NFL
By: Zachary Draves
The future of San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich remains uncertain, but his consistency on speaking truth to power on relevant political and social issues will never waiver.
During the closing minutes of a pre-game press conference before the Spurs final regular season game against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, Popovich decided to not speak further about the game nor address the rumors of his potential retirement after a fifty year coaching career, including twenty seven years with the Spurs. Instead, he used nine minutes of that precious time to excoriate lawmakers for their obvious ineptitude in addressing the scourge of gun violence that is plaguing America.
(Courtesy: Jermone Miron/USA Today Sports)
He started off by asking reporters if they had brought guns to the arena and then called out Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn for their responses to the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville in which three children and three adults were killed.
“I mean, I couldn’t believe it, so I wrote this thing down,” Popovich said. “But Senator Marsha Blackburn, her comment after was, after the massacre, ‘My office is in contact with federal, state and local officials and we stand ready to assist.’
“In what?! They’re dead! What are you going to assist with? Cleaning up their brains off the wall? Wiping the blood off the school room floor? What are you going to assist with?
“And then there’s Governor Lee. I’m sorry to go on and on, but Bill Lee, ‘I’m closely monitoring the tragic situation. Please join us in prayer.’ What are you monitoring? They’re dead! Children, they’re dead.”
He then went on to call out Texas Senator Ted Cruz on certain policy proposals and criticized the continued shielding behind the Second Amendment by Cruz and other politicians.
“But they’re going to cloak all this stuff in the myth of the Second Amendment, the freedom. You know, it’s just a myth. It’s a joke. It’s just a game they play. I mean, that’s freedom. Is it freedom for kids to go to school and try to socialize and try to learn and be scared to death that they might die that day?
“But Ted Cruz will fix it, ‘cause he is gonna double the number of cops in the schools. That’s what he wants to do. Well, that’ll create a great environment. Is that freedom? Or is it freedom to have a congressman who can make a postcard with all his family holding rifles, including an AR-15 or whatever. Is that cool? Is that like street cred for a Republican? That’s freedom? That’s more important than protecting kids? I don’t get it.”
(Courtesy: NBA.com)
Now that it has been reported that four people were killed in a shooting rampage in Louisville, Kentucky, Pop’s words are more relevant than ever.
This is nothing new when looking at his track record on social justice. He has always been on the right side when it comes to matters of racial justice, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun violence. Much like fellow coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors who lost his father to gun violence, Popovich has a keen understanding of present day realities.
America has a huge problem with guns and by this point everyone with a clear consciousness knows that.
According to the National Gun Violence Archive, there have been 146 mass shootings in 2023 alone. The cries for action and policy as opposed to hallow thoughts and prayers has reached a fever pitch with swarms of protesters, most of them young people, marching their way into the Tennessee state capital demanding that something be done immediately after the Covenant shooting.
(Courtesy: Seth Herald/Getty Images)
Instead of respecting the will of the people, the Republican super majority in the General Assembly decided to expel two young black Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson and attempted to expel Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white colleague. Each of whom participated in the protest.
(Courtesy: John Partipilo)
Many including Popovich, called out the racial dynamics at play that harken back to one of the worst chapters in American History.
“I mean, we’ve got two young Black guys in Tennessee who just got railroaded by a bunch of people that I would bet down deep in their soul want to go back to Jim Crow,” he said. “And what they just did is a good start. It’s beyond comprehension. And what were they guilty of? They actually protested?”
Those who will criticize Popovich and say he should “shut up and coach” or worse than that “stick to sports” know well that if he was on their side, they would be heralding him. So let this be a reminder that the whole “stick to sports” spiel has been proven by history to be unrealistic.
Athletes, coaches, and others involved the sports world are citizens too.
(Courtesy: Darren Abate/EPA/Shutterstock)
Gregg Popovich’s place in history as one of the greatest coaches of all time is written in stone and he will accept his rightful place in the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. But his most endearing legacy will be his humanity and his willingness to stick to principle when it mattered the most.
If he and many others who are demanding change are continuously being given the cold shoulder by those in positions of power, then we may have reached the point of no return. But as history has shown us with unyielding resistance and persistence, it may be a long time coming, but a change is gonna come.
