Just Saying

I am a huge sports fan so there’s no better time of the year than October. The NBA has preseason games, the NHL starts in mid-October, baseball playoff games are being hotly contested and the National Football League, America’s most popular sport, is going strong with more games played on more days than ever before.

Watching sports, especially Football on Sunday afternoon, brings back a lot of good memories for me. It was usually the one day of the week that my father and I could truly relax and sit on the couch together and do some serious bonding over our love of sports. There would always be lots of snacks to be had, plus great smells coming from the kitchen thanks to my Mom. Even now when I hear the sound of a Football game on the TV it brings a smile to my face and a growl to my stomach.

But I have two questions.

First question…. What could be more American than watching football with your Dad? In fact, when they played the star spangled banner on TV, my dad - a United States Marine - would stand and always salute the flag. I loved that about him and greatly respected him, so you can bet whenever I am at home or at a game, I will always stand with my hand over my heart out of deep respect and love for our great country.

Second question… When have two wrongs ever created a right? In fact, I remember my Dad quoting that old cliché many times when I acted up as a kid. So, in my opinion, two wrongs will never make a right.

I guess you know by now what I ‘m referring to, athletes protesting in a questionable manner. Trust me, I know our country isn’t perfect and that bad things do happen to good people sometimes. (As a matter of fact, I wrote about that in my last Monday Message.) But when there’s a problem that needs to be solved, I don’t agree that disrespecting our Flag, our Country, our Military, or our Police is the right way to solve that or any other problem. I’m no genius so I don’t have a brilliant solution for this particular problem - where innocent people are being killed on both sides - but I do have a suggestion. Why not work to bring people together, all races, all ethnicities, and all types of occupations… instead of creating a divisive atmosphere that tears them apart. If there’s a problem that needs to be solved, then I agree, we should draw attention to it and focus on finding a solution. That seems to me like it would be a lot more productive than protesting in a disrespectful manner.

Like I said, I don’t have a brilliant solution, but I do have an idea. First off, I know you’re not supposed to leave your hat on during the national anthem, but what if a football player (or any high profile athlete) donned a policeman’s cap during the national anthem to show support for the police? And then the next week, wore an Army beret to show support for our military, and then the next week a Fireman’s helmet to show support for our Fire Fighters, and the next week a Hard Hat in support of construction workers, etc. When you’re in a high profile position, what you do and what you say can have a lot of influence. So I’m “Just saying…”

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. 

And I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

~ Abraham Lincoln