This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Gooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. Appreciate you.
Here’s your daily Olympic medal count as of 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
— United States: 79 (21 gold, 30 silver, 28 bronze)
—China: 53 (21 gold, 18 silver, 14 bronze)
— France: 48 (13 gold, 16 silver, 18 bronze)
— Great Britain: 42 (12 gold, 13 silver, 17 bronze)
— Australia: 33 (13 gold, 12 silver, 8 bronze)
Let’s jump in.
Actions speak louder than words. You’ve undoubtedly heard that phrase before. Thousands of times, probably.
As cliche as it is, it’s true. The things you say matter, sure. But it’s the things you do — and how you affect people with your actions — that ultimately back up the things you say.
Somebody can say something, yet do something that completely contradicts the thing they said. More often than not, those actions are better indicators of who a person is rather than the things they espouse. It takes more effort to act than it does to speak. So when somebody shows you who they really are, you should believe them.
That’s where we’re at with the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs today.
Kansas City has reportedly signed its much-maligned kicker, Harrison Butker, to a four-year, $25.6 million deal making him the highest-paid kicker in the NFL.
Yes, we’re talking about that Harrison Butker.
Remember, just a few months ago Butker kicked off his summer with a commencement speech at Benedict College where he shamed women *checks notes* having a bit of upward mobility. He basically told them to get back into the kitchen and clean up the house, which is insane to hear in 2024.
READ MORE: Did you know that Harrison Butker’s mom is an accomplished physicist? Isn’t that neat?
It didn’t stop there, though. He also attacked the LGBTQ+ community and condemned a woman’s right to choose, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy as “degenerative cultural values.” He followed that up by completely misinterpreting Biblical text about the death of Jesus to condemn Jewish people.
It was a mess. So much so that the NFL released a statement in the days following Butker’s speech to distance itself from the Chiefs’ kicker, saying that his views “are not those of the NFL.”
Apparently, that distance wasn’t enough for Kansas City not to reach out with a record contract for the team’s controversial kicker.
Let me be frank here. It’s not surprising the Chiefs did this. Harrison Butker’s a terrible person, but he’s really good at his job. He was one of the best kickers in the NFL last season and one of the reasons the Chiefs won a second consecutive Super Bowl.
Our reality is one where good things happen for terrible people all the time. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true. It certainly wasn’t going to stop being true here.
But this being our reality doesn’t make it any less disappointing.
The NFL as an organization has become the ultimate virtue signaler. The league will talk the talk in hopes of appeasing different crowds, but it’ll never walk the walk.
For example, it’ll plaster “End Racism” (which is extremely feckless, btw) in its endzones for all to see while privately letting go of employees who question how effective the league’s policies on race are.
It’ll try to attract more women by blitzing you with Taylor Swift shots during its broadcasts. Meanwhile, Deshaun Watson still plays quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
The league will put Pride flags in most of its team logos, while one of those teams has made Harrison Butker the highest-paid kicker in the NFL.
You cannot make that make sense because it doesn’t. Remember: Actions speak louder than words. That’s the NFL showing us what this league is really about.
The NFL can distance itself from Butker as much as it wants to. And I’m sure that there are people around the league and on his team who are genuinely upset by his beliefs and what he said.
But the bottom line is this: If you can throw, tackle, carry, catch or kick a football well, you’re probably good money in this league, no matter how terrible of a person you are.
Michelle Martinelli is back with her latest from Paris, this time coming from the diving pool. Enjoy.
AINT-DENIS, France — Bonjour, les gagnants! I had the pleasure of seeing one of the most terrifying Summer Olympic events in person yesterday: 10-meter platform diving.
Maybe it’s not terrifying if you’re cool with jumping off the equivalent of a three-story building, but I am not. Though, if given the opportunity, I’d probably still jump once.
Obviously, what I would do isn’t remotely in the same zip code as what these Olympians pull off.
They flip inward toward the platform. They start on their toes with their feet hanging over the edge. They do handstands on the edge! And as they somersault, their heads are seemingly SO FREAKING CLOSE to the platform itself. It’s remarkable, and they’re fearless.
But if platform diving isn’t the scariest Summer Olympic event, it’s a very close second to gymnastics’ vault or balance beam.
Either way, all the credit in the world to the women I saw compete in yesterday’s 10-meter platform semifinals. They’re doing things some people only see in their nightmares.
This was my view, along with two-time Team USA Olympian Delany Schnell doing a handstand on the edge.
(Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
Thanks to an extremely weird scheduling quirk and simple trade, Danny Jansen might make history later this month as the first player to play for two teams in one game.
The Red Sox and Blue Jays are scheduled to play a rain-suspended game later this month. I have no idea what Jansen is supposed to do here.
Charles Curtis explains how this is happening here:
“OK, so back on June 26, Jansen was the starting catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays in a game against the Boston Red Sox. Rain suspended the game in the second inning and it was scheduled to be played on August 26.
But Jansen was dealt to to Red Sox a couple of weeks ago. The catcher in that June 26 game, Reese McGuire, was designated for assignment after the Jansen acquisition.
So when the game resumes on August 26, it is possible that Jansen will have suited up for both the Blue Jays AND the Red Sox in the box score. WILD!”
This has got to be one of the strangest sports things ever. I love it.
— Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky on how Kamala Harris’ running mate is actually a football legend
— I aspire to have as much fun doing anything as Snoop Dogg is having doing the Olympics. Tyler Nettuno has more.
— Freddy Freeman getting an ovation from fans after his son’s return from the hospital is so sweet. Mary Clarke has more.
— Meg Hall has 10 incredible photos of artistic swimmers doing their thing.
— Bryan Kalbrosky explains why Team USA will never dominate 3×3 basketball like people expect.
— Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing to Rebeca Andrade was so sweet.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Peace.
-Sykes
