The NFL has decided to utilize its spectator sport to proselytize its paying customers to their employees' social opinion.  Unfortunately, many customers disagree with being considered racists and the denigration of their country.  The athletes of the NFL can generally run fast and lift heavy things, and play a game for pay, but they are clearly not marketing geniuses.

For my hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, in their opening game, they decided to honor Antwon Rose as their hometown cause.  For those unfamiliar with Mr. Rose, in the summer of 2018, he engaged in a drive-by shooting, fled from the shot up car as part of the police response to the shooting traffic stop within minutes of the shooting, and was shot as a fleeing felon by the police officer.  The trial and jury deliberation were extremely short; the policeman was not guilty of criminal homicide.

The Steelers were not interested in the person whom Antwon Rose participated in trying to kill.  The Steelers were not interested in the disruption caused by criminals conducting drive-by shootings in the community where Mr. Rose chose to practice his felony attempted murder.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were interested in only the fact that the dead felon was black and the police officer was white.  

Make no mistake: the example of the death of Antwon Rose is a tragedy.  He was a young man, reported to be a good student, took Advanced Placement courses and hoped to go to college.  The lesson from this event, according the Steeler marketing gurus, is white police brutality.  The real lesson should be not to engage in attempted felony murder and flee from the police whom society have hired and armed for just such an event. 

Other marketing efforts throughout the NFL include the Black Panther raised fist power sign, or a separate "black" national anthem to stand for while kneeling for our country's national anthem because obviously that will achieve the goal of bringing us all together.  Marketing geniuses.

Why would the NFL allow itself to be overtaken by this movement?  Look in any football locker room, and there you will find people of all colors, races, and creeds assembled as a team working toward a common goal.  Look into the stands and again see the melting pot of races, sexes, sexual orientations, all dressed in their home town team's uniform and brought together for a shared event. 

Televised throughout our country and around the world, individuals, families, groups, entire eating and drinking establishments celebrating this example of bringing us all together as one — momentarily suspending the sometimes hard aspects of life and enjoying the NFL entertainment event as just people together.  Isn't this what the millionaire kneelers and protesters claim to want?

The real tragedy is to spoil this example, this celebration of what many would argue is the ideal.  If you must kneel or protest, why do it here?  Nobody would care if you knelt or protested on your own time, if you contribute to whatever cause you want, if you participate in television commercials promoting your cause.  Some will agree with you, and some won't for many reasons both good and bad. 

Why segregate this arguably ideal event?  Why channel your anger over a contentious social issue and force an audience to watch your demonstration in exchange for their desired release from the vagaries of life to take in a football game?  Perhaps the NFL should stick to its entertainment venue and redirect its marketing department geniuses in a more productive manner.