At the end of Thursday night’s Browns-Broncos game, Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall caught the go-ahead touchdown with 1:14 remaining in the game. He appeared to pull something out of his uniform, but Brandon Stokley, his fellow Bronco receiver, ran over to him shaking his head no. I saw this clearly and couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. After the game, Marshall explained:
After the game, Marshall, who is black, read a statement he wrote about how inspired he was by Obama becoming the first black man elected to the nation’s highest office.
“Barak Obama’s election as the 44th president of the United States is a tremendous symbol of unity,” Marshall said. “I want to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me (and) a multicultural society, and I know at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised that black glove and fist in a silent gesture of black power and liberation.
“Forty years later, I wanted to make my own statement and gesture to represent the progress we made,” Marshall said. “I might get some criticism, but social landmarks are bigger than fines to me, especially two days out of an historic election.”
Stokley had a good reason to do what he did. The NFL flags people for excessive celebrations and a 15-yard penalty on the kickoff might have eventually cost Denver the game. But the NFL missed out on what would have been a very memorable moment for the league. Instead, they reinforced their stereotype as the No Fun League. They do this to avoid controversy, but when you’re always trying to avoid controversy, you end up just being boring. I’m ok with a stupid Terrell Owens touchdown celebration once in a while if it means we get to see one that’s truly inspired.
Nice thought by Marshall, better action by Stokley. But since this is an open thread, and the Seahawks suck ass, I have something else on my mind. Congressional D’s are asking the Bush Administration to bail out the auto industry like they are the financial services industry. My point is: why bother? Read this and understand why I think the Big Three need to go the way of the dinosaur:
http://articles.moneycentral.m.....in-us.aspx
Yep, a car that gets about triple the current fleet average mileage, and Ford doesn’t want to sell it here.
BTW, what do you make of the Sounders signing Freddy Ljungberg?
Yeah, it would’ve been nice to see Jesse Owens flip off Hitler at the 1936 Berlin Games, even if it cost him an invitation to the White House.*
* Sarcasm
Reading the Seattle times this morning, a couple of items and trands stand out. The republicans are all over the paper explaining why they lost. Excuse-maker in chief Krauthammer thinks the economy did in McCain. Yup, he is right there – but he fails to go any deeper to understand WHY the economy is in such bad shape – after saying it was in good fundamental shape just 3-4 months ago.
These idiots just don’t get it – tax breaks for the rich, less regulation and no energy policy (including doing anything the auto industry asked just so they can fail on teir own when gas prices go up) just has not worked.
The republican party will be consigned to the trashheaps of history as long as they keep insisting (like Luke Esser and Rob McKenna) that they are doing everything right (see todays times article).
A wise man (AE) once said, “The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Nitpicking: It was “insanity”, not “stupidity”, but your basic point stands.
Oh – and here is Mark (idiot) Gardner making his pathetic prediction for McCain just before the election:
Zogby was wrong, Gardner was completely wrong and Obama won by a landslide. Almost 7 oints and he doubled McCains electoral college totals.
But don’t expect introspection, any real evaluation of why they were so wrong. Their world view does not allow the facts to get in the way of their conclusions. Lou (totally insane) Guzzo over on Whackynation still thinks that Obama will be disqualified for being vbron outside of the US (apparently Lou still is stuck on 1958 when Hawaii was not yet a state).
I’ll believe that the Republicans are on the way back in this state when they can actually elect some people in legislative districts that aren’t rural.
I mean, really, Cathy McMorris Rodgers? Ask Linda Smith how being a right-wing fundie and backbench Republican congresswoman worked out during a statewide election.
Another laugher from that article:
“Introspection is a good thing,” said McKenna, who wouldn’t comment on whether he plans to run for governor in four years. “The national party ought to be doing that. They’ve lost tremendous ground. In our state, the issue is not the national message.
“Our candidates are focused on the right issues, the state budget and education and transportation.”
