Marshall Preview and Predictions

[g--]

Does this mean they support the Marxist-Terrorist group Black Lives Matter?

Can the moderator please remove this post?

[Rosie]

Does this mean they support the Marxist-Terrorist group Black Lives Matter?

Can the moderator please remove this post?

It might be OK to debate on this forum whether our teams should make political statements, but I sure don't want to start debating the issues themselves. Let's stick to sports issues, like who should start at qb or whether our coach should have punted on that play, etc.

[Maroon Forever]

Does this mean they support the Marxist-Terrorist group Black Lives Matter?

Can the moderator please remove this post?

It might be OK to debate on this forum whether our teams should make political statements, but I sure don't want to start debating the issues themselves. Let's stick to sports issues, like who should start at qb or whether our coach should have punted on that play, etc.

Amen that! I’m not sure we should have punted; but the handoff deep in the backfield looked like a worse choice than a sneak.

[g--]

Does this mean they support the Marxist-Terrorist group Black Lives Matter?

Can the moderator please remove this post?

It might be OK to debate on this forum whether our teams should make political statements, but I sure don't want to start debating the issues themselves. Let's stick to sports issues, like who should start at qb or whether our coach should have punted on that play, etc.

I now regret that I posted the link about the game making it into the national news (we don’t get into the national news very often). I never thought of what the team did as a political statement. I saw it as a statement supporting human life. But saying Black Lives Matter is a Marxist-Terrorist group? Seriously – I don’t know what to say. I’m just stunned.

[g--]

To better understand what’s going on here I actually had to look up Black Lives Matter. I had thought it was just a slogan, and was surprised to learn that it’s a social political organization. However while I found a few (very, very, few) on the internet calling it terrorist I honestly don’t believe anyone here believes our football team supports a “Marxist-Terrorist" group. So why ask that question? I really don’t get that?

[Sycamorefan96]

BLM is definitely not just a slogan and there are many valid reasons that a lot of Americans don't support them. One of their leaders literally said that they "are trained Marxists". Another one of their leaders was on national TV saying that if they didn't get what they wanted they would "burn the system to the ground". Based on the fact that these so called protesters are rioting in every city where something happens they don't like, I'm guessing they weren't joking.

If I were a college athletics team I would want to stay out of controversial situations. Last thing you want to do is run off half the fan base or alienate players on the team that don't support BLM.

[smidge34]

“I’m just stunned” lmao.

[Eternal Colonel]

...first-I was surprised BOTH squads didn't have protest gear.

For the record, there is an extremely vigorous discussion regarding whether
our players and coaches should have worn protest gear on the EKU Football
Facebook page.

I've entered my thoughts there; I will not do so here...

[g--]

BLM is definitely not just a slogan and there are many valid reasons that a lot of Americans don't support them. One of their leaders literally said that they "are trained Marxists". Another one of their leaders was on national TV saying that if they didn't get what they wanted they would "burn the system to the ground". Based on the fact that these so called protesters are rioting in every city where something happens they don't like, I'm guessing they weren't joking.

If I were a college athletics team I would want to stay out of controversial situations. Last thing you want to do is run off half the fan base or alienate players on the team that don't support BLM.

I had not heard these things you’re reporting. I’m not sure what your source is. Please don’t think I’m questioning your honesty – I’m not. Now that I’ve learned there actually is a social political organization called Black Lives Matter I accept that a few members could be radical, but I didn’t see anything at all like what you’re reporting when I looked up their website last night.

I honestly didn’t think this was a controversial situation, and from what I learned in my research last night I still don’t think it’s a controversial situation. To see if I might have been misguided in thinking this is not a controversial situation I just now looked up Black Lives Matter protests. I found that researchers report that more than 2,400 locations (93%) reported peaceful Black Lives Matter protests. To say it is a “Terrorist group” is clearly wrong (inaccurate).

As for saying what the team did might alienate “the fan base or players on the team that don't support BLM” I didn’t see a single thing in the statement about social injustice released by the EKU Players that is “controversial” – do you? I’ll post it here;

"We are student-athletes who represent our beloved school, your alma mater, home university and favorite team," the statement said. "We are proud of EKU. We want EKU to be proud of us.”
"There are those among us who can't escape hate, racism, systemic oppression or violence just because we play college football. For many of us, we live with the same fear and pain as other African-American men and women worried about their safety and security, considering the recent events across the nation. These names and the lives they represent are important.”

"Today is about more than football -- it's about change starting here."

[Colonel Grad]

I offer these observations
1) Out of 45 players on the offensive and defensive depth chart, 21 of them have very little Division I football experience (true freshmen (9), redshirt freshmen, sophomores playing key roles for the first time, JUCO). I'd say anyone who thought the early part of the season wouldn't be a real struggle wasn't paying attention to the situation.

2) The players and coaches are putting their health on the line to play football games while many folks are staying inside, working remotely, and staying away from others as much as they can (including many EKU professors/staff). I'm not saying the players and coaches are doing it for us. They're doing it for themselves, and that's ok. But I think we all should be more appreciative and a bit less critical considering the circumstances.

3) In a couple months, a couple years, no one is going to remember much about what happened on the field of play during this game. But the impact the players made by using their platform to say "hate, racism, systemic oppression and violence must stop" could have a more long lasting impact. If you are more concerned about football than what some call "politics", then look at it this way. Saturday's message by the players and support from their coaches was a recruiting victory. With the same exact opportunity, what did Marshall's team do. Young people want to be supported. This will help EKU in recruiting and it will hurt programs who ignored the opportunities to make a stand.