A tragedy occurred in New York City early in the AM hours as three people were shot, one fatally, at a New York City nightclub. Did I hear about this because of the death, or the scary nature of what happened in a crowded club? No. Did I hear about it because police were concerned about what happened and wanted to assure the community that things were going to be okay? No.
You know how I heard about this? On ESPN Sportscenter, where the main story was not that people had gotten shot, but rather that NFL players were on the scene. Cry me a river that some Giants players were out celebrating a birthday - Victor Cruz might be a great receiver, but I could really care less about the identity of who was there or how many touchdown catches they have. What I care about is the safety of myself and my fellow New York residents when we go out to enjoy a night on the town.
Why is the lead story on all of this the fact that the Giants players were there, whether the league will take action, or how this might impact their ability to play this weekend? I mean seriously, who cares about football when people are dying? It just makes no sense to me on how people were shot and yet the news leads with the fact that the Giants might have issues on Sunday.
I love football, and sports in general, but let's not iconify them to the point where we stop paying attention to people dying so that we can worry about the results of our fantasy leagues or football games. Instead, let's focus on the problem of violence and start paying attention to bigger issues.
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