Link to the tweet

The context for those who don’t care about sports:

The NFL’s Covid policy has been absolute ass and not nearly enforced equally or fairly throughout the year. A Baltimore Ravens coach ignored Covid protocol and his Covid symptoms and practiced with the team. As a result, a catastrophic number of Ravens players have caught Covid, including almost the entire offense and their star players. The game was postponed after the initial Covid diagnoses (including a type 1 diabetic player who has a much higher chance of experiencing acute symptoms) from Thanksgiving, to be played Tuesday, December 1st. In the subsequent days since Thanksgiving, an even larger amount of players have now been diagnosed or deemed ineligible to play due to close contact with players/coaches who have tested positive.

In the beginning of the year the NFL released a statement saying there could be fines, suspensions, loss of draft picks, or even forfeits as the result of failure to comply with Covid protocol. As of now, the league has again postponed, and the game is to be played on Wednesday, December 2nd. Some players are outraged at being forced to take the field when practice facilities have been shut down for over a week, just to go intermingle with each other and a previously unexposed group of players from the other team. There have been rumors of a wildcat strike for player health and safety, and as of now it appears that enough players are in on this idea that the Ravens would not be able to field a full team.

  • CementEscapist [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Good thing that all the NFL owners are Republicans so Obama is less likely to step in on their behalf and thwart this potential strike. The Silicon Valley/Private Equity libs who own NBA teams were owed favors by Barry.

      • Comrade_Cummies [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I highly doubt Most owners have even touched a football or basketball or whatever beyond photo ops.

        My fav football (soccer) team is run by American ghouls (who also own Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL) and sporting decisions and transfers are down to a fucking accountant/investment banker, and an incompetent board. The owners show up every once in a while, but you just know they don't know shit about the sport or what's going on. It's run like a business that ignores sporting ambitions the team and fans want, reducing the team to mediocrity and repeated fuck-ups so that more sponsors are obtained and more money is saved and given to the owners. Bullshit they work hard, they're leeching from these teams.

    • UnironicWarCriminal [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      It's not just the owners, it's the fans and the culture of the sport. Football is a true symbol of neoliberal exploitation vs. the more old-school, worker conscious model of other sports.

      There's a reason why the MLB and NHL - both of which have few black players - almost immediately threatened to join the NBA in a sympathy strike over BLM and the NFL didn't, even though the NFL is majority black players.

      • CementEscapist [he/him]
        1·
        4 years ago

        I wouldn't say that's accurate re: the protest. Those leagues were playing games when the Jacob Blake murder happened; the NFL was not. And it was actually the Detroit Lions - not the Milwaukee Bucks - that was the first team to act by refusing to hold practice in response to Kenosha.