The NFL Just Declared War On Church
They did?
I mean, other than having their games on Sundays at 1:00 which means the early games start at 10:00am on the West Coast which means you need to leave right away afgter chgurch to get home and watch the game, not stick around til noon talking with your friends and cleaning up the multi-purpose room, mom!
What exactly did the NFL do that is being, I'm sure, legitimately construed as having declared "War on Church?"
A deal reached by the National Football Leauge and the NFL Players Association bans players from attending any indoor church services that are above 25 percent capacity, multiple sources told NBC Sports on Saturday.Oooooh, they don't want their players catching Covid-19! Those heathens! Those infidels! It's very telling that ther players are not being allowed to go to church, and not being restricted from any other secular-type places where crowds could spread the virus! Oh wait, what? There's more?
Alongside its restrictions on attending worship services, the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) also prohibits players from attending indoor nightclubs and bars (except for take-out), indoor concerts, professional sports games, and indoor parties that include 15 or more people.
But mainly church.
The deal has not been publicly released, but NBC Sports made no mention of any restrictions on attending protests.
Oh God.
Every time.
Every time someone gets told that they shouldn't stage a virus-ridden reenactment of the stateroom scene from A Night at the Opera
The immediate response is always, ALWAYS, "oh so, I can't go to ______, but it's okay for these people to go to protests?" They all got the fucking memo, and it's just cut-and-paste right-wing MadLibs with racist overtones. Every single time.
Never mind that protests are held OUTDOORS and that the protesters are pretty much all wearing masks. And the cops are generally kind enough to sanitize random protesters with pepper spray and tear gas. If they get to risk life and limb demanding an end to state-sanctioned murder, then I should be allowed to infect the waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings! Read the Constitution, this isn't a Communist country!
Meanwhile, the NFL’s Twitter account has been sharing and celebrating pictures of players engaging in protests around the country.
How dare they? How dare the NFL be okay with some of their black players trying to help put an end to the practice of young black men being shot and brutalized by racist cops? They should be giving those players a stern finger-wagging and white-splaining to them how killing unarmed black men who are suspected of petty crimes is actually not racist because sometimes they police kill white guys too.
A June 5 tweet from the NFL also affirmed that “We, the NFL…encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”
We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv— NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020
Oh, yeah. As if the First Amendment applied to athletes!
And I can't believe that the NFL just comes out and says that racism is bad without giving Daniel Snyder a chance to present the opposing viepoint.
As with more typical CBAs, players can face fines if they don’t comply with the restrictions on church and the other activities listed. The fines for each offense can vary, and while they haven’t been revealed for this agreement, violating the CBA used to regulate conduct on the field can result in fines from $5,000 to over $70,000.
Which is totally unfair because if a player goes to a crowded church and gets the Corona virus, he's only hurting himself. It's not as if football players are going to have to crowd into locker rooms or meeting rooms, or team flights or anything where they might expose their teammates to a devestating disease!
NBC Sports also reported that players who test positive for Covid-19 after violating the CBA won’t be paid for games they aren’t able to attend. They would also forego any future guarantees made in their contracts.
Hold on a minute, there. Are you trying to tell me that players might face consequences for violating the rules? The rules to which they agreed in theie collective bargaining agreement? Like if they break the rules and render themselves unable to perform the job they were hired to do, the NFL is not going to pay them for not doing it? No wonder a conservative publication like the Federalist is up in arms. Conservatives hate when people are held accountable for their actions, and love to see people being paid for not working!
If players do violate the rules, NBC Sports speculates that teams may “rely on contacts within the community to contact the team if/when violations are witnessed,” or even use a tip line. In other words, members of the community would be encouraged to report players they see trying to attend church.
Church. Or bars. Or restaurants. Or parties. But mostly church. Because obviously, this is just one more example of how every institution in America hates church!
