SUPERBOWL another slap in the face for trump and his band of trait

Hello cawacko,

cawacko said:
To the bolded, you'll get some pushback.


In the NFL’s coaching ranks, equality is still but a dream

The promised land is nowhere in sight as Black NFL assistants are still too often judged on the color of their skin


After yet another disappointing NFL hiring cycle, frustrated Black assistant coaches are no closer to reaching the mountaintop.

It’s always in vogue for league officials to invoke the words of Martin Luther King Jr., especially during Black History Month, but make no mistake: By repressing the careers of coaches who merely strive to compete on a level playing field, NFL owners writ large have reinforced the systemic oppression that the late civil rights icon spent much of his life fighting.

By now, the unsettling story is as familiar as the overt racism on display.

Of the seven openings for head coaches at the beginning of the 2020-21 cycle, one was filled by a Black man. Over the past four cycles, there have been 27 openings. During that span, three Black men became head coaches. In the 32-team NFL, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, David Culley of the Houston Texans, hired in January after serving as the Baltimore Ravens’ assistant head coach and wide receivers coach, and Brian Flores of the Miami Dolphins (who is Afro Latino) are the only Black coaches in the league. Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team is Latino.

Additionally, the New York Jets hired former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, a Lebanese American, who has the distinction of being the NFL’s first Muslim head coach, in January. That’s great. Anything that moves the ball on inclusion marks progress. When it comes to providing opportunities for qualified Black coaches, however, the NFL repeatedly fumbles it. The league has never had more than eight Black head coaches in any season. In an overwhelmingly Black league – whose on-field workforce is more than 70% Black – you know what the aforementioned numbers are? Unacceptable.

During his annual Super Bowl state-of-the-NFL news conference Thursday, commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the ongoing efforts he has led to improve inclusive hiring from the front office to the field. Clearly, Goodell and his top lieutenants still have plenty of wood to chop.

“We want to make the NFL, our clubs, more diverse. It’s much broader than just head coaches for us,” Goodell said. “But the head coaches is important, and we put a lot of our policies and focus on that this year. As you know, we had two minority coaches hired this year. But it wasn’t what we expected, and it’s not what we expect going forward. We want to continue to look and see what went right, what went wrong.”

What’s particularly offensive to outsiders who closely monitor the hiring situation is that after Goodell, Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, and Steelers team president Art Rooney II, chairman of the NFL’s diversity workplace committee, spent the previous offseason attacking the problem, owners (who are mostly white), through their collective actions, told them to go spit, figuratively speaking. According to N. Jeremi Duru, who wrote the definitive book on the leaguewide rule that governs hiring for both top business and football operations positions, there’s no other way to view it.

“I’m deeply disappointed. I’m deeply disappointed because the NFL, the league [office] spent the offseason truly committed to this issue and, in the end, the owners didn’t seem to move the needle in response to the NFL’s commitment,” said Duru, who chronicled the struggle that led to the creation of the Rooney Rule in Advancing The Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL. “The league office is moving in the right direction. The problem, it seems, are the individual clubs.”

At the position of general manager, Goodell, Vincent and Rooney can point to signs of progress. Three Black general managers were hired during the cycle: Terry Fontenot of the Atlanta Falcons, Brad Holmes of the Detroit Lions and Martin Mayhew of Washington. With those moves, the league’s number of Black general managers increased from two to five (the NFL has never had more than seven). A significant breakthrough also occurred in business operations at the club level. In August, Jason Wright became the NFL’s first Black team president, taking control of Washington before the league’s 101st season kicked off.

Although Vincent, Goodell’s bannerman in the ongoing fight, concedes the league cannot claim victory because of a handful of positive developments, he said those moves shouldn’t be ignored, either.

“While the football hiring season didn’t produce the results everyone had hoped for regarding the head coaches, the overall body of work demonstrated clear progress,” Vincent told The Undefeated. “There are wins on which to build. … We have to acknowledge the significance, the progress, of Terry, Brad and Martin [being hired].”

Furthermore, Vincent continued, there are encouraging signs at the coordinator level. Former Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, ousted in January, was hired to direct the Lions’ offense. And one-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris, who guided the Falcons to a 4-7 record this season as their interim head coach, will be the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator next season.

“Would we have liked to have seen Raheem become a head coach again? Yes. And the same thing with Coach Lynn. We would have liked to have seen both of them have other [head-coaching opportunities] just like some of their [white] peers,” Vincent said. “But they’re both coordinators. That’s significant, because we have to keep in mind that the fall for Black coaches has [historically] been so steep” after being fired as head coaches. “Having our first [club] president … that’s significant. I’m not waving the victory flag. Not by any stretch. But there are things that should be pointed out.”

