NFL owners think they own the players as well as the teams

There are some things you can always count on.  The Washington Generals will never beat the Harlem Globetrotters; The Washington Nationals will find a way not to make it to the World Series; and the Washington Capitals will choke in the playoffs (well, almost always).

Add to this list the following: NFL owners will always put their collective foot in their collective mouth.  Bill Veeck, the legendary owner of several Major League baseball teams, once said “Baseball must be a great game; the owners haven’t killed it yet.”  These days he’d be talking about owners in the NFL.

The latest outrage by the owners stems from the long-brewing controversy over some players kneeling during the national anthem, in protest of . . . well, it began about the fact that very often Caucasian police officers seem to find it necessary to use deadly force against young, unarmed African-American men, but after a while some players were simply protesting to protest the owners not supporting their protest. 

This is a situation where rational people could disagree, so the owners proceeded logically; they unilaterally imposed their decision on their NFL “partners.”  You often hear the phrase “planation mentality” to describe the NFL owners, but the phrase doesn’t mean they are racist.  They think they own not only the team, but also the players; not just the African-America players, they think they own the White players as well.

The owners, without even bothering to consult the players or the NFL Players’ Union, decided to resolve the issue by deciding that all players MUST show respect during the anthem on the field, and if they didn’t want to they could remain in the locker room.  The owners couldn’t punish the players without violating the Collective Bargaining Agreement, so they deigned that any violation would result in the team being fined.  Of course, if the team owner then wanted to fine the players, that was okay (wink, wink).

Note that the owners treat the players, who are supposed to be the owners’ partners in the NFL, as equipment that they can do what they will with.  Not only do they not even offer to engage in dialogue with the players or the union, but they then assume that teams can force their players to do whatever they want them to do regarding behavior before the game.

Not only is this incredibly disrespectful, but it is poking the bear.  Players who maybe were fine standing during the anthem might be provoked into doing something because of this heavy-handed approach by the owners.  Reaction by players has been varied, but many reacted angrily. Perhaps noteworthy was the response of Chris Long (who happens to be Caucasian) who chided the owners’ motives by proclaiming, “This is not patriotism.” 

The hypocrisy of the owners is demonstrated by an incident earlier this year, when college quarterback Josh Allen was found to have made racist tweets when in high school.   One owner said, after Allen apologized, that it wouldn’t be a “distraction” in a league featuring mostly African-American players.  On the other hand, an African American player like Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem, WAS a distraction.  That’s why a quarterback who played in a Super Bowl can’t even get a tryout to be third on an NFL team’s depth chart.

Maybe you think the owners have a point.  Maybe you think it should be illegal not to sing the national anthem when the flag is paraded around before a game.  Maybe you think people who protest White officers regularly killing unarmed Black youth should go back to where ever they came from.  Fine.

But that still doesn’t excuse the NFL owners attempting to impose their will on their partners, or assuming that teams can treat their players like pets to be disciplined when they don’t behave the way their owner likes. 

Earlier this year Texans owner Bob McNair displayed what he thought of the players when he described them as “inmates” running the prison.  Naturally he apologized, but he still made a statement equating the mostly African-American personnel of the NFL with inmates.  He doesn’t regret the comment, he only regrets being quoted.  The owners aren’t patriots, this isn’t about patriotism, it is about respect.  The owners have no respect for the players who make them very, very rich.  Unfortunately, the players can’t make them any smarter.

Whither The Flash?

Whither the Flash?

Several weeks ago, after a particularly depressing episode of The Flash, someone posted a comment on a media website reviewing the episode and asked, “Does anyone else think that maybe season one of The Flash was just a fluke?” 

That was a succinct summary of my attitude towards The Flash.  The first season was a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre, a show that made watching the comic book genre fun instead of angsty.  But the show lost the fun, and got darker and darker.  By season three the show was positively bleak, with the Flash’s love Iris seemingly doomed to be shish-ka-bobbed by the God of the Speed Force, or some such nonsense.  It made it hard to look forward to season 4.

But miracle of miracle, season 4 started off with the old dose of fun that had made Flash one of the most fun-filled shows on TV.  But at some point, old habits kicked in.  The season’s “Big Bad” (again, copyright Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was The Thinker, a villain who was smarter than all of Team Flash put together (I know they are supposed to be a collection of scientists and geniuses, but some days out thinking them doesn’t seem so tough).  He was mildly amusing at first, but then he started killing people; pretty much everyone, actually.  He killed random guest stars.  He killed interesting multi-episode characters.  Ultimately, he killed a semi-regular, Ralph Dibney, aka The Elongated Man, a member of Team Flash. 

Oh, and he didn’t just kill innocent people, he turned them into metahumans and then stole their powers as he killed them.  Sometimes it got confusing—twice he assumed the body of a young woman, then seemed to intimate that he expected his wife to, um, continue to find hm attractive.  I’m not saying same sex relationships make me uncomfortable; I’m saying that even in the best of marriages, if one party changes gender they can hardly expect the other party to go along unless they’ve given some indication they are on board.  It seemed beyond creepy that he’d expect his wife to become a lesbian just because he killed and took over the body of a young woman.

Also, with all of the various abilities he’s absorbed, his power is virtually godlike.  I can’t even keep track of all of his abilities, sort of like on Heroes when Peter Petrelli started absorbing powers until the producers saw the problem and then implemented a rule that whenever he gained a power, he lost one.  But The Thinker just gobbled up abilities and how he can go anywhere, steal anything he wants, and kill security guards for no reason.  And this is on TOP of being the smartest man alive.  The Flash have made him so powerful, any way that Barry Allen finds to stop him will be a cheat.

How can The Flash fix this problem of seasons getting more and more depressing as the season goes on?  I think for one thing, go back to episodic television.  Season arcs are great if you do them well, but it is easier to come up with 22 good stand alone episodes than one brilliant 20 episode epic.  There are just too many moving pieces, it’s too hard keeping all the balls in the air, choose your metaphor.

Along the same lines, drop the idea that there has to be a big bad each season who must up the ante in every show.  This invariably makes the villain have to do unpleasant things like kill innocent people to keep the stakes constantly being raised.  I don’t mean do what the original Superman did in the 1950’s and make the bad guys a bunch of goons who use words like “dese” and “dem”, but there must be ways for Barry Allen to help people without having to defeat someone wanting to lower all of mankind’s IQ.

Lastly, better use needs to be made of the excellent ensemble cast.  The way they handle, it seems to rotate so that in one episode Killer Frost will have a secret she’s keeping, only to discover she’s better off telling her friends the truth, then next week it’s Vibe, then Iris, then Welles, then Barry, then back to Frost.  You’ve developed a group of interesting characters and hired actors skilled at portraying them; do something unique to each character so that there isn’t a sense of déjà vu (and I hope I never have to hear another Flash character utter the words “I’ll never keeps secrets from the group again.”).

The Flash can be an excellent show, but the past THREE SEASONS it has gotten bogged down tripping over its own feet (another mixed metaphor).  Next season don’t try and swing for the fences, just make contact and trust your actors. 

And be funnier.  And cut back on the senseless murders; they aren’t fun.