I am surprised. I thought the National Anthem protest would be just another short trend in our short attention span culture. However, it seems like each week brings new athletes into the mix. Most of the focus has been on professional athletes, but more college athletes are getting involved. Saturday will be BC's first home football game. Something may happen. Something may not. I don't really care either way.
If a player wants to protest, I am okay with that. If no one does, I don't care (or take it as sign of character of our team). If Addazio weighs in, I wish him the best. But his college coaching peir group hasn't been the most eloquent or intelligent on the subject.
I don't even care what BC fans do during the Anthem. Given how many fans regularly miss the opening kickoff, the Anthem is the least of our worries.
My indifference is not about not caring about our country, my pride in being an American, or my understanding on racial equality. It is more my position on a lot of things that get people fired up on either side. We get so caught up in the hot button issue of the day and showing our solidarity with one side or the other, that we miss the big underlying issues and do little to solve any of them. Solving these issues takes time and answering hard questions. Ranting about the hot button issue of the day is easy. I use ranting about sports as my distraction from the real life. On real issues, I struggle to find a way that I can make a difference beyond kneeling or ranting or tweeting or liking something on Facebook. Regardless of what happens at Alumni, how people react to the Anthem is not really a problem...or at least, not my problem.
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Players should stand, helmets under left arm, right hand on heart - and be thankful they have the opportunity to play a game and receive an education on the backs of countless heros of this country less fortunate then themselves. Nuff said.
As a veteran, I have always viewed the Freedom of Speech as the most important freedom I defend. There is a reason it is the first of the bill of rights. Whether I agree or not does not matter, our players have the freedom to do as they please.
I like BC football and I hope we win.
I think we do it before the teams are on the field.
SoS. Thank you for your service.
Freedom of speech also includes freedom to receive criticism for one's views. No free lunch if you loudly open you yap and disrespect your country.
One also can also question whether one's place of employment (NFL) is the right forum. Of course the NFL permits activity disrespectful to our flag and all that entails. They are now seeing viewer$hip plummet. We - the silent overwhelming majority - are conducting our own silent counter protest: turn our eyes away from this continuing disgrace
employees of my company are not free to engage in political activism on company time. They can do what they want on their time.
I think that concept applies to BC football players. STFU while representing the school. Go nuts in your own time
Mod34b.
My sentiments exactly. The NFL owns the stage. It controls what happens on it. It could shut down all protests at th drop of a hat. The owners care for one thing. It isn't Americs. It is money.
As for the right to free speech I agree that protects everyone in a public forum But having that right does not protect you from others exercising their right to code mm you for your actions. Rights have consequences.
Thanks Mod for that cogent comment and all the other stats that have enforced your football opinions. As for this issue, while I really enjoy this blog and all the work Atlanta Eagle puts into it, he is far off base in "not caring". I am a 30 year retired Air Force officer mostly in air ops. I have been around the world...literally. We have a country, while not perfect, must be honored for its demonstrated forbearance and fundamental goodness. While perfection is not to be had in this world, the USA is closest to it. If our current BC grads do not understand that,the entire administration should be fired.
If the players are disrespectful to the anthem it will be another nail in the Addazio coffin. The media will be all over it(eventhough they won't be at the game).
I concur with every poster here.
Civil disobedience is fine. I disagree with the aggrieved for many reasons. Not the least of which is the opportunity to play a child's game for free or for pay and not ruminate on the irony. The injustice is in those who have never travelled. The 8:28 post is spot on. Go somewhere else. Try it out. We're certainly not perfect.
Besides, nobody is forcing anyone to play D1 football and complain about not being paid (the stipend rule is crazy). Here's a fucking option: free country, don't play.
How did play for pay come into this?
Three letters. I.P.A.
But still amazed at Daz's quotes in that article. Last post. Let's move on.
True Patriots want their country to be the best it can be and will protest when it is not at its best. Started right down the road with the Boston Tea Party and continues to this day. I wish some Germans would have had the guts to protest excessive nationalism in 1936. Might have saved a couple million Jews.
Based on the previous comments, this won't go over well, which is all the more reason I'm writing it.
