* By Jill Wagner*
As Colin Kaepernick’s new Nike ad continues to divide the country, one former NFL player says, in the end, sports will help reunite it.
Randal "Thrill" Hill played for the Miami Dolphins, the Phoenix / Arizona Cardinals, and the New Orleans Saints long before Kaepernick and other players started kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racial inequality.
So, is he worried that the Anthem controversy will permanently damage the league? Just the opposite.
Hill told Cheddar Big News, "When things go wrong in this country, the NFL and sports usually brings the country back together.”
Hill points to the days after the attacks on September 11th. Professional baseball was put on hold for six days. When the season resumed, the Mets played their archrival the Braves for the first major sporting event in New York after the attacks. Mets players wore NYPD and FDNY hats, Mike Piazza hit a home run, and for many people, it felt like things would actually be okay.
Then the Yankees made it to the World Series, and President Bush threw out the first pitch.
Hill also talked about the Miami riots during the 1980s, and how football helped bring the city together during those troubling times.
“The NFL usually brings ー and even Major League Baseball ー bring citizens of the United States together to cheer and have fun and to go out just have a great time watching a good event.”
It’s still not clear how history will judge Nike's new “Just Do It” ad, which aired during Thursday night’s NFL season opener. Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick voices the commercial, telling the audience to "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."
The company’s stock price has dropped since Nike first revealed the new campaign and some critics have burned their sneakers. President Trump weighed in, tweeting, "Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts.”
At the same time, many fans and professional athletes are showing their support, with the hashtag #JustDoIt trending on Twitter.
Traditionally around this time of the year, advertisers and agencies attend hours of pitches from media companies featuring their most promising TV shows and marquee events for the upcoming year. Like so many things in 2020, this year is different.
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is among more than a dozen NFL stars who united to send a passionate video message to the league about racial inequality.
The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.
The baseball players’ association has given management a wide-ranging response to a 67-page proposed set of protocols for a season to be played during the coronavirus pandemic.
NASCAR drivers will be returning to Darlington Raceway this weekend in South Carolina, but even with those loud engines, it'll be a much quieter racetrack. After a two month suspension due to COVID-19, the racing organization will hold it's first race without fans in the stands or high fives in Victory Lane. Jill Gregory, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at NASCAR, talked to Cheddar Friday.
A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that Major League Baseball owners have given the go-ahead to making a proposal to the players’ union that could lead to the coronavirus-delayed season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans.
Under 1% of Major League Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Results were based on 5,603 completed records from employees of 26 clubs.
The Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers are set to offer refunds or credits for unplayed regular-season games at their shared arena because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The public trading debut of the sports-betting company comes at an odd time for the company. With sports events all on hold, the platform's users are being encouraged to bet on other odds, like episodes of 'Survivor.'
"The Last Dance" became ESPN’s highest-rated documentary in its history Sunday night, averaging 6.1 million viewers during its premiere, the network announced in a statement on Monday.
