The hypocrisy that is the NFL's "Pinktober"

I’ve long had a major problem with the NFL’s observance of Breast Cancer Awareness in October and the main reason is that it’s the biggest load of hypocrisy that I’ve ever seen.

Pink, pink everywhere...
Courtesy Photo

The mockery of the “Pinktober” celebration by the NFL feels not only insincere but almost patronizing - let’s have our multimillionaire male athletes and our beautiful young cheerleaders wear cute hot pink things for the month of October because – yay! – we support women and breast cancer! Be so proud of us! Look how progressive we are! We are a male-dominated sport with a history of ignoring domestic violence but we know we have female fans so, sure, we support you! And, ignore the fact that we clearly don’t support women in other ways because for four games a year we wear pink!

I, for one, am not fooled, NFL.

We’re expected to applaud the NFL for wearing pink in October - the same NFL that routinely lets players who have histories of domestic violence and/or sexual abuse against women play a game in front of millions of fans and make millions of dollars while the women not only suffer in silence but are also shamed for what happened to them. Wow, how noble of you.

Now please don’t get this wrong – breast cancer is decidedly a big deal that affects more than 200,000 people and kills more than 40,000 people in the U.S. each year. But here is the most disgusting part of the entire NFL “Pinktober” – HOW LITTLE MONEY GOES TO BREAST CANCER AWARENESS OR RESEARCH.

You see, these devious NFL executives and billionaire owners, they’ve figured out yet ANOTHER way to make more money – by letting us THINK we’re buying all of this pink paraphernalia to help an amazing cause, but in actuality, THEY ARE MAKING MONEY OFF OF IT. Oh yes, you read that right. According to Business insider, the NFL is keeping 90 percent of the profit from the sale of Breast Cancer Awareness gear – yes, 90%. It is enough to make my blood boil. (Note: the NFL did make sure to mention to the Business Insider that they donate $1 million per year to breast cancer awareness charities. I’d like to mention that the NFL’s revenue is nearly $10 billion a year.)

Every October – and October only – the NFL trots women out who have or have had breast cancer, gives them the support and encouragement they desperate deserve, but they do it in a way that’s always felt disingenuous. Case in point: current Steelers and former Carolina Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams’ mother, Sandra Hill, passed away after a long battle with breast cancer in 2014. For years, she was trotted out each October by the Panthers to be honored as a breast cancer survivor. However, when she passed away from the disease in 2014, not a single member of the organization came to her funeral. So, just to get it straight – the Panthers used Williams’ mom as face of team each October for Breast Cancer Awareness, then ignored her death to the disease they "support."

Today, it was reported that Williams asked the NFL if he could wear pink all season – instead of just October – to honor his mother and FOUR aunts who have all died from breast cancer. The NFL said no. If the NFL really cared about women and breast cancer, why not let Williams honor his mother and aunts? Now, I know there are uniform regulations, but I have a hard time believing anyone would have a problem with a mean wearing a little bit of pink all season to honor the five women in his life who have died of breast cancer. To me, it shows that the NFL is using October as a ploy to appease female fans, more than as a way to actually support breast cancer awareness. This is the problem I’ve always had with the show the NFL has made “Pinktober” into: the one time they’ve been asked to really show their support – by letting a man who lost four aunts and his mother to the deadly disease honor them by wearing pink all season, they showed they true colors – which are decidedly not pink – and said no. Not only that - but they make money off of the observance. 

Frankly, it's disgusting.

My Super Dilemma

(2/3/11)

We are in the midst of “Super Week” and I’m in the midst of a super predicament – I can’t cheer for either team in the Super Bowl.

This has never happened to me before – I’ve always been able to choose one team over the other. In the past, either my team was playing, or I could cheer for a team because there was something innately likeable about one of the teams playing, such as was the case with last year’s Saints, or I could cheer against one of the teams because there was something innately unlikeable about them. And having a team to cheer for – or against – is what makes the Super Bowl so entertaining. But this year, the Steelers and Packers have made my decision an impossible one.

My husband is a Minnesota Vikings fan, and therefore, his enemy is the Green Bay Packers.  Consequently, if I want to stay married, I absolutely cannot cheer for Green Bay under any circumstance whatsoever.

In any other game my choice would be easy – cheer for whoever the Packers are playing against. But how can I cheer for the Steelers, a team of such unlikeable guys?

First and foremost in the unlikeable category – for me – is Ben Roethlisberger, who, for those of you living under a rock, was accused of sexual assault this past offseason. He wasn’t charged in this particular instance, but the league felt there was enough evidence to prove he had at the very least violated the NFL's personal conduct policy. Big Ben is at the worst is a sexual predator, and at the very least an idiot.

Strike number two against Pittsburgh in the unlikeable category is James Harrison, the guy who threatened to retire earlier this season when the league decided to start penalizing and fining players for flagrant hits, specifically to the head. What Harrison implied with that reaction was “I like to play dirty.” Hitting players in the head is cheap, dirty and can lead to nasty injuries. But Harrison chooses – openly – to play this way.

