Now, NFL and Its Players Think Felony Sentences are Too Short. Tell That to the Folk There In Edgewood, Maryland

TOWSON, Maryland, Thursday, October 19, 2017 - When the commissioner of the NFL finished chatting with representatives of the players association, he met with the ultra left media.  He said that there would be no requirement that the players stand for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, also known to most of us as Our National Anthem.  He added - and a whole lot of people let this slip by, mainly because the ultra left media didn't make a big deal about it (actually, the media made no deal about it; i.e., they ignored it) - that the league would work with the players on such issues as reducing sentences given for the commission of felonies.

You got that?

The NFL thinks that sentences given for such things as felony robbery and felony drug distribution are far too harsh, and now they are going to do something about it.

All this comes on the heels of the abomination which occurred here in Maryland and then up the road in Delaware.  When? Yesterday.

Radee Labeeb Prince, a man with a police record that includes 15 felony convictions, was not behind bars yesterday.  

No he was not behind bars.  He was free.

Which makes the NFL and their players realize a lot of the work they want done is already being done by the  judiciary.  Had Prince been appropriately sentenced on anyone of 15 prior occasions when he was convicted of committing a felony, the three folk shot to death in Edgewood, and the other three shot and badly wounded in Edgewood and in Delaware, would be happy and at work today, not dead and/of shot and wounded.  

But NFL Players and now the NFL itself, think prison sentences are too long.  

Before they get into the meat of their argument, I hope they explain whether they are upset with the sentences given or the amount of time actually served.  As I understand it, Prince at one point was sentenced to 25 years for a robbery conviction.  Had he actually been asked to serve that sentence, yesterday would not have happened there in Edgewood or Delaware.  But, you see, Prince didn't serve anywhere near 25 years.

Having been sentenced to 25 years for armed robbery, he served all of two years.  And so I ask, is the NFL upset that folk like Prince get sentenced to 25 years for robbery, or is the NFL upset that he was forced to serve two long years.  And so all of you understand, hear in These United States, robbery is, by definition, stealing something and using a weapon - like a gun or a knife or a bomb - to assist you in the theft.

Nobody was more discriminated against than the Tuskegee Airmen.  They were black aviators who were members of the United States military during World War II.  Even though they had proved their medal in countless tests, the military brass didn't want them to fly planes in combat missions.  When the military finally gave in, the Tuskegee Airmen proved to be braver and more talented than anyone dare imagine.  The Airmen stood for the anthem.  Understand, they weren't standing to announce that the discrimination they were subjected to was okay.  It wasn't, not then, not now, now ever.  The Airmen stood because the promise of America, the goal of America, the ideal of America, is freedom and equality for every person, no matter their race, color or creed.

Many of the Airmen stayed in the military at the end of the War and went on to become some of the central players in the formation of the United States Air Force.

Just so you know.

And there are inequalities in the sentencing of some kinds of crimes.  Until recently, some sentences for some forms of cocaine distribution were unfairly pronounced on Black Americans.  The federal government knew that Blacks were the primary user group for cocaine in one of its forms.  And they passed laws making convictions for distribution of that kind of cocaine a crime subject to very lengthy prison sentences.  This, even though that kind of cocaine was no more lethal or otherwise pernicious than the use of other kinds of cocaine.  A new law changed the sentences given in that particular situation.  It was a good law.  

My point is, protesting during the playing of the anthem is particularly inappropriate.  The anthem is America's way of telling the world that our goals and aspirations are very high.  Subsequent protests do not call into question our goals and aspirations.  Instead, subsequent protests call into question a specific kind of wrong.

If somebody sits during the Anthem, I have no idea what they are protesting and I do not want to find out.  When you protest during the anthem, you say that our goals and aspirations as a nation are bad.  You say that the tremendous sacrifices made by those who fought for America and died for America are all junk.

But they never are.  The only junk is what the anthem is being subjected to.  How can it be that I oppose everything or most everything that a person sitting out the anthem opposes, but while they sit, I stand?  

I stand because I want America to be all it can be.  Those sitting it out say America isn't worth the trouble, or they say that they don't believe all Americans share those goals.

Georgetown Snaps Maryland's 30-game Regular Season Unbeaten Streak, defeating Terps, 1-0. in College Park

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland, Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - Maryland went down to its first defeat of the men's soccer season tonight when Georgetown struck for the match's only score with just over two minutes remaining to beat the home standing Terrapins, 1-0.  

