[Normally I don't post sports related stuff on RMN but when I read this article I thought I would share it with everyone. I can just see the snowflake wokesters at ESPN grinding their teeth for having to report on this situation in the first place. Cudos to Beasley for staying his ground and actually pushing back on the COVID nonsense being promulgated by professional sports. The NBA is far and away the worst offender of the bunch when it comes to garbage like social distancing, masks and using the bogus PCR tests but the NFL isn't far behind. I guarantee the NFL would like nothing more than to shut Beasley's mouth permanently regarding these issues. I mean how dare him point out all the nonsense and inconsistencies when it comes to "COVID" and their holy "science". We can't have the hired help questioning our science betters, now can we? Tell it Cole! Tell it!! They're a bunch of frauds and they know it . . . SC]
By Marcel Louis-Jacques - June 18, 2021
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley released a statement on Twitter on Friday in response to the sharp backlash he has received on social media, disclosing that he is not vaccinated and pledging to "live my one life like I want to regardless."
"I will be outside doing what I do," he wrote. "I'll be out in public. If your [sic] scared of me then steer clear, or get vaccinated. ... I may die of covid, but I'd rather die actually living.
"I'm not going to take meds for a leg that isn't broken. I'd rather take my chances with Covid and build up my immunity that way. ... I'll play for free this year to live life how I've lived it from day one. If I'm forced into retirement, so be it."
Beasley said "a lot of other NFL players" agree with his stance but "aren't in the right place in their careers to be so outspoken." By speaking his mind, Beasley said he hopes he is doing his part to represent those players.
Beasley took to Twitter hours after he said he spoke with the NFLPA soon after complaining about its jointly agreed-to policy with the NFL regarding COVID-19 protocols.
The policy, which applies to training camp and the preseason, heavily restricts unvaccinated players while allowing vaccinated players to return to near normalcy, which made Beasley question Thursday via his Twitter account whether "anyone will fight for the players."
Beasley tweeted Friday morning a confirmation of The Athletic's report that the NFLPA had reached out to him and come to an understanding regarding certain aspects of the policy.
"Now we have spoken and are working through it," he wrote. "From what I'm told these are guidelines for preseason and it's nothing final."
The notable differences in the new policy include no daily testing for vaccinated players, who will also no longer be required to wear masks at team facilities or during team travel. Vaccinated players will have no travel restrictions, can use the sauna/steam room and weight room without capacity limits, and can interact with vaccinated friends and family during team travel.
Unvaccinated players will be required to test for COVID-19 every day and must wear masks throughout the team facility and during travel. They will not be allowed to use the sauna/steam rooms, are subject to weight room capacity limits and may not leave the team hotel to eat in restaurants or interact with anyone outside of the team traveling party during team travel.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two sets of protocols: Unvaccinated players will be required to quarantine after high-risk exposure to COVID-19, while vaccinated players will not.
Beasley expressed confusion over the new protocols and didn't shy away from criticizing the NFL and NFLPA.
"This is crazy. Did we vote on this?" he tweeted. "I stay in the hotel. We still have meetings. We will all be together. Vaccinated players can go out the hotel and bring covid back in to where I am. So what does it matter if I stay in the hotel now? 100 percent immune with vaccination? No.
"The players association is a joke. Call it something different. It's not for the players. Everyone gives me the 98 percent of people who are vaccinated don't get covid again. The odds of me getting in the NFL and playing for 10 years are lower than that and I'm here."
Beasley went on to call the NFLPA "a joke," and Bills teammate Jon Feliciano also questioned the organization.
"Don't forget the Coaches to @NFL trying to force them to get vax or they can't coach in person," Feliciano tweeted in response to Beasley. "@NFLPA a lot of these coaches were former players who's helping them?"
When called an "anti-vaxxer" by another Twitter user, Feliciano responded by saying he is vaccinated but respects what other people decide to do with their bodies.
Beasley previously responded to a CNN story in May about vaccinated people no longer needing to wear a mask outdoors, saying, "I do that without being vaccinated. Is this illegal now?" The former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver also spent time responding to Twitter users who questioned his stance; Timothy Caulfield, a research director and professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, told him the NFL's rules "100% make sense" and "follow the science and are good for the sport & players."
"I get tested every day for covid and get a negative test but I still have to keep distance from people who are 'vaccinated' when apparently if they get it they can't pass it to anyone," Beasley responded. "How does that make sense to you?" . . .
[SNIP]