The AHANA program began at Boston College in 1979. As of spring 2016, Boston College's robust board of 51 members had ZERO minorities. That's a complete disgrace. I am a proud member of the Neenan Society, giving every year since graduation in 2000. Wins and losses don't change my giving, but this reality which I just discovered will next year. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/03/12/big-revenue-sports-hit-bottom-stirring-scrutiny/iWqaOoo6ZnIIKyksVLYSGJ/story.html
I first heard about "the talk" from DeMaurice Smith on ESPN Radio a couple months ago (not exactly a liberal media outlet). It's not sex ed, it's the one African American parents give their teenagers about how to SURVIVE being pulled over by a police officer. As a teenager, I was told that if you are polite, you might be able to get out of a ticket, not that it was a requirement to make it home for dinner due to an overzealous Officer Tackleberry.
It would be interesting, who on the current BC football team received "the talk" in high school? My guess is that it would be split on racial lines, similar to the kneel down, black fist movement.
I live in Cincinnati, last year a University of Cincinnati cop blew a guy away during a traffic stop (guess what color the driver was). The first report from the officer was that he was being dragged and in fear of his life. Like many other law abiding citizens, I took the officer's story at face value and silently applauded him for his service and bravery. The body camera showed a completely different story. If you watch, the shooting happens about 1:45 into the video and you never see it coming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYINt6uNjA0
Now we'll find out in a few months if a jury in Cincinnati will have the courage to convict (not having a license plate and having some contraband in your car shouldn't be a death sentence.) Same with the female officer this week in Tulsa and in countless other cities around the country.
My point isn't that white people should have to apologize for not experiencing overt racism or fearing for their life when interacting with a police officer, but that no person should. Foreign countries issue travel advisories about coming to America and interacting with our police offers. Allowing yourself to admit that we have a problem in this country is the first step. We kick that can down the road when we ask our student athletes or professionals to shut up and play football.
Nobody was complaining when Mark Herzlich was using his platform as a BC football player to raise awareness about cancer. Racism is another form of cancer and in 2016 it still can be deadly.
ATL, as a twenty year army veteran I find your comments appalling. Do not forget that flag and anthem represent the men and women who fought, sacrificed and died to defend your ungrateful liberal ass as well as the 99.9 percent of the affluent, pampered BC grads and jocks who never served a day in their lives. Your indifference is truly disturbing.
Wrong curran,
There are jewish, women and catholics on the board.
Boston College is not a "player" in the anthem issue. And you say yourself Boston College has had a "minority" outreach program for 37 years. Jesuits are tremendously progressive and this program proves it.
Claudia Henao de la Cruz ’85
Past Chair
Centro Mater Foundation
David C. Weinstein, J.D. ’75
Chief of Administration (Retired)
Fidelity Investments
Navyn Datoo Salem ’94, Hon. ’12
Founder
Edesia Inc.
ATL you are mistaken. Mod and Georgia Eagle are correct.
@Knucklehead. The list of actual board members makes my point. In 2016, that anemic level of overall diversity with no African Americans at the highest level of leadership is a disgrace.
The good old boys from Auburn have 13 board members and one is African American. When Auburn is more diverse than BC, it's a disgrace. https://www.auburn.edu/administration/trustees/members.html
For all the focus the readers of this blog spends on recruiting, the Globe article also talks about how the lack of diversity on the board and in our athletic program leadership is used against us.
This isn't about quotas. Different perspectives in positions of leadership, working toward the same common mission, makes an organization stronger. It also means that parents who have to give their kids "the talk" increase their high level access to other power brokers. Anyone on any board, knows that networking plays a valuable role in serving on a board.
At this glacier like pace, BC might even add an openly gay board member in the next few decades and if we already have one, then let's go crazy and add a second one.
I'll shut up and let the facts speak for themselves. In the meantime, I hope more players use their platform to raise awareness, the way Herzlich uses his.
I think you can tell who graduated with a degree in business and who graduated with an arts and science degree just by reading the comments. BC today promotes uniform thinking and conformity.
Henry 1961 BC graduate and veteran
Touché, Henry.
Curran,
So it has to African Americans. It cannot be Africans? I don't think you have any idea about diversity or inclusion. I do, professionally.
Your argument sucks. How many blacks have graduated from Auburn vs. BC? How many women, other racial minorities or non W.A.S.P religions are included on the Auburn board vs. BC?
Boston College sucks at mens football and basketball. It does not suck at giving opportunities to what it calls AHANA students.
The Board is diverse and represents what BC represents as well as it can.
Thanks, curranac. Greatly appreciate this and stand by you 100%.
Curranac
I hope you were not educated at BC, but fear your were. You are a disgrace and should ask for your tuition back. You have no concept of reality and would rather live in a world of your own making.
