Not american but I fully support players right to fight their cause. I mean I am white but I live in country that was oppressed firstly by German nazi(which planned and proceed to genocide of our people) and then by Soviet Union(which killed whole intelligence of our people and then spit on everything that was resemblance to our culture) for like 60 years so while I can't fully understand racial injustice coming from the skin color background I think I can somehow relate to what these people are feeling in some sort of way and that is the feeling of being the enemy in your own country. Good luck brothers hope change for the better is coming like it came from our elders who were oppressed and still live with trauma to my generation and beyond which are free of all of that evil. You have to take it nobody will hand it.
This is pathetic... I understand the importance of BLM, and nobody should be shot in the back like that regardless of their criminal history or having a warrant out for their arrest. Police brutality needs to stop. Period. But who exactly do these players think they are making a point to? Most of the racist, bigot police that are causing these problems have already boycotted sports bc they don't like players not standing for the anthem, and on top of that most of these same people are anti-BLM. The fans that are watching (mostly) support these movements and the players for standing up for them! All these players are doing is punishing us! I am beyond furious at this decision... Just last weekend I was at a BBQ and several of the people there were extreme rightist Trump is the Lord thy Savior types. They harassed me for watching sports and the whole blah blah BS that comes with it. I clearly explained: "Look, I don't watch sports bc I care about their political opinions. I watch sports bc I ****ing love sports... I love the Astros, the Rockets, the Texans, and everything LSU. If James Harden walked out of the locker room with a "**** AMERICA" t-shirt I WOULD STILL WATCH THE ROCKETS. BC THAT IS WHAT I LOVE." But when you take away my sports, my enjoyment, the thing that drew me to this site in the first place, the thing that keeps me listening to sports talk radio, the thing that I love to play, love to watch...the thing that embodies so much more than simply "playing a game", it's a representation of my city...When you take away all that to "get your point across" (and punish the fans that ride and die for you), you may just end up losing the real fans too. (Oh, and yeah I guess it's technically good for the Rockets bc Westbrook should for sure play game 5 now, but **** that I want my sports NOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!)
This is a $$ talks country man. If the mega-rich owners of sports leagues really made a push for police reform then it would happen.
Anything I said that you want to dispute? Or do you really believe Fox News reporters/conservative pundits like ingraham and coulter are really crying for the people of Hong Kong because they care about them I like how they are suddenly sympathetic towards Muslims now too after years of spewing hatred towards them
Sorry to hear that, can't really fault you for your belief. My first reaction was also 'What happened to both playing and making a stand by donating money'?
Not in the mood, lol, just wanted to talk about games and BLM that's all. You are not wrong, Republicans' sudden interest in this matter is no coincidence.
I understand the stand the players are taking against police brutality and am in agreement with it and have no issue with them boycotting a game. What I don’t understand, is why they seem to think them sitting out a game is going to cause a change with the police and I assume policy makers? I haven’t read this thread yet so maybe it’s been answered, but what is the end goal for the players in this situation?
Boycotts of sports do nothing. We know that because we just had no sports for months and we're here. We've had Kap and we're here. It doesn't change anything. If the athletes want to make a point, then they need to do a much better job getting together , figuring out what that point is, then messaging that point strongly and repeatedly. To me, it's obvious. VOTE. The 18-24 demographic barely votes. Like mid teens %. Sure, there's voter suppression. Sure, its harder to vote if you don't have the means to take a day off work, etc. But at the end of the day, if you want to impact change, you HAVE TO VOTE. In MASS amounts. At EVERY election. For 10+ years. THAT will create change. So they should be playing. The back of EVERY jersey should say vote. When interviewed they should say VOTE, VOTE, VOTE. They should make a deal with the NBA that the NBA will promote voting on every commercial, on the floors, etc., etc, etc.
Maybe the message isn't so much to the racists/bigots, but to people like you -- well-intentioned, moderate fans of the sport who would just rather not have to think about some of these issues that are going on in the real world.