Finally, there is their supposed “nice guy” Hines Ward, who in 2009 was voted by his fellow NFL players as the dirtiest player in the game. Not meanest, not toughest – dirtiest. That means cheap shots, poking eyes in a pile, etc. In 2008, he broke the jaw of Bengals rookie linebacker Keith Rivers with a “surprise” downfield block, which ended Rivers' season. After that hit, another player said about Ward, "That's what he's known for. He's a blind-side guy." Not such a nice guy after all.

Not to mention that the Steelers have won two championships in the past five years, and I really don’t want them to win again – especially again with this loathsome team.

So I look at my options – send my marriage to counseling or cheer for a team of, in my opinion, vile men.

I’m in such internal turmoil over this game that I’ve seriously contemplated not watching at all. But how can I be the only person I know who doesn’t watch the game?

So what can I do? I have to become resigned to the fact that one of the teams I can’t like is going to win, and I will be emphatically unable to bask in the glory of the championship. In the end, all I can do is celebrate is that one of these teams will lose, which I realize makes me a bitter person.

The only way this game could be worse was if the Jets were playing – then my home would be an athletic war zone.

SUPER SUNDAY

No excuse for the long absence, other than I was swamped with school, work, and other matters :)

Anyway, what better time than to make my comeback than just in time for the Super Bowl?!

As broken hearted as I am that my Patriots didn't make the playoffs, how can you not cheer for the formerly-lowly Arizona Cardinals? Yeah, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a tough-guy, blue collar team, but I really can't cheer for a team who's quarterback is referred to as just his first name, and a safety who has more hair than me (and I have a lot). Plus, the Steelers won it all just 3 years ago... I think it's time for someone else to take that silver football-topped trophy.

Reasons why I like the Cards and want them to win:

Let's start with my #1... Larry Fitzgerald. I've loved him since his days at Pitt, and I've had him on my fantasy teams most years, when I can get him. What's not to love? Acrobatic receiving skills that are pretty much unbelievable unless you witness them, he loves the game and doesn't showboat, he's from Minnesota (I have an affinity for men from there :-P ), his dad is a sportswriter, he's got an awesome Boston-Irish sounding name, and he was born in the best year ever, 1983.

Okay, so most of you probably only care about two of the above six reasons, but for me that hexagon of reasons adds up to him being my receiving bad-ass fave. Plus, he had three touchdowns in the FIRST HALF against Philly, and I don't like teams from Philadelphia, well, I don't like their fans and I enjoyed watching them cringe each time Fitz (yeah, that's what I call him, we're real close) ran into the end zone last Sunday.

Kurt Warner
Yeah, his wife is annoying and so is his sometimes "holier-than-thou" attitude... but really, the guy used to be a grocery bagger and has worked his ass off to get where he is. Plus, brother's mad old, and playing some of the best football of his career the past few weeks. He's not the MVP Kurt Warner of the "Greatest Show on Turf" (man I hated that team), but, I think more impressively, he's led a team of lesser-knowns to the same place - the Super Bowl.

Anyway, I have to cheer for the guy who put Matt Leinart in his place cause boy has let me DOWN. I was Leinart's biggest supporter coming out of college, I ever wrote an editorial raving about him when he came out of USC, how he was going to be a good, solid NFL quarterback. Instead, all pretty boy's done is show that he's more interested in partying and having a good time than being the Cards starting-QB. Anyway, I hope that Warner playing out of his mind at age 37 will show Leinart he isn't owed anything, he isn't God's gift to the quarterback position, and if he really wants to be a GOOD NFL quarterback, he needs to get back to the trenches and work his ass off.

Edgerrin James
First of all, I have to give props to his mom... anyone who comes up the name Edgerrin, henceforth giving his son the nickname "The Edge" is alright in my book.

There are many things to dislike about James... he went to the University of Miami, he used to have nasty dreds and gold teeth, and he left his plum job with the Colts to jet for more money in Arizona. All of that aside, a few weeks ago he was washed up, and now he's a key component to the Cards' playoff run. I almost felt bad for him a few weeks ago, when he had something like 90 yards in the six games leading up to the Super Bowl. But then, the coaches started utilizing him cause, let's be honest, the man can run. The man has somewhat quietly rushed his way to 12th on the all-time list, and since he's cut out his thug image that I think sets a bad example for young kids who look up to athletes, and now looks like this. Anyway, I'll be rooting for him to run all over the Steelers and their joke of a candidacy for "best defense ever." Speaking of...

The Steelers defense calling themselves the "best ever"
I hate any team or individual who calls themselves the best ever. Not only is it egotistical, its disrespectful to the historically great defenses. Now, you can't really compare a defense from the 60s to a defense today, when players are about 50 pounds heavier and pure muscle, but if the Steel Curtain teams of the 70s had the same training and facilities of the pansy 2008 Steelers, I have no doubt this question would be laughably answered in favor of the older teams. Plus, I really can't stand Troy Polamalu for some reason... I think it's the hair. I don't get why people he's trying to cover don't just pull it and call it a day.

Finally, I hate the "we're the underdog, no one believes in us!" role all underdog teams take, so I'm not going to give that to the Cards. That being said, I like rooting against to the expected winner*.

But really, in the end, unless you are a fan of either team, and let's be honest, there are maybe 100 "true fans" of the Cardinals, the Super Bowl is just an excuse to hang out with friends, eat lots of fatty, disgusting and delicious food and drink too much on a Sunday and have an legit excuse for it.

*unless it's my team, of course