Earl Thomas’ gesture was a refutation of the NFL's team-first culture
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Conventional NFL fandom ties people to organizations. Perhaps saying fans who favor teams first and foremost are “just rooting for laundry” is a little glib, but it does drive at a point that fans often disregard what’s best — or even fair — for thEarl Thomas’ gesture was a refutation of the NFL's team-first culture
Conventional NFL fandom ties people to organizations. Perhaps saying fans who favor teams first and foremost are “just rooting for laundry” is a little glib, but it does drive at a point that fans often disregard what’s best — or even fair — for the players. And if the fans don’t care, there’s nothing holding the teams and their owners to the fire either.Even in fantasy football, when players are mostly divorced from the teams they play for, they’re still just cogs distilled to pure production. It’s not unheard of for fans to follow individual athletes, but it’s the exception to the norm. The public is programmed to see players as commodifiable cogs, only deserving of concern insofar that they’re helping our teams, real or fantasy.So it shouldn’t be surprising that Earl Thomas flipping off his own sideline as he was carted off the field after breaking his leg has raised the hackles of quite a few insiders — who benefit from enforcing the status quo. Just hours after it happened, Thomas was being lectured by T Read more