Recent events - not the world-shaking ones like our feud with Europe or the imprisonment of thousands of innocent children - have got me thinking about some of the unspoken assumptions we make every day.
In other words, I have been thinking about the meaning of words and customs.
Now we will eventually get to sports - everything I do lately seems to come down to sports - but let’s start with something more formal. A parade. A Fourth of July parade. A parade for a visiting dignitary. A parade for our President.
Not that formal? Well, how about a Presidential visit to a military base on Thanksgiving, where he gives a speech about patriotism, and all those people standing at attention or sitting in the stands rise to applaud their Commander in Chief.
A victory for the President, or for the Candidate in Chief? A show of support for the President or his programs, or his strong stand for America?
Not quite. For those who have never served in the Armed Forces, it is a simple thing that you learn in basic training. In the Army, you learn it even before you learn to march. It’s called “military courtesy.” You learn that about the same time you learn about the chain of command, and what all those stripes and stars and other symbols of rank symbolize.
Soldiers in the audience, being addressed by their commanding officer - and those commanding officers being addressed by a superior officer, or even a general officer - have a duty to show respect. It’s why people in the military salute. A sign of respect. And the person of lower rank salutes first, while the person with higher rank returns the salute as a matter of courtesy.
(There is a bit of a gap when it comes to higher rank, where some officers are a little casual or sloppy in showing respect by giving a sloppy salute. But, bosses in private businesses are a little sloppy too. It’s a management thing.)
Anyway, public officials are applauded by the assembled troops as a matter of courtesy. And they are not booed by the assembled troops because - unlike civilians - they do not have the right to show disrespect to an officer. It could lead to really bad things. Check out the UCMJ. (Uniform Code of MIlitary Justice).
I’ll save you the trouble. Under Article 89, disrespect toward a superior Commissioned Officer (Sergeants are non-commissioned officers) could lead to a year in confinement, a bad conduct discharge and loss of pay and benefits.
So, you don’t boo the President - he is, of course, the Commander-Chief. If a reporter gets close enough to ask you what you think of the Commander-in-Chief’s talk, a negative opinion is something you don’t want to share. You might, perhaps, say what a fine, fine speech it was.
So, let’s not confuse respect from a captive audience with broad military support. Unless, of course, we are talking about the Civil War, where almost all the Union troops voted for President Lincoln, who was running against a former general who wanted to make peace with the South and end the war. Ah, the ironies of history!
Where Does This Lead?
Anyway, thoughts of respect and the military and parades and other things started turning around in my head - even my friends say I sometimes have a very odd way of thinking - and they settled on another controversy - kneeling on a football field or a baseball field while the National Anthem is being played.
People who don’t like players kneeling - from our President to the owners of sports teams to Conservative radio talk show hosts - think this is a bad thing, a show of disrespect to our nation and to the audience in the stands. And, they want it punished.
Some players say it is their Constitutional right to protest, and it is their form of free speech. Some other players say they are kneeling as a way of showing support to their teammates, and still others - union officials, mostly - say if you want to ban the practice, you can negotiate it in the next contract.
Fair enough. As far as that goes. But, what about the bosses? The team owners. Well, it depends on the sport. In basketball - where one star player can make or break the team’s season and where a certain rowdiness is part of the game - the idea of punishing players just hasn’t really become an issue. They can, mostly, do whatever they want.
In football, last September, players across the league knelt and locked arms and raised their fists when the anthem was played. Others refused to come out of their locker rooms. And, they were joined by their coaches and even some owners.
That day of protest started in London, where the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars were playing. The players then stood while the United Kingdom’s national anthem was played at Wembley Stadium.
President Trump has suggested that football players who kneel in protest - strangely, neither he nor any others who are unhappy with the practice never really address the question of what they are actually protesting - thinks that any player who kneels should be taken out of the game and, if they do it again, be immediately fired. He apparently doesn’t think contracts are an issue.
Now On To Baseball
Now, baseball still calls itself America’s Sport, and baseball owners have different ideas of what to do about player protests. They have discussed a league-wide policy, and after talking it over decided not to do anything until they talk some more. There is, of course, tradition. In the 1950’s white baseball players on segregated teams kneeled in protest over the lynching of blacks in the south. Irony, again.
So, where is this all going? Well, the question becomes “just what does a team owner really own?” If a team wins the world series, he gets to hold the trophy and be in the parade. He speaks of”my team” and “my stadium” and “my players.” And he approves contracts, and gets to decide which players will be traded to other owners in other cities.
But, does an owner really own his players? What does that even mean?
Unlike slave owners, who also spoke of their people, the baseball player who is sold to another team gets to take their family with them. Players who have been around long enough get a no-trade clause in their contract, which means they can turn down trades under certain circumstances.
Once a contract has been signed, what rights do players retain? Must they all speak only when the owner tells them to? Or speak out only when they agree with the owner? Certainly, they do not have the right to film an advertisement in their uniform without team permission, and they generally can’t endorse a brand that competes with a team-sponsored brand. Advertising alcohol is generally a no-no, too. Then there are those general clauses prohibiting behavior which would be “detrimental to the team.”
You might have heard of them in connection with illegal drug use or violence against a spouse.
But, does an owner have the right to tell a player what to say about a controversial subject, or what not to say. Owners have a commercial interest in keeping a player from doing something that might drive away ticket-buying fans. But how about endorsing political candidates, or deciding what religion to practice? How about promoting a vegan diet?
Questions, all. Unanswered questions which might better have been left alone. At least until someone tweeted that football players should be benched for one game if they take a knee in protest, and fired if they do it twice.
Well, as you doubtless know, Colin Kaepernick - the winning San Francisco 49ers quarterback who can’t seem to get a job with any football team because he took a knee in protest - has sued all the NFL owners for collusion, and the case is still working its way through court.
Now, maybe anyone being considered for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court should be asked a simple question when they appear for a confirmation hearing: “Just what does a sports team owner actually own?”
If not, maybe a reporter could yell it out in the corridor. If they have a government-issued pass to get in.
No comments :
Post a Comment