As I recall, Dino Rossi and the Republicans rain a campaign wanting more roads, less transit, right?
Which is why Tim Eyman’s initiative got killed at the polls, and Sound Transit won, whereas the roads PLUS mass transit a year ago got killed at the polls.
@8: You can’t expect logic from this group of republicans in this state. thye think they did well when:
They lost the governor race by a much wider margin than 4 years ago.
They lost the state House and the State senate again.
They have not had a republican governor since 1980 (28 years for the math inpaired republican trolls).
It is almost as hilarious as the republican pundits. Rush, Hannity, Fox news and all the rabid right wing foam at the mouthers were calling Obama socialist, the most liberal and unpatriotic for the entire election. but now that Obama has won – he is “center right” and so is the country.
All the corruption, the Justice dept. fiasco, Katrina, Blackwater, no-bid Haliburton contracts, lack of a real helath care policy, lack of a real energy policy, the EPA that diregards it’s won scientists (and the FDA in the pocket of big Pharma), the emphasis on deregulation that led to the sub-prime banking crisis, the largest deficit in history, the unnecessary war…all those Bush and republican policies. Well – they are just fine with these idiot pundits. This election was about those policies and Bush. Even McCain tried to run from some of this. This is not a center-right mandate – this is a clean up the republican mess mandate – and theses pundits and the republican party STILL doesn’t get it. They are so used to rationalizing and excusing the torture, the illegal wiretapping and the partisan abuses of Bush that they have lost the ability to understand the basics of an election rout.
Just for fun, I went to the Huffington Post site where you can look up how much money Brandon Marshall contributed to the political candidates, .
Brandon Marshall’s name did not show him contributing to Barack Obama or anyone else.
Maybe he did, but the Huffington Post’s database did not show it.
Shoot, even I gave to Obama, and I made nowhere near the NFL minimum.
How much did that guy make this year?
@1
BTW, what do you make of the Sounders signing Freddy Ljungberg?
Very fucking cool. A high profile star is huge for them. Had heard rumblings that they might get Henry, but that was too good to be true.
Actually, I think the NFL policy against excessive celebrations is a good policy, when it comes to making political statements.
We have plenty of opportunities to make political statements. Professional football players have more opportunities than most of us. They can contribute to political campaigns from their considerable salaries, they can speak at fundraisers, they can simply slip in a word for their candidate during media interviews.
But lots of people watch ball games to get away from it all. It’s not an appropriate venue. Besides, what’s going to happen the first time a white linebacker from Podunk, Kentucky squashes a black receiver in the flats and then looks into the camera and says something to the effect that “I just did him like McCain’s going to do Obama! YAAAAAA!!!!!”
Sure, the ensuing riot between 300 – lbs NFL players might make a prison gang riot look like child’s play, and might be more entertaining to some extent, but really – aren’t we better than that?????
(We have the same problem on some of the history boards in which I participate. Every once in a while somebody want’s to discuss a current political issue. I usually reply that we are still fighting on that board over the causes of the Civil War – do we really need to bring modern-day politics into the dispute????)
It appears that for now, the fight for the future of the Republican Party is between the Evangelical wing (social conservatives) and the corporate wing (more tax cuts for the rich). Each is blaming the other for the loss, and claiming that the Republican Party needs to “get back to the basis” (ignore the other groups’ agenda and adopt their own instead) in order to win in 2010 and 2012.
Neither is acknowledging the rampant corruption of the Bush administration as being a leading cause of the problem. They just figure it was McCain’s bad luck to get stuck with an economic collapse. So if you follow their reasoning, the best way to win again in 2010 and 2012 is to – have the economy do worse in the intervening years. I guess that’s what they are praying for?
Besides, what’s going to happen the first time a white linebacker from Podunk, Kentucky squashes a black receiver in the flats and then looks into the camera and says something to the effect that “I just did him like McCain’s going to do Obama! YAAAAAA!!!!!”
He would get his ass beat by his teammates.