More and More Interesting

So, NFL Commissioner Goodell posts a YouTube video Friday in which he states, “We, the NFL, admit that we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.  We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.”  Oh, to know how that came about.

 

Notice Goodell used the first-person plural.  Depending how he defined “we,” the commissioner is either including owners or interns down the hall in his mea culpa.  I wouldn’t put #2 past him, but, for argument’s sake, lets it’s all about #1.  OK, then, let’s get those cameras on Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and all those other NFL owners who’ve contributed to Donald Trump over the years.  Have they undergone a true change of heart, or did they do some number crunching, or both?

 

If Goodell and the owners are responding without considering what the respective fan bases think, I’m truly blown away.  If this response is in fact made after assessing what fans think, I’m still blown away.  I’ve always wondered about the extent of any fan-base intersection in Chicago between football and baseball, especially the White Sox.  Being a White Sox fan implies an acceptance of diversity; that comes with the address of the ballpark.  Plus, there’s history: Minoso, Aparicio, Guillen, Abreu…Conversations at 35^th and Shields rarely include the phrase “you people.”

 

The crowd at Bears’ games strikes me as less diverse.  If that’s the case, the McCaskeys have joined Goodell in nothing less than a leap of faith; Bears’ fans have changed; or I’ve misjudged them.  Whichever it is, President Trump won’t be able to play the NFL card the way did four years ago when Colin Kaepernick starting taking a knee in protest of racial injustice.  Now, showing an oversized American flag before a game or at halftime will come in a entirely different context.

 

That’s for sure.

If the Shoe Fits

According to today’s paper, between them Nike and Michael Jordan will be spending some $140 million in the cause of social justice and the fight against racial inequality.  I guess.

 

My skepticism is based on a couple of reasons.  Nike earns about $40 billion a year and employs roughly 77,000 people, with about 32,000 in the U.S.  Now, I’m pretty willing to bet that little to nothing of what Nike sells is made in the U.S., hence those other 45,000 employees.

 

Now, bear with me here.  Black American is underserved by financial institutions.  Couldn’t that $140 million—and given Nike’s profits, why not double or triple that figure?—help capitalize a black-operated bank, one focused on providing financing to minority communities?  If that’s not possible, I thank Michael Jordan and Nike for their contribution, but I still have a few questions about Nike’s business model.

 

Visit their website, and they’re all about responsible sourcing.  Sweatshops are not welcome to do business with Nike, or so the website says.  But I wonder.  If the company is so concerned with working conditions, why does it have production facilities half a world away?  Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier to check on factories in Beaverton, Oregon, and thereabouts?

 

If Nike is concerned about workers’ rights (and it says it is), how does it expect those rights to be respected in a place like Cambodia.  Given how hard it is for unions to organize in the U.S., is it any easier in Cambodia?  Or is Nike saying unions aren’t necessary to protect workers’ interests?  In that case, no NLRB is better than one staffed with appointments by a conservative White House?

 

And if Nike is so committed an employer, how come I couldn’t find an average wage for its overseas’ workers?  Or a graph showing what percentage labor costs contribute to a pair of Nike shoes, pick your line?  Why is Nike so afraid of stating the obvious, that it wants the dollars of American consumers without the responsibility of having to employ a larger American workforce?

 

I truly hope that $140 million change things for the better.  I truly believe that athletic products made for Americans by Americans—regardless of race, gender, creed or orientation—would go a long ways accomplishing that.  

For the Fans

Major league baseball, the sport that planned to start the season in March and allow night games in Chicago as early as April 10^th, is all of a sudden worried about people’s health.  Owners have rejected the players’ proposal for a 114-game season in part because it could coincide with a second wave of COVID-19.

 

The commissioner’s office has an infectious disease consultant advising them against too long a season.  Gosh, I wonder if MLB will try to stop the NFL from playing, I mean, on health grounds?  Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem is also worried about the weather.

 

Halem is quoted in a Wednesday AP story telling the players’ association their 114-game proposal “ignores the realities of the weather in many parts of the country during the second half of October.  If we schedule a full slate of games in late October, we’ll be plagued by cancellations.”

 

And yet none of that worry goes into drawing up a schedule for the regular season.  Indians’ fans were supposed to sit out at 6:10 PM on March 30^th to see their team play the White Sox.  Sox fans, in turn, were expected to sit out in the dreck of early April (the 10^th to be exact) for the first 7:10 night game of the season.  And, until now, MLB has never had a problem with late October playoff baseball played at night.  Schedule it and they will come, apparently.

 

Did I mention the owners also are concerned that a second wave of the coronavirus could affect an anticipated $787 million in postseason broadcast revenues?  Cough, cough.    

A Wednesday in October

Clare texted last night that game four of the 2005 World Series was being replayed.  “It’s the eighth innings,” read the message from daughter to mother, which was then relayed to me.  So, I watched.

