Will The NFL Allow Names Of Cops Killed On Helmets? (OPINION)

According to a report via Pro Football Talk, the NFL will now allow its players to display the names of anyone killed in officer-involved altercations on the helmet padding.

“The names of specific persons will be easy to see when TV cameras capture close-up images of players on the field,” Pro Football Talk reports. “The names will come from an approved list, with names like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery among the possibilities.”

Also, the NBA will permit social justice messaging on their uniforms.

Full disclosure: I am not a sports fan. I mean no offense to those who are. I've just never been interested in watching other people play a game.

Most of my friends are sports fans. The reaction I saw from the moment Colin Kaepernick took a knee was what I expected. Fans tune in to tune out. They do not want to attend or watch anything on their sport games that has a political or social message to it. This is a time to relax, enjoy, and forget the problems of the world for a moment.

On the other side of this we have the players who want to exercise their freedom of speech. My argument is not against speech. It's just that there is a time and place for everything. They should speak their mind somewhere else.

But that is not what is happening here.

Okay then, they want to put the names of those who have been killed by police on their helmets. Sure, go right ahead. You have something to say? Say it.

Over the weekend a St. Louis police officer, the 8th shot since June, died from his injuries. Officer Tamarris Bohannon was shot in the head while responding to a late-afternoon call involving a gunman, St. Louis Police Commissioner John Hayden told reporters Saturday.

Anyone going to put his name on a helmet? 

Here is a list of officers killed in the line of duty back in 2019. There have been 65 lawmen killed in the line of duty as of mid July 2020.

Police officers are volunteers, each and every one of them, and work for low pay and little respect as they deal with an endless parade of thugs, drug dealers, domestic abusers, rapist, murderers... The list is long. They do it so you can sleep easy at night. They are the ones who clean up the trash, as best they can, so you can live in peace.

They are not perfect. They are humans, just like you. Many of them work in neighborhoods that are like the war zones of the middle East, facing gang violence every day. Just like a soldier at war those that work in the toughest neighborhoods will suffer from PTSD. 

If you want to see a cop smile and relax a little, just show him a little bit of respect should he approach you over some matter. He doesn't often get that.

How about somebody take a knee and shed a tear for them? Lets see some of those names on some NFL helmets.

Below are the words from one of the greatest broadcasters in broadcast history. Paul Harvey's tribute to the policeman.