Chapter 855 Hot Potato
“Defend the title, defend the title!”
“Los Angeles is the champ!”
"Chief, without a doubt, 100 percent behind the chief!"
"A question, if Levi wins the Super Bowl again this year, will he be eligible to compete for GOAT in the future?"
"Cosmic Sheep, please rise!"
Noisy, boiling, and eye-catching.
Bustling, bustling, coming, coming, the annual Super Bowl is finally here, and it’s the season of collective carnival across the entire North American continent.
"Within the league" is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone is predicting the championship, and the two teams also invariably show their huge fan base——
An internet craze.
However, as the craze approaches, the discordant voices become louder and louder.
Protest, boycott, fight back.
The negative voices climbed to the peak in a frenzy, and finally evolved into a mighty movement.
Not against the Kansas Chiefs, not against the Los Angeles Rams, but against the Super Bowl.
Or to be more precise, targeting the alliance.
Two things.
First, racial discrimination.
Things need to be traced back to the 2016 season.
At that time, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, dissatisfied with police violence and racial discrimination, chose to sit on the bench during the preseason national anthem to protest.
Subsequently, at the suggestion of veteran and former NFL player Nate Boyer, Kaepernick changed to kneeling during the national anthem, which could better show his respect for the military while still being able to express own protest message.
And, Kaepernick lasted the entire season.
This incident caused a sensation throughout the league, with voices of support and opposition erupting.
Supporters believe that Kaepernick's actions are a necessary protest against those violent acts and unfair treatment; opponents believe that Kaepernick disrespects the national flag and military personnel and chose the wrong time to protest.
In March 2017, Kaepernick became a free agent in his prime, but never found a job. This was generally believed to be a team effort by league teams to squeeze out Kaepernick, although the league has never publicly expressed support or condemnation. But this action has made a statement.
This has also triggered wider protests, and more and more players have joined Kaepernick's ranks. Not only the NFL, but other leagues have also paid widespread attention.
This incident lasted for two full years.
Before the start of the 2018 season, the NFL issued a new decree that players must remain standing during the national anthem, or they can choose to stay in the locker room.
The decision that seemed to take into account the views of both sides turned out to be that Zhu Bajie was not a human being inside and outside the mirror. Instead, he was strongly criticized by the concentrated firepower of different views from both sides.
In addition, not long ago, the NFL and Kaepernick finally reached an out-of-court settlement——
Kaepernick filed a formal lawsuit accusing the league of colluding with teams to exclude him and not allow teams interested in him to sign with him.
The alliance chose to settle the matter.
This solution once again stirred up a hornet's nest, and both supporters and opponents were dissatisfied.
It is precisely because of this that the news event of "Gillette Stadium vs. Levi's" in the sixth week of this year's regular season triggered such energy, just touching the sensitive nerves, and bustling voices came from all directions.
The matter has not completely calmed down, and is still continuing to ferment.
Second, players are violent.
The Kansas Chiefs are in the eye of the storm. In the case of running back Hunter, the focus surrounding player violence has never cooled down, and the league has not yet given an investigation result. Netizens said: We have not forgotten this matter.
Everything became noisy again after the strong appearance in the Super Bowl.
There were even indignant netizens who said that the NFL awarded the regular season MVP to Levi just to shut them up.
So, the boycott came -
Led by actors, singers, and public figures, and fueled by netizens, they have stated openly and covertly that they will boycott the Super Bowl.
New Orleans: Seconded!
The controversial call at the last minute of the NFC finals sacrificed the New Orleans Saints' chance to return to the Super Bowl; what's worse is that the league has refused to respond directly, which has made the entire New Orleans completely angry.
A city that is calling for fans to use practical actions to make their voices heard and their anger heard by the league, and to make the league truly feel the pain by refusing to watch the Super Bowl——
The decline in ratings will indeed directly affect the income of the league and TV stations. After all, if advertisers are not satisfied with the publicity effect, they will put pressure on the league and TV stations to solve the problem.
A wave of boycott is rising.
In fact, truly smart people are aware of the subtleties and sense the direction of the trend immediately. They don’t even need to wait for the wave of “boycotting the Super Bowl” to make the first choice——
five months ago.
Rihanna, Jay-Z, and Cardi-B (Cardi-B), the league sent invitations to them in order, hoping that they would be the halftime show guests. However, the halftime show that everyone once competed for has become a hot spot. All of them were rejected.
Rihanna was the first to refuse, and publicly stated that she rejected such a proposal because of her support for Kaepernick.
Jay-Z and Cardi-B also expressed similar views in interviews. They saw through the alliance's tactics and hoped to use minority performers to act as fig leaves to cover up their embarrassment.
Alliance: ...see through it but don’t tell it, okay?
The position of the halftime show guest performer is incredibly difficult, and there has been no news yet.
Later, it was rumored that Maroon-5 was invited——
White people.
It seems that the alliance has finally changed its strategy.
After learning about this incident, fans even signed a letter to the Magic Red Band to reject the invitation and draw a clear line with the NFL with such behavior.
However, Magic Red agreed.
Moreover, the alliance invited the new generation of black rapper Travis-Scott to star together.
It was rumored that Jay-Z persuaded Scott to withdraw, but Scott decided to star after careful consideration, on the condition that the league joins him in donating half a million dollars to the charity Dream Group.
The alliance agreed.
There is no doubt that this is the most chaotic and noisy Super Bowl in twenty years.
On the one hand, there was a lot of negative news off the court, and the "Boycott of the Super Bowl" was vigorous, and even Goodell found it particularly difficult to deal with it.
On the one hand, the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs has a lot to watch. It is not only the head-to-head confrontation between the Youth Storm for the second consecutive year, but also a powerful collision between the two most entertaining teams this season.
As a result, all kinds of voices exploded on social networks.
Those who are anticipating and opposing, those who are excited and angry, those who are gearing up to speak righteously, those who insist on their own opinions and try to persuade others, it is a total blowout.
Different events on and off the field converged on the Super Bowl and ignited a fire, so that opinions and opinions collided powerfully, creating a huge wave.
Moreover, don't forget that Levi made history and was crowned the regular season MVP for the first time, making a strong appearance, which attracted different attention from all walks of life.
Then, passers-by fans who knew nothing about football or the Super Bowl were stunned——
So... lively?
(End of chapter)