"Supporting" the NFL as a Woman

http://jezebel.com/if-you-care-about-women-and-still-support-the-nfl-you-1631903485/+tcraggs22

So, being not only a giant football fan, but also a follower of Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) on twitter, I found the above-posted Jezebel article this morning and read it.

The crux of the article is, given the NFL's abominably weak stance on womens' rights, if you're a supporter of women or feminism, you should hit 'em where it hurts and stop watching, supporting, and buying merchandise. Also, if you boycott other products because of cruelty or some similar social injustice, you're a hypocrite for not giving up the NFL also.

And I completely respect that argument. But I'm not going to agree with it.

I already do not shop at Chik Fil A (partially because I'm vehemently against the glorification of bad grammar/poor spelling), Hobby Lobby, and Carl's Jr, I change the radio whenever I hear Chris Brown or Robin Thicke, I buy cage-free vegetarian eggs, I buy as much fair trade clothing from H&M as possible etc etc.

However, I am a graduate student carrying literally tens of thousands of dollars of debt, and earning a mere $12,000 for nine months' work at my graduate assistantship (causing me to have to borrow money every month from my parents to make both ends meet, and again in the summer so I can pay to attend field schools to get experience), which severely limits my spending power. I do not have a great deal of money for myself, and even less for entertainment. Football - the NFL - is one of my favorite diversions from the backbreaking grind of graduate study.

Which brings me to my main point - how much is too much? Having given up what I have, limiting my clothing purchases whenever possible to garments I believe have not been made by bloody-fingered seven year olds in Bangledesh, changing my food purchases to obtain fresh and local as often as possible, boycotting fast food restaurants and craft chains I enjoyed, when can I draw my line and say, "I've had enough"?

If I dressed myself in sackcloth and ashes, if I limited my diet to a few hundred calories a day of local organic produce, if I lived without electricity and halved my monthly use of water, rejected anything plastic and all televison, I could not begin to set right all the wrongs in the world. Each individual certainly has a responsibility to the world, and to the societies that "raised" us, but how much responsibility can any one individual take on?

I concede that supporting the NFL - that is, watching it, and sighing over over-priced jerseys I cannot afford - while it continues to flout the women from whence flow at least 50% of their security, is both dangerous and foolish.

Jezebel's article has one crucial failure - it doesn't state what must happen before we can enjoy football from a stand of moral equality again. Must Goodell be fired? (I would love that.) Must Ray Rice be banned for life? (Not having seen the video, I can't say.) Must whoever tweeted for the Ravens that "Janay Rice deeply regrets" be sent to have their head examined? (Magic 8 Ball says: "Yes")

But I am drawing my line in the turf. I have before tweeted, emailed, and blogged about how I feel about how the NFL treats women, and I will continue to do so in the hopes that one day they will realize that women buy half their stuff, and pay half the household's cable bills, and it's about time to start punishing their players for violence against women. However, football provides me with so much relief from what I endure on a weekly basis, I refuse to make my life - a woman's life - harder because Ray Rice is a colossal douche, and Roger Goodell is a bigger one.


P.S. Has anyone ever wondered why so many football players love their mothers - say that they're doing this for their mother (or their grandmother) and once they "make it" buy them houses and cars...and yet, still treat women in general like shit?

MINvsOAK Preseason Game #1

Couldn't get the video stream (ugh) so listening to the game on KFAN's audio stream, which is great to have, but I keep missing things.

Positives:
We scored first!
Sounded like Cassel and Patterson had a little chemistry going, which is good.
Blair Walsh makes a 30 yarder to make the score 10-0, glad he's keeping in shape.
Interception by Kurt Coleman! 
Field goal blocked by Gerald Hodges.

Negatives:
S Mistral Raymond is out with "concussion-like' symptoms.  UGH.  Because we can afford to lose any defensive players!
Bridgewater finishes the half 3/8 for 24 yards.  Sorry, I know you gotta give QBs a year or two, but really?  Blah.
Bridgewater game total: 6/13, 49 yds.Slight improvement.  Ish.
Blair Walsh missed a FG from 53 yards.  I mean, this isn't hugely bad, but it's not a positive.

