My great Uncle Jack Goldstein was a Brooklyn kid who became a World War I Doughboy. His name appears on a plaque in the rotunda of the U.S. Post Office near the Garden on Eighth Avenue — saluting those who served the postal service before and, if alive and able, after the War to End All Wars.
He died long before Mike Francesa could reason that the 9/11 attacks should give the U.S. pause and cause to extract loyalty oaths from American Jews to learn their military allegiances.
But as a son of Brooklyn, Uncle Jack would counsel, “Live and loin.”
Until this week few of us knew that the Super Bowl is under NFL mandate to avoid any scent of politics. This came to light when the NFL rejected a $30,000 print ad — not enough? — in this game’s program, an ad asking spectators to “Please stand” during the national anthem.
The ad would have been placed by AmVets, formed during Word War II to support military veterans and their families.
Perhaps I’m naïve, but I don’t know AmVets to exclude Americans of any political bent. It hasn’t been registered as a subversive or seditious movement.
But in an NFL season laced with highly selective take-a-knee anthem protests — enflamed by President Tweet’s standard make-matters-worse petulance — AmVets wanted minimal inclusion to present its not particularly selective position that the American flag is a symbol greater than any of us, a symbol of freedom to protest but not an object for on-the-job exploitation and, with TV’s help, indiscriminate grandstanding.
Additionally, the NFL’s claim this week to be apolitical is preposterous. Its teams, after all, in 2015, were revealed to have very quietly been paid $5.4 million of Department Of Defense — taxpayers’ — money to conduct patriotic pregame presentations.
Two Super Bowls ago, a song-and-dance troupe led by Beyoncé — following the release of her vulgar, N-worded, irreconcilably pornographic song “Sorry” — was invited to conduct a halftime show. That appeared as a salute to the Black Panther Party, which randomly assassinated police officers — white, black and Latino.
That met with the NFL’s approval as no one from the league — certainly not Roger “Spontaneous Fun” Goodell — publicly said a word about that. Easily frightened and unblinkingly populist media issued her and the NFL a look-away pass.
The Super Bowl’s high-mindedness this year can be found in the return of Justin Timberlake to entertain.
That he disrobed Janet Jackson, violently yanking at her leather jacket to expose one of her breasts during 2004’s halftime, clearly doesn’t strike the NFL as a deterrent from an encore engagement. More likely, it seems a marketing ploy to create a buzz then to stick with this halftime show in anticipation of, well, you never know.
The NFL’s high-bar is so low that after Seattle’s Doug Baldwin scored in the 2015 Super Bowl, his sense of “spontaneous fun” was to use the football to mime an end-zone defecation. He remained in the game.
The NFL will now pay Goodell in excess of $40 million per year to keep on keeping on, as if big-business folks — team owners — are blissfully unaware that there has never been a graph with a growth line that points straight up.
As if the NFL isn’t now bleeding from the abandonment of clear-headed folks who can no longer suffer what the NFL has become, from foresight-barren replay rules, to mindlessly excessive, remorseless brutality that incites ritual group joy among teammates — mostly full scholarship college men who behave, on and off the clock, like incorrigible, self-entitled, immodest, undignified adolescents, though frequently charged as adults.
Under Goodell, the likelihood that this championship will be determined by a vicious illegal hit — an attempt to cripple — a me-first misconduct penalty, or the absurd, totally unintended application — or misapplication — of a replay rule, has grown when all should have been greatly diminished.
Thus, at a time when the NFL should be re-establishing friendships with newly made enemies, it continues to pretend the smoke is coming from way down the street. Just close the windows; it’ll go away.
So the paid message, “Please stand for the national anthem” has been rejected as too political, inappropriate for and unworthy of this NFL.
It might be upsetting to some. Live and loin.
Betcha Silver’s gambling motivation is greed
Don’t much care how Adam Silver and his seconds frame it, the NBA’s activism to legalize gambling on its games from within is not rooted in if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em practicality.
This is another follow-the-money job, and I don’t mean the NBA’s proposed 1 percent rake for operating expenses.
The NBA, among others, is addicted to TV money. That’s why Silver this past offseason worked to reduce the bad-for-business absences of just-resting star players during national telecasts.
And there’s no better way to maximize TV and advertising revenues than to encourage viewers of all ages and basketball interests to have action on games they otherwise could take or leave. Bet the board! Stay up all night!
Of course, Silver, though more frank than most commissioners, can’t say any of that.
Would league-run gambling decrease the suspicions, taint or reality of game-fixing? Not likely.
Increased security measures — an effective, active NBA police force — would cost a ton. And it’s no secret NBAers have a habit, no matter how many millions they’re paid, of going broke.
This season, NBA teams, in addition to apparel logos, are wearing commercial logos on their three-to-five different uniforms, all for sale.
So how much have ticket prices and/or NBA cable/satellite buy-in prices been reduced by that added revenue? Follow the money!
Super late draft picks
No offense to ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and the rest of the NFL’s mock draft experts, but let’s take a quick peek at a few of this year’s expected Super Bowl starters.
Patriots: Tom Brady, we know about. Sixth round, 199th pick. Game-changing kick-returner/wide receiver Danny Amendola, undrafted. Sure-handed receiver Chris Hogan, undrafted. Starting center, David Andrews, undrafted. On and on.
Eagles: Center Jason Kelce, sixth round, pick No. 191. Starting linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, undrafted. Starting free safety Rodney McLeod, undrafted. On and on.
Perhaps the most fascinating news from MLB’s postseason is that Jim Kaat, 79, has been named a Twins’ “special consultant.”
Given that Kaat, a wise old owl, pitched for 25 years and, when not used as a reliever, threw 180 complete games — his “analytics” were limited to “retire this batter, the next, then the next” — and pitched 350 mostly effective innings after age 40, his special consultancy within a game that has lost its pitching mind to managerial sorcery should be very special.