On the loss of a moral compass!

I don't follow sports anymore.  That juvenile obsession, which lasted well into adulthood, ended quite a few years ago.

Even when I followed sports, I was always drawn to stories that were about justice.  Justice in the form of Jackie Robinson is one of the reasons why following Dodgers was sweeter--he was the first African-American to play in the major leagues.  Thanks to my fascination with the Dodgers during the graduate school days and a few years after that too, I got to learn a little bit about Robinson.  His academic and multi-sport talents.  And about his military service--Robinson was court-martialed because he refused to sit in the back of the army bus!

As detailed in the masterful Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad, on July 6, 1944, Robinson “became entangled in a dispute that threatened to end his military service in disgrace.” While riding on a military bus returning to a hospital from “the colored officers club,” Robinson sat next to Virginia Jones, the wife of one of his fellow officers. Jones looked white — at least the white bus driver thought so. After a few blocks, the driver abruptly ordered Robinson “to move to the back of the bus.” Robinson, justifiably outraged, refused. Among other things, he had read that segregation was no longer allowed on military buses (pdf) and proceeded to engage in a form of protest prefiguring a similar action by Rosa Parks 11 years later.

Had Robinson been found guilty, history would have unfolded very differently.

Testimony reveals how bravely Robinson had fought to defend himself on the evening of the incident, including reportedly saying quite heroically, “Look here, you son-of-a-bitch, don’t you call me no nigger!” After a four-hour trial, Robinson was exonerated: “Robinson secured at least the four votes (secret and written) needed for his acquittal. He was found ‘not guilty of all specifications and charges.'”

That was in 1944.

In 2017, the president of the United States, pissed off at the athletes who were protesting the continuing racism in the country, called them sons of bitches.  In a public rally, which was televised live, the president of the country called ball players sons of bitches.  Presidential, indeed!!!

We have no moral compass in this country thanks to 63 million voters, including past commentators at this blog!

trump said that in Alabama.  One of my other favorite stories about a team also involves Alabama.

I had never heard of the crazy American football until I came to graduate school.  Right away, I fell in love with the pomp and pageantry that was part and parcel of the game.

I came to know more about the lore, such as this one:

The story of the 1970 USC-Alabama game has become well-documented legend. Bear Bryant’s all-white Alabama Crimson Tide hosted the Trojans in the opening game of the season, a showdown of two of the best and yet two of the most different teams of the previous decade. USC featured a black starting quarterback, fullback and tailback along with a host of other African-American players, and would be the first fully integrated team to play in the state of Alabama.

And, yes, the USC team with the black quarterback and many other African-Americans beat the all-white Alabama team 42-21.

Race-related tensions have far from eased in Alabama, whose son-of-the-soil, george wallace, thundered back in 1963: " "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." That Alabama is where trump said this while addressing a practically all-white crowd:

When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they are playing our great national anthem."

"yourselves," "you," and "our" versus "those people"

63 million voted for this white supremacist, who loves stoking the racist flames!

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