 

These “classic” replays can’t help but be bittersweet because we know what happens next: Aaron Rowand gets traded in the offseason; Bobby Jenks falls victim to injury and demons; Ozzie Guillen turns into Mike Ditka; 2005 turns into 2006 and beyond.  All that celebrating with the future waiting to happen.

 

But I watched in order to remember how good it felt to have my team win, just this one time.  And then I remembered how important it was to Clare.  My little hitting prodigy had made a 16u travel team even though she was just thirteen at the time.  Oh, and the coach was a jerk in a crew cut who accepted asthma attacks—not his—as part of the price of success.  The White Sox winning made such suffering a little more bearable.

 

And then I went back to reading. 

Rickettts' Jibber-jabber

Ah, the Ricketts family, so many working mouths, so few available feet to stick in.

 

The latest Ricketts unable to keep his trap shut is Nebraska governor Pete, who, in a Monday meeting with black community leaders to discuss a shooting in Omaha, started things off with the words “The problem I have with you people.”  But wait, there’s more.

 

Ricketts later tried to take it back by calling a black radio host to say “charge it to my head, not my heart.”  In other words, don’t take offense because I’m stupid.  But wait, there’s more.

Brother—and Cubs’ chairman—Tom came to Pete’s defense, calling him “a very respectful person, and if he offended anyone, I’m sure he did not mean to.”  Why the qualifier, Tom?  Your brother offended a whole bunch of people.  It sort of makes me wonder if the Wrigley Field marquee message of “End Racism” comes from the head, the heart or someplace else.

 

It’s a good thing the Ricketts bought the traditionally WASP Chicago baseball team.  They certainly wouldn’t make it on the South Side.  Say what you will about Jerry Reinsdorf—and I’ve said quite a lot—he’s been a decent neighbor to black communities surrounding Guaranteed Rate Whatever, just like the Comiskeys were back in the day, as were the Allyn brothers and Bill Veeck later.  Each one of those Sox owners may have been comfortable in the company of old man and bigot Joe Ricketts (though I doubt it, at least for Veeck and Reinsdorf), but Sox owners at least knew how to keep their opinions to themselves.

 

Black fans were attending ballgames at Comiskey Park as early as 1917; you might even find the letter online from a black fan to people in the South on just how exciting it was to be able to go to a game.  (I’m not saying fans couldn’t go see the Cubs, but it was a daunting bunch of streetcar rides from Bronzeville to Wrigley.)  Charles Comiskey also had an interesting relationship with the Negro Leagues.

 

The Sox left their home at South Side Park in 1910; their place was taken by the Chicago American Giants, who played there through 1940; my father once told me he climbed a telephone pole to watch the Giants play.  When the park burned down in 1940, the team moved to Comiskey Park.

Did I mention that the Negro Leagues’ All-Star Games were played at 35^th and Shields or that Joe Louis beat Jim Braddock there in 1937 to win the heavyweight title?  To me, this is all fascinating history.  To the Ricketts, I wonder if it’s history that got them looking to buy a team in a more, shall we say, amenable location.  Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.      

   

 

 

Joke of the Day

Oh, this is rich.  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement Saturday on the country’s racial unrest, and the commissioner all but raised a clench fist in solidarity with protestors.  Why, their “reaction to these incidents reflect the pain, anger and frustration that so many of us feel.”  “Us”?  Roger Goodell and the NFL us?

 

Goodell goes on to say, “There remains much more to do as a country and as a league.  These tragedies inform the NFL’s commitment [???!!!] and ongoing efforts.  There remains an urgent need for action…We embrace that responsibility and are committed to continuing the important work to address these systemic issues together with our players, clubs and partners.”  You coulda fooled me.

 

For openers, how about some signatures on the statement?  I can think of two in particular, Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Robert Kraft of the Patriots.  Get those friends of Trump to sign on the dotted line, and I’ll be impressed as to intent.

 

An apology to ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick also would’ve added some substance to Goodell’s words.  Kaepernick effectively ended his career four years ago by trying to publicize issues that Goodell is only touching upon now.  Admissions of error and responsibility would go a long way in demonstrating serious intent, Commissioner.  Are you ready to make those?  I don't think so. 

Now prove me wrong.

More, Not Less

The MLB players’ association has come back with a counter-proposal that calls for a 114-game season running from July through October while offering salary relief in the form of deferred payments.  According to one analyst, the owners are not impressed.

 

And why would they be?  As a group, these are people who want to play as few games as possible while maximizing their revenue streams.  The more I watch them, the more I long for the likes of anyone named Comiskey, Veeck or Wrigley.  These greatly flawed individuals or families at least treated their ball clubs as a public trust, not an investment for creating generational wealth.

 

Commissioner Manfred should get on a conference call and ask a simple question to the owners:  How many times has a fan come up to you and said, “You’re the reason I came to the game today”?  If they’re inclined to tell the truth, the answer will be, “Zero.”

 

One last thing:  The longer baseball waits, the sooner football will pounce.