I don't need to attack any one's major or question where they went to school to make my case. The facts are sadly on my side, Boston College lacks diversity at the highest levels of the school.
While the AHANA program has paved the way for increased student diversity, 33% of our current students are not white, this is obviously not the approach used to recruit and retain the board of trustees. That is a disconnect that needs to be reconciled.
Curranac,
I have to give you props for raising great points and I completely agree with you.
Guys like Max, GeorgiaEagle, and Knucklehead are ignorant and are poster-children for privilege. Let me guess: you are all white and male. But I'm not gonna fault them for their opinion, nor should they feel guilty. If you aren't black, it's impossible to understand what the black experience in America is like. In the same way, as a male there is no way I can truly understand the systemic sexism in this country, but I'm also not going to pretend that women don't have a rougher road than males.
I appreciate those who have served in our Armed Forces, but I don't see how people kneeling during the anthem undermines the great sacrifices you have made. The national anthem is not a litmus test of patriotism or being American. Most US citizens don't even know the correct words to the anthem. As an American who has traveled all over the world, I can say without a doubt this America is the the best country on earth, but I don't see why we can't strive to make the country even better. Patriotism is about participating in the freedoms that we are granted as Americans. It's amazing that we are free to protest and have a discussion on topics like this, but I think it's ridiculous that people are getting so mad for someone voicing an opinion. And even if you wanna say kneeling is unpatriotic, I can't buy this whole anthem issue is solely about patriotism. It's very much about race. If Tom Brady were to start kneeling until we find a cure for cancer (a problem most Americans want to see fixed), he would not be receiving death threats. People are pissed a black athlete is talking about an issue that most people don't want to talk about or want to pretend doesn't exist.
In 2016, denying the existence in institutional racism is like denying the existence of evolution or climate change. There is tons of research that explains why implicit biases and systemic issues exist between groups of people. African-Americans have ancestors who forcefully snatched from their continent and brought here, were enslaved for two hundred years, and then were still not granted full social and economic mobility till the mid-1960s. Let's not pretend that in 50 years all the damage and bias that is ingrained in fabric of our society towards blacks can just be alleviated. It takes time. I think as a society we have a lot to be proud of with the progress that has been made, but I sure as hell don't think the playing field is even yet.
But regardless of research or one's stance, I think Kaepernick should be applauded for using his influence to shed light on an issue he firmly believes in that he feels gets ignored. He has been successful in getting the discussion started and tangibly he has already raised money for important organizations. I encourage any American to thoughtfully and non-violently protest and push for change that they believe will only make our country stronger.
Curranac, also agree with you on how Board diversity can only make BC stronger and more appealing in every way, including athletics. I just don't have time to get into it now.
Ever to excel! Go eagles!
Curranc,
The Board invitations are based on the persons assets. So tell me how many black, white, Hispanic, Asian, "other" BC grads have the $$. I bet proportional to the graduates the numbers on the board make sense. I know a non-black who was offered a seat who turned it down. How many blacks turned down a seat?
You don't know anything about what you are grousing about.
There is no racism with the Board of Directors choices at Boston College.
Such a BS thing to poke at when the mens football program, mens basketball programs and Colin Kaepernick are the the issues at hand.
Complete BS.
I am copping two,
More assumptions from you too. You have zero knowledge to back up the chatter.
@knucklehead, the ignorance of the statement, "So tell me how many black, white, Hispanic, Asian, "other" BC grads have the $$." is truly sad and speaks volumes about why this overall conversation on race in America is so needed.
With that said, BC Trustees aren't limited to graduates (5 lay non-grads) or just for their ability to write huge checks. As it relates to giving ability, the six Jesuits on the board aren't their for their financial leadership gifts.
So yes, for a school that has an enrollment of 33% AHANA students, there needs to be more diversity on the board. With 51 members, there's certainly room.
I'll stick to my previous comments. This isn't about quotas, but the current lack of diversity on the board is a complete disgrace.
Mostly white people graduate from BC so let's keep our board only representative of past BC classes rather than strive to make it representative of the country. That's a stupid argument. Sounds like you just wanna keep BC the way it has always been. But I don't wanna take it away from sports. I don't know how you can claim that black athletes (probably 70% of the potential ACC level talent for our two revenue programs) couldn't potentially benefit from having a board of director member who understands their life experience.
