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JFK Assassination: The STUPIDEST NFL CONTROVERSY | Colts @ Rams (1963)

posted 6 months ago by TMC-4 (19504)
2 replies | jump to latest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKjFtHOhqE

Did the Los Angeles Rams not get the memo about the news? Like, at all?

On November 24, 1963, just two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the Baltimore Colts in an NFL game. It was already a highly controversial decision by Commissioner Pete Rozelle to play the games, but at least most teams had a somber atmosphere and recognized the weight of the situation. That was, every team except for the Rams, who... did not recognize that.

[–] WandererFromYs (1793) 6 months ago

I’m typically on the side of play the games. If there is a tragedy where the players and coaches don’t feel they can concentrate, I get it. But as a fan I’m a big believer in sports as a distraction. I don’t see the point of cancelling things so that they could run news reports about the tragedy.

[–] Sandman81 (1503) 6 months ago

There is the element of "too soon". For major tragedies like this or 9/11, people need time to process what happened, get over the shock of it and grieve. Once you give people that time to get themselves together, then sports can become the much-needed distraction, like they were in 2001.

The NFL was wrong to play those games so soon after the assassination. Everyone involved in those games regretted the decision to play. And to make matters worse was the story was still developing. Lee Harvey Oswald was shot less than an hour before kickoff, and people were trying to figure out what happened with that.