Twins/Tigers Players Vote to Postpone Tonight's Game

I don’t really care either way about 1 game. Seriously this season is so screwed up anyway. it’s not really a thing. My wife, however is pissed. She’s a big hockey fan and she swears she won’t watch another game. And Vegas is the #1 seed in the West. I respect her opinion, pro sports is over playing their hand. These people are all elitists in my opinion, most people don’t need them to tell them what they should care about. I know I dont.

Why does the profession of anyone speaking about something that matters to them matter? I have no idea what you do for a living and you don't know what I do, but I don't think you'd say I should keep my opinions to myself because of the career path I've gone down. 

They are aware they'll lose fans over this. Nascar knew they'd lose fans over the confederate flag ban. The idea that they should "shut up and dribble," to steal a now semi-famous response to Lebron, is pretty extreme to me. What does the NHL owe your wife or the Twins owe you? (Don't mean that in an aggressive way as I know is often taken over the internet in these kinds of situations) They are a business that runs how they choose to and at different levels finances and PR are considered. They don't have to play the sports we all love. Just like I don't need to do what I do. They're both jobs that our society has allowed to thrive to different degrees based on how people choose to spend their money. 

Do I think any athlete's opinion is better, more informed, or more important than any of ours simply because they're an athlete? Of course not. And I don't think you'd find a significant portion of society that does think that. They have a more broad reaching platform than we do, though. The vast majority of us have some sort of social media. We have friends and family we see in person. Coworkers. Strangers at the gym. We share our opinions and act in certain ways to spread the information we want spread and make stands for what we feel is worthy of taking stands for. Athletes being able to do that in different ways shouldn't be stopped. People disagreeing with them shouldn't be stopped either. 

The American way is elitist. We, as a society, judge people off their finances and material possessions more than anything else. You're rich: you're important, have worked harder than everyone else, and are better than. You're poor: you matter on the fringes, are lazy, and less than. Our society doesn't "bail out" the poor because the poor don't matter. We bail out the rich because the rich matter. We're the richest country in the world so we're the best. Trump had our economy in a great place so he was great. Now it's crap so he's crap. America is elitist. 

Athletes having view points that run counter to yours or your wife's doesn't mean they shouldn't speak to them or stand up for them. You disagreeing with them can be handled however you see fit. To turn athletes taking a stand on something into "telling us what we should care about" is on you, not them. They're using their platform the same way you're using Twins Daily as a platform. I don't think it'd be appropriate for anyone to tell you not to tell them what to care about because they disagree with a post on here (on this subject or a bullpen decision or whatever). No athlete owes any of us their performance. They are not here to follow our demands. We all pay each other's salaries in many different ways. It feels more direct with athletes because we pay for a ticket and watch them play, but that's how everything in America works. You pay for certain items and I get paid to make sure you get them. I spend money somewhere and you get paid to make sure I get whatever I paid for. 

There is zero confusion with me on what consequences means. My point is the that the choice not to play is completely empty. It self serving and virtue singling.

If the point of them not playing is to create conversation they have already succeeded as we are all here talking about it. The idea that they need to have some sort of negative impact on their own lives to help create change is nonsensical. If they canceled the season and donated their paychecks for the next 7 seasons to social causes would that make you feel better? Would that make anyone suddenly say "oh man, they're right! Now I see that police brutality is a problem and there are inequalities in our country. I will also join the fight to fix these problems."? The answer is no. It wouldn't. Is their postponing 1 game some great, grand gesture of self sacrifice? Of course not. Does that mean it's not effective and incredibly meaningful to many of them? No. Do 100% of players agree with the idea that police brutality, inequalities, etc. are a problem that the postponement is supposed to highlight and further conversation about? No. Were there likely dissenting voices in every clubhouse in baseball? Yes. Did they have conversations and agree that postponing wasn't some terrible tragedy worth stopping once they saw how important it was to their teammates? Apparently. 

The idea that there needs to be negative consequences (thus the differentiation between consequence and punishment) to make this action meaningful is misguided. The consequences of their actions are people are talking about it. The conversation has been progressed and people who wouldn't have shared their opinions with others now have. There were no punishments for the players. And I don't see how that makes any difference as it wouldn't have effected the consequences in any meaningful way.

He was pretty quick to "shut up and dribble" when China told him too.
 

No he wasn't. He spoke on China and was pretty roundly destroyed for it. Providing a prime example that people don't take athlete's opinions as some earth shattering piece of knowledge.

He spoke on China? What exactly did he say except he wasn’t informed enough to speak on China? Did he get informed and give a real answer? Because I haven’t seen that

He said Morey was either misinformed or not very educated on the China and NBA relationship and that his comments could hurt a lot of people not just financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. And he got absolutely destroyed for it. But, again, I'm not sure what this has to do with the Twins and Tiger's decision yesterday. I used the "shut up and dribble" line in response to the idea that athletes shouldn't speak on things and you guys have chosen to take it as a stand alone statement and discuss Lebron James and China outside the scope of the conversation that is being had right now.

It's not worthless, it has value. Most actions have value. Even the action of inaction has value.
The thing is, to me and through my eyes, their choice not to play is empty because it seems to be only about trying to look good. Nothing about trying to do good.
Side note, philosophically, I don't believe in good or bad.
I'm a guy that wants changes made. I've been trying to stay away from political lines here during this conversation but I'll show some here.
I have been an advocate for demilitorizing for nearly two decades since I left the military. I don't understand why soldiers in war have a more strict rules of engagement than our local police on our own American citizens. I question the constitutionally and our third amendment right to not quarter soldiers with a very military looking unit policing our streets.
That doesn't mean I believe that cops are racist or ill intentioned though. It sure as hell doesn't mean I want them abolished!

In the end, I see choosing not to play as mere pageantry. I don't see it as noble. I see it as trying to look good to the public and only that.

I think it's a dangerous road to go down when speaking to the intent of these actions. I think it would be absurd to assume 100% of MLB players even care about the American social strife these postponements are meant to bring attention to. My guess would be that many of the foreign players who are only here to play baseball and don't have a great deal of interaction with the general public outside the field don't care about the subject and are standing with their teammates. The American born players, or players who live here year round and are much more versed in the issues, probably had very intense and heartfelt discussions on the subject. At the end of the day everyone involved decided to stand together. Was it an "empty gesture" because of that? I would say no. Was it empty for some of them? Almost a 100% certainty that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of MLB players (not to mention staff, owners, etc) who didn't agree to postpone because they aren't overly interested or invested in these things, or plainly disagree with the stance the postponements take. But to me you don't need 100% die hard, super invested participation to make the action itself not "empty." Not to mention there are already numerous reports of lots of money being donated by lots of individuals and organizations. Probably some "good PR" moves in there, but those actions also aren't "empty" just because some aren't 100% behind it.