Posted on 12/24/2017 2:58:16 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
In September, Matt reported about the Baltimore Ravens National Anthem singer who quit his job due to the National Football League protests sparked by Colin Kaepernick in a supposed attempt to highlight police brutality by kneeling during the Star Spangled banner.
Joey Odoms quit, not because he did not support these players, but because of the fans who did not make an effort to understand why these protests were happening.
“The tone/actions of a large number of NFL fans in the midst of our country's cultural crisis have convinced me that I do not belong there,” said Odoms on Facebook:
Dear Ravens Flock
I am resigning as Official National Anthem Singer of the Baltimore Ravens. The people I've had the pleasure of meeting at the Ravens organization have been nothing but nice to me, however the tone/actions of a large number of NFL fans in the midst of our country's cultural crisis, have convinced me that I do not belong there. Someone once told me to always "go where you're welcomed". This is not an emotional reaction to recent events, rather an ethical decision that part of me regrets but my core knows is the right choice.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to grow as a performer and for allowing me to live out a dream of sharing my gift with you."
Odoms, however, was not unique in his boycott. Fans from across the political spectrum shut the TV off in droves; some disgusted by the disrespect shown towards the flag, others irked by the treatment of players who knelt. However, no team has actually admitted the damage caused by these protests and the NFL’s handling of this mismanaged public relations saga until now.
This week, the Baltimore Ravens sent fans and season ticket holders a letter blaming ticket sales declining because of the teams protests.
"The numbers [of no-shows] are higher, and it is noticeable," Cass wrote in the 656-word letter. "There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor."
The Ravens' first protest as a team occurred in London on Sept. 24, when more than a dozen players knelt during the national anthem before the first NFL game of the day. That began a daylong chain of protests in the wake of President Donald Trump's critical comments and tweets about protests during the anthem.
"We have responded to your concerns about the protest by re-doubling the efforts of both the organization and our players to make the Baltimore area a better community," Cass wrote.
According to Cass, the Ravens reached out to a number of fans who wrote to the team or called about the protest. Cass also personally made a number of phone calls and met with some fans, the letter stated.
"We want the Ravens to continue to be a strong, unifying force and source of pride in our community," Cass wrote. "When the Ravens win, we can bring families and the community together. We've done that before, and we can do it again.
"In light of recent events, we are also reminded that winning alone is not always enough to make the Ravens the unifying force we want to be. We don't take your support for granted, and we know that we must continue to earn your respect and investment in us."
The inundation of politics into sport as of late has affected anybody who has weighed in on the matter. Colleague Jazz Shaw summed it up nicely over on HotAir.com:
"Will the admission from Cass and his commitment to “do better” in the future make a difference? Perhaps, but probably not right away. If all of this protest nonsense can be put behind the league and kept to venues outside the stadium by next season, people will probably come back. But it’s also yet another example of the dangers of dragging politics into areas where people simply don’t want to see it. Just yesterday we were talking aboutt the hit that Papa John’s Pizza took, leading to the resignation of their founder and CEO. They lost a lot of sales this year after he came out in opposition to the anthem protests.
You can see how it doesn’t really matter which side of the issue you come down on. Obviously, people aren’t looking for a side order of political ideology with their large, meat lovers’ pie. Those who disagreed with the display began abandoning the brand, just as they’ve done with the Ravens. And those who agree were not willing to suddenly begin making up the difference. Those who opposed the protests weren’t buying more pizzas and those supporting the protests weren’t buying up the tickets to go to Ravens games.
Too little, too late, at least as far as this season goes. Perhaps the lesson can be taken forward next year and we can get back to enjoying the game."
NFL TV deals, merchandising and licensing are split equally between the 32 teams.
The only way a team can make more money than the other team is through ticket sales and concessions.
Loyalty is a two way street. The NFL has proved about 1000 times that they have no loyalty to their fans. They move their teams. They blackmail cities for bigger and better stadiums. Now they let their thug players rule the league. F-them.
American broadcasters need to adopt some techniques the Japanese at NHK are using.
My wife gets the TV Japan broadcast, most of the shows being produced by NHK, the leading network in Japan (a network owned by the government).
One show I like to watch is The Professional, a series of documentaries that focus on a particular person, but speak to a larger theme of success in many venues. They have highlighted people of many professions: business leaders, industrial craftsmen, inventors, musicians, you name it.
Have a look at this highly interesting one featuring a Hiroshi Michiwaki who became famous (in Japan) for inventing self-locking screw/nuts and many other useful industrial products. Notice how this YouTube video (in English) accomplishes several things:
CNN, ABC, NBC: are you listening?
I love the NHK channel-——a wonderful TV watch.
I prefer it to US stations
Goodell gotta go.
“Never” is a long time.
Perhaps in a hundred years all the buildings in Baltimore will be torn down and the city converted to agriculture.
Then in another hundred years an ultra-modern city could replace it....
But in our lifetimes, Baltimore is destined to be hell on Earth.
its surprising how we have not missed it...I check the scores for a favorite player...that’s all...
The NFL is facing a demographic time bomb which they will hardly survive. Suckled at the tit of the Baby Boom, which is now aging out, the NFL is finding that under 40 people mostly don’t give a shit about pro FOOTball.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Merry Christmas!
For the love of Pete, we wouldn't even be able to launch a show like "Little House on the Prairie" now because, inevitably, one group would complain that it promoted indian genocide and white supremacy, while another group complained that the show didn't focus on enough "people of color".
I agree with your assessment, fr_freak -- and it's very well said. Since the Ellis Island era, each wave of immigrant cultures worked hard to add value and fight prejudice and injustice on its path to bread, shelter, and self-respect.
In fact, the hopes of immigrants moving into the middle class enabled the commercial success of "Little House on the Prairie". Your average American could identify with the Ingalls family story, its sadness and joys, because Americans had hope that with hard work they could also "make it". The show's theme was also universal: my wife loved "Little House" and "Bonanza" watching them as a child in Japan.
So what changed? A couple things: 1) the God-less culture of greed and lawlessness as promoted by Hollywood and the media; plus 2) the rise of the globalist, crony-capitalist federal and State governments which killed jobs, fostered dependency, and chipped away at the American Dream.
Thank God, our skilled and righteous Captain has the wisdom to steer us through these rough seas of inbred corruption and cultural malaise.
A Thanksgiving dinner by a warm fire awaits us in the safe harbor of MAGA-land. But for now, it's All Hands on Deck!
Die, NFL, die!
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