Roger Goodell apologized and never mentioned Colin Kaepernick.
Which is the equivalent of the NFL commissioner saying: ‘I’m sorry but not really sorry.’ “
Because he can’t talk about Kaepernick. Legally, that doesn’t make sense.
What Goodell should have said was that he was sorry he didn’t understand or respond appropriately to Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality in America, and that under non-legal circumstance — like, I’m going to sue you — he should have urged teams in his league to sign the quarterback.
Goodell and so many others — the most recent being Drew Brees — stretched the Kaepernick national-anthem protest into something it wasn’t. It was never about the U.S. flag. It was never about the U.S. army. It wasn’t anti-American. It was about racism and the way in which police in America treated black men and women, then and now.
And the Kaepernick knee seems more important today, in the wake of the unnecessary murder of George Floyd.
In his 90-second statement, Goodell said he will reach out to players who have “raised their voices” and “will encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.” This from a league that hasn’t allowed players to write messages, political or otherwise, on equipment.
“Without black players, there would be no National Football League,” said Goodell. “And the protests around the country are emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality, and oppression of black players, coaches, fans and staff.”
The kind of silence and oppression that Kaepernick was taking a knee to expose.
Goodell and NFL owners, and a whole lot of American society, turned the other way from Kaepernick, misrepresenting his thoughts, misunderstanding his protest, and he lost his football career because of it. He took a knee. Goodell now apologizes to everyone but the quarterback who needs to be apologized to.
THIS AND THAT
There has been so much poignant commentary from professional athletes over the past 10 days that sport should be applauded for the small part it has played — and should continue to play — in the ongoing protest against racism and police brutality. And while all the words and statements and opinions are wonderful to see and read on social media, I’m not certain what they can accomplish in the end. I’m not black and I can’t pretend to know what it is to be targeted or hated strictly for the colour of my skin. But I’m angrier right now than I’ve ever been before. And I don’t know when that will end. We can’t solve police brutality with words and statements and Twitter posts. That can bring us together, but that’s just a beginning. Since the killing of Floyd, we’ve seen other sickening incidents. We’ve seen other problems. Police have to solve this. Police have to change. Civic leaders have to solve this. Mayors have to solve this. The police have to do better policing themselves. If that doesn’t change, very little will. And that, too, makes me angry … Time was you could file Patrick Kane and Tyler Seguin on the list of immensely talented, but troubled problem hockey players. Just not anymore. Hearing them this week, reading them this week: Boy, have they have grown up … Simple advice for everyone: Carry your cell phone. Carry it everywhere. If you see something wrong, record it. If you think there’s something wrong, record it. Without the gruesome video of the Floyd murder in Minneapolis, there are no protests around the world. The Black Lives Matter campaign would be silent. In this new world, we are all journalists now. We saw the Floyd strangulation, the police car door smashing a man in Nunavut, the Quebec man pulled from his car by his dreadlocks. All of it disturbing. Without cameras, those stories rarely make the news. Keep recording, all of us. Until there’s nothing left to record … This happened just the other day in North Carolina. A retired pro hockey player, an African-American, was golfing and, in his cart, had to cross a street to get to the next hole. As he waited in his cart, a car drove by, and from the car a man yelled out a racist comment to the golfer, who was stunned to hear those kind of words considering the current climate.
HEAR AND THERE
It’s not official yet, but it appears as though Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver are out as hub cities for the upcoming NHL games. One city is almost certain to be Las Vegas. The other may come down to Chicago or Los Angeles. And I’m told there will be no media, including game announcers, on-site … Weird thing: Maple Leafs players will begin reporting Monday to their training facility in Etobicoke to begin skating. Monday is June 8. And odds are they won’t be playing for something like around eight weeks. Which is like having your team report to camp in August to start a season in October … Dear NHL: The National Basketball Association season will resume on July 31 and end by Oct. 12, if they wind up playing. The NBA draft lottery is Aug. 25. The draft is Oct. 15. The NHL dates are: We don’t know, we don’t know and we don’t know. But I’m told you can bet on this: Gary Bettman will insist the NHL starts before the NBA does … What I don’t understand or agree with: The NBA has kept 22 teams to end the season and then begin the playoffs with 16. Nine are in one conference. Thirteen are in the other. And there will be eight regular season games played before playoffs begin. That’s too many ‘who cares’ games of no consequence. Play a few games and start the playoffs. The six teams chasing the pack don’t need to be included … One interesting aspect about the NHL plans for the playoffs: Re-seeding after every round. In other words, if somehow the Maple Leafs defeat Columbus in Round 1, and there is an upset of any kind in one of the other three Eastern series, then the Leafs would get a better second-round opponent. Might be the first time in history Leafs fans will be cheering for the Canadiens in their play-in series against Pittsburgh.