Also, your rebuttal is weak. The only assumption I made was that you were male and white. I apologize for that but willing to bet I'm not wrong. I didn't even say anything controversial. I basically i America is amazing because we can protest. My arguments were based in fact that has been researched and documented by the best institutions in the country. And if you wanna talk fact, where is one shred of evidence that black people don't have a tougher road than whites. But as I said above, even if you want to discredit fact and research or if you don't believe in Kaepernick's message, you still haven't explained what is wrong with an American group feeling marginzalized and protesting for change. That's about as American as it gets. There is no reason for anyone to be that pissed about a protest unless they have some other implicit or subconscious bias towards that group.
For the record, I'm a moderate and not black. So I have no political horse in this fight nor do I even fully understand the plight that black people experience, but I have enough black friends and spent enough time in those communities to understand the plight is real. As an American and Catholic, when I hear about grievances of any marginalized group (minorities, women, poor) I personally like to take a step back and examine those experiences and facts around them before discrediting them and calling people whiners.
Well that's it for me. I happen to be in Seattle for the weekend and I'm off to the Seahawks game. Maybe I'll wear a Kaepernick jersey. This kneeling thing isn't going away any time soon. Can't wait till the NBA season starts.
The brain washed recent BC (and elsewhere) grads is frightening.
And with it comes the regurgitation of progressive propaganda.
Hopefully in time actual real messy life will be a better teacher for the new grad bots we see cheerfully chirping.
It's embarrassing that some of the commonplace internet trolls you find online are BC alums. For the record, I'm mid-30s married with children, and I've both failed and succeeded with tech startups after business school. I think I've experienced quite a bit of real life. If your definition of real messy life means you stop caring for those less fortunate than you, then I feel really sorry for you.
Have fun at your trump rally!
This was a good thread. Thanks to copping and curran for adding some cogent and incisive comments. I disagree with much if it, but agree with some. In the future, there are many conservatives who despise Trump, so when u say good luck at his rally? Who's guilty of stereotyping? Also, this privilege argument. Wrt the poor, I suppose most are privileged. People lose credibility with that tripe because they assume they know everyone's background. Isn't that precisely what you're arguing against? Again, I have no problem with non-violent disobedience. Qualites shared by blacks and whites through time. What the issue is...how do u measure progress? Why this issue? You want facts? A black man is the greatest threat to another black man on this planet. Don't want the cops to fuck up? Me either. Ever been in law enforcement? 98% would want a partner. Just saying...there are issues and then there are issues. I would love it if Kap a) travelled more and b) understood more profoundly that choices-no matter ur lot in life, "privileged" or not, determine how much progress one makes.
Why no protests about Chicago's social decay?
CT,
I agree that my trump comment was kinda a dick move, but Mod's "regurgitation of progressive propaganda" comment sounded like that kind of rhetoric.
Yes, black on black crime is an issue. But the root cause of this violence is almost wholly societal and incredibly complex (education, infrastructure, housing, racism, etc.) Black people are not genetically predisposed to being violent. Cutting down on gangs is an area that the government has focused on since the 90s and gang violence and the murder rate has gone down significantly nationwide (regardless of what some media outlets may report). Chicago is an outlier and is definitely a significant problem that I think needs more assistance. I'm just not sure why we have to only focus on one problem as a society or why this problem should supersede the racial problem. I also don't know why traveling the world and seeing that racism and poverty is way worse in every other country means that problems still don't exist here.
Great point about protesting Chicago's social decay. I hope some Chicago bulls like Dwayne Wade will lead the charge.
The good old days of walking to school both ways, up hill in the snow are gone.
The fact of the matter is that the Boston College trustees will grow in diversity. Demographic trends will ensure it.
The only question is whether BC moves slowly into the future or follows our own advice and helps Light the World.
is I'm Copping too a spoof? so much goofy nonsense... gotta be a put on that someone here is falling for,.... ha ha
chicago is an outlier? chicago's violent world is not even top in the US. not even top 10. its #24. outlier?? wtf. See this http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-united-states.html
not tops in murder either https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/crime-2015-final-analysis
the site will now return to sports spoofs....
observer college will be back soon...
Great job completely missing the point and getting caught up on a word like outlier. Sorry my Chicago crime stats offhand aren't perfect. I was simply going off CT's example of Chicago of a place that needs change and was speaking specifically of gang violence.
Regardless of where Chicago ranks, crime is still bad there. The point is there are plenty of things to protest and plenty of cities and causes that need improvement in this great nation of ours. America still remains the best nation on earth. And if you honestly want things to remain the status quo, you should feel very blessed that you think things can't get any better.
i can't take you seriously... just too ridiculous
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