Okay, maybe I was a bit too optimistic about Washington Redskins* defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. I thought he would be fine. I thought this would blow over. Then, I forgot that this is the NFL. It’s professional sports. On paper, it says you can speak your mind. When it comes to application, the train for the gulag awaits if you go off the reservation. That’s what happened to Del Rio.
Del Rio referred to the January 6 riot as a dustup compared to the weeks of leftist looting and rioting that occurred during the summer of 2020. He’s right. It was minor compared to those events, plus the seizure of portions of Seattle by armed left-wingers. That alone is more of an insurrection compared to what we saw on January 6, the latter of which no one really cares about. The economy is in a death spiral, a recession is here, inflation is still climbing, gas prices are still out of control, and we have a president who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Nope, they had to punish Del Rio. He was fined $100,000 for his remarks, making it quite clear that he can’t speak his mind. It’s just beyond silly season. The Redskins need to focus on winning games, not catering to the ‘woke’ crowd who don’t watch sports anyway. To avoid more six-figure fines, Del Rio probably opted to nuke his Twitter account. Whatever the case, it’s gone (via ESPN):
Speech that brings about a punishment from an authority that dislikes what was said is not free. https://t.co/jMo2Qvzam3
— Larry O'Connor (@LarryOConnor) June 12, 2022
Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio deleted his Twitter account on Saturday, one day after he was fined for comments relating to a tweet he made almost a week ago.
Washington fined Del Rio $100,000 on Friday for controversial comments he made earlier in the week, referring to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol as a "dustup."
The team had no statement on Del Rio deleting his account. Del Rio did not immediately respond to a text message from ESPN.
On Friday, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said in a statement that Del Rio's comments do not reflect the organization's views and are extremely hurtful to the District of Columbia area.
[…]
Del Rio is expected to address the team on Tuesday, though multiple sources close to the players have said they don't think it will be an issue with his players. One person close to defensive end Chase Young said of Del Rio, "That's his guy."
Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen told NBC Sports Washington, "I don't care about his opinion as long as he shows up every day and works hard. That's what I want from my defensive coordinator."
Obviously, some of the key players are fine with Del Rio’s remarks. They don’t care. And what’s more hurtful to the DC area is not the coach’s Twitter activity, but crime, poverty, the spike in shootings, and the overall economy.
Jack Del Rio was fined $100k for merely asking why the January 6th riot, which was far less deadly, destructive, & injurious than the BLM riots is being obsessively investigated while there are no investigations at all into the hundreds of BLM riots. Look at the data yourself: pic.twitter.com/4bhWEDTtDK
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 12, 2022
No one cares about this little riot, guys.
*NO, I’ll never call them the “Commanders.”