On MSNBC, The Root Politics Editor Jason Johnson discusses the controversy surrounding 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Star-Spangled Banner.
Professor of Political Science. Politics Editor for The Root. Latest Book: Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell
On MSNBC, The Root Politics Editor Jason Johnson discusses the controversy surrounding 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Star-Spangled Banner.
Morgan State University professor Jason Johnson appeared on Bruce Silverman’s radio show to discuss Colin Kaepernick and the National Anthem.
Colin Kaepernick found himself in the news for refusing to sit during the National Anthem. Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor of political science and he gave us great perspective on the issue that has dominated the sports landscape.
Click here to listen to Jason Johnson on Silverman on Sports.
Super Bowl Sunday can bring up a whole slew of emotions for people across the sports and nonsports spectrum. Decades of marketing have turned it into a de facto American holiday that everyone is supposed to care about. So even if you don’t care about football, you feel pressured to attend, like when you go to a New Year’s Eve party when you’d rather order Chinese takeout and stay home.
Fortunately, this year’s Super Bowl has plenty of cultural and political reasons for you nonsports fans to pay attention, giving you a reason to root for a team even if you don’t care about the game itself.
Here are the top, four nonsports reasons to root for a team in the Super Bowl:
1. Cam Newton, Making History
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton can make a hater out of all of us. He’s a Heisman Trophy winner, the first African-American quarterback to win an NFL MVP (back in ’03, they forced Steve McNair to share the award with Peyton Manning) and is one of the most successful quarterbacks in the history of the Carolina Panthers franchise. With that history already in his lap, Newton will be the fourth consecutive African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, something that has never happened in NFL history. (Thanks, President Obama!)
More politically, Newton should be a favorite of any left-leaning Super Bowl viewer. He’s come out infavor of gay marriage and has strongly stated that he would welcome any openly gay player to the Carolina Panthers. He invited the family of one of the Charleston, S.C., mass-shooting victims to be his special guests at the Carolina Panthers’ final game last season. The man even got some of his teammates together to help push someone’s car that broke down on the side of the road.
Lastly, Cam Newton has been the catalyst for more white tears in sports than Serena Williams, Gabby Douglas, LeBron James and Richard Sherman combined. Newton’s confidence, marketable good looks and penchant for turning the “dab” into a new national dance has the crusty old racists in the NFL longing for the good ol’ days when all the quarterbacks were white and occasionally had questionable pasts. If you’re looking for someone to root for during a Black History Month Super Bowl you can’t do much better than Cam Newton, who has shown you don’t have to smooth the edges off blackness to be a successful QB in the NFL.
2. Peyton Manning, Pitch God for the GOP
While there’s no comparison between the dance moves of Peyton Manning and Cam Newton’s, that doesn’t mean the Broncos’ quarterback isn’t worth rooting for. The NFL has had two golden boy quarterbacks over the last 20 years: the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady, and Manning, who has five NFL MVPs, has appeared in three Super Bowls (lost two of them) and is the world’s biggest pitchman, selling everything from DirecTV to Papa John’s to Ritz crackers.
Politically, Manning is the guy you want to root for if you’re a conservative. He has come out asaggressively ambivalent on gay players in the NFL, but has actively given to Republican candidates across the country who oppose LGBT rights. Manning is very selective about who he gives money to; he supported former Sens. Fred Thompson and Richard Lugar, who spent their entire careers trying to kill affirmative action, and Manning also came out in favor of Mitt Romney in 2012.
Manning is also a devout Christian and states that his faith drives every part of his life, including football, something that conservative football fans and nonfans alike can get behind. He’s also done a tremendous amount of work for his native New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
3. The Carolina Panthers and the Ownership of Evil
If you wanted to root against any team ownership in the Super Bowl this Sunday, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson seems like an easy pick.
Richardson is listed as the third-most-powerful owner in the NFL and a member of the NFL’s contract-negotiating committee. While for years the Carolina Panthers were a pretty sorry team, posting losing records year after year, Richardson had no problem trying to bully the city of Charlotte, N.C., into paying for a new stadium to line his pockets.
Richardson was one of the main NFL owners behind the lockout in 2011 when he argued that owners had to “take back their league” from the players, even though by all accounts, the lockout was nothing but a greedy, money-grab by owners.
He also seems to have some bizarre, racialized feelings about which players on his team are allowed to get tattoos. And Richardson notoriously tried to defend and keep domestic-abuser Greg Hardy on his team until public sentiment got too big to ignore. But I guess if there’s one decent thing he’s done it’s he gave money to the families of the slain Charleston 9 in South Carolina, but that was probably Newton’s idea.
4. The Denver Broncos’ Right-Leaning Bowlens
The vast majority of owners in the NFL are conservative Republicans (the Seahawks, Steelers and Giants being some of the few outliers), so it’s no surprise that the Bowlen family that owns the Broncos leans right.
