Rangers Lead The Way

Alejandro Villanueva is a man who keeps his oaths. That is all. That is enough.

15 comments:

douglas said...

Not because of the President, but because of the NFL, I'm gonna take this season off. Love my Steelers, and thrilled that Villanueva is one of them, but that's just not enough. Not this season.

If they're going to be totalitarian in their ideology and insist on cramming it down out throats at every turn, I refuse. Let them see what their ideology costs, and then see how much they believe in it.

Unknown said...


In a perfect world, all those expensive, poorly named football stadiums across the country would just fold up and collapse overnight. Then these traitorous shits could sit on their asses in the grass and hold hands as much as they want - minus the paycheck, crowds, and media coverage.

Grim said...

You're right, of course: though I've always thought of football as culturally conservative, the NFL depends on massive welfare from the state/city governments.

Well, I've always liked college ball better anyway.

douglas said...

Right now, the best selling jersey in the NFL? Alejandro Villanueva.

The people turning this into an anti-Trump thing are stupid. They just put him on the same side as the flag, and them against it, in simplistic terms that define our public conversation these days. How do they think that will work out for them?

E Hines said...

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was critical of his player as Tomlin put loyalty to his [sic] team above loyalty to and respect for country.

Despicable.

Here's part of a comment I put on a Wall Street Journal op-ed:

Yes, We the People can influence the owners (among others) with our decisions to watch or not to watch, as Mike Rowe put it a day or so ago [on his Facebook page], but that takes time to have effect. Owners can have immediate effect, and they are having immediate effect--through their abrogation of their responsibility as owners, or through their overt condoning this disrespectful behavior that insults, by design, every veteran's family and veteran who fought for, died for, were maimed for these players' right, as that Liberal icon John Kerry put it, to be stupid.

Eric Hines

jaed said...

They do that ALL THE TIME, though. Throughout the campaign, they either insulted Trump's supporters directly ("deplorables" as well as many similar remarks from people not named Hillary Clinton), or they insulted Trump in terms that referred to his supporters.

This turns an insult to Trump into an insult to anyone who supports him. There's been so much ridicule of his supporters that when you ridicule Trump now, his supporters identify with him more because they are the targets of similar abuse from similar sources.

It binds his supporters more firmly to him: when he stands up against these insults, he's (in part) standing up for them too. And not only his supporters themselves, but also people who don't support him—but who feel targeted by this steady stream of ridicule (working class people, people without college degrees, people who live in "the flyover" or the South... and now they've managed to add "people who are offended by disrespect toward the flag" as well as "people who want to watch football without a side of politics" to that list. These people may never be pro-Trump, but more of them are getting to be anti-anti-Trump.

They do it so much, and it's so obviously a serious tactical mistake, that I've concluded they just can't help themselves.

Grim said...

I'm even convinced that the protesters have a good point about police accountability. On the right ground that is a winnable argument. Instead, they've elected to have this argument.

I think that they think they are winning, too.

jaed said...

... and now Villanueva has been forced to apologize. For standing for the national anthem. Unbelievable. Do these people have no sense at all of the country they live in?

Unknown said...

RE: "Do these people have no sense at all of the country they live in?"

I think its apparent they are simply "useful idiots" for people truly intent on destroying the country. We need to bring this to a head, clean house, and be done with it. Otherwise we are stuck in crisis-du-jour whack-a-mole mode, always off-balance and always reacting. We need to take the initiative and start controlling the situation.

E Hines said...

... and now Villanueva has been forced to apologize.

That's as much on Villanueva as it is on the Steelers. It's disappointing. On the other hand, Ben Roethlisberger now says he regrets his decision to stay in the locker room and that he'll stand for the national anthem from now on.

Eric Hines

Elise said...

Based on this transcript, Villanueva did not apologize for standing for the national anthem; rather, he apologized for making his teammates and coach look bad, and for appearing to not honor the agreement the team made about what to do. And when he says "look bad" he does not mean "highlight that they are unpatriotic scum"; he means "make it appear that the whole team hates the national anthem, does not support him, make it look like he's the only one with any guts or honor, etc - when none of that is true."

Grim said...

I imagine that he has to navigate the difficulties of being a member of that team, as well as the team of former Rangers. It's got to be a tough spot given how intense the feeling is on both sides of this. I'd give him some leeway to find his way -- he seems like a guy who can be trusted with it.

Elise said...

Of course. But no one in the public eye (or unlucky enough to catch the public eye) seems to get much leeway these days - or any time or even the courtesy of having what he or she says taken at face value much less given the most charitable interpretation possible.

A public arena where everything has to fit a narrative is awfully dull. What actually happened with the Steelers and Mr. Villanueva is far more interesting than either "he's a hero for standing up to the SJWs" or "he's being coerced into toeing the party line." And it's so easy to forget these are all real, actual people, not just storybook characters created to make some kind of point about something or other.

Grim said...

A public arena where everything has to fit a narrative is awfully dull. What actually happened with the Steelers and Mr. Villanueva is far more interesting...

That's right. It's a nest of difficult human relationships, which he needs room to steer in.

I'm not disagreeing. I'm just thinking he needs to be given that space, is all.

Texan99 said...

The more I hear about Mr. V, including the nuances of his apology, the better I think of him. Some grandstanding would have been understandable, but he seems to have good instincts about that, as well.