Twitter Notes:
Vikings have 8 first downs with 1:51 left in first quarter
Anthony Barr gets a sack!
Jerick McKinnon had six carries for 36 yards on his first drive for the Vikings - he's a rookie.
AJ Mansour - A lot of attention being put on Teddy & the offense but the Vikings defense has allowed 139 yards, 6 first downs & 0 point through 1 half.
Raiders score a TD and PAT is good with 1:25 left in the game. Vikings lead 10-6.


HALFTIME:
The Vikings lead the Raiders 10-0 at the half.
Cassel - 5/6 for 62 yards
Bridgewater - 3/8 for 24 yards
McKinnon - 45 yards


FINAL:
Vikings WIN 10-6!!

We won.  I'm happy!  Can't wait to see some footage tomorrow, wish I could've seen the game.  Still, we won!

Jersey Dilemma

I have three Vikings' jerseys.  One is a Harvin jersey (that I can't wear because he autographed it, and the damn autograph is fading already), one is a Jared Allen jersey, and one is an Antoine Winfield jersey.

First, Harvin left.
Then Winfield left.
THEN Allen went to the Bears, of all the misbegotten teams he could've gone to!!

So today I was at the mall, wandered into a sports store, and saw a Ponder jersey...I was going to get it, but they were $100 so I said screw it.

KC Chiefs

Have released CB Brandon Flowers!

I wonder if the Vikes' FO wants some leadership at the CB position??

Just tiny tidbit updates for now, boys and girls.  After all, it IS the World Cup!  Força Portugal!

Vikings 2014

According to NFL Network "The Vikings have the best chance to 'shock the world' in 2014." 



But will we?

Free Agency Frenzy

Well, boys and girls, it's Spring Break and one of the best parts is that free agency is open for business!

In extremely sad news, I have to report the loss of Jared Allen and Toby Gerhart.  Jared Allen is testing free agency for the first time, presumably in hopes of getting a ring before he retires.  Toby Gerhart, who has so nobly and patiently waited for minutes behind Adrian Peterson has signed a 3 year, $10.5 million deal with Jacksonville, with the Jaguars guaranteeing a whopping $4.5 million!  I'm happy for Gerhart, and Allen certainly deserves a good deal...but how I HATE losing them both!

This of course brings us to Everson Griffen and Matt Cassel, both of whom were (reportedly) very eager to re-sign with the Vikings.  I'm THRILLED we keep Cassel, because in my opinion, he's the best FA QB out there, and I'm hoping this means we dump Freeman (didn't he just have a 1 year contract anyway?) and get a rookie to train up.  Cassel's new contract is for 2 years, not sure how long Griffen's contract is for.

I'm happy to keep Griffen too, especially since he seemed to excited to stay with the Vikings and become a starting DE under our new coach Mike Zimmer.

We've also signed a former Giant - nose tackle Linval Joseph for a 5-year, $31.5 million dollar deal.  Dude is 6'4" and 323 pounds (holy crap!), and apparently the Giants really wanted to keep him but didn't make their offer sweet enough.  He's 25, and been a starter for the last three seasons for the Giants, with 59 tackles in each of the last two seasons!!  Also had 7 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries in the last two years.  I am liking this signing.  Hopefully he fits in well with the team, staff, and picks up our game plan fast.

In ex-Viking news, Geoff Schwartz has joined the NY Giants.  He seems quite excited at the prospect...I would have thought he would be sad to leave the Chiefs after their season last season.

I'll try to keep up with what else is going on in free agency but I do have a thesis to write.  Hopefully we address enough line issues in FA that we can go BPA and big playmaker in the draft!  SKOL!

Sharper

I know I've been incommunicado lately - grad school is ridiculous.

Anyway I wanted to stop in and say I'm so disappointed with Darren Sharper.  Dude is very good-looking, and there's something so twisted in his head he's allegedly drugged and raped up to seven women??

I don't know if it's true.  (I don't want it to be, but the evidence against him seems overwhelming.)

We have GOT to stop idolizing football players, most of all in middle/high school, and yes, in college.  If you let minor infractions (shop-lifting, fighting, etc) slide when they're kids they are going to think they can get away with anything once they get the big bucks.  And it usually happens too.   This is ridiculous and has to be stopped.  If kids want their football career to happen, they have to learn to not rape, steal, and kill.  Sorry boys, that's just the way it needs to be.