After all of the consternation and criticism levied at The White House from those inside the Philadelphia Eagles locker room, and all of the idiocy volleyed in their direction from the White House, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson recently announced the team will make an official White House visit. This comes days after White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters confirmed the Eagles has been invited to attend a June 5 affair. “President Trump looks forward to welcoming the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House on June 5 to celebrate their Super Bowl LII win,” Walters said in a statement.
The Philadelphia Eagles have several current or former roster players that were either in support of Colin Kaepernick or the protest movement in some form. Prominent among them are Chris Long and Malcolm Jenkins. Currently, four Philadelphia Eagles are on record as not having the slightest interest in going to visit Trump. Chris Long is from Charlottesville, Va., site of the violent white nationalist rally that resulted in the death of one woman, as well as several injuries. He dedicated his entire 2017 salary to programs supporting educational equality in Charlottesville and other cities where he has played professionally.
The invitation date lands in the middle of Philadelphia’s organized team activities, which are scheduled for June 4-7. Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz said Tuesday he plans to attend, adding he doesn’t see the event as a “political thing” even if some of his teammates don’t feel the same way. Former Eagles wide receiver Torrey Smith and current running back LeGarrette Blount also said they do not plan to attend.
It was actually expected that the Eagles organization would officially accept any hand extended from the White House. Despite speaking out against Trump’s attack on the NFL, even participating in a kneeling event, team owner Jeffrey Lurie’s disdain for Colin Kaepernick, as well as prior stances, revealed his true feelings.
Can One Cheer for a Philly Super Bowl and Hate Jeffrey Lurie?
I don’t know how to feel about the Philadelphia Eagles making it to the Super Bowl. I’ve been a fan of the Eagles since I was a child growing up alongside the Delaware River, on the Jersey side. It was just the way it was, for the most part.
The following is an excerpt from an article questioning whether a brother can hate Lurie and still love the Eagles as an organization;
In the meantime, as America slowly, reluctantly, tumultuously wakes from its centuries old slumber regarding our collective racial reality, anomalies within the sphere of my fandom have occurred. One was the Eagles handling of Riley Cooper. You remember? The redneck wide receiver that got caught saying hell kick n*ggers ass on video?
Yeah, he was only suspended for what amounted to a brief vacation. Then, they signed him again. Damn! What was a conscientious, proud black Philadelphia Eagles fan to do? Especially agonizing was how Mike Vick, who was still trying to make the best of his second chance in the NFL, got played into giving Cooper a clean bill of health by defending him in the media.
Vick would later recount that Cooper never even said thank you. This season, as Colin Kaepernick was seeking a job in the National Football League, and it became completely obvious that he was being blackballed, the denial of NFL owners persisted. However, the language that Lurie insisted on using, protesting the national anthem, for example, was off base. It is a certainty that Lurie is aware that Colin Kaepernick, nor anyone else who kneels or raises a fist, is not protesting the national anthem, but racial injustices that persist in this country.
While I respect anyone who decided they would like to go believing they’re doing so is not political, I’d counter by saying everything is political–especially since there’s a quasi-dictator in the White House.
