No Fun League at it Again

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Avery Williamson's Twitter Account

Avery Williamson linebacker for the Tennessee Titans with his questionable shoes.

John Cañamar, Sports Editor

The NFL has issued a warning to Tennessee Titans’ Linebacker Avery Williamson, that he will be fined if he wears his custom airbrushed 9-11 themed cleats.

Reason, they do not go with his team’s color scheme.

That’s correct, because the Titans do not have the right shades of red, white and blue in their uniforms he cannot wear his cleats.

This rubs me wrong on many levels.

First of which the NFL has 12 different ceremonies planned for today’s games alone, where special patches or stickers will be on player and referee uniforms, coaches’ shirts and countless memorabilia that will be sold.

That brings me to my second point that is highlighted by the key phrase, “will be sold.” If the NFL cannot make money, it will not be tolerated.

For example, how many teams have the color pink in their color scheme?

Avery Williamson linebacker for the Tennessee Titans' questionable shoes.
Avery Williamson’s Twitter Account
Avery Williamson linebacker for the Tennessee Titans’ questionable shoes.

The answer is none.

Come Breast Cancer Awareness month every team will have players wearing pink gloves, socks, wrist band and so on. Why, because it can be put on a shelf and sold.

Then there is my personal pet peeve when they honor Spanish heritage and insult all Spanish speaking cultures by adding “Los” in front of the team name. This one is not NFL specific because the NBA and MLB do it as well.

No team has the word “The” in front of their name on their jersey in English, why do it on your Spanish jersey?

Plus, adding “Los” in front of the team name is the exact same thing as adding an “O” to the end of the name and saying that it has now been translated to Spanish.

Bears in Spanish is not Los Bears or Bearso its Osos; furthermore, if you wish to use “Los” it would be Los Osos de Chicago (The Chicago Bears).

I would go on, but NFL you have a huge marketing branch that can translate the remaining 31 teams.

Please have this fixed by the time Los Tejanos de Houston match up against Los Asaltantes de Oakland in El Azteca on November 21st.

Many will say that issuing this threat of a fine on Williamson is violating his 1st Amendment rights, I cannot go there because the NFL has always had a strict uniform policy. I just think this is a fight that you cannot win NFL in the public eye.

On the other end of this issue is Collin Kaepernick, who has elected to kneel for the National Anthem in support of the men and women who have served for his and all Americans rights while still mounting a protest against the injustices that have and are being brought on by our government in his views.

For what reason has the NFL not asked or told him to stand?

Are they scared of a law suit, costing them money?

Are they loving all the extra attention being placed on the league by Kaepernick’s actions?

Or are they loving it because it has driven the sales of his jerseys through the roof, making them money?

The answer is Yes, Yes and Yes.

So on today the 15th anniversary of September 11th attacks, NFL stop being the big bully and let Williamson display his patriotism in the manner he deems fit.