Black national anthem
I was remiss in not having this report on Monday. That's on me.
In some ways, maybe I thought it was an internet hoax, until I saw it originally linked from USA Today.
According to this story, the NFL is going to play "Lift Every Voice" before playing the "Star-Spangled Banner" prior to kickoff for each game. "Lift Every Voice," you see, is viewed as the Black national anthem.
My questions are multi-faceted about this decision.
First, the hypocrisy that the guy who turned our actions during anthem into the only thing over the last two decades that can derail the NFL's monolithic ratings still does not have a job in the league before the league went complete 180 and now will play the Black national anthem is difficult to understand.
It almost makes you wonder if Colin Kaepernick really ever wanted to get back on the field to begin with. Considering the big-dollar deals Keep got with Nike and the news that ESPN and Disney have now partnered with Kaepernick's production company for several, multi-million-dollar projects, well, he's making a whole lot of money being a former football player/martyr these days.
Second, is there a Hispanic anthem or an Asian-American anthem? What about various religious groups and their specific beliefs or what about sexual orientation anthems? Asking for a friend.
OK, sarcasm aside - mostly - but that leads us to a couple of other talking points. If we have multiple national anthems, do we really have a national anthem? In some ways an honest attempt at cancelling the "Star-Spangled Banner" and trying to replace it would be way more American than this, in my opinion.
Because a separate anthem is not about the originally stated goal of equality, the efforts of the 1960s Civil Rights giants who fought to get to the same seats at the diner, the same nozzle at a water fountain and the same bench choices on a public bus.
Simply put: This is not a decision made about inclusive or unity; this is about trying to satisfy the loud outcry of the moment.
And it now leads me to this: What happens if a white player decides to take a knee during the Black national anthem? Worse, what happens if white fans (provided of course we ever get to a place when fans are back at sporting events that is) protest, sit or worse boo during the Black national anthem and then stand for the "Star-Spangled Banner."
Fights? Likely. Outrage? Assuredly.
More divide and discontent. Of course.
And with an easily predictable outcome like that, how could this possibly be part of a solution of the issues we face?
Because no matter the debates between Black and white, capitalized letters or lower-cased, song critics or traditionalists, the divide will only grow exponentially with the more qualifiers we put in front of the word Americans, which should be the one word that unifies all of us.
CHA-ching, and team value too
Patrick Mahomes just signed a 10-year, $450-million extension. Add in the two remaining years on Mahomes' current deal, he's signed and sealed in Kansas City through the 2031 season to the tune of close to half a billion bucks.And that's a sweet tune.For quarterback and for club. The Chiefs have flexibility for the foreseeable future with the best young QB in the game.
They have a linchpin around which to build - and more importantly a supremely attractive free-agent attraction with an elite QB in his prime - and a long-term deal to manage the crunch of the cap. It also avoids any of the head-aches and unrest of the bad-faith negotiations like in Dallas or a quarterback congestion draft debacle like the one in Green Bay.
It's an amazing scenario when pledging to give an athlete $500 million is every bit as good a deal for the team as it is for the player. And it may be better for the Chiefs, considering that during the duration of that deal, the salary cap is likely to jump exponentially with at least one and maybe two TV renegotiations in the next decade.
Still, it puts Mahomes in some amazing circles.
Mahomes is the fourth active MLB/NFL/NHL/NBA player signed into the 2030s. The other three are baseball players Bryce Harper (2032), Mike Trout (2031) and Christian Yelich (2031).
It rightly gives Mahomes the richest deal in the NFL and makes him the sixth NFL player to sign a 10-year contract. Here's betting that Mahomes and the Chiefs are hoping for way more positive results than the other five experienced.
According to numbers crunched on Twitter, if Mahomes cashes every check of this deal, he will make $1.1 million every nine days. Read that again, and remember this is still a better deal for the Chiefs.
Here are the highest paid QBs in the NFL in terms of average annual return, with Mahomes and Russell Wilson atop the list.
And while I have forever stated that teams must make hay when they have future star QBs on rookie deals, the Chiefs have laid a potential blueprint for future dealings between franchises and quarterbacks.
Baseball headlines
Side note: We will have some cooking updates next week. Deal? Deal.
Lots of baseball news over the last 24 or so hours.
The MLB national TV schedule was released Monday evening. Yes, it still kind of feels like wishful thinking at this point. But if we do have baseball, I believe the national broadcasters missed a major opportunity by not having enough day games on the slate.
Here is a great spot for the updated names for MLB-ers who have either caught the Corona (like Freddie Freeman) or have opted out for the upcoming 60-game season (fingers crossed).
Among those that have opted out are former Cy Young winner David Price, who is with the Dodgers these days, and Braves veteran Nick Markakis.
This and that
- You know the rules. When TFP sports editor and prep sports guru Stephen Hargis writes about high school sports, we read and link Hargis' headlines on high school sports. Here's an update on the views of area coaches before Wednesday's all-important TSSAA vote.
- Now Auburn is the latest SEC team to get in-stadium light shows. Sounds pretty cool, and I look forward to seeing it in 2022 when we get back to the games. (Kidding. Mostly.)
- Speaking of the college football schedule, here's a report from CBSsports.com predicting that Wednesday's vote across the Ivy League will likely push the 2020 football season into spring '21. Sadness.
- Speaking of bad news in terms of spectators, here's another sour chapter as the Memorial has scrapped plans to have spectators at next week's PGA event. Sadness.
- The number of sports-related people and groups who applied and received six-to-seven-figure loans from the PPP tax-payer-funded aid packages designed for small businesses. The Sugar Bowl - as well as four smaller conferences - was among the applicants, as were several notable boxing promotion groups, a slew of the most recognizable NASCAR teams, more than a dozen minor-league baseball teams and almost three dozen U.S. Olympic sports.
Today's question
Hey, it's a Tuesday. Let's roll a little true or false.
True or false you would kneel during the Black national anthem.
True or false, you will watch the Colin Kaepernick documentary.
True or false, the Colin Kaepernick documentary will make the one-sided "The Last Dance" look like a non-fiction Ken Burns joint.
True or false, Kansas City got the better side of the Mahomes contract.
Happy 60th birthday to Ralph Sampson, one of only two college players to win three Naismith player of the year awards.
Happy 80th birthday to Ringo Star who married Barbara Bach almost 40 years ago. So there's that.
Hey, ever heard the 'greatest thing since sliced bread' line? Of course you have. Well, Sliced bread was sold for the first time on this day in 1928. So there's that.
Today is July 7, which is 7/7. Rushmore of 7s, and be creative.