Welcome to my petition - hope you had a great holiday season! My name is Sam, and I’m about to ramble on for a while to try and argue a seemingly crazy idea I believe in. I get it - we’re talking about the most valuable franchise in all of sports. But by the end, I promise everyone will realize this idea isn’t 🥜 at all. 

That being said? Attention is a valuable resource. I can’t blame anybody for thinking this would be wasting it. 

So I’m left with one real option here: I had to place the powerful half life spell on anyone who reads this far. With magical properties so strong… Etsy had to ban it altogether. You shall remain inflicted with this dreaded curse until you finish reading this petition. If you sign and share? Idk invisible, majestic butterflies will lift it off your back or something. 

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Every major professional sport follows a unique business model. Fans pay a ton of money to enjoy a game at a stadium they themselves have already paid to build and maintain. If you’re following the Chiefs leaving Kansas City, taxpayers are also left to foot the demolition cost of an empty stadium when a team decides to up & leave. A city fresh off celebrating 3 Super Bowls in 5 trips to the dance. It’s a little sad - Arrowhead was always an electric crowd. A reminder the team doesn’t have to love a city the way the city gets to love a team. I know Chiefs fans are extra upset - it’s been a long time since they’ve been on the wrong side of a planted flag. 

Any business so insistent to take taxpayer dollars is, by default, an extension of America itself. The league should be held up to code the same way they expect a stadium itself must be. When breaches of common sense occur? Seems fair the public itself can set the price of a lapse in morality.

Sometimes an Ego Check is the best form of currency. 

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This has been (and always will be) a talent over everything league. Everybody understands and accepts it up to a certain point. We’re the land of 2nd chances, but the severity of a screw up needs to be carefully considered. 

New Year’s reminded us the league isn’t quite moving the sticks on issues with women. Let’s take a walk through recent history:

• Player A: Starting quarterback takes a knee during the anthem to protest social causes. Never holds another NFL* job. 
• Player B: Faces 30+ cases of sexual assault/misconduct. Settles, then instantly becomes the highest paid NFL* player at the time with a fully guaranteed contract. Still on a team. 

The league has shown itself capable of taking a stand on what it considers major issues. My problem lies in the perception of what it considers a major issue. 

*Draftkings: if you don’t bet on your team to win, can you really call yourself a Jets fan? 

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I think the league itself would admit some regrettable actions in both situations. So what we’d like to see is a little growth. Learning from mistakes. 

In the aftermath of player ‘A’ the NFL* put together its best marketing minds and created a one-of-a-kind slogan to display on the field: “end racism.” Truly inspiring. I’m reminded of Dr. King’s famous words: “I have a dream… that was dreamt outside of company time.” 

Player ‘B’?  A never-before-seen, 11 game suspension just in time for him to return for a high profile game against his former team. That’s… appeasement. A perception of we’re tough, but fair(est to us). The easiest choice tends to rival the right one. 

 

*Draftkings: technically it’s a type of book? Learn sum math, today!

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In that light, we’re winding down on an era of NFL* football that featured a love story on full display. Enjoying the increased viewership that comes from a reality show with an entertainment billionaire. Capitalizing on the financial possibilities her presence provides.

Maybe that’s what it takes to inspire real change. Maybe that love was strong enough to pierce right through some gold-plated hearts. 

Well, to first embrace viewers of a woman who takes full advantage of the ability to hop on a private jet and travel wherever in the world she wants to go funded by saying whatever she chooses to say…

… to then pivot and partner with Saudi Arabia. Who, while strides have been made over the past ten years, is still a regime where outspoken women have their courage honored with a prison sentence. 

*DraftKings: We don’t just have a 👑

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I’m sick of being behind the eight ball in this country. I’m sick of people making shitty, short term decisions. I’ve seen too many lawsuits settled with the paying party admitting no fault.

Here’s the reality of a Saudi prison: they impose extreme interrogation techniques. Sure, it can be used to coerce a confession. But that’s not its true purpose. What it’s really designed to do is strip you of instinct. Of your honor and dignity. To realign someone’s value system - obedience is king when lead by a prince. They want the audience of an activist to see a changed human being upon release. They’ve been known to strategically place electrical burns - reminding you of that reform every day before you shower.

I’m sure the NFL* is against this. I’m sure in 10 years, they’ll have hundreds of millions to their name from partnerships like these. Along with a new slogan: “censorship is bad.” 

It’s easy to take money like this. What isn’t easy is understanding what it’s like to look in the mirror and see a mark. Day after day after day after day.

I lost what many experts would call decades of sleep asking myself one simple question: “How can we help this league?” I suppose it’s fitting the answer finally revealed herself in a dream. 

 

*Draftkings: We even have a 💚!

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The Dallas Cowgirls

 

Is she not as brave a Lion? As powerful a Titan? Stubborn as a ram?

Let’s make history, together. This is a chance to celebrate female role models. Honor the lives of countless famous cowgirls, including: Annie Oakley.

 

 And others.

 

This change is what you make of it. It doesn’t feed the hungry, it doesn’t bomb a town. It’s 5 little letters. But to some? To those who decided torture is an acceptable cost of doing business? This petition catching fire is a sadistic act. The price of an informed decision.

This statement from America, for its values, can only be made by America. 

‘s team.

🦅 🇺🇸

🦋Free at Last🦋