It’s time we all talk about the twisted relationship between politics and sports.
This last weekend was a historic one in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The #3 ranked Crimson Tide, in search of their nineteenth national title, went head-to-head against the #11 Texas Longhorns in a cutthroat rematch that the Tide would go on to lose.
In the SEC, or the Southeastern Conference, football is a religion. College towns across the region turn into Meccas for their respective teams. Seven Saturdays out of the year, Tuscaloosa is nothing short of a warzone. Between the appearance of ESPN’s College Gameday Show, the SEC Network broadcast, and many other multimedia platforms being broadcasted publicly that day, none were more controversial than the Mayday Health video billboards driving past Bryant-Denny Stadium displaying disturbing pro-choice rhetoric.
“Missed your Crimson Tide? You still have a choice.” one of these messages read with a QR code below it.
There’s one thing attempting to spread a message, but doing it with such blatant indecency is its own category. Children attend these games. It is not okay for any nonprofit organization to have to make euphemisms for a woman’s menstrual cycle in front of impressionable minds. Football is supposed to unite us, between students finally being able to let loose once classes end, to alumni coming back and remembering the glory days of so long ago. The last thing anyone wants to see is an extremely divisive message that is clearly only meant to agitate the state government in Montgomery, as Mayday Health’s instagram has clearly stated.
Around this time last year, men gathered on a main road in town to protest “non consensual” circumcision of male babies.
This all, in some way, ties back to Colin Kapernick, who as of this week, is still trying to find a job, this time in New York. Everyone remembers the embarrassing kneeling of the flag to protest police brutality. Everyone remembers the infamous pepsi ad with Kendal Jenner. Between commercials, messages in end zones and on helmets, and actions taken by individuals, it never ends. Enough is enough. I just want to watch the game. My fantasy team is still going to score whether or not social justice warriors win or lose.
I have the privilege of going to a highly conservative university. But clearly even we are not immune to issues. To the liberals of America, Alabama has always been public enemy number one. The fact that they’ve resorted to sticking the message right in our faces in a Post-Roe world clearly means we’re winning the fight. Alabamians are clearly the ones who need to be reeducated like it’s something right out of a George Orwell novel.
To the women and children who attended the game this weekend and were made blatantly uncomfortable by the messages, I sincerely apologize on behalf of my University.