Vincent also wants it known that despite optics to the contrary, there are owners interested in doing the right thing regarding hiring. Those on the other side of the table roundly praise Goodell as being an ally in the battle, but “there are club owners who are allies as well,” Vincent insists. “Roger gets singled out, yes, but let me tell you that Kim Pegula [one of the principal owners of the Buffalo Bills along with her husband Terry Pegula] has jumped on the table as well. I’ve seen [Arizona Cardinals owner] Michael Bidwill, [Falcons owner] Arthur Blank and chairman Rooney voice their displeasure over the years. The generalization that none [of the owners] care and it’s just not important to any of them … it’s just not true.”

That established, despite the best efforts of Goodell and others, the numbers remain the problem. So now what?

“It’s not clear what more the league office can do about it. The league has pushed the buttons that it feels it can push and the owners haven’t responded,” Duru, the author of Advancing The Ball, said. “So if something is going to be done about it, it’s got to be done by other stakeholders. And by other stakeholders, I mean players expressing their views strongly, and individual head-coaching aspirants who have been frozen out for some time taking action.”

Which could be best described as the nuclear option for the league’s Black assistant coaches. For many reasons, it would be highly difficult for them to successfully litigate against the league office, including the fact that many acknowledge privately Goodell and those under him have taken significant steps in an effort to change the landscape. As for going after the individual clubs, pursuing such a strategy would likely be fraught with danger for anyone who tried. Just ask former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took on the NFL in court and hasn’t been under center since.

If there’s a will, though, there could be a way, said Susan D. Carle, a professor of law at American University Washington College of Law.

“It would certainly be possible to sue one or more teams. And what you need, sort of in the tradition of civil rights litigation, you just need one test case,” said Carle, an expert in discrimination, labor and employment law. “Once you make a good case against one team, the other teams are going to look around and say, ‘Oh, wow, we better pay attention to what we’re doing here,’ and then change their ways.

“What used to happen in those early civil rights cases, and current ones, too, is that you would have a plaintiff, a test person, who’s willing to apply and then be rejected. And then that person, with the support of a civil rights organization, would file a lawsuit and say they were discriminated against, and show why. Now, you’d have to have some theory there. … You couldn’t just make allegations without facts to support the allegations. But if you could do that, if you could make a case that would survive a motion to dismiss, that would be the basis for making a case and possibly settling.”

Of course, any Black coach who participated in such a lawsuit would effectively end his or her career, Carle acknowledged.

“Early civil rights plaintiffs … their careers were ruined, they were vilified and they were put in physical danger. No one is expecting that a coach would want to go through that in this day and age,” she said. “But just having one person who wanted to step forward and say, ‘I’m gonna put my name on a lawsuit that says this was discrimination,’ that would be the key.”

Vincent, the high-ranking league executive, will keep pushing in his lane.

“The club owners who are allies … we’ve got to help move them into the majority,” he said. “We’ve just got to continue doing the work.”

For more than 400 years in America, Black folk have worked arduously in hopes of one day reaching the promised land. But as Black NFL assistants can attest, getting there is still only but a dream.


https://theundefeated.com/features/in-the-nfl-coaching-ranks-equality-is-still-but-a-dream/
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Don't even MENTION what the NFL does to women.

Ever wonder how much an NFL Cheerleader is paid? It might be more appropriate to wonder if she is paid at all. With all the expenses for travel, lodging, professional hair and makeup, all of which are on her, it's easy to come out actually in the hole.

It turned out that with all the time required to do what they do, they were actually earning less than minimum wage. And then there are the expenses...

Some Cheerleaders got upset about it a few years back and finally decided to take action. Instead of going on strike like the players, they sued. And they have won all sorts of judgements brought mostly by the NFL, that they had no right to sue at all, that each suit had to be stand-alone, whatever, and finally got it legally established that they had a right as a group to bargain for better pay, and that the NFL needed to come up with a better deal. And that is where it is stalled. The NFL has made one or two low ball offers, which have been rejected by the Cheerleaders. Meanwhile the NFL has pretty much said we don't need Cheerleaders, and done everything possible to cut them out of TV and any marketing (Where their usage was quite commonplace.)

THAT'S why you no longer ever see shots of Cheerleaders on TV coverage of NFL games any more. Sometimes you catch a glimpse them in the background when somebody runs off the field. But they are never shown as a specific shot any more.

The suit is ongoing as we speak.

