Politics And Sports
A Bad Brew
You don’t go to the NFL if you want to talk about astrophysics and you don’t go to Harvard if you want to talk about a three-man, defensive, front line. The clubhouses and announcers’ booths for pro sports are where you go to be around all-American types with muscles on their muscles, who often cheer for misogyny, white superiority and red blooded heterosexuality, with a dash of xenophobia and anti-intellectualism. When people want to get insight, they generally ought to keep the locker rooms double padlocked.
The latest examples of this wave of bone headed, MAGA thinking coupled with politics is in lock step with the late, not great, president Bone Spurs, who insists he was robbed of a second inglorious term by non-existent fake votes and includes John “Chuckie” Gruden, Tom Glavine, Ric Flair, Doug Flutie, Herschel Walker.
Hall of Fame pitcher Glavine, former NFL quarterback Flutie and pro wrestler Flair are among those joining trump for a fundraiser in December for ex-NFL running back Walker, a Republican running for the Senate. Former U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Mary Dawkins will also attend the event, which is scheduled for Dec. 1 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.
Gruden is the latest in the pro football profession to quit his $10 million a year post as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after emails surfaced showing his racism and homophobia in full bloom although his support on the right wing of loony politics remains strong, led by Bone Spurs’ son, Donald Trump Jr.
Meanwhile Hall of Fame pitcher Glavine, former pro wrestler Flair and former NFL star Flutie are joining with the orange haired, overweight, bad golfer in a fundraiser to boost the candidacy for U.S. Senate of former NFL star Walker, something like having Alfalfa on the Supreme Court.
Before he was an NFL star, Walker was owned by trump when trump owned the N.J. Generals in the U.S. Football League, which eventually tanked in the same way that trump’s casinos bit the dust. The football hero, chicken seller and conservative is a long time trump bud, who has a turbulent personal history, including accusations of repeatedly threatening his ex-wife’s life, making exaggerated claims of financial success and having often violent and unpredictable behavior. And it makes perfect sense that Walker currently serves as a co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, having been appointed to the position by trump.
Flutie is a natural trumper, having also been on Bone Spurs’ payroll in the USFL, but his support of the bad hair guy hasn’t always been top drawer. In 2020, Flutie said that trump was “doing a great job.”
“I was 22 years old when I was with Donald Trump and the Generals,” said Flutie, a Heisman Trophy winner who began his 21-year pro career in 1985 with the Trump-owned Generals. “I was just shy and quiet and ‘Yes sir. No sir,’ and didn’t get to know him that well. It was years later when I was playing in San Diego that I was doing The Tonight Show and bumped into him in the green room totally by coincidence and I really enjoyed talking with him.”
“This country was in phenomenal shape up to this coronvavirus,” Flutie said. “I honestly think he’s trying to do what is best for the country and he’s putting that first, above what the popular opinions are and when you do that it gets you into some trouble.”
In a 2015 interview on the Talk of Fame radio program, Flutie said he liked trump’s viewpoint on a lot of issues. But there was a but.
“I think he’d be scary as a president,” continued Flutie. “When it comes to political office, you want someone that is able to be a little diplomatic. I think in certain areas he’d do extremely well. In other areas, he’d scare the living daylights out of all of us.” Flutie, you were right, and you should have stuck to your guns.
Flutie has previously been active in politics and supported former GOP Sen. Scott Brown. Brown was a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 2010–2013 and in 2016, was the first current or former U.S. Senator to endorse trump’s presidential election bid. Brown also was a contributor to Fox News and was named by trump as the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, although his accomplishments have been minimally reported apparently because they were minimally important.
Flair is considered by many as the top professional wrestler of all time by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice. He also was at the center of a scandal aboard a 2002 flight from Europe where drunken WWE wrestlers were aggressive with the flight staff, including Flair’s alleged assault of flight attendant Heidi Doyle. Flair was famous for dressing in just his robe on flights and his indecent behavior is hardly a foreign thought in the bogus wrestling industry.
Glavin is a surprise trumper, having never publicly come out for any candidate, but his presence is sure to attract attention at the Walker fundraiser. Glavine played for the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, was a five-time 20-game winner and two-time Cy Young Award winner, and one of only 24 pitchers and just six left-handers to earn 300 career wins. Glavin was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 and trump and walker hope some of Glavin’s shine will rub off on them when the opposite is probably likely as Gavin’s shine will rub off because of the appearance.
Glavin, Flutie and Flair are the latest supporters of Walker and indirectly of trump but not the first, by far.
Among them in past years have been:
· Former NFL player, Jack Brewer, who said the media inaccurately portrays trump as a racist, while ignoring his contributions to the Black community.
· Johnny Damon, a former Major League Baseball player, who said he has been “a Trump fan ever since I met him seven or eight years ago, everything he does, he does first-class — his hotels, his businesses, his golf courses.”
· Mike Ditka, a retired NFL coach, said he likes trump although “I think he, sometimes he’s gotta think a little bit more before he says things, but I think he’s on the right track.”
· Conor McGregor, a top Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter, said he considered trump “quite possibly the greatest president in U.S. history.”
· Mariano Rivera, former Major League Baseball player, praised trump as “a friend of mine before he became President. So, because he’s President, I will turn my back on him? No. I respect him.”
· Corey LaJoie, NASCAR Driver, had “Trump2020” painted on his race car.
· Darryl Strawberry, former Major League Baseball player, said that trump reminded him of former Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner and said, trump and Steinbrenner were “very gracious people and they care about people. And sometimes people misunderstand that.”
· Curt Schilling, former Major League Baseball player, wears trump shirts to games and events and claims he’s been kept out of the Baseball Hall of fame because he supports trump.
· And though they haven’t been vocal recently, those who have clearly supported trump include golf legend Jack Nicklaus, NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre, NHL icon Bobby Orr, baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza and college football Hall of Famer Lou Holtz.
It’s all part of the trumpian circus and one that very could propel him back to the White House in 2024, a thoroughly vomit-inducing thought.