Malcolm Jenkins: "Football is a nonessential business and so we don't need to do it" (1 Viewer)

do you imagine Chris Long gets the same pushback that Jenkins et al get?
From team fans? I wouldn't know. Is Chris Long as outspoken and visible as Malcom Jenkins is? I don't think he is, but maybe that's just because Jenkins is a Saints player so I see him from many more sources than I would from another team. I honestly don't pay much attention to what Chris Long has to say because I have little emotional investment with him (hope I'm phrasing that clearly).
 
From team fans? I wouldn't know. Is Chris Long as outspoken and visible as Malcom Jenkins is? I don't think he is, but maybe that's just because Jenkins is a Saints player so I see him from many more sources than I would from another team. I honestly don't pay much attention to what Chris Long has to say because I have little emotional investment with him (hope I'm phrasing that clearly).
Sure
But it’s a chicken/egg thing that kinda belies your response to SFiLA. Long holds very similar views as Malcolm, is an ally through and through
But reporters don’t run to him like they do AA players
That’s a good thing bc he shouldn’t be a spokesperson for the movement, but it also means that he is less a target for vitriol

But if we’re being honest with ourselves we know that black athletes get a metric ton more blowback than white athletes expressing similar positions
 
I've already explained that that is not what I'm saying so I'm not sure why distinctions are still not being made.

He can take whatever risk he would like...or not. But he is not simply expressing the opinion that he would not like to play. He is seemingly 'using his platform' to suggest that there shouldn't be football at all, thereby expressing the desire that no one should be able to make a decision otherwise. That comes across as self centered to me.

Maybe it's not. Maybe he's been asked to express this view by other players. And in fairness to Malcom, he does make a short qualification at the end of the clip. Regardless, there can be a little more care taken to understand the weight of that sort of statement on the livelihoods of others. It comes across as failing to recognize that people make the same decision every day for much less than the millions at stake for his teammates.

For example, I know business owners who are personally at risk with comorbitities to Covid. They've lost family members themselves. But they've opened their businesses for the sake of their employees who need to pay their bills and care for their families.

It's like this...many livelihoods are affected by whether there are NFL games in New Orleans. I'd like there to be a little more consideration out of the mouths of multimillionaires who have little to lose if there's no games. I can empathize with risks involved in being exposed to Covid as I've had to answer that question for myself. I'd just like a little more empathy going the other direction.

You noticed the "little qualification" which, imho, negates your entire set of assumptions. And since when does a person have to have someone else's permission to discuss their own opinion? The rest of that "expressing a desire that no one should be able to make a decision" is your assumption based on your underlying and recurring belief that economic pressures are secondary to the danger of Covid.

You've been very consistent in your position and I understand it, but it's completely hypocritical. You are here bashing his opinion and arguing he shouldn't be able to use his position to speak for others because their economic desperation requires him to shut up and play yet here you are speaking for all of those people who may or may not agree with either of you. And, you're presuming to make a whole lot of assumptions based on nothing except that your position on all of these discussions has been that one shouldn't have to be told not to work to pay their bills seemingly because you believe the risk of having to be on welfare or sequestered is greater than the risk of killing off 30 million of your fellow countrymen.

And then you get to empathy and expect a professional athlete at the end of his career who faces serious injury every day at practice and games to keep quiet and play because others may have a hard time making a living serving drinks and food during a global pandemic.

The people you know who have opened despite their risk factors are with all good intention making life and death decisions based on their best guess as to the risk. If you ask them, which you obviously have in order to know their positions, they're doing nothing more than Jenkins has done expressing his own personal opinion.

How are you allowed to speak your mind while bashing him for speaking his?
 
If he wants to make a statement that he doesn't want to or won't play until he feels that it's safe, fine. But as a player, to imply that the NFL shouldn't play affects more than just him.

What the literal heck distinction can be drawn between these two thoughts?

And, for what it's worth, the NFL shouldn't play this year. The economic damage of losing a season pales in comparison to the damage that will be done if they lose a dozen players to the infection and dozens suffering permanent respiratory illness.

Payton's had it. At his age, he's lucky he didn't get it worse, but all it takes is an Andy Reid or Drew Brees, Tom Brady or someone of that stature to get it and die and the whole NFL is damaged forever.
 
If I'm not mistaken, a lot of teams are already doing that, but that won't be sustainable for very long without a season.

An NFL owner could give each of the 4,000 people you're concerned with $20,000 each and it wouldn't amount to half of this years salary cap. Some NFL owners own yachts that cost more than that.

