About an hour ago
Of course, Steelers fans want to get a 1-0 start against the New York Giants.
However, they do not want it to happen this way.
On Thursday, New York Giants star Saquon Barkley said back that he and his teammates will not rule out boycotting games in the near future.
“I can not really just go and speak on behalf of the whole league, but, for us, this is something we will talk about within our (social justice) groups, within our team,” Barkley told ESPN. com.
Remember, the Giants opener in Week 1 is on “Monday Night Football” (Sept. 14) against the Steelers.
As players in the NBA did Wednesday, athletes in many sports have decided to skip practice or play in games this week as a sign of protest against police violence against American minorities.
Athletes from many sports lent their voices to the movement during the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. The latest round of outcry comes after a Wisconsin man named Jacob Blake was injured after being shot in the back by police.
Barkley, the rest of the Giants and the entire NFLPA would be wise to absorb how things played out for the NBA players before committing to such action prior to the NFL season opener.
Then, whatever decision the players make, they would be wise to communicate better with each other than how their NBA peers did.
As we debated kneeling during the national anthem this summer: Is a protest really a protest like the one responsible for sanctioning?
Because, essentially, as a league, that’s what the NBA did. And it was not difficult for her to do. After all, it was not the league itself that was the object of the protest. It just had to deal with the consequences.
On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic. Shortly after the Bucks ran out of court, the Magic did the same. And teams in later games also refused to play.
So what did the NBA do? It just turned into a rain all day. That’s it. Everything was postponed. Not canceled. Not lost. Just push backwards. Like there was a power outage or something.
And once the players decided to continue the rest of the playoffs on Thursday, how was the league negatively impacted? An extra night or two of cost for the bubble hotel rooms for the Magic and a few other teams? I think Commissioner Adam Silver can deal with that tab.
The NBA players had to do a lot more – if a lot less.
They had to collectively run out of bubbles and cancel the playoffs completely. Or they had to let the Bucks’ actions speak for themselves as the lone franchise to lose.
Do not procrastinate. To lose. That would have sounded louder than a slight delay. In this rare case, I believe that one team alone trades had more resonance than all teams trading collectively.
Milwaukee is in Wisconsin. The Bucks’ regional connection with this matter should mean something beyond the other teams.
Second affects a forfeiture on the series. A game worthy of broadcast revenue. Gamblers. And, let’s be honest, even if the other two games had taken place, Bucks ’refusal to play would still have been the biggest story in the sports world.
Now the league just treats the whole day like an Etch A Sketch, wipes it clean, and will start again.
If the Bucks decided to do what they did, they would have to inform Orlando and the other teams in advance. The goal of making a meaningful impact through their protest could be fulfilled, and logical talking points about it could be refuted by the other teams. Because their surprise action put the Magic in a horrible place with no time to prepare.
If the Magic players had stayed in the courtyard, they would have looked stupid. If they accepted a boredom, they would seem humble. If the other teams did not follow, they would watch without care.
The Bucks who went on impulse did not seem to get along very well with other players in the bubble and led to some split decisions about pulling the plug on the playoffs.
Sources: There was some frustration in the meeting against Bucks blindsiding on exit plan. Bucks’ George Hill admitted he first incited conversation pregame for boycott match, teammates supported.
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 27, 2020
Sources: The Lakers and Clippers have voted to boycott the NBA season. Most other teams voted to continue. LeBron James closed the meeting.
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 27, 2020
Therein lies the dilemma. What the Bucks did was slop.
But it caused a stir. It made waves. Within the ranks of the players and the league. That’s a protest.
I would suggest homogenizing the response in the league and the other clubs when restarting the postseason on Saturday, expect that impact.
I know it, I know it. “It got people talking!”
OK. That, people do not talk anyway in Wisconsin? The story received so much attention, media coverage of which thwarted the presidential election and the coronavirus long before the Bucks left court Wednesday.
“Yes, but all other leagues also stop playing one day!“Yup. And maybe in pre-covid-19 would have meant more times. But we were surprised at one point to lose games, right?
And I’m not exactly sure what the NHL will cancel its games on Thursday in a similar way to affect the prosecution of any of the officers in Kenosha. I’m not sure how the Indianapolis Colts’ refusal to practice will prevent an officer with a bad streak in another state from doing something wrong a month from now.
Running to the playoffs in Orlando? Worth a week – or a year – to play in the NFL? Now your rich owners and network administrators are in the bag. If such people lose even more money – in bad times – change will happen.
I would suggest that canceling – not delaying – a whole week of NFL games would rattle cows much louder than scrubbing the rest of this NBA bubble.
If NFL players came in uniform and said, “We are not playing Week 1, and we are not being rescheduled,” the owners would co-sign. Public, at least.
They should. But they want to hate it.
Even with no fans in the stands, that is a lot of lost television revenue and ratings spread over three days of games on opening weekend.
I’m not sure what it takes to punish the NFL as an NBA to stop police abuse, but if that’s the way Barkley and other players feel should be taken, then do it.
But do it intelligently. And with meaning. And with planning. And with consistency and conviction.
This week, the NBA players made noise. I would rather see the NFL players make news.
In fact, in a best-case scenario, what I prefer to see is everyone just playing. But 2020 has become so bad, I think best-case scenarios themselves no longer exist.
Tim Benz is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim via [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be re-posted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.
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