Team owner Pat Bowlen and his family spend their philanthropic efforts on conservative causes, and they have been less than supportive of the legalization of marijuana in the state of Colorado. Bowlen has been known to make the occasional off-color racial joke, but that’s almost par for the course when it comes to old NFL owners. His son, on the other hand, refers to himself as “the Blood of the City” of Denver and uses his father’s Alzheimer’s condition as a justification for domestic violence.
If that wasn’t enough to tip your rooting interest, remember, if you’re a conservative, the rest of the Broncos organization might be right for you. Former NFL quarterback and Broncos Executive Vice President of Operations John Elway stated in 2014 that he was a Republican because he “didn’t believe in safety nets,” and one of his car dealerships in California was sued for racial discrimination.
This article originally appeared at The Root.
The National Football League has replaced baseball as the favorite sport in America, literally billing itself as “America’s Game.” (Any reference to baseball as America’s pastime today is muttered ironically or by Cooperstown inductees clinging to the past.)
So it didn’t surprise me last December when the Jackie Robinson All Stars, the Little League World Championship Team comprised of mostly black kids out of Chicago, got busted for cheating—violating residency rules—and had their championship trophy taken away. I compared their harsh punishment with what would likely happen with the “Deflategate” scandal:
And while a substantive punishment should be obvious and forthcoming, I suspect that “America’s Game,” just like America itself, has a very funny way of picking and choosing who is held accountable for breaking rules that we supposedly all hold so dear to our hearts.
After both the Ravens and the Colts complained about deflated balls being used by the Patriots the league was shamed into an investigation. And most people thought nothing would be discovered because: 1) The Patriots team owner is a good friend of NFL Commissioner Goodell and 2) Tom Brady gets away with everything.
But it turns out Super Lawyer Ted Wells (who last year investigated the Richie Incognito racial bullying case for the Miami Dolphins) does take his job seriously. Brady lied about knowing members of his team staff, he refused to hand over text messages and emails, and texts between him and staff suggested a “pay to deflate” scheme where equipment managers were offered autographs, shoes and other items in exchange for keeping quiet about their activities.
The Wells Report conclusion is the understatement of the year: “It is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware” of inappropriate actions taken to alter footballs for his benefit.
“It is more probable than not that” Bush knew there were no weapons of Mass Destruction.
“It is more probable than not that” the Baltimore Police knew Freddie Gray was in need of medical attention.
“It is more probable than not that” Chris Brown has anger management issues.
You get the idea. Brady’s guilt is only for Patriots sycophants and local Boston sports media. The question is not guilt but what, if any, punishment the NFL will mete out. Here’s where things get sticky. Brady is rich, famous, white and one of the biggest draws in a billion dollar league. However for years the NFL has been dog whistling by lowering the boom on dozens of less wealthy, less famous and mostly African American players for crimes that did not have any direct impact on how football actually plays out on the field.
Since these aren’t black kids from Chicago, the NFL won’t take back the Patriot’s Lombardi Trophy—and to be honest, I don’t know if Pete Carroll deserves it after that boneheaded call on the one-yard-line. But there are other less draconian punishments that would not only demonstrate that the rules apply equally to all players but more importantly, that the integrity of HOW the game is played is paramount.
Tom Brady should be suspended for the entire 2015-2016 NFL season. He broke rules that specifically have to do with the integrity of the game on the field, in a way that specifically benefited him and his team.
Not to diminish criminal activity, but off the field behavior only affects the NFL ‘brand’ not the competitive balance on the field. Steroid abuse while arbitrarily punished still leads to player suspensions. But messing with equipment? And using employees on your team to do so? That goes to the heart of football, and a future Hall of Fame veteran like Tom Brady cannot be excused for such an act.
Of course, all of that is common sense, and fair play, neither of which is a trait the NFL is known for. What is more likely to happen is Brady gets a four game suspension which will have him start the 2016 season on week 5 against…. Surprise, the Indianapolis COLTS! The very team that tipped off the league and got Brady suspended.
Don’t put it past the NFL to turn a shameful example of cheating and favoritism into a high profile grudge match game in prime time. Goodell doesn’t stay winning for nothing.
If Tom Brady only gets a slap on the wrist I hope the fans revolt. I hope NFL fans turn away from the game in disgust and demand accountability in from the product we watch, enjoy and pay for.
But we won’t. Just like NBA fans didn’t turn away after the referee cheating scandal, just like Baseball fans didn’t turn away after the steroid era. Americans like to complain about cheating and injustice but as long as the perpetrator has the right look and enough accolades the public will let them slide.
If Tom Brady isn’t punished for “Deflate Gate,” football will have truly become “America’s Game” where there is always a pump fake towards merit, equality, justice and fair play but when you get right down to it, the same teams always win.
This article originally appeared online at NBC BLK.
On MSNBC Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, Hiram College professor Jason Johnson enters Conversation Nation with Angela Rye and atch?v=vyTTqIzpoo4]
Maria Teresa Kumar to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Jeb Bush’s foreign policy, and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots DeflateGate scandal.
Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and Politics Editor at TheRoot.com. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from … [Read More...] about About Jason Johnson