kelly, Reggie White, Anthony Carter, Sean Landetta, Hershel Walker, Steve Young and others, whose name I probably forget.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @CarolDuhart2:
    A good idea, but let the rotation include such songs as This Land Is Your Land (the whole thing, including the “relief office”, “no trespassing” and “freedom highway” verses); We Shall Overcome, Eyes On The Prize, Simon and Garfunkel’s He Was My Brother, Springsteen’s post-Katrina version of How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live, among many others. Oh, and if President Trump is attending, Woody Guthrie’s Old Man Trump, about a certain racist landlord.

  32. 32.

    Cermet

    Short of boxing, there is no sport causing more harm so to one’s mental facilities, so frankly, couldn’t happen to any better sport.

  34. 34.

    Wapiti

    @Gin & Tonic: Even more amusing to me: Trump wears a tie to a super bowl party, but recently gets a picture taken at work with no tie and wearing a billed cap indoors, in the Oval Office.

  38. 38.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Chris T.:
    First you get down on your knees
    Fiddle with your rosaries
    Bow your head with great respect
    And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect
    Do whatever steps you want if
    You have cleared them with the pontiff
    Everybody say his own
    Kyrie eleison
    Doin’ the Vatican Rag

  39. 39.

    Feebog

    @MJS:

    I’m well aware of the origin of the kneeling. But CK began his protest by sitting through the anthem. That was a form of disrespect. Kneeling does not change the point, anything other than standing with your hand over your heart is a form of disrespect. Let me be perfectly clear that I fully approve of his protest, whatever form it takes. But let’s not pretend that kneeling during the anthem is perfectly acceptable, and not a form of protest.

  40. 40.

    stinger

    That pic up top is so sad. That’s a party? Don’t billionaires know how to have fun? Do they, can they, ever have fun?

  42. 42.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Feebog: Of course it is not a sign of disrespect. You kneel before God, and historically would kneel before your lodge. Kneeling is (if anything) MORE respectful than standing there with a hand on heart. It’s just a different connotation.

  44. 44.

    Chet Murthy

    @Cermet: Integrated over the entire population of participants, ISTM football is far and away more pernicious. Though perhaps we’ll learn that soccer is even worse (albeit less severe in each case) as studies get done. [I said “perhaps” — I don’t actually know, and I’ve only seen one study to-date.]

  45. 45.

    Josie

    @Feebog: You are conflating “protest” with “disrespect.” One can respect the flag and the country it stands for while protesting the actions of some people in that country.

  47. 47.

    Chet Murthy

    @JDM: What’s there to respect? Black people have lived in a totalitarian state to which their ancestors were forcibly transported for centuries. To this day. Fuck anybody who thinks that state deserves respect, until that atrocity has been remedied.

  52. 52.

    --bd

    @Amir Khalid: It’s sad that the Venn Diagram intersection showing LFC fans who are even aware of The Jerky Boys is probably just me and some guy in Newark. I SO want Salah to be nicknamed The Egyptian Magician.

  53. 53.

    dww44

    I honestly don’t believe that I’ve ever seen a sadder, more unhappy looking First Lady. And not just in this photo. Even when she smiles, it seems to be a just a cover for her deeply rooted unhappiness. I actually do feel sorry for her (money or not) and have from the get go. The sign from one of the Woman’s marches (maybe even the one I attended) that was on cardboard addressed to her: “Blink if you need help” comes to mind often.

  54. 54.

    Chet Murthy

    @raven: Respecting a man’s power over your life-and-death, has nothing to do with respecting his moral authority or legitimacy. Nonviolent protest doesn’t (ISTM) require agreeing to the legitimacy of the oppressor’s position and power; it merely requires agreeing to the fact of the oppressor’s position and power.

    I’m reminded again of what Muhammad Ali said:

    “And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”

    And sure, you want to -convince- the oppressor *because* you know you cannot win your rights otherwise. The North Vietnamese didn’t have to convince us of jack-shit, did they? They just kicked our asses out of their country. The (South Asian) Indians? Different story — the British still had significant power, and Gandhi’s strategy was a canny one. But nowhere is it written that you have to agree that Elizabeth (& Mountbatten) were legitimate.

  57. 57.

    Gelfling 545

    A couple of Buffalo News outlets – WBEN prominently, have decided to stir up a fuss about the Canadian national anthem in which the line “all thy sons” has been changed to “all of us”. Now the comment sections of WBEN and the Buffalo News constitute a “never ending symphony of villainy and infamy, duplicity, deceit and subterfuge” that is best avoided and, true to form, our local bigots leapt to decry an action that was none of their damn business in the first place.

  61. 61.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Adria McDowell: But there’s no room even if they wanted one.
    In my opinion the best the XFL could do would be a version of minor league football. At least with minor league baseball, the players could be called up to the majors. Minor league basketball has international teams you could play for. and places that will never get an NBA team ever. Football, its NFL or sit down.

    Also, the USFL played in the spring and summer. It was Trump who insisted on a winter schedule for the USFL. Needless to say, it wrecked the league. Nobody would watch and players who were on the bubble for the NFL, who could play a summer league and hope that they could be picked up in the fall, weren’t available.

  62. 62.

    J R in WV

    @Feebog:

    It is frustrating to discuss this with conservatives who insist taking a knee is disrespectful. Of course it is, that’s the whole point.

    You’re quite incorrect about this. IIRC, Colin Kaepernick, when he started his mild protest, began by sitting on the bench. Then he learned from a veteran teammate that at a veteran’s funeral, when the flag on the vet’s casket is passed on to the family, the leader of the troops assigned to the funeral kneels to hand over the flag… I’ve seen this many times, both at funerals I have attended and on TV coverage of other funerals.

    So he kneels both in respect, and in protest.

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    @Feebog:

    But let’s not pretend that kneeling during the anthem is perfectly acceptable, and not a form of protest.

    Kneeling during the anthem is a perfectly acceptable form of protest.

  64. 64.

    Zinsky

    This asshole used to own a football team, you know? The New Jersey Generals – The NFL wouldn’t let Trump in, so the sphincter bought a USFL team. Of course, it was a failure, like everything this incompetent pervert does. Story here.

    That’s why this immature, narcissistic sex offender still harbors a grudge against the NFL.

  65. 65.

    bobbo

    “It put us in a position where we had to be political,”
    Oh, boo hoo. Like draping the entire field in a fucking flag and staging flyovers of bombers breaking the sound barrier is not political, it’s just American.

  66. 66.

    Mike G

    @Wapiti:

    no tie and wearing a billed cap indoors, in the Oval Office

    Remember the SCANDAL when Obama wore a tan suit at his desk?

  67. 67.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Only the classiest, best, most luxurious cardboard cutout of a football

  68. 68.

    Kayla Rudbek

    If we’re going to have a second football league, what about Combat Football (a la Norman Spinrad’s short story The National Pastime)?

  69. 69.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    @Feebog: Bullshit. The same people promoting that bullshit put my grandfather into a hole in the fucking ground for daring to return from WWII in uniform;he was drowned in a creek that a schoolchild could stand up in because he dared to think of himself as equal to any white man. That “disrespect” trip is some bullshit. You kneel at military funerals;the Ciscos have been there continously since WWII. You kneel before God, no disrespect there. You want to spew that crap, waaaaaay over there – to the RIGHT – is where you go with that bullshit.

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