Ryan Tannehill
The Train Daddy is back with sports news, life lessons and politically incorrect talk. All aboard! I hope you all have been enjoying this beautiful Tennessee summer. I do my best to turn off all that noise going on in the world and social media. It’s why I do not have a Facebook page. Much of the noise is pointless. The media claims COVID is mutating like a Ninja Turtle, and I could honestly care less. I feel for those who have lost loved ones, but at the end of the day my life must go on regardless, and so should yours. The damage psychologically to America’s children and even some adults, in my opinion, is just as significant as the lives lost. We talk about restricting this, restricting that, and don’t give much thought to how this will affect the next generation of future germophobes. I am very thankful I live in Tennessee, open for business for the most part, while many other parts of this country struggle to find any sense of normalcy.
I broke my rule! I told you months ago I would never again talk about COVID in these articles. But I said my piece!
So, at this time last year I was complaining about a comment Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill made. He stated that America was founded upon racist ideas and that those ideas have persisted throughout the last 200 years. He made these comments after athletes across the country protested the shooting of Jacob Blake.
These comments came shortly after Tannehill signed his four-year, $118 million contract extension. I feel Tannehill is probably a very caring individual, and I do not get any vibes from him that he is anything other than a genuine family man and football player. But regarding this sentiment, I believe he is speaking pure ignorance.
Unfortunately, we were not completely living up to the ideals of freedom in 1776, with slavery being common in a young America. Fortunately, we set such high ideals when this country was born that we eventually realized we were lacking. It was the basis that America was founded upon that ultimately helped end the atrocities of slavery. If you do not see it that way, open your eyes!
Here we are a year later, and Tannehill has managed to make another comment that is riling some folk up once again.
Tannehill recently admitted to the press that he had no plans to get vaccinated until the NFL forced his hand. “I’m currently in the [vaccination] process right now,” he said. “The NFL has kind of made it clear what they want to happen. If you don’t fall in line, they’re going to make your life miserable with all the protocols.”
The NFL recently announced strict penalties for players and teams who don’t reach a certain vaccination rate. Restrictions that include separate travel and numerous other tidbits that would make life much more difficult for a professional athlete.
As with many businesses, schools, places of employment and medical facilities these days, the NFL has unveiled different sets of rules for players who are and who are not vaccinated.
Players who have not been vaccinated are not permitted to eat meals with teammates.
Unvaccinated players would have to take a COVID test every single day!
The unvaccinated cannot travel on a plane with the rest of their teammates.
If an unvaccinated player tests positive for COVID, he must wait a mandatory 10 days before returning to team activities. Fully vaccinated asymptomatic players can return to team activities after two negative tests, regardless of the time frame.
Teams must use colored wristbands or some way to visually distinguish unvaccinated from vaccinated players.
Unvaccinated players may not be able to leave their hotel room during away game trips, other than to go to the stadium.
The NFL is not “requiring” that its players get vaccinated, just shaming and bullying them into compliance.
Tannehill later stated, “I wouldn’t have gotten the vaccine without the protocols that they’re enforcing on us. I think it’s a personal decision for everyone. Everyone has to make the best decision for them and their families.”
At the end of the day the NFL is a business, and they made a business decision. Do not believe for one second the NFL gives two craps about these players’ health. It’s about money and it is about appeasing a loud progressive scream the NFL is too cowardly to ignore. If the NFL had some balls, they would just mandate the vaccine, right? Instead, they bully, and they bully, and they push this vaccine so aggressively that they make the unvaccinated players feel insignificant!
Go read former ESPN analyst Jemele Hill. Yeah, the same moronic Hill who recently compared modern-day America to something worse than Nazi Germany. Go read her piece in The Atlantic on the NFL and vaccines; she sadly represents many.
Some coaches and assistants have already quit or wink-wink been fired due to how hard the NFL has pushed with these restrictions. It’s still a minority, but some big-time players like DeAndre Hopkins, arguably the best receiver in the NFL, are speaking out. Hopkins tweeted this: “Never thought I would say this but being put in a position to hurt my team because I don’t want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL.”
Tom Brady’s running back and Super Bowl champion Leonard Fournette simply tweeted “Vaccine I can’t do it.” Jalen Ramsey, arguably the best cornerback in the game, wrote “the NFL is pressuring guys to get the vaccine. They are saying if there is an outbreak, the team will be penalized heavily. My point is no teammate of mine will feel pressure from me.”
I have mad respect for Jalen after making that comment. Every player in the NFL should be saying the exact same thing. Every owner! Every coach! Yet half these people hide like cowards afraid of the backlash from the media and league itself.
Cole Beasley of the Bills remains the face of the “vaccine should be a choice” movement in the NFL. “I’m not anti- or pro-vax. I’m pro-choice. The issue at hand is information is being withheld from players in order to be swayed in a direction that [they] may not be comfortable with,” he said.
He also stirred the pot with this tweet: “If you’re scared of me then steer clear. Point. Blank. Period. I may die of COVID, but I’d rather die actually living.”
Hate Beasley or love him, he stood up and is continuing to stand up in the face of heavy scrutiny. Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill took a different approach, stating, “I want to be able to compete and do things I think are important to build chemistry and win football games. Ultimately that forced my hand into getting the vaccine.”
Well, I let the players do most of the talking in this article because I feel that is important. Many outlets will not cover this minority. I 100-percent believe the vaccine should be a choice. I don’t believe it is your business or mine who is or isn’t vaccinated. But sadly, we are in the bullying stage of the vaccines, and what sucks is many Americans would be okay with jumping right to the stage where we force, and without shame would admit as much.
So, enough said! I felt the need to get that off my chest this issue. I may not agree with everything that goes on surrounding the game of football, but the fact remains I love it. I have always loved this game and will continue to love this game, even if I am part of the silent majority regarding my opinions. This is America, right? This is a country where opposing viewpoints can crash into each other with no harm done and maybe both sides come away from the incident better off. It seems to me people who hold many of the opinions I seem to hold get ridiculed, canceled and told to F-off, sadly. I just typed that sentence with a smile on my face because at the end of the day I don’t care what you think about me. I am what I am—a code-blue-bleeding Titans fan who lives by this motto: The 5 F’s: Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends!
Next issue, right before NFL kickoff we dig deep into this 2021 Titans team and get ready for actual Titans talk, updates on the team and its players, and the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
I love my Titans and I love this country with a passion. If that makes me an oddity, whatever! I wish you, the reader, the best. The Train is rolling into the station. Choo-choo!
