It didn’t begin with Jon Gruden or the reaction to taking a knee to protest America’s racism. Sports at the college level, and especially the professional level, have always been fascist. The main reason? Money and power, of course. Conservative personalities turn to fascism for both, and the sports world is no exception because there is plenty of money to be made and power to grab.
The atrocities we’ve seen in sports are only the tip of the iceberg, but what we see is often painful to behold. I was a Patriots fan for many years, but lamented Kraft and Brady’s cozying up with the wannabe dictator, Donald J. “Narcissus le Grand” Trump. (The coach redeemed himself by refusing to meet with Trump.) Of course, Kraft showed his true colors in that Florida scandal, a bit more publicized than the Brady-Kraft kissing of Trump’s butt. Most owners in the NFL and other professional sports are members of the fascist plutocracy in America, and they convert their over-paid players to the cause over time, a process that seems to be colorblind (hence Kyrie Irving of the Nets). The same goes for college athletics where successful coaches get rich at the expense of their athletes, and the alums encourage this exploitation.
It was sad to see locally Rutgers honoring a player who became a quadriplegic on the first play he was in as a Rutgers football player. I’m happy about his making something of his life, but sad…no, angry…that Rutgers continues its quest to compete in a major league they should never have joined, dedicated to enrich the university at the cost of its athletes.
Any sport, collegiate or professional, can become modern-day Roman circuses, with the athletes taking the place of gladiators, literally putting their lives at risk to please the crowds that thrive on the violent combat. The Roman plutocracy was the first to perfect fascism. It has come a long way as the plutocrats’ methods of exploitation become more subtle and, in the case of modern sports, hidden as entertainment.
I’ll happily bid farewell to Jon Gruden, but I’d like to do so with all those who are like him. The world doesn’t need fascism; sports doesn’t need fascism. As Gruden’s emails show, the tools fascism uses are promoting hatred and prejudice. The world doesn’t need any of that. Kraft and Brady, are you listening?!