NFL WASHES OUR TONGUES WITH SOAP© Roy Pickering
Mar 6, 2005
You may remember the NFL's actions against the cable soap opera, Playmakers [if not, check here: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/spor... ]. Well, they are at it again, once more going on the attack against freedom of expression. And since the big wigs who run pro football are apparently a bit cheap and rather lazy in addition to being proponents of censorship, they've automated the process of squashing free speech. It's certainly not my intention to equate the NFL with the firemen in the novel Fahrenheit 451 who went about burning books that weren't on the approved list. The NFL almost had their heart in the right place when they set their current procedures in place. Their goal was to restrict people from associating the NFL brand with obscenity or vulgarity. I can understand that. Personalized pro sports team jerseys has become big business in recent years, accounting for 20 percent of the NFLShop.com's $60 million in annual revenues. But the way players move from team to team with such frequency nowadays due to free agency, it has become a risky proposition to purchase the jersey of your favorite player on your favorite team. Chances are that in a year or two he will be playing for a different team, rendering your expensive purchase obsolete. Better to put your own name, or nickname, or a favorite phrase on the jersey, since you won't be traded or have the opportunity to accept an offer from another team with more salary cap space. To accommodate this demand, yet also keep firm control of its officially licensed products by prohibiting fans from selecting words/phrases that were offensive and crossed the lines of good taste, a dirty word filter was installed at the NFL's online store. This filter prevents a list of 1,159 banned words from being selected. Shortly after the last Super Bowl, a Louisiana State professor tried to purchase a jersey. The champion Patriots rookie cornerback Randall Gay happened to be a former student of the professor, and since he isn't a big name player whose jersey could easily be found in a nearby Modell's or Sports Authority, she decided to buy a personalized jersey to honor Randall. Her request was promptly rejected. A message popped up stating, "This field should not contain a naughty word". This is how she learned that 'Gay' is one of the 1,159 words considered objectionable by the NFL. Site employees lifted the block on the word just long enough for the professor to place her order, then immediately reinstated it. As result, when Barry Gay of Raleigh, NC attempted to purchase a personalized jersey with his own last name, he too was rejected. Since it turns out that he is a homosexual, Barry was doubly insulted. If he happens to have a gay friend by the name of Susan Lesbian who supports her local team through the apparel she wears, she will also be disappointed and dismayed. At least she can take solace in the fact that 'Gay' has now been permanently removed from the list, so if Randall Gay goes on to win a league MVP award, the NFL is covered.
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