Chris Ballard and Paul Riley Blame Cancel Culture for Their Own Problems

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Chris Ballard Image: Getty Images

There is a growing trend of people in power, mostly white men, using cancel culture as a rallying cry to gain support for whatever their cause. Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard says he doesn’t want to be waived because he failed the organization, and banned NWSL coach Paul Riley woke up, quashed culture as the reason the hell will never coach women’s pro football again. Blaming the current political climate for the appalling treatment of your players/employees, or for bringing in QBs and ESPN talking heads as franchise saviors, takes your ride away.

And using keywords to deflect blame or explain obnoxious behavior is the goal.

Tell us why you’re cancelled, Chris Ballard

First, here’s Ballard dropping a trigger word as the reason Indy fans want him gone.

When you fail in this world, you are canceled and everyone wants your head. And rightly so, in some cases. But if you are able to go through it and learn from it, you can reach your greatest heights.

Go through what? Your third failed starting QB in as many years? It wouldn’t have taken awkward seasons for Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Ryan to know they weren’t NFL quarterbacks anymore. Rivers is retired, Wentz is on his way to the XFL, and Matty Ice is delaying the inevitable.

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However, I guess Ballard was really referring to the hiring of former ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday as interim head coach for the final eight weeks of the season. The former offensive lineman won his first game, then went O-fer the rest of the way. Now he is running for the permanent position despite a slew of more qualified, largely black, applicants.

Even though the move was Jim Irsay’s brainchild, an NFL owner can’t be fired (or even canceled as hard as Daniel Snyder might try), so the blame ultimately lands at Ballard’s feet. The Colts’ arrival on Saturday was a terrible look for the league given the ongoing lawsuit it faces over its alleged hiring practices, and defending stupid decisions with a war cry against cancellation is the media strategy of Donald Trump for just about everything.

Obviously, blaming Irsay for the hiring would put Ballard’s job at risk, so he did the next worst thing, which was to oppose cancel culture as the reason for his problems.

Paul Rileys Clueless Argument

There is a huge difference between what Ballard said/did and what got Riley banned for life. The behavior of the former women’s soccer coach was a picture of someone abusing their power to manipulate and control an employee for sexual purposes. Riley’s actions were not only voidable offenses, but should have landed him in court.

Well, he’s going to court, but it’s to fight the league’s decision.

We have a lot of plans coming up to fight a lot of stuff, Riley told a North Carolina regional NBC affiliate after receiving the lifetime ban. I absolutely never intended to coach the NWSL again. The league’s woke and quashed political culture speaks volumes.

Yes, Riley’s actions definitely offended people who consider themselves woke and absolutely got canceled. Still, there’s a difference between your favorite comedian getting shitty for crossing the line of what’s politically correct, and this silly borderline criminal behavior.

Using the fact that I’m canceled because I haven’t been woken up enough as a blanket defense to being irredeemable shit has given loathsome people a way to garner sympathy and support. We have reached a point where promoting diversity and equality is viewed negatively because it has woken up. And being canceled is a rite of passage to the right wing as they will happily pick up fanatics whose profile has been raised due to being too real for decent society and their last job.

So while Ballard isn’t rushing to hell like Riley, he’s thrown himself with a group of people who aren’t so much anti-cancellation or anti-reawakening culture as they are anti-responsibility and anti-equality. .

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