Much like athletes, head football coaches are not role models. They are people who have opinions and make decisions that can be difficult for us to understand. Like us, they likely have trouble understanding their own motivations and thoughts from time to time. On Saturday, during a post-practice press conference, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh appeared to have that exact problem, delivering a political analogy that left many of us scratching our heads.
It all started when Harbaugh was asked whether he believes NFL referees should be allowed to work at training camps with NFL teams, so that they can also prepare for the upcoming season. Harbaugh is in favor of the idea, and so are the referees, and the NFL claims to be as well, but when it comes to actually implementing this idea, the problem of proper compensation arises, something that has always been an issue between the officials and the league (let us not forget about the referee lockout in 2012).
However, while he was trying to explain his view on the situation, Harbaugh unraveled a pretty complicated analogy that started with talk about politicians and Washington, and then ended on Trump and immigration and naturalization. See if you can make heads or tails of it:
“Both sides want it, so maybe they ought to start talking to one another — maybe like our government, too.”
Cool!
“Maybe talk to one another, solve a problem once in a while instead of creating a problem,” Harbaugh said. “Be more concerned about the country than you are your party. How about we do that? Let’s try to fix things around here in this country. That’s what made us great. … They get free lunch at the Capitol, too. Congress, they probably get free lunch there, too. Go eat your free lunch, then go sit in your corner and don’t solve anything. And who suffers? All of us suffer, because they can’t get along.”
Sure!
“I’m going Trump here,” Harbaugh said. “Build a wall, it’s not that hard. You don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. You’re not a country without a border, right?"
Wait, what?
At the same time, you got 12 to 15 million hard-working people here. Give them a shot. Give them a chance, right, to become a citizen so they’re paying taxes. All of us know that it’s not complicated. But this side doesn’t want to solve it and neither does this side. Solve the problem!”
But didn't you just say—
So, Harbaugh is advocating for the erection of a wall on the border between the United States and Mexico, but is also in favor of naturalizing the "hard-working people" who are already here. Not an impossible view to hold, but certainly an uncommon one. And, also, definitely not the view that Trump holds.
And how does all of this relate to officiated training camps? Well, we're still trying to figure that one out.
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.
[via Deadspin]
