While watching NFL and MLB games on Sunday, we'll give you some little assignments.
Notice how many times the league’s partner network has focused on egotistical, exhibitionist players by repeatedly replaying shots of them posing, strutting, swearing and playing an overly disrespectful professional game rather than showcasing the skillful play associated with winning games for their team.
And with this in mind, consider the nationwide epidemic that has led to trained and certified high school, Little League and recreational league game umpires resigning because they can no longer tolerate the verbal and physical abuse from players, coaches, parents, family members and other spectators who grew up watching what television and professional sports have thoughtlessly sold as the essence of organized sport.
From a recent letter sent to parents of ball-playing children in the Long Island area:
“To all parents of Bellmore Merrick student-athletes:
“As the fall high school and middle school sports seasons get underway, availability of game officials is once again a major obstacle.
“Frankly, there is an extreme shortage of umpires who can officiate all sports in general, so Section VIII currently has a limited pool of umpires not just for middle school sports, but for all sports countywide regardless of level.
“For example, to date, we have heard that many JV football games at the high school level do not yet have all of their referees assigned, and many of them will have to become scrimmages.
“Additionally, at the high school level, more football games will now be scheduled as early as 11 a.m., allowing the same staff to officiate other games later in the day across Nassau County.
“Additionally, to address the shortage of qualified football referees, many, if not all, JV football games will be played on Mondays…
“With that being said, some currently scheduled games will not have referees on hand. In these instances, our coaches will be committed to instructing our student-athletes and maintaining as safe a playing environment as possible.”
“Remember… this is [this district] “This is something that's happening throughout Nassau County and Suffolk County. And what's more, this is now considered a national problem.”
Signed: “Eric Caballero, Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics.”
I've been down this rough road before. Over the past 25 years, I've written several columns about assaults on umpires and umpires in youth and adult leagues, which were once rare but are now weekly, recorded on cell phones.
And it's only getting worse, as short-sighted leaders like Rob Manfred, who claims kids are MLB's “number one priority,” have given their official stamp of approval to a promotional campaign that encourages the spectacle of MLB players swinging bats, doing the Me dance, and engaging in a variety of other unsportsmanlike behavior in order to attract impressionable kids to baseball.
And the fools at MLB Network, including the parents, can't get enough of it.
So as you watch on Sunday on television and as our business partners in the NFL and MLB continue to do to our sport, take a moment to think carefully.
MLB ends with a slap in the face to Mets fans
Speaking of the supreme deference we have for Rob Manfred and his kids, we received several emails lamenting how MLB's sloshing reliance on television dollars, especially for games in its biggest markets, has affected next Sunday afternoon's Phillies-Mets game, the Mets' final home game of the season.
The game was moved to a Sunday night due to a deal sold at auction between MLB and ESPN.
Those were the words of my former Post colleague, Joe Loverde.
“Our family – 14 people, including teenagers – bought tickets to this game. Two of our adult kids were going to the 7-Line Road Race at Citi Field that morning, so after the tailgate party we decided we would all go to the Mets game at 1:40pm.
“But then ESPN snatched the game and changed the broadcast time to 7:15 p.m. — past kids' bedtime and with teenagers in New Jersey attending school the next day.
“You ruined our family vacation. Thanks, Manfred!”
And of course, this has been and will be met with MLB-deferred media silence, just as good, can't-miss seats in the new Yankee Stadium have been offered for 15 years without any pressure, let alone any finger-pointing or shaming.
Now, if Manfred and the team owners' grand plan was to remove the most exciting games from the pool of viewers and the short-term benefit of pay-per-view — Friday's Red Sox-Yankees game being the latest example — then they've succeeded, and if MLB can give fans an environment where they can survive without those games, then it deserves the flak it's received.
Tyreek throws tantrum during traffic stop
There's nothing more frightening for a police officer than pulling over a car with tinted windows for speeding. The officer can't see if the driver is going to pull out their registration or their gun.
But according to a police report released Sunday, Tyreek Hill, who settled with the charter boat employee he assaulted last July, was forced to the ground, as per regulations, after he didn't cooperate with the officers who arrested him.
Though they were informed Hill was the Dolphins' star receiver, video evidence shows the officers had no idea who he was or where he was going — and likely didn't care.
During the game, after Hill scored, he and teammate Jaylen Waddle pantomimed handcuffs to the delight of Roger Goodell, who quietly amused himself by saying Hill had joined the growing list of former college stars whose criminal behavior has degraded the NFL.
Hill attended the University of Oklahoma on a full scholarship, but transferred to the University of West Alabama after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman.
Still, Hill maintains that the adventurous drive to Miami's season opener was a learning experience for himself and no doubt the officers.
But that's Goodell's NFL.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker drew immediate condemnation from the NFL (and many in the media and public figures), the kind of backlash usually directed at a player like Deshaun Watson, who settled 23 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse against women and was recently hit with a new lawsuit. Heck, Watson immediately signed a fully guaranteed $230 million contract as the Browns' quarterback.
But then again, this is the leadership Goodell offered for $70 million a pop, and he'll probably be reciting the lewd lyrics of the rapper he recently picked to headline the Super Bowl at a family dinner this week.
Another question for Goodell: Now that they have standardized the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice,” before games attended by large crowds — more of a blatant PR stunt than an act of good faith — what will white, Hispanic and Asian Americans do at such games?
Are they standing in respect or risking accusations of “black cultural appropriation”?
What will black people do while the traditional one-size-fits-all national anthem is played? Will they sit down because it's not theirs?
Or is he such a quick-to-divide fool that he never even considered such a thing?
