Sports will never be the same
Drew Brees apparently didn’t get the memo.
He thought he was still living in pre-2020, pre-COVID, preGeorge Floyd times, able to express his quaint ideas about how a true American behaves without being called on it. But those days are over. While attempting, one supposes, to express devout patriotism, the New Orleans Saints quarterback sure stepped in it this week. Anyone who didn’t understand the concept of white privilege before does now.
Brees will make $25 million (U.S.) this coming season and has earned a mind-blowing $244 million in his superb career. He works in a league in which 70 per cent of players are African-American.
Yet he apparently doesn’t know them at all. He is completely removed from their experience despite being in their midst for months at a time.
“Damn y’all thought Drew would say something different than what he did?” tweeted former NFL tight end Martellus Bennett.
Asked if he felt there would be widespread player protests when the NFL returns because of ongoing unrest in dozens of U.S. cities, Brees told Yahoo Finance in an interview that he “will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America.” It was a clear reference to blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick and others who protested in the NFL by taking a knee.
Brees still apparently believes Kaepernick’s actions were a protest about the flag and not the pervasive, gut-wrenching issues of systemic racism and the dysfunctional relationship between Black Americans and the police.
Why wouldn’t he think that way? Those issues don’t touch him.
His best receiver, Michael Thomas, was disgusted with the quarterback’s comments. “We don’t care if you don’t agree and whoever else how about that,” he tweeted.
On Thursday, Brees tried to walk it back on Instagram — saying his comments were “insensitive and completely missed the mark” — and Thomas tweeted that he accepted the apology, but the damage was done.
Not so long ago, Brees could have said what he said without a great deal of negative reaction. Not any more. Athletes are being held to account. Compare what he had to say with comments from U.S. national team star Kendall Coyne-Schofield, who electrified the hockey world with her speed at the NHL all-star game two years ago.
“I was one of the people who initially thought Colin Kaepernick taking a knee was disrespectful. I reacted to WHAT he was doing instead of WHY,” she tweeted. “Then I listened and learned … it was NEVER about the flag. It was never about my family members who serve(d). It wasn’t about me … It’s about Justice and Equality. I know better. I will continue to DO better.”
Athletes are coming around to the recognition that as sports seek to reorganize themselves, it is no longer going to be as easy to just play. The massive disruption of the coronavirus has now been further complicated by the fury of racial unrest, and athletes are caught up in it whether they want to be or not.
Even NHL players, usually loath to step out of line, seem to realize it. Last week, only a few, such as Evander Kane and Ryan Miller, were willing to voice support for former
NHLer Akim Aliu when he wrote an emotional piece in the Players Tribune about the vicious racism he confronted as a player at all levels.
This week, as the political and social firestorm escalated in the wake of Floyd’s death, with four police officers facing charges, suddenly any number of white NHL players have discovered their consciences and decided they have something to say. Saying nothing no longer gets the job done — even in lily-white, conformist hockey.
If the NHL does get its act together and resumes play in July, commissioner Gary Bettman will no longer be able to instruct players to keep their political and social opinions to themselves while on the job, to protest in their “off time.” J.T. Brown was the only NHLer to express solidarity with Kaepernick and others back in 2017, by raising a fist during the national anthem, but we should expect more now.
In the NFL, meanwhile, it’s hard to imagine the league getting back to work and enforcing any kind of crackdown on demonstrations before or during games. Not with five months to go before the U.S. presidential election. Not with police responding to accusations of illegally assaulting civilians by assaulting more civilians daily.
“Racism is all over the country, and it’s what Black people deal with every day,” said San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. “White people are very sheltered to that and very ignorant, and I think that’s the message that’s been missed.” The community-owned Green Bay Packers are circulating a video titled “Enough is Enough,” calling for action on race issues. Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard said, “Black lives matter. I don’t understand why that’s so freaking hard for the white community to say.”
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson found it difficult to even talk about football or the return of the NFL on a media conference call.
“I don’t even know what that looks like down the road, or anything else,” Wilson said. “Police brutality is staggering, and honestly it’s not something I understand fully … being Black is a real thing and, in America, the history and the pain … even my own family, my great-great grandparents were slaves. Racism is heavier than ever.”
There is no putting this genie back in the bottle now, and that won’t sit well with some sports fans. Many just want the games back the same way they were just a few months ago, with hockey players disinclined to speak on difficult issues such as race, and superstars like Brees able to wrap themselves in the flag while pretending a very different America than their own just doesn’t exist. Those fans will be angry if their happy place is disturbed by athletes compelled to protest.
What some imagined could be a return to some form of normalcy through sport may turn out to be anything but.
Damien Cox’s column normally appears on Friday and Monday.