NFL
By: Zachary Draves
It was supposed to be a day of celebration in Kansas City as they welcomed home their beloved Chiefs after winning their third Super Bowl in four years on Sunday.
Instead, it turned out to be a day filled with carnage where the unifying power of sports was tragically interrupted by senseless violence, much like the bombings at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the Boston Marathon in 2013.
On Wednesday, as the victory parade came to an end outside Union Station, shots rang out in the crowd of at least one million spectators and nearly 800 law enforcement personnel present. One person was killed and at least 21 others were injured. The gunman was tackled to the ground by a group of bystanders and eventually he and two other suspects were taken into custody.
The fatality was Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a DJ at KKFI Radio. Her family has set up a GoFundMe page in her honor and have received a $100,000 donation from Taylor Swift.
(Courtesy: Eric Thomas/Getty Images)
According to the Kansas City Fire Department, eight victims have been admitted due to life threatning injuries.
Eleven children, between the ages of 6 and 15, were admitted to Children’s Mercy Kansas City Hospital and all are expected to make a full recovery.
(Courtesy: David Rainey/USA TODAY Sports)
According to reports, the motive was allegedly due to a “private dispute”.
Immediately, the same song was sung by the same choir with the chorus verse being “thoughts and prayers”. Yet there continues to be a disgusting reluctance if not complete indifference to do something about the scourge of mass shootings that has become a uniquely American phenomenon.
Fortunately, there are athletes and some in the sports media willing to point this out in the aftermath of this tragedy.
(Courtesy: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Former NFL Quarterback and current ESPN NFL analyst Robert Griffin III took to X/Twitter and posted “Mass shootings are not a political issue. Men, Women and Children dying from mass shootings are not a political issue. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. America is a GREAT COUNTRY. Put the politics aside, work TOGETHER and pass laws to ensure we are no longer known as the land of mass shootings.”
He then followed up with a subsequent post that read: “Kids can’t go to school. Believers can’t go to church. Families can’t go to the grocery store. Friends can’t go to a concert. And now fans can’t go to a SUPER BOWL PARADE without the real fear of being a part of a mass shooting in America. WHAT ARE WE DOING?”
Sports media personality Rich Eisen posted: “Nine children. Nine children who went to a parade to celebrate their Super Bowl team. Nine children now being treated for gunshot wounds @ChildrensMercy. When are we going to collectively realize there’s a gun problem in our country and do something sensible for our kids?”
ESPN reporter Adam Scheffter said during his live broadcast of the shooting “We just take this story and we extrapolate it now out to a Super Bowl parade,” he began. “We could be talking about this particular event at a school. We could be talking about it at a mall. We could be talking about it at a nightclub. We could be talking about it at any facet of America. This is our country today, unfortunately.”
He then added “These images are happening everywhere all the time, every day, every week in this country. It’s disgusting. It’s sickening. It’s enough. How many times do we have to see this everywhere? So, today, it’s the Chiefs’ turn. It’s at a Super Bowl parade, tomorrow, it will be somewhere else. Somebody else will lose their life, and we will continue to come on and try to make sense of something that is inexplicable.”
But perhaps the timeliest words came from none other than Travis Kelce, which were said long before.
(Courtesy: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
In 2015, after a rash of shootings in his hometown of Cleveland, Kelce expressed to Cleveland.com his support for stronger gun laws alongside fellow Ohioan LeBron James.
“The [gun violence] rips my heart out” he said. “I have to side with LeBron [James] on this one. There needs to be more strict gun laws, especially when toddlers are dying. We can’t have that in our communities, especially when a child’s future is taken away.”
His quotes resurfaced after the shooting and has already generated some ire, including former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik calling him a “moron”.
But in truth his words couldn’t ring more true.
Similar horrors occurring in schools, movie theaters, places of worship, concerts, grocery stores, and shopping malls couldn’t compel a collective sense of urgency on the part of lawmakers to do something, but surely the American game can, right?
After all it is now unofficially America’s pastime, beloved by most, and Super Bowl LVIII became the most watched event in television history, surpassing the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969.
Surely some long overdue action should be taken immediately, right?
Well, only in America should it not be a surprise if nothing happens.