Of course, that situation got worse for them in the pandemic with no fans in the stands.
 
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Nordberg said:
So if the "indoctrination" is so insidious, you must believe it too. This is Papa Johns's owner's estate. https://www.celebritynetworth.com/a...rs-600-million-fortune-bought-insane-mansion/ He argued against raising the min wage to 15 saying it would raise his average tab by 75 cents. I really suspect he could have eaten the raise. He did not care about those who labored so he could get super rich. Yeah, lots of people think those on top are super greedy. That is because that are. Workers don't start unions, bosses do.
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you "suspect"raising the minimum will not cost jobs
The law of supply and demand says otherwise
 
Trump wanted to buy an NFL team. The owners blocked him. He has never forgiven them. That is probably why he jumped on the kneeling suggesting the fans should boycott the game and sponsors. Trump is such a petty little man.
 
blackascoal said:
Agreed, but it demonstrates that even old white racist men can learn from their mistakes.

There is another dynamic that is playing out. BLM is supported in part by corporations and it is corporations who are wielding the hammer of cancel culture and they are quick to smash racists with it. Cross the line, get smashed and cancelled which more than football, is really what this thread is about. The consumer, the American people is leading the way in that effort.

My best friend and I, who is about the same age as I am have been discussing how we never expected that we would live to see a black president, but we’ve not only lived to see a black president, but now we see a black women as Vice-President with corporations playing a huge role in the fight for justice and equality.

Truly amazing.
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I know exactly how you feel. In a class near the end of my senior year in high school, a particularly good teacher asked us to go around the room and mention something that would be achieved in our lifetimes and something that would not. The overwhelming consensus among my friends and classmates was that 1.) there would never be a black president in our lifetimes and 2.) gay people would never be allowed to marry in our lifetimes.

I remember Obama being elected. I had a results watch party at my house with about 20 friends. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. We were hugging each other and calling our families. Then I remember sitting at the bar in a Mexican restaurant when the Obergefell decision was announced. Strangers were high fiving each other. We were buying each other shots. I started crying and texting everyone in my phone.

And now a woman. A black woman. Progress tends to be two steps forward and one step backward. The Trump presidency was disastrous. It will take us a very long time to repair the damage he did, but when I consider all of these achievements -- achievements I was positive in 2001 would never happen while I lived -- I think we're doing ok.
 
Grokmaster said:
KNEELING DURNG THE ANTHEM IS ALL BUT EXTINCT NOW....TRUMP WON HIS POINT...AS DID AMERICA.
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Not sure how your dumb as fuck posts sometimes slips through the IGNORE that I have you on, but I have you on IGNORE for your benefit. You’re just toooo fucking dumb, too essy. Beating up on your ignorant ass messes with my spirituality. It’s just wrong to beat up and embarrass something as devoid of intelligence or even common sense as you.

“GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY” And intellectually slapping you around would be ugly. Sure, you’re a racist as well as a idiot clown but then again, what else could you be? They all go together. But I think I can be forgiven for slapping you just a bit before I find out how you keep slipping through. Here comes the boot.

US SOCCER LIFTS BAN ON KNEELING DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM .. npr.com

The protests not only worked in the NFL AS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED ABOVE, BUT IT WORKED SO WELL THAT IT’s message has spread world wide, including to various American teams, networks, corporations, and products. When you see BLM, THINK KAPERICK AND THE NFL, PROTEST OF KNEELING. DID YOU KNOW THAT BLM HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? IIF THEY WIN IT, THEY SHOULD HAND THE TROPHY TO COLIN KAPERNICK BECAUSE HE IS WHERE BLM COMES FROM .. A BONIFIDE HERO.

BOOT �� UP YOUR ASS.

NOW HOW ABOUT YOU SLINK YOUR BRAINLESS ASS BACK DOWN THE HOLE YOU CAME FROM?
 
dukkha said:
moron that is illegal immigrants taking low skilled jobs
-not simpleminded
"people out there who still really believe that there are inherent, biological inadequacies in non-white people"
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You are a special kind of stupid. Lots of white Americans are racist. They always have been racist. They revolted against PC culture so they could be racist in public. Coulter and Miller told Trump that white racists needed a hero. So here we are. This is as simple as addition. None of Trump's agenda was ever about illegal immigration. It was about telling white people that Trump was going to help them keep their jobs as long as they voted for him and hated non-white people. You fell for it.
 
blackascoal said:
Not sure how your dumb as fuck posts sometimes slips through the IGNORE that I have you on, but I have you on IGNORE for your benefit. You’re just toooo fucking dumb, too essy. Beating up on your ignorant ass messes with my spirituality. It’s just wrong to beat up and embarrass something as devoid of intelligence or even common sense as you.

