ICHEOKU says sports is a general unifier which fans use as an outlet to relax, remove themselves from issues and temporary forget about their present troubles, including religion and politics. They go to games to momentarily zone off and be removed away from their worries. Sports fans would rather their sports hero not bring their personal politics into the court or pitch or field or in any other way, publicly display their political preferences.
This will spare them the agony of political opinions which they might not agree with but which their financial contributions to the franchise help sustain its purveyor. This is a no no for any sports and this is what the current boycott of the White House by the Golden State Warriors is telegraphing - crass partisan politics.
Therefore those professionals who play sports should be mindful of the diversity of their fan base and try to remain above board and not politicize sports with crass partisanship politics. Like with the military, it should not matter to sportsmen and women who is in the White House and regardless of the personal opinion of any individual player, collectively, the team must present a poker face of apolitical indifference, aware that some of their fans are members of the other side of the political divide, whose feelings would be hurt seeing their sports heroes boycott their political hero. ICHEOKU berates the involvement of professional sportsmen and women in partisan politics as not good for the spirit of team sports where race, religion and politics melts away, blended in a team of one.
The Golden State Warriors should have gone to the White House following tradition and allowed anyone who has strong aversion about who is presently in occupation of the White House the choice of staying out the visit. It has happened in the past and it happened recently when the New England Patriots visited the White House with Tom Brady staying out the visit. This is the proper thing to do, this is the right thing to do; because among the players of Golden State Warriors are fans of President Donald John Trump, admitted the fear of retribution may have cowered them down into a voice vote of we are staying away from the White House visit. In addition to the payers and management, are also hundreds of thousands of fans who are both Republicans and conservatives, including those of us who are Trump's irredeemable deplorables.
ICHEOKU laments the boycott and hereby put the Warriors on notice that they are threading a wrong path, becoming now involved in the "Hate Trump Crusade" and for no justifiable reason whatsoever. Their job is to play basketball and get paid for doing that. Fans contribute a lot to their well being, both in tickets sales and franchise outfits purchases, including jerseys etc. They should have factored this into consideration before deciding on the boycott which downside is that, if the needless involvement of players in partisan politics is not checked, a time will come when fans whose political viewpoint is being hurt by these activism will start their own boycott of the sports too. As is already happening with the NFL and their inability to sell out games, the NBA might also be effected, if they continue to pick and chose who to visit in the White House.
The Warriors visited President Barack Obama following their 2015 championship victory, despite the fact that many of us fans are not Obama's fans; but we did not complain and faithfully continued to go to their games and buy their jerseys etc. So why they decided not visit President Donald John Trump now following their 2017 championship can only be explained as the piling up of the sports and Hollywood elite against a man who did nothing to them other than win a presidential election which he worked his butt out to win. Just like they do in their sports, where only the best wins the trophy, President Donald John Trump was the better of the two candidates and worked hard to win the presidency. It is the sports of politics and only the better candidate won, so why this piling up, instead of respecting him for the feat he accomplished.
ICHEOKU says these political sports personalities should be mindful that, just like Collin Kaepernick found out, certain actions carries with them certain unavoidable consequences. Hopefully, they will not force the hands of fans into withdrawing their support and lets see from where the owners will find the money to pay them for the live of comfort and pure luxury which they have become accustomed to. They should play their games and leave politics out of it and any one of them who wants to play politics could do that outside the sports or privately without raising all the rancorous dust therein associated. It is not good for the team spirit of sports and it is not good for the diverse fans who share different political viewpoints. It is too bad and so SAD that the Golden State Warriors is not visiting the White House as tradition dictates. Simply put, unsportsmanlike.
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Christy 'Apena' Essien-Igbokwe , the wife of Jegede Shokoya of the New Masquerade and Nigeria's lady of songs is dead; she was 51years old. Although her family claimed that "brief Illness" killed her like so many Nigerians; Icheoku retorts that it was most likely AKwa Ibom voodoo and remote control that was used to arrest her. It is on record that she had fallen out with the governor of her native Akwa Ibiom State and have been having a relentless war for political turf with the governor? So who knows whether she was sacrificed to Ekpe cult or even Alusi-Okija as an offal; afterall African science is still very much alive and portent. May her soul rest in peace.
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