At this time, you already know the drill: “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
This places everything into proper perspective.
Save it. Even better, spoon it over pancakes. Do not sell us this sentimental nonsense. We know better than that.
Damar Hamlin nearly died on a football field — a prime-time Monday night football field — and these platitudes would restore civility and humanity to football? Stop. Please, just quit.
Consider that the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people, prompted many individuals to treat even strangers with kindness. This lasted a couple of weeks. Now consider us. With our new and enhanced perspectives, we are now more antagonistic than ever before.
Elvin Bethea stated, the day before being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that he no longer watches football because “it looks like pro wrestling.”
In 2003, Bethea, a professional Houston Oiler, uttered these words.
To “put things in perspective,” football (and almost all of our sports) has been on a steady social decline for decades, with young, foolish gamblers being targeted to take their place as the new most-favored sports fans.
And you may spend an entire week reading the nasty, semiliterate insults and challenges posted on social media by self-absorbed athletes who are too naive to avoid such fools’ bait and are ready to prove that their “student-athlete” days were a sham.
On January 2, 2023, Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) falls to the ground during a game against the Bengals.
Saturday, during the Michigan-TCU Fiesta Bowl, ESPN located and highlighted a “fan” wearing a T-shirt that “cleverly” referenced serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer for national amusement and approbation.
Sunday during the Colts-Giants game on CBS, Indianapolis quarterback Nick Foles was knocked out of the game after a tackle by Kayvon Thibodeaux.
As Foles writhed on the ground in agony, his ribs, which had been struck by Thibodeaux, the Giants’ rookie who continued to brag about being a “savage,” lay inches away from Foles as he performed a “snow angel” in an absurd and excessive display of self-celebration.
And if Thibodeaux was unaware that he had incapacitated Foles, he knew by the time he reached the sideline, when he proudly made a gesture to signify that he had rendered Foles unconscious. “Observe, everyone! “I’m a heartless scumbag!”
Any reasonable spectator would have been repulsed by Thibodeaux. But television is where cowardly panderers congregate, people who would sooner offend their viewers than be offensive. So neither Kevin Harlan nor Trent Green mentioned anything discouraging.
On January 1, 2023, Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux makes snow angels on the field after sacking Colts quarterback Nick Foles.
Harlan, as usual, sounded unduly enthusiastic as he recited a brief biography of Thibodeaux as if we had just witnessed something amazing.
Previously, Thibodeaux would have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct; but, Roger Goodell, another pandering retrograde commissioner, overturned the ban on such “celebrations” as demonstrations of “natural enthusiasm” years ago.
And look what this decay has produced: a gradual deterioration of behaviour among college-educated professionals and games lost due to self-centered misconduct. Goodell’s constant. Consider his impact on Super Bowl halftime shows.
If you must continue to support Thibodeaux because he is a rising star for the Giants, go for it. How else can you participate in modern sports without violating and compromising your senses?
Colts were down 21-3 and ready to collapse to 4-11-1 when Giants quarterback Daniel Jones fired an incomplete pass into the end zone near the end of the second quarter. Independent DB Dallis Flowers took full responsibility for the TV-op, his arms folded in self-satisfaction like Mussolini on the balcony, as he stood immobile with his arms crossed.
Again, Harlan and Green pretended to be ignorant — scared ignorant — as if we hadn’t noticed Flowers’ show of disbelief.
Beginning of the third quarter Darius Slayton fumbled the ball after catching it for the Giants. Then CBS struck gold!
Kayvon Thibodeaux will not apologize for celebrating with a snow angel while Nick Foles was wounded.
Robert Sabo, New York Post
CBS showed the video of Giants head coach Brian Daboll yelling “What the f–k!” in slow motion to ensure that everyone had a clear, unambiguous perspective.
That puts everything into perspective, wouldn’t you say? Once upon a time, television networks would apologize if a player or coach was heard or seen plainly uttering an obscenity, or at least disregard it as a matter of good manners. Nowadays, such instances are aired and replayed as “can’t-miss” sporting events.
CBS once more cut away from on-field pictures of teams poised to snap the ball on third-and-critical in favor of meaningless crowd shots, including ones of spectators with beers in one hand beating on the down-low padding.
During the Jets-Seahawks game that followed on Fox, the clear objective was to display every attention-hungry fool in the fans, painted and dressed to be seen and cause a commotion.
Today, however, television frequently chooses to present nothing over something, as if the filmmakers, if seated in the stands, would rather hunt for drunken clowns than watch the game.
l In the first quarter, Quandre Diggs of Seattle intercepted the ball on the goal line. He began to run it back and, while still jogging and well within the boundaries, raised the ball with one hand over his head in a ludicrous, risky, and illogical display of self-glorification.
Not only did Fox analyst Robert Smith not dispute Diggs’ intelligence, he praised the Seahawk’s interception as “smart play”
The following evening, Hamlin received “thoughts and prayers,” which “puts everything in perspective.”
Players will quit their celebratory blood-dancing following devastating, potentially lethal knockout blows? Are coaches going to require tackling instead of anti-personnel fire? Due to their lack of “perspective,” will television and radio game announcers stop rewarding the most gleefully cruel players?
By Tuesday morning, there was a call for Fox Sports 1’s Skip Bayless to be fired for a tweet he sent during the Hamlin disaster. Bayless has frequently been on the wrong side of common sense, as he seems more anxious to stir up controversy than to adhere to logic. With such a straightforward strategy, you may now earn a substantial living in sports TV and radio.
But Bayless’ judgment on Monday night includes some application of the NFL’s methods, strategies, and thought processes:
“There’s little doubt that the NFL is contemplating postponing the remainder of this game, but how? This late in the season, a game of this significance is essential to the outcome of the regular season… which now appears to be so irrelevant
He must lose his head!
Ex-NFL players Dez Bryant and Terrell Owens, as well as ex-NBA players Matt Barnes and Terrell Owens, were among those who demanded Bayless’ immediate dismissal for insensitivity, using profanity to support their sensitive opinions. All of the players were talented, but disposable, since they were intolerable beings.
The three spent their careers as unpleasant, self-centered misanthropes, bringing discredit to their sports and professions. Obviously, all three were instantaneous candidates to host, co-host, or guest star on television, radio, and podcasts, another proof that the world has gone insane.
This week, however, they were portrayed in local and national media as wise, intelligent men whose opinions were valuable, with no mention of their earlier persistent personal wrongdoing.
A more precise and enhanced perspective? Whose? How? How long for? No chance, as people with a genuine, knowledgeable, and applicable perspective already know.
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