“GOD DON’T LIKE UGLY” And intellectually slapping you around would be ugly. Sure, you’re a racist as well as a idiot clown but then again, what else could you be? They all go together. But I think I can be forgiven for slapping you just a bit before I find out how you keep slipping through. Here comes the boot.

US SOCCER LIFTS BAN ON KNEELING DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM .. npr.com

The protests not only worked in the NFL AS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED ABOVE, BUT IT WORKED SO WELL THAT IT’s message has spread world wide, including to various American teams, networks, corporations, and products. When you see BLM, THINK KAPERICK AND THE NFL, PROTEST OF KNEELING. DID YOU KNOW THAT BLM HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE? IIF THEY WIN IT, THEY SHOULD HAND THE TROPHY TO COLIN KAPERNICK BECAUSE HE IS WHERE BLM COMES FROM .. A BONIFIDE HERO.

BOOT �� UP YOUR ASS.

NOW HOW ABOUT YOU SLINK YOUR BRAINLESS ASS BACK DOWN THE HOLE YOU CAME FROM?
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Yes, the entire world tracks our issues and the BLM movement spread many places.

BLM protests across Europe: 'Racism is as big a pandemic as COVID-19' - CGTN

But when you consume Fox or worse, you would not know this.
 
... and furthermore, NFL is trying hard to export its product globally as the NBA notably did in China.
That isn't going to happen if it is in any way associated with racist trash.
 
Diesel said:
Oh, I do. It's been reinforced generation to generation for centuries. Success and prosperity are a zero sum game in their mind. If someone else does better, they think that means they do worse. So what's the best way to maintain privilege? Create a "union" of people -- in this case, by race and skin color. Of course, there are some people out there who still really believe that there are inherent, biological inadequacies in non-white people, but for the most part, I believe that most white American racists are racist just because they think it's benefits their employments.
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This is probably for another discussion but we all know the obvious racists, the people that drop n*bombs, the people who say other races are inferior etc. But what about the more subtle type racism that people say exists in this country. Why do white folks still engage in that?

I think back to this post on Facebook from a girl I grew up with:

"Just finished White Fragility. It is a MUST READ, especially if you are white and/or you are accepted as white in American society. Seriously, I don’t care what political party you affiliate with. I don’t care how progressive you think you are, I don’t care if you think you aren’t racist. If you are white, you are racist, myself included. We have so much to learn and the first step is being completely open to that learning and being willing (even excited) to dismantle our role in white supremacy. *as a quick side note, it’s almost impossible to get a hard copy of this book as its popularity has soared, but it’s easy to get the ebook or audiobook. If you choose to get the audiobook, I suggest going through Libro.fm as you get to choose an independent bookstore to support rather than lining Jeff Bezos’s pockets with even more money."


If you buy what my friend is saying even "open minded" white people are racist. How does that get addressed?
 
blackascoal said:
Agreed, but it demonstrates that even old white racist men can learn from their mistakes.

There is another dynamic that is playing out. BLM is supported in part by corporations and it is corporations who are wielding the hammer of cancel culture and they are quick to smash racists with it. Cross the line, get smashed and cancelled which more than football, is really what this thread is about. The consumer, the American people is leading the way in that effort.

My best friend and I, who is about the same age as I am have been discussing how we never expected that we would live to see a black president, but we’ve not only lived to see a black president, but now we see a black women as Vice-President with corporations playing a huge role in the fight for justice and equality.

Truly amazing.
Click to expand...

If you're looking at the last few hiring cycles the owners aren't learning from past mistakes. In theory, since you're talking about cancelling, fans could stay away from the NFL until owners make the sidelines and executive front office look more like the players on the field. But we're talking about the most popular sport in the country. The players could come together and fight it but that can be a tough ask as outside of a handful of star players the average career is just a couple of a years and many of the contracts aren't guaranteed. And while making $500K - $750K/yr for a couple of years is a lot of money, especially when you are young, we all know that money can go quickly and tends not to last long. So many of the players don't have as much leverage as say NBA players do.
 
Diesel said:
I know exactly how you feel. In a class near the end of my senior year in high school, a particularly good teacher asked us to go around the room and mention something that would be achieved in our lifetimes and something that would not. The overwhelming consensus among my friends and classmates was that 1.) there would never be a black president in our lifetimes and 2.) gay people would never be allowed to marry in our lifetimes.

