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No Fun Without Jameis
nger and disappoint-
ment, these are proba- bly the two words that best describe what Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans are feeling right now after discovering that their team’s starting quarterback, Jameis Win- ston, will miss the first three games of the 2018 season be- cause of a league suspension.
All of the excitement that football enthusiasts usually have this time of year as Sep- tember approaches was es- sentially extinguished in the Bay Area the moment Win- ston’s punishment, for his alleged inappropriate behav- ior with an Uber driver, was announced last Thursday.
This is mainly due to the fact that Winston’s absence will coincide with one of the toughest parts of the sched- ule, a three-week stretch that includes games against 3 of the top 10 teams in the league: the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steel- ers and the reigning World Champion Philadelphia Ea- gles.
With the common con- sensus being that the Bucs have almost a zero chance of winning any of those con- tests without Winston under center, for many, that translates to the season being over before it even gets started.
Even though my Bucca- neer fandom has waned over the years because of years of horrible performance and the overall racist atmosphere that has been exposed within the league itself, I have to admit that the news had me bummed out as well. And I haven’t decided who I’m more upset with, the NFL for potentially ruining my team’s 2018 campaign or Winston for, once again, placing himself in a situation where he could be accused of such foolishness?
It is hard for me to find Winston’s suspension credible since the alleged vic- tim waited almost a year to report the incident and no charges were filed as a result of her coming forward. What I find hard to understand is how a company like the NFL could, in good conscience, take someone’s livelihood away without solid proof that
something actually hap- pened?
You would think that the NFL learned to be a bit more cautious about these types of incidents after recently deal- ing with the case of San Francisco’s Rueben Fos- ter. In that situation the linebacker’s girlfriend ini- tially reported that the facial bruising she suffered was a result of his abuse.
Foster faced losing his freedom and his career until his girlfriend admitted that she lied about the entire inci- dent because she was mad at Foster and wanted to hurt him financially.
Unless the NFL has infor- mation they’re not releasing that convinces them that Winston is guilty of what this woman is claiming, how do we know that Winston
isn’t also being falsely ac- cused?
None of this, of course, gives Winston a pass for being careless. By now he should be well aware that he’s a target for exploitation.
While I’m sure he’s at- tempting to be smart with his money, his status, wealth and notoriety make it neces- sary for him to be more con- trolling of every environment he enters. That means re- fraining from using any form of public transportation or ride services and surround- ing himself at all times with individuals he can trust.
His family, his team- mates and his fans deserve better than to be consistently placed into situations where they’re forced to defend his Jekyll and Hyde persona. The same person who every- one sees in front of the cam- era at charity events in the community should be the same person who exists when the cameras are off as well.
I know it may be a lot to ask of a 25-year-old who’s still growing into his own. But, like the saying goes: “To much is given, much is required.”
It is a lesson young Mr. Winston could benefit greatly from learning before it’s too late.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
FBI, We Aren’t Mad At You
he relationship between the FBI and the Black
Community hasn’t been a bowl of cherries, and it didn’t begin just last week. Instead, it stretches to those early days when a youthful, boxer-eyed J. Edgar Hoover harbored hatred for such upstart groups as the NAACP, SCLC, Urban League, Black Muslims, and other Black society representative groups.
As such, he sanctioned investigations against them that crossed lines between public-political and patho- logically personal. Under the guise of watchdog for na- tional security, Hoover leashed his hounds on Hughey P. Newton (Black Panthers), and among other names amassed an almost schizophrenic fixation on the pri- vate life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which in- cluded wiretaps and anonymous telephone calls to King’s wife accusing him of infidelities.
Indeed, it was believed that even though they had no complicity in his death, members of the FBI (“Spooks Who Sat By The Door”) were well aware of the plans for Malcolm X’s demise, not to mention the ultimate assassination of Rev. King.
Therefore, given the most recent trials and tribula- tions the FBI has undergone, it would seem poetic jus- tice for us in the Black Community to say, “What goes around comes around.” But instead, because of in- stances known and unknown where FBI stepped in to shut down the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, American Nazis, and John Birch Society while shadowing for safety many a March and Freedom Bus Ride through a rabid-racist South, we say, “FBI, we aren’t mad at you!”
Our comment yet, comes in consequence to a recent report that tears into the FBI-led Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump investigation, accusing them of possible bias and governmental abuse. Naturally, the FBI de- nies such allegations. Meanwhile, the enemies of the FBI feel vindicated.
But one thing’s for sure: We’d rather put up with one imperfect FBI, than to be under the thumb of one American KGB or Hitler-inspired GESTAPO.
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