… if you do, you’re an asshole.
TheGuardian.com: Bennett and McCourty’s refusal to meet Trump at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue isn’t shocking. They aren’t the first black athletes to show disdain for the Twitter president and they won’t be the last. In fact, it’s mainstream not only for black athletes but for most musicians, entertainers, and young people of all colors, genders and stripes to be anti-Trump. It’s not like there aren’t myriad reasons to dislike him.
However, as is always the case, there are those (mostly male, white and conservative) fans that aren’t pleased whenever athletes express opinions that don’t line up with their own. Already some – from the usual Twitter eggs to pro wrestler Matt Striker – are chastising Bennett and McCourty.
What makes Bennett and McCourty’s critics look bad is how silent they were when Tom Brady produced the sorriest excuse ever in citing “family commitment” for not attending the Patriots’ White House trip to meet Obama two years ago. (Brady was apparently unhappy, of all things, with a joke about Deflategate.) Those critics were also silent when another Boston sports champion, then Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, didn’t hide his Tea Party views and dislike of Obama when he refused a White House trip with his team in 2011.
If you’re not looking for a political spin on your sports news, move on to the next blog story. I know, I know, sports and politics shouldn’t mix, right? But, it’s literally impossible to avoid the mixture of politics and any aspect of life anymore.
It should be noted that Dont’a Hightower and Chris Long have joined Bennet and McCourty in deciding not to participate in the trip to visit the Führer… erm, President. Aside from pissing off middle class, right winged, white washed fans, these players are literally putting their jobs in jeopardy. Kraft, Brady and Belichick, the three most powerful people in the Patriots organization, are close-personal-friends of the President.
The problem with the article that I cited above is that the author stretches the truth (maybe even lies). #FakeNews
Even the casual fan will remember that when Brady decided not to go to the White House it was a big deal and all over every form of sports media. I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. Professional athletes aren’t slaves that have to adjust their beliefs to the whims of their fan bases. I didn’t care when Brady didn’t go. I don’t care now. His loss. But, I respect him standing up for what he believes in, even if what he believed in was his anger over a joke about “Deflate-gate.”
I respect Patriots that aren’t going. Not for their politics (OK, for their politics), but mostly just for standing up for what they believe in.