Corporate tacit endorsement of systematic racism in law enforcement embiggens the smallest man.

When are they hanging the “2017 - Undefeated in Patriotism” banner in the stadium?

I feel like we’re only a couple of steps away from the NFL making the official playing surface a giant American flag. I agree with you 100%, but there are plenty of people who think this nonsense is super important and there is no limit to the NFL’s bland, soulless pandering to knee-jerk jingoism.

Exactly. At a rally he wants adoring applause so he plays to that. At a press conference he just says whatever nonsense he wants and when his administration is called on the blatant, bald-faced lies, it’s called “fake news” and the Fox News cult believes it.

I can only handle so much smug, forced lingo usage from cookie cutter readers. I think if they stopped trying to be so self-consciously “cool” and just let the highlights do the talking it wouldn’t be insufferable.

I once sent one to a dollface asking her to PLEASE STOP STARING AT ME WITH THOSE DEAD EYES!!!

So wait - there are holier-than-thou, sanctimonious shitheads who feel justified in denigrating Jemele Hill for towing the company line during her BS suspension? Really?

Circular breathing.

This is so poetic and beautiful. I feel like a melancholy, shirtless, glittery Gronk may become the new “Pegasus running through a rainbow” or “wolf silhouetted against a full moon”. Black velvet paintings, t-shirts, airbrushed vignettes on the sides of vans...this makes me happy.

“...the team says his return is unlikely...”

Hey, he said “the sheriff is near!”

Anyone talking about #metoo backlash or people growing weary of these stories had better buckle up for a long ride and just get used to the fact that we’re only at the tippy tip of the iceberg with this stuff.

This is so depressing and awful. Parents, school authorities, coaches, the students themselves (because HS age is old enough to bloody well know right vs. wrong) - they should all be ashamed with themselves.

I agree. Most of these athletes have lived in a razor-focused bubble for a good chunk of their lives. I think it’s understandable that it would have an effect on them, and it’s irrelevant to say “this is what I would’ve done” because most of us have no idea what their lives are like.

I’m still not willing to take a bet on that.

NCAA sports are not an “extracurricular activity”. That would be the Sunday afternoon flag football league regular students participate in.

Sure - the players benefit by attending a university and getting a scholarship - but the NCAA’s byzantine rules are so anti-player they tend to punish athletes who choose to play it straight.

I think there’s something to this, in that the Right has tons of major media to bloviate endlessly on the party line. They have their bullet points of bullshit neatly organized and people tend to toe the line.

Currently dealing with a similar thing with my daughter. Renting a sax (her choice of instrument) is expensive but she wants to quit because she doesn’t like the teacher. My son has played drums in school bands but we can’t get him to show any enthusiasm for playing music on his own- he loves listening, but doesn’t…

I started playing guitar in 7th grade - after bugging my unenthusiastic parents for a couple of years.