On Intent

I don’t like football.

(The hyper-masculine American one…although I can take or leave the overhyped, super corporate, “ads on the jerseys” one in the rest of the world too.)

I say a lot of outlandish things in my day to day life, but no four words have earned me more confused stares and accusatory retorts than those four, in that order.

People don’t understand how someone can dislike the United States’ most-watched sport, which culminates in one of the most watched sporting events in the world. Some folks have never even heard of anyone who dislikes football, let alone someone who likes OTHER sports and NOT football. It makes them confused. It makes them angry. It’s like I just said that I hate water, or the sky, or breathing. Most people want to know what, exactly, I’m trying to prove by holding such a stance. The answer I give usually disappoints them: I just don’t like it. (There is, of course, more to it than that, but my reasons would most likely fall on deaf ears anyway.)

Which is probably why over the last 24 hours, a few folks who know me well sent me this:

Usually when the video made it into my orbit, it came with an either implied or overt post-script along the lines of “see?? They’re just like those other progressive organizations you like, you silly SJW you!”

No. No they are not.

Don’t me wrong, the video is nice, and it is sure to make a lot people happy…and angry…and a lot of other emotions along the way. An overt disavowal of homophobia from the most prominent Football league in the world that, for a long time, was a safe haven if not for homophobia itself, then certainly for the practitioners of it, likely means a lot to queer Football fans, players, coaches, and anyone who enjoys the sport and holds even lightly progressive beliefs. But it doesn’t change my opinion of the NFL because, simply put, I don’t believe the NFL has changed. When a multi-billion dollar corporation seems to take a socio-political stand, I usually always question the intent behind it and, more often than not, I reach the same conclusion and I reach it even about corporations that I like.

About a year ago, the Boston Red Sox put up a massive Black Lives Matter billboard on the side of Fenway Park, facing the Mass Pike. Thousands of people everyday now see it on their commute and know that the last team in baseball to integrate stands with the movement for Black lives. I saw this billboard and two equal and competing feelings filled my heart and my mind, respectively.

To my heart, it was wonderful to see an organization I care about, in a sport I enjoy, take a stand in favor of Racial Justice. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and various protests and justice movements it spawned, they certainly were not the only professional sports team taking such a stand at the time. Which is exactly what lead the competing feeling in my head, which condensed into into a succinct, two word question: “why now?”

No amount of what my heart wanted to be true could change what my head knew to be true: maybe the Red Sox truly felt the way they claimed, maybe they always had, but the only reason they said so, in the way they did, was clear and purely mathematical: the number of fans — and therefore revenue — they would lose by making such a move would be covered, if not exceeded, but the fans and revenue they would gain by making it. No for-profit organization is capable of true altruism, only appearing that way when it won’t impact the bottom line.

I feel the same way about this newest move by the NFL. Let’s not forget, this is the same organization that destroyed the career of one of its most promising quarterbacks for kneeling during the national anthem because they believed that “getting that son of a bitch off the field” was what was best for the bottom line at the time. So now, maybe they really do think “Football is gay,” and maybe they always have, but the only reason they are SAYING it now is because they feel financially safe doing so. After all, one need look no further than the number of Carl Nassib jerseys the Las Vegas Raiders sold last week to see how profitable this particular move could be for the organization on the whole.

And I know what some of you may be thinking: “people can change, you cold-hearted prick! Maybe they realized their mistake and are making amends!” Yes, people are capable of change…but corporations (who are not people, despite what the Supreme Court thinks) are not. Their ultimate goal is to pad their bottom line, always. So as nice as it is that progress is profitable at the moment, let’s not mistake targeted marketing for a good intentions. Because that’s all there is to see here.