A billion is alot of money.
 
Sure
But it’s a chicken/egg thing that kinda belies your response to SFiLA. Long holds very similar views as Malcolm, is an ally through and through
But reporters don’t run to him like they do AA players
That’s a good thing bc he shouldn’t be a spokesperson for the movement, but it also means that he is less a target for vitriol

But if we’re being honest with ourselves we know that black athletes get a metric ton more blowback than white athletes expressing similar positions
Is that more a product of the media attention rather than general public outcry?
 
What the literal heck distinction can be drawn between these two thoughts?

And, for what it's worth, the NFL shouldn't play this year. The economic damage of losing a season pales in comparison to the damage that will be done if they lose a dozen players to the infection and dozens suffering permanent respiratory illness.

Payton's had it. At his age, he's lucky he didn't get it worse, but all it takes is an Andy Reid or Drew Brees, Tom Brady or someone of that stature to get it and die and the whole NFL is damaged forever.
See my other post. I think it clears up the position I was coming from as I misunderstood what Jenkins was saying. Mea Culpa
 
Last edited:
  • 1Like
Reactions: dtc
Don't tell me that you're jumping on the media conspiracy bandwagon now too.:D
Well that’s also a chicken/egg thing
we are the media
If we weren’t triggered every time Malcolm Jenkins said something then Jenkins would get about the same coverage as Chris long
 
I'm going to start off this post in defense, but I hope you hear me out until the end.

I think you're wrong and moreso I think you're wrong to imply that's what's going on in this thread. I think, for the most part, the people replying negatively to Jenkins comments are most definitely not because they want the "black man to shut up and dribble." I wouldn't even say that everyone that's saying he should shut up and play are doing so because he is black. There many people who just get sick of hearing stars opinions of any sort, color, creed or sex.

That said, I was wrong as well. I watched the video when it was first posted and got the impression that he was saying that the NFL should not have a season until it was deemed safe. That's what my opinions have been based on. Not because he's black, not because he's outspoken and not because I worry over his focus on matters that affect the team. I was wrong. I rewatched the video and now realize he was specifically talking about himself and I'm certain that when you reread my posts that you will see that I wasn't making that distinction.

Kudos to you for the mea culpa.

That's the danger of our rapidly decreasing attention spans. I've done it before too, in fact I did it just the other day on an SSF thread and ended up apologizing to a guy. Other posters (who clearly didn't watch the video) were claiming that he said "we should shut football down!" and you based your value judgement off of that.

For all we know the people who posted that Jenkins said "we should shut football down!" didn't even actually watch the video, but just read the headline or whatever.

A good reminder that we all owe it to each other to inform ourselves about conversations before we start arguing with each other.
 
I agree with him. Football (and all sports) are nonessential. It’s just entertainment that allows us to escape our lives for a few hours. But I also believe they should not be paid if they don’t play.
Yeah, but there are a lot of things that are non essential that have reopened. Are bars essential? Gyms? I’d say, theu are to the people who own them and work at them. NFL Games are essential for the ushers, concession workers, nearby restraunts, etc.
 
Yeah, but there are a lot of things that are non essential that have reopened. Are bars essential? Gyms? I’d say, theu are to the people who own them and work at them. NFL Games are essential for the ushers, concession workers, nearby restraunts, etc.

That's not what "essential" means.
 
This virus requires all of us to live differently for a little while. It requires that we re-examine our federal budget, our local budgets, and the way we educate our children. We will get past it, certainly, but there is real work to be done and it just seems we aren't up to the task of doing it. Covid-19 has exposed America's weaknesses as a nation.

Case in point: https://saintsreport.com/threads/rows-1-8-season-ticket-holders-seats-taken-this-year.431154/

A stubborn refusal to see past one's own nose.
 
This virus requires all of us to live differently for a little while. It requires that we re-examine our federal budget, our local budgets, and the way we educate our children. We will get past it, certainly, but there is real work to be done and it just seems we aren't up to the task of doing it. Covid-19 has exposed America's weaknesses as a nation.

Case in point: https://saintsreport.com/threads/rows-1-8-season-ticket-holders-seats-taken-this-year.431154/

A stubborn refusal to see past one's own nose.

Self-centered greed and an inability to show concern or empathy for our fellow citizens.

I don't get the argument that having to wear a mask is an attack on freedom, but I do see anyone willing to make that argument being capable of absolutely not giving a crud about their fellow man.

It's like refusing to use your car breaks in order to stop from hitting an old person whose fallen in the street because you shouldn't be forced to put premature wear on your break pads.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom