If you’re still boycotting NFL games over player protests of the national anthem or the NFL owners’ handling of Colin Kaepernick, it’s time to put your feelings on ice for a few weeks.
It’s the NFL playoffs and the games have been wildly entertaining considering how putrid some matchups were during the regular season. If you at least caught Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs’ walk-off touchdown to beat the New Orleans Saints, the Jacksonville Jaguars upsetting the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field, or an underdog Philadelphia Eagles team defeating the defending NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons, then you know what I’m talking about.
Sure, the New England Patriots routing the Tennessee Titans was business as usual for them. However, 2018 might yield one of the more shocking sporting results, a first-time Super Bowl champion for three of the four franchises left in the playoffs.
New England (I’m a die-hard fan) has won two of the last three Super Bowls and five altogether. If they hoist the trophy in the end, they’ll tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most all-time. And they would have done it in the span of 17 years, all under the same coach-quarterback duo in Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. That’s insane.
But even if New England doesn’t win, you can still be excited that three teams still in it have never reached the mountaintop. The Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles have both played in multiple Super Bowls, three and two, respectively, losing all five contests. Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars have never reached the Super Bowl and have been cast off as the laughingstock of the league.
If you were hurt by players peacefully protesting during the national anthem to raise awareness for police brutality and racial inequality or NFL owners not hiring Kaepernick and want to continue boycotting the NFL, then that’s fine. The league doesn’t need you. Its product is getting better and better and will attract more fans as time goes by. And from what I’ve seen, player protests have gone down in frequency, probably because there are fewer games and players to see protest during the anthem. And Kaepernick is doing well in his new career as an activist. So, if you want to go back to boycotting the league during the 2018-19 regular season, by all means, go ahead. For now, put some of that political animosity aside because you’re missing some phenomenal football.
Siraj Hashmi is a commentary video editor and writer for the Washington Examiner.