SCENE AND HEARD
Maybe, with nothing going on, we’ll care more about Wednesday’s baseball draft, with the Blue Jays holding the fifth pick, their highest selection in 23 years. If they target a pitcher with the first pick, the likely choice will be either Max Meyer from Minnesota or Georgia’s Emerson Hancock. That’s what the bevy of mock drafts out there seem to indicate … It barely made the news as the Arizona Diamondbacks released minor-leaguers Dalton Pompey and Travis Snider the other day. You have to wonder, at age 27, still young, if this is it for the Canadian Pompey as a big-league prospect … The last conversation I had with Pompey: I asked him about minor-leaguer Ryan Merritt, who was to pitch against the Blue Jays in Game 5 of the 2016 American League Championship Series. “He’s got nothing,” Pompey told me. He said the Jays would eat him up. The next day, Merritt and the Indians shut out the Jays and knocked them out of the playoffs … Still not signed, with no assurance of a baseball season: Aaron Sanchez, Yasiel Puig and Ben Zobrist … James Dolan takes huge heat for his messy ownership of the New York Knicks and he should. But you rarely hear him mentioned as the owner of the New York Rangers, who happen to be part of one of the smartest, quickest, high-end rebuild teams in hockey … A promise to myself, which doesn’t come naturally: Say less, listen more in the future. That’s the plan.
AND ANOTHER THING
In a matter of days, Brees went from American embarrassment to semi-hero quarterback. In America, the apology sure goes a long way … Sunday is Milan Lucic’s birthday. Does that makes him the oldest 32-year-old on the planet? … This NHL season is in jeopardy. We’re not sure how next season will work. Which means when the winter of 2022 comes around, you can pretty much be certain there will be no NHL participation at the Winter Olympics in China. Which means, you probably won’t see Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Drew Doughty, Patrice Bergeron, Alex Ovechkin in the Olympics again. And, boy, do I wish that wasn’t true … With the Miami Heat now the winner of its division in the NBA, that means an additional $400,000 for Toronto’s Kelly Olynyk, who had winning the Southeast Division as a bonus in his contract … Yes, there is racism in Canada, but I have had numerous conversations over the years with African-Americans in the Canadian Football League who wound up making Canada their home after they retired because they found the culture so welcoming … Born this date: Bert Sugar, Thurman Munson, Dean Martin and Prince. And happy birthday to Christian McCaffrey (24), Allen Iverson (45), Mike Modano (50), Mick Foley (55), Rueben Mayes (57), Ed Giacomin (81), Willi Plett (65), DeAndre Hopkins (28) and Cam Neely (55) … And hey, whatever became of Alex Rios?
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The list of hockey people Rogers Sportsnet has let go since becoming the NHL’s national network in Canada is long and troubling. Among those pushed out: Don Cherry, George Stroumboulopoulos, Nick Kypreos, Glenn Healy, Scott Morrison, Doug MacLean, John Shannon, Daren Millard, Brad May, Neil Smith, Leah Hextall and I’m probably missing a few. And that’s just the on-air people.
The network has forever been searching for the recipe of how to do hockey right — and along the way it’s tripped all over itself.
But Sportsnet made an enormous move on Friday with the hiring of Chris Cuthbert, who left TSN after 15 years of calling hockey and CFL games for the network. For my money, Cuthbert is the best play-by-play man working in Canada, either doing hockey or football. He hated to leave TSN, hated to leave his CFL and Grey Cup work, but wanted to do something he’d never done before: Broadcast a Stanley Cup final. That was on his bucket list.
And he has been promised at least one final in his four-year deal. Not four Stanley Cup finals. At least one, maybe more.
So what now for Cuthbert, who had to get huge money to change networks? Does he become the voice of Hockey Night in Canada, ahead of longtime staple Jim Hughson?
Or do they become co-No. 1 voices? To me, it’s shouldn’t be a 1 and 1a situation. It should be Cuthbert one and Hughson two on my list.
It might make some sense economically and broadcast-wise for Cuthbert to become the Eastern voice of Hockey Night in Canada and have Hughson as the Western voice. But that doesn’t seem to be the plan right now.
And guess what? Sportsnet isn’t exactly asking for my opinion.
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Max Kellerman used to be one of the sound and intuitive voices broadcasting boxing for HBO. He was measured in what he said, precise and professional, and almost always you learned something from his words.
Now Kellerman works on an ESPN show called First Take, the key word being take. He works opposite Stephen A. Smith, who screams and yells and shouts basketball about as well as anybody can shout basketball. And Kellerman, by character, has had to learn to shout back.
That’s the show.
So when Kellerman says that “nobody cares about hockey — it’s not one of the four major team sports,” — he incites the rabid hockey-loving community and plays to his audience.
But there was some truth in his words. I spend about two months a year in Florida now. I watch a lot of First Take and ESPN. If you watch the network, you honestly wouldn’t know the NHL exists. If you watch First Take, unless there’s a Zamboni driver in goal for Carolina, you won’t hear about hockey.
But in all his theatrics, Kellerman was wrong about saying the NHL isn’t one of the Big Four. It is No. 4. But he’s not wrong in saying “nobody cares about hockey” in America. On Friday, The Athletic, the impressive online sports service, let go a disproportionate number of hockey writers among the 46 people cut across Canada and the U.S. One of them covered the Florida Panthers, which are rarely covered by the newspapers in South Florida. Why? Because few demand it in that part of the country.
Hockey in America struggles in many markets for coverage and attention. It is No. 4 among major-league sports. It’s always been No. 4. But if you include NCAA football and basketball as major-league, it’s probably No. 6. That’s where Kellerman was right, even if he worded it improperly.
