If you were looking forward to seeing some of your favorite NFL pros on the Raise your Hand for Africa Charity Tournament, then you will be sorely disappointed. The NFL has just taken a very tough stance against gambling, even to the point of utterly forbidding their players to join poker tournaments, even ones that are being held for charity. Ridiculous? Perhaps; Especially if you consider how closely interrelated sports and gambling are and how the buy-ins of the 25 NFL members could have made a big difference.
How far should you carry a stance?
There’s a fine line between being resolute and simply being obstinate, and the NFL has just crossed this by disallowing their players to join the Raise Your Hand for Africa Charity Tournament. It was a pretty absurd move for the NFL, one that drew the ire and criticism of many. After all, why should they deny their players the right to help a noble cause by joining a charity poker tournament, but turn a blind eye to sports betting? Their anti-gambling stance has widely been considered as hypocritical, especially after they allowed their team logos to be printed on lottery tickets just a couple of years ago. More likely, this move by NFL is just a result of their fear of organizations misusing the NFL name and logo – in which ‘misusage’ is construed as, as cynics might say, not paying the NFL for the right to do so.
All for Naught
Denying the players access to the charity tournament, however, brought more bad than good to the NFL. The players still turned up at the tournament to show their support, but instead of playing, they just watched from the sidelines. Furthermore, their controversial stance just drew even more attention the issue and, let’s not deny it, it really made the NFL look bad. It really looked as if they just deprived deaf people some nifty hearing aids – which is what Starkey, a charity foundation, does. They provide hearing aids to children and adults all over the world. Raise Your Hand for Africa specifically targeted the African region and the proceeds from the tournament went into providing hearing aids to the children in Africa who have need for them.
It was a really noble cause, and the NFL just screwed things up and made themselves look really stingy in the process. In fact, they’re the ones who are likely to need hearing aids after they get wind of all the criticism that will fly their way.
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