Martellus Bennett Breaks Down Many Ways Racism Is Visible in NFL

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: Martellus Bennett takes everyone to school, the return of “Inside the NBA” and more.

The NFL would be so much better off if the Bennett brothers were co-commissioners

Drew Brees got a significant portion of the NFL to turn against him yesterday when he ignorantly framed protests during the national anthem as “disrespecting the flag of the United States of America,” citing his grandfathers’ military service as the reason why he chooses to stand with his hand over his heart during the anthem.

I don’t know how thick your skull has to be to not realize that people of all backgrounds served in the armed forces to protect the freedom to protest embodied by that flag, but I guess Brees’s understanding of history isn’t as strong as his arm. 

Brees’s comments drew responses from a large number of athletes, including his teammates Michael Thomas and Malcolm Jenkins, as well as LeBron James. My favorite response, though, was from former NFL tight end Martellus Bennett, because he went beyond Brees and spoke about issues in the NFL as a whole. 

Over the course of 23 tweets, Bennett spoke about the harsh treatment of Black quarterbacks, shallow corporate statements, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio’s ridiculous claim there isn’t racism in the NFL, paternalistic coaches and the difficulty Black former players have making post-playing careers in the league. 

It’s a long thread, but I’m going to embed it in full here because it’s worth it. 

Bennett wasn’t done there, either. He had two addenda about Black coaches and quarterbacks. 

He’s 100% right about all of that, especially the part about coaching and front office jobs. The white billionaires who own the teams have set up a system where Black people are a majority of the disposable workforce of players but far underrepresented among decision makers. You can’t tell me the NFL wouldn’t be better off with Bennett in a position of power helping to make the league more equitable for everybody. 

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Around the sports world

The NBA has a plan to return with 22 teams playing eight regular-season games to determine playoff seeding. ... The Seattle Sounders fired a broadcaster over a tweet about racism. 

Drag him!

Man this 💩 did not happen mane. We got a generated text that was sent to everybody. There was no one on one talk between us and coach. This is a lie and me and my teammates as a whole are outraged and we will not be working out until further notice 💯 #hunchoout https://t.co/6Uuy6K7Eu3

— Big Marv 🦦 (@marvinwilson21) June 4, 2020

Brees apologized, but it still would have been nice for him to acknowledge that the flag stands for the right to protest

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A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees)

No lies spotted

Unsurprisingly, no backtrack from Akiem Hicks: "You heard that, huh? Yeah, I said that. It was a feeling."

— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) June 3, 2020

Good luck shipping a whole basketball court when I can’t get a package delivered in less than a month

On the flip side, the idea of transporting a home floor is on the table. Disney is prepared to provide all the courts necessary at ESPN Wide World of Sports, but will welcome teams shipping their welcome their own floors if that's the direction that this goes.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 3, 2020

I really need to hear Shaq threaten to kick Charles Barkley’s ass

TNT will televise a one-hour live edition of the Inside the NBA tomorrow on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal, joined by special guests, will discuss NBA news and social injustice towards the Black community in America.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) June 3, 2020

Nice to see Kuechly staying around the game

From NFL Now: The #Panthers have offered a pro scouting job to retired LB Luke Kuechly, and it appears he'll likely take it. Bet he'll be pretty good at it, too. pic.twitter.com/vn7WyR6j7G

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 3, 2020

Not sports

Lab-grown human livers have been successfully transplanted in rats. ... AMC, the world’s largest movie theater chain, says it has “substantial doubt” it can reopen.

Climate change you can see in real time

This tweet is more entertaining than most movies

Spanish porn star Nacho Vidal, who likes to advertise his aromatic candles shaped like male genitalia on Twitter, has been arrested on manslaughter charges following a man's death during a mystic ritual in which he inhaled psychedelic toad venom @AFP https://t.co/csPGMAnQOq

— Hazel Ward (@WardieJerusalem) June 3, 2020

Carve out five minutes to read this thread

A good song

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