I Didn't Leave the NFL, the NFL Left Me

That meant everything from scrubbing toilet bowls to shower drains in our shared bathrooms and waxing and buffing floors in our rooms. The whole place had to be done top to bottom, mirrors to blinds, because there was always an inspection every Tuesday morning.

Some of us could get started early on the big items and tape off, say, half the toilets or showers when they were done, so when the other girls got in from school there wasn't such a pile of work-until-midnight ahead of us.

Besides. We all had to be at the E Club (E for enlisted) for Monday Night Football.

It didn't matter who was playing, although it was nice if you had a favorite team.It meant a weekly date with all your rowdy friends, and the ONLY WAY you would ever miss it would be on your deathbed or - same-same - have duty.

Otherwise, come hell or hot water, we were all there and ready for some football.

 

I married a high school star quarterback who'd been scouted by several big programs but chose the Marine Corps. He played for his base team until a SoCal ground squirrel burrow got him on a roll-out, and his damn knee nearly disintegrated. Miserable vermin. 

Understandably, we kept a pretty football-centric household during the season. Watched most of the games whenever we could, kept up with our teams - I loved the Giants, we both were Green Bay and San Francisco fans, especially with Montana there. 

We both loved the Bears of McMahon, Singletary, and the Shuffle. And the Fridge. Who could forget?

And you always had teams you hated.

Our friends were all the same way.

Once, we even made the drive up to the Coliseum to watch Steve Young quarterback the LA Express during that league's unsuccessful launch.

Ebola played youth league and some high school football. I mean, I wasn't one of those 'you'll put your eye out' soccer mothers. If he wanted to, have at it. He certainly had a tremendous athlete in his dad to help him along the way.

We've always been a football family.

And a good portion of America has been like that for so, so long. 

There have been moments when America soared that didn't happen during a game itself, but at a game, their biggest game.

The Whitney Houston Star Spangled Banner still resonates. U-2's performance.

Prince.

Funny how some of the entertainers you'd least expect wound up being the most emotionally effective and the most memorable.

Performances that transcended their usual appeal and it being a sports event.

Even non-football people looked forward to the Super Bowl for one reason or another, from the Budweiser frogs to the In Living Color half-time laugh riot on another channel.

Oh. And the game.

All the adulation and undying fan devotion is where I guess the NFL got fat, complacent, and arrogant.

My breaking point was Colin Kaepernick. The kneeling. The disrespect. The NFL commissioner's indulgence of racist spoiled multi-millionaires' contempt for the beliefs and values of the people whose hard-earned dollars made them those millions for playing a game.   

I wrote about it in an answer in a Facebook discussion some years ago when the issue was really hot.

I haven't changed or mellowed much from that, although we do watch some games now. The volume of them is significantly reduced, though. More often than not, it's background noise, and games we would stay home on a weekend to watch years ago, just don't register anymore.

The NFL hasn't done anything to mitigate that damage, either.

Black 'National Anthem'? Please. There is only one National Anthem.

Where Budweiser has tried to claw its way back into America's good graces from the devastating fallout of its woke exec's trans-can debacle... speaking of which, have you seen this year's Super Bowl commercial?

It should get you. 

They finally get us.

But the NFL has chosen to carry on pretending it's still 2019.

The 'greatest pop star of 2025,' Bad Bunny, is the halftime act.

Billboard Staff’s Greatest Pop Stars of 2025: No. 1 — Bad Bunnyhttps://t.co/R6qg5T1Qa6

— billboard (@billboard) January 30, 2026

WHO? Well, just because I am unfamiliar with him doesn't mean he's not pretty cool.

But, well, what I've read from him without ever hearing him warble a single note has me questioning the choice.

I don't care whether he likes Trump. That's immaterial to me - actually, as an artist, I'd hardly expect him to.

I would like him to be kind of fond of America, though.

So I guess that makes me a RACIST with the rest of them wondering why the NATIONAL Football League chose an anti-American Latino (and I heard those even before ICE started deporting people), who may or may not sing a single note in English, for the biggest show on the biggest stage of the whole year. 

Famed rapper and singer Bad Bunny is slated to perform during the half time show at this year’s Super Bowl. Due to the musician’s negative statements and sentiments toward America and the current Trump administration, many Americans have voiced their opposition to this announcement. And just like clockwork, covert accusations of racism are surfacing from self-righteous reporters.

...The real reason for the uproar in Bad Bunny’s booking is his obvious disdain for America and his activist political stances. The rapper made a conscious choice not to include any US concerts in his most recent tour. He boycotted the entire country allegedly due to fear of immigration enforcement officers, and he expected his fans to travel internationally to see him perform. “But specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the US… People from the US could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of — like, [freaking] ICE could be outside,” Bad Bunny reportedly said.

Whatever. The band opening for the Bunny seems to be a real crowd uniter, too.

Again, I don't know who they are, and it sounds like I probably never will.

Outspoken Donald Trump critics Green Day have been tapped to play the Super Bowl opening ceremony, joining halftime performer Bad Bunny in another blow against MAGA loyalists.

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has called the administration fascist and changed the lyrics to the band’s song “American Idiot” during live shows, from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda.”

BLAH BLAH BLAH FASCIST HERE WE GO!

Like, what - a country band or someone a little less unfriendly to half the country wasn't available to split the entertainment ticket?

You have to just think that this is the NFL's finger in your eye, on purpose.

Which is maybe why the NFL felt they had to go hire a - wait for it - CHIEF KINDNESS OFFICER.

Seriously.

First ever, and he's also Creator of the Week for Super Bowl LX. Isn't he totes adorbs? Should soothe all the ruffled feathers right over.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/oRFnWBcE4i

— TENTECH TACTICAL ACTUAL (@tcubedactual) January 30, 2026

And he's no regular Joe kinda 'kindness' guy. He's got quite a backstory.

Right but he took the plea deal kindly.

— Sean Spicier - Former Tango Dancer (Parody) (@sean_spicier) January 30, 2026

What kind of fools are they?

A man known as the "ganja-preneur" of Oakland was sentenced Friday to five years' probation and fined $10,000 for his part in a scheme to defraud a city grant program.

Dhar Mann, 29, was also ordered to pay full restitution - $44,399.51 - to the city by April 1, said Teresa Drenick, deputy district attorney and spokeswoman for Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley.

Mann was initially charged with 13 felonies for stealing from a city program that helped property owners with renovation costs. He pleaded no contest to five of the counts.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucci in the sentencing credited Mann with two days of jail time served.

Mr Mann was also the founder of the University of Cannabis, which, sadly, failed.

It is probably these hard life lessons that the NFL, in its infinite wisdom, thought made him the perfect ambassador of kindness.

Gosh. The more I think about it, how can I not forgive these guys?

Thought about it.

Nah.