The NFL Goes Woke... Again!

“Oh, the humanity!”

If you are a history buff like me, you will recognize those words by Herbert Morrison, a reporter for radio station WLS in Chicago, who was an eyewitness to the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937.

Here is the full context of Morrison’s live radio report…

“It's burst into flames! Get this, Charlie; get this, Charlie! It's fire... and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames and the... and it's falling on the mooring mast and all the folks between it. This is terrible; this is one of the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's... [unintelligible] its flames... Crashing, oh! Oh, four or five hundred feet into the sky, and it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. There's smoke, and there's flames, now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here! I told you; it – I can't even talk to people, their friends are on there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest: it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk and the screaming. I... I... I'm sorry. Honest: I... I can hardly breathe. I... I'm going to step inside, where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah... I can't. Listen, folks; I... I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.”

The crash of the Hindenburg, a hydrogen-filled dirigible that was the largest airship in the world, claimed the lives of 35 people including 13 passengers, 22 crewmen, and one person on the ground. Miraculously, 23 passengers and 39 crewmen somehow survived as the zeppelin was engulfed in flames and crashed to the ground.

So, why bring up such a tragedy and what does it have to do with the NFL? Well, my friends, last week Harrison Butker, a placekicker with the Kansas City Chiefs, made headlines across the country.

Was it because he has the second highest field goal percentage (89.1%) in NFL history? Nope. Was it because in Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024, he won his third championship ring while setting Super Bowl records for the longest field goal (57 yards) and the most career field goals (9)? Nope again.

Believe it or not, Harrison Butker was front page news because, during a recent college commencement address, he encouraged women to find fulfillment as wives, mothers, and homemakers... calling that occupation “one of the most important titles” a woman can hold.

What audacity! Cover your ears and head for the fire exits! Women and children first (or is that too sexist, ageist, and misogynistic to say?)

Not only that, but in his remarks to the graduating class Butner denounced abortion, criticized Gay Pride Month and COVID-19 lockdowns, and decried “the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Butker also spoke against “dangerous gender ideologies” and urged male students to “fight against the cultural emasculation of men.”

It doesn’t matter, at least to the mainstream media and the politically woke NFL, that Butker is a devout Catholic and that his speech was delivered at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Atchinson, Kansas. Apparently, his First Amendment right to free speech stops where political correctness begins.

In response to Butner’s comments, the NFL released the following statement, distancing themselves from Butker faster than Barry Sanders breaking tackles in the open field. “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” said Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior VP and chief diversity and inclusion officer in an interview with NPR. “His views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”

So, there you have it, folks. Don’t you dare support traditional values or the nuclear family… and if you do, be prepared for all hell to break loose. You will be criticized, ridiculed, lampooned, and ostracized for denouncing “degenerate cultural values” and saying that you can’t be “both Catholic and pro-choice.”

The good news is that Butker isn’t backing down nor is he retracting his comments. And guess what? The students at Benedictine College gave him a standing ovation and – if I had been there – I would have, too.