On August 24 I wrote CNN: democrat men are weenies. It was all about how Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs) are trying to convince America Tim Walz is the very model of modern masculinity. Apparently they’re ambivalent about that, because The Nation is now arguing “hypermasculinity,” particularly any embrace of—shudder--football, could cost them the election. 

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Mandatory disclosure: I cannot name a single quarterback or other player of an NFL team. I might recognize some player names when they are breathlessly uttered in the media as though they’re of earthshaking importance. But Taylor Swift—I’ve heard of her—though if I’ve ever heard one of her songs, I’m blissfully unaware of it. She’s a football player too, right? I don’t care who wins the Super Bowl. Indeed, I don’t care who’s playing.

I generally don’t watch sports. I’d much rather play sports. I’m not anti-football, I just have other interests and priorities. Nor do I consider most football players--or Walz--models of masculinity, particularly not those who commit felonies, beat women, and generally behave like juvenile delinquents in Hulk Hogan bodies.

Apparently The Nation was alarmed when Coach—oops; assistant coach--Tim Walz displayed members of his past high school football team onstage at the DNC convention—wearing football jerseys--the better to buttress his manliness.  

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In a Monday essay titled “The Dark Side of the Democratic Party’s Embrace of Football” and authored by The Nation‘s sports editor Dave Zirin, the magazine slammed the Democratic Party’s “embrace” of football as a symbol of patriotism during its 2024 convention last week, owing to the sport’s brutality.

I’m confused.  Isn’t this the same NFL that has embraced kneeling for the National Anthem?  Isn’t it the same football league that embraces Black Lives Matter and a wide variety of D/s/c ideologies?  Isn’t it the same outfit that has driven away fans in droves with its anti-American virtue signaling?  

Sure, football is allied with America and patriotism, but that’s largely in places like Texas, where fans proudly stand and sing the National Anthem, and any dimwitted coach who allowed players to “take a knee” would find himself looking for work. When I taught in Texas, I asked my students what was Texas’ official sport? “Football!” they exclaimed.  “Nah. That’s rodeo. Football is our religion,” I replied.

Zirin misses the point:

“How confused, how utterly rattled, these conservatives must be at the moment,” he [Dave Zirin] writes. “Democrats are claiming football for themselves; presenting the sport as not only patriotic but as a potent symbol of the kind of teamwork needed to take down Donald Trump.”

Normal Americans—conservatives—aren’t the least confused or rattled. They know Walz’ display of high school glory days long past has nothing to do with D/s/cs “claiming football for themselves.” It’s pandering. It’s an election year conversion, a dimwitted attempt to try to convince Normal Americans D/s/cs are just like them.  See? We like football! We like Mom and apple pie! Vote for us and we’ll give you football and Mom and apple pie, and other free American stuff, fellow patriotic Americans. And Tim Walz is as American and patriotic as they come—well, at least if you ignore all the communist policies, that is.

Obviously, Zirin is grasping at straws:

The platforming of football as a patriotic totem cannot be separated from the sport’s embrace of hypermasculinity and violence. These two pernicious parts of the game connected smoothly with the themes in Harris’s red-meat convention speech: nationalism and a shift to the right alongside a bellicose declaration of war readiness—having the most “lethal fighting force.” This message was set to chants of “USA,” warming the heart of even Meghan McCain.

Normal Americans didn't buy that from Kamala, the military budget cutter. I don’t think Zirin really wants to talk about who is embracing violence. The D/s/c Party’s fulsome support for illegal immigration with its rampant crime and violence, and its support of Antifa, BLM, anti-Israel/America rioters, its deification of violent criminals in general, and its hatred of the police argue against Zirin’s premise.

And football is about “war readiness?” Doesn’t Zirin know Kamala’s values have not changed? She said so herself. Don’t they know any allusion Kamala and Tim make to traditional American values, patriotism and masculinity are smoke screens? Politically expedient lies designed to trick the rubes into voting for their own destruction? 

Or maybe it’s reverse psychology? Normal Americans reading Zirin will think Kamala and Tim really aren’t for football, despite their patriotic displays--they know they're lying--so that means they really are for football, and Normals must vote for them because football trumps inflation, national security and the rest?

Or maybe—just maybe—Americans are more than smart enough to know Kamala, Tim and Zirin are anti-American frauds. If I were them, that would keep me up at night.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.