I think we are at a very important intersection in this country and quite frankly trying to figure out how it is going to turn out is driving a lot of people up a tree.
Al Michaels, the iconic play-by-play man, now from NBC said during the Giants Broncos game Sunday night something along the lines that the Giants had a worse week then Harvey Weinstein.
It was a line in football game. But the internet is up in arms over what was said as being somehow flip about sexual misconduct.
You may remember one iconic line of the 72 year old Michaels “Do you believe in Miracles?” He was not being flip about religion.
No matter whether you laughed at the line or not…whether you thought it was appropriate or not, when did every word in a football game become the be all and end all of life?
Sometimes, you use a line during a game because it sounds funny in your head and it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve been there. I’ve done it.
Let’s consider what happened here.
Michaels was flip about something. And, then the world called him out for it and was equally flip in doing it.
Football is a multibillion dollar sport.
But it is a game. One that we will watch and talk about it. We may not be around for the anthem or we may but when the clock starts running we will all be watching in some way. We will complain about the Giants or the Pats or the Jets or get this, even the Cleveland Browns.
But it is not a window on the world for social change or world events.
We need to stop being so critical of people who don’t need to be criticized.
Al Michaels is not the issue.
What happened to women (allegedly) at the hands of a movie producer is.
Can we remember that?
(Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)