Midfielder Jacob Montes shot beat Maryland's outstanding keeper, Dayne St. Clair, with an assist from fellow midfielder Christopher Lema.  With the win, the 13th ranked Hoyas improved to 10-2-1 while Maryland fell to 10-1-3.

The Georgetown goal came shortly after it dodged about as big of a bullet as the game of soccer has to offer.  Maryland's outstanding striker, Eric Matzekevich, ran on to a ball just outside of the Georgetown box and launched a shot with all of his might at the Hoya goal.  Unfortunately for Maryland, the shot banged off the cross bar, rattling the goal structure and Georgetown's keeper, JT Marcinkowski, who had no hope whatsoever of blocking the shot had it dipped even 2 inches more after leaving Matzelevich's foot.

As it was, Marcinowski was outstanding.  He made eight saves in recording the clean sheet.

Despite the number of shots on goal by Maryland, Georgetown managed to control large chunks of the game with crisp and accurate distance passing around the perimeter of Maryland's defense.  Maryland had very few chances in the second half to counter-attack.

Maryland's defense was also effective, squeezing off the Hoyas outside of the penalty box and limiting Georgetown to only 3 shots on goal for the entire contest.  St. Clair saved two of those shots, but not the third.

Terp coach Sasho Cirovski will learn a lot about his Terrapins now that their 30-game regular season unbeaten streak - dating back to 2015 - has been snapped.  Maryland's next match is Friday night, also in College Park, against Coastal Carolina.

Maryland still leads the Big Ten.  They are 5-0-2 in conference play, good for 17 points.  Indiana and Michigan State, both 4-0-2, are tied for second.  While the Terps play a non-conference match this weekend, Michigan State travels to Northwestern on Friday and Indiana hosts Wisconsin on Saturday.

The NFL Anthem Protests Begin To Run Out of Steam and Relevancy.

TOWSON, Maryland, Tuesday, October 10, 2017 - It is still a bit unclear exactly how the protests by the NFL Players during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, will end.  But things have turned decidedly against the players and the Ultra Leftists that are standing with these protesters. 

On the field, the number of players protesting has leveled off and begun to drop.  The number of teams still openly supporting the protests has completely leveled off and now begun to shrink.

The push back by those opposed to the protesting during the National Anthem has intensified.  

And by far the most important development, the growing financial impact on the NFL caused by fans not purchasing souvenirs, not watching game telecasts and not attending games, shows no signs of leveling off.  In short, the growing impact on the games' financial picture has all but dashed hopes that the protest movement will morph into a nationwide platform for reformers.

In fact, those opposed to the platform chosen by the protesters is being called into question by many Americans who have sympathy for some of the stated reasons for the protests, but diametrically oppose those protests being made during the brief minute devoted to national honor before the NFL football games.  Many Americans oppose social injustice in all of its forms, but cannot abide the use of the Anthem as a forum for addressing the problems.  These people - including this writer - see the Anthem has a call to America's most noble values and most noble goals.  They see it as a time to honor the tens of thousands of souls who tread into harms' way to protect Americans.  Sullying such a noble moment with what is no more than erstwhile protests seems counter to what protesters pretend to stand for.

Some of the antics taken up by the players borders on the ridiculous.  Colin Kaepernick, the player who started the protests and who held himself out as a lonely voice for change, has never even registered to vote.  Furthermore, he has walked away from at least two contract offers by NFL teams, even though his play on the field has been bordering on atrocious at times.

Lardarius Webb of the Baltimore Ravens, upon hearing fans booing a demonstration on the field, told a reporter that if the fans are upset they should stop coming.

Do all the players and protesters subscribe to Webbs' absurd statement?

On Sunday, USA Vice President Mike Pence and his wife walked out of a game between the Colts and 49'ers after players knelt during the playing of the Anthem.  Interviewed later, one 49'er said Pence's action was a "publicity stunt."

But it was far different from what the players are doing?  No.  It was exactly the same, except that the Vice President and President put a lot of thought into what Pence did.

From the very start of the Anthem stuff by the players, it has been clear that virtually no thought went into what the protests were about.  What were the protesters protesting?  At first, it was said to be police brutality.  But numbers showing up in careful statistical research show that incidents of real brutality are so few in number that they don't even show up in statistical studies.  Meanwhile, black on black murders are totally out of control and get no attention from the ultra left mainstream media.