I remember Obama being elected. I had a results watch party at my house with about 20 friends. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. We were hugging each other and calling our families. Then I remember sitting at the bar in a Mexican restaurant when the Obergefell decision was announced. Strangers were high fiving each other. We were buying each other shots. I started crying and texting everyone in my phone.

And now a woman. A black woman. Progress tends to be two steps forward and one step backward. The Trump presidency was disastrous. It will take us a very long time to repair the damage he did, but when I consider all of these achievements -- achievements I was positive in 2001 would never happen while I lived -- I thinking’s we're doing ok.
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I feel you brother. I applaud your journey. But think about this. Donald Trump May/was the exact awareness that America needed and deserved. Think of him as an enema. Exactly what America needed to flush out a lot of the foul evil that America ignored. I’ lived through the Civil Rights Era. Progress doesn’t happen this fast nor this stark. For progressives, it’s always ‘Hurry up and wait’ I look around today and I see black women as Attorney Generals everywhere. Trump has one in New York to face and a black man in Illinois, where a black woman is the Lt. Governor. Damn near Reconstruction Part Two.

Hispanics taking their place. Gays taking their place. Women are demanding and getting their place. We aren’t all there yet, but trump and his band of idiots have played their parts in forcing America’s hand to wake the fuck up. They played the only part they could play, as racists, morons, and fools.
 
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cawacko said:
If you're looking at the last few hiring cycles the owners aren't learning from past mistakes. In theory, since you're talking about cancelling, fans could stay away from the NFL until owners make the sidelines and executive front office look more like the players on the field. But we're talking about the most popular sport in the country. The players could come together and fight it but that can be a tough ask as outside of a handful of star players the average career is just a couple of a years and many of the contracts aren't guaranteed. And while making $500K - $750K/yr for a couple of years is a lot of money, especially when you are young, we all know that money can go quickly and tends not to last long. So many of the players don't have as much leverage as say NBA players do.
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Absolutely the truth, but although the hiring is still lacking, owners have been forced to come a long way. Consider where Jerry Jones was and where he is today. Many see light at the edge of this journey, and as you said, boycotts have consequences. I feel you and applaud your stance, but I never envisioned that as a proud progressive it would be me suggesting to proud centrist to hold on, it’s coming. :)

Is this a dream?
 
NiftyNiblick said:
I watched the Patriots win Six Super bowls as a guilty pleasure, but football is a game where permanent brain injury is the best case result and quadriplegia is always on the table.

Just go to the beach, and you'll see no shortage of "zippered" knees just on guys who played in high school.

If they ban the game altogether, it's OK by me. I'm not endorsing that. Nobody is forced to play. I'm just saying that it's not a bad idea.

I went to the neighborhood boxing gym rather than participate in school sports because the school "jock culture" was repugnant to me, and the under-privileged minority kids boxing at the gym
had better social graces than the troglodytes on the football team who at least, to their credit, had the good sense to stay away from me.
We in the gym took a few shots in the head, bad enough, but nobody had zippers.

I boxed and played recreational golf and then sat back and let the football players entertain me while putting their ambulatory capabilities on the line.
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I guess you missed Kim Duk koo.
 
Hello Nordberg,

Nordberg said:
Trump wanted to buy an NFL team. The owners blocked him. He has never forgiven them. That is probably why he jumped on the kneeling suggesting the fans should boycott the game and sponsors. Trump is such a petty little man.
Click to expand...

So that's 2 for 2 times Trump has tried to cancel the NFL and failed.

Glad we got rid of that failure of a president.
 
blackascoal said:
Absolutely the truth, but although the hiring is still lacking, owners have been forced to come a long way. Consider where Jerry Jones was and where he is today. Many see light at the edge of this journey, and as you said, boycotts have consequences. I feel you and applaud your stance, but I never envisioned that as a proud progressive it would be me suggesting to proud centrist to hold on, it’s coming. :)

Is this a dream?
Click to expand...

Let me ask you this if I may. The NFL knew if had some PR relations issues the last couple of years and brought in Jay-Z to be sort of a liaison between the league, players and ownership. Not too many carry the 'street cred' he does. Yet in certain circles I saw him getting lambasted for basically being a sell-out and supporting the racist ownership of the NFL.

We know one part of change comes from having seat at the table which is what Jay-Z had. So the response to him seems very conflicting to me. You had folks complaining about the lack of black representation in coaching and the front office but then going after Jay-Z for being in a position where he could possibly affect some change.

Am I missing something here or not seeing the big picture?
 
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