Promising Changes in the NFL 🏈
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Season 2: Episode 12 Description
In today’s episode: 🏈 Get ready for kick-off, we're talking about the National Football League. 🏟️ Correspondent Kenny Curtis shares how the NFL is working towards being a more inclusive and diverse organization. 🏳️🌈 Hear why Commissioner Roger Goodell says "representation matters." 🗞️ In the news: NASA plans and very old handprints. 😮 And test your football knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
https://time.com/5943601/kim-ng-first-female-gm-miami-marlins/
https://www.sportsretriever.com/football/isnt-time-womens-nfl/
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31682318/carl-nassib-las-vegas-raiders-announces-gay
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/nfl-proudly-declares-football-gay-new-video-rcna1300
Links
⭐ Check out the photos from the 1939 issue of LIFE Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-history-womens-football-180958042/
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:02
Over 60 million people tune in every Sunday to watch football. Does the NFL reflect its fans? Today we're putting on our thinking helmets to talk about representation in the NFL. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's September 28th. And this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:23
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Bethany Van Delft 0:30
Last year, Kim NG became the first female General Manager in baseball when she earned the top spot running the Florida Marlins. And this summer history was made in the National Hockey League when Luke Prokop became the first active or retired player to come out as gay. Way to go. So, what's up with the NFL? Our sports correspondent Kenny Curtis is here with the report.
Kenny Curtis 0:59
Football is back and arguably better than ever. And while this sport has always been popular in America, it's actually made some big mistakes when it comes to making everyone, especially minority groups feel welcome and included. For example, even though most of the players in the NFL are black, about 70% there are only three African American head coaches in the entire league. This is an outrage and even fewer black general managers. There are only two of those. So for far too long, the NFL has been on the wrong side of history. But this season, it's working hard to change that. To start, the NFL is actively trying to include more women in all levels of the organization. You might remember Sarah Thomas as the first woman to ever serve as a ref for a Super Bowl during last season's big game. Well, she's back again for the current NFL season. Along with Maya Shaka, as the only women member of the NFL officiating crew, Shaka will be the first black woman to serve as an NFL referee. Now we're talking. More and more women are also becoming coaches in the NFL at all levels. The 2021 season has a record-breaking 12 women serving as coaches. This season also includes historic promotions, such as Jennifer King becoming the NFL's first black female assistant coach and Natalia Dorantes becoming the first Latina to serve as the coordinator of football programs. Both of these women will work for the Washington football team. Excellent. And speaking of the Washington football team, the decision to change that name from the Washington Redskins is another sign that football is becoming more inclusive. This decision was made as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement and the cultural shift in communities across the country. Eventually, the team owners finally saw how offensive the name was and agreed to change it. It's about time. The league is also progressing and its acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Earlier this summer Carl Nassib, a defensive lineman with the Las Vegas Raiders became the first active NFL player to announce that he is gay. Following his announcement, Nassib went on to donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project. Good Job. The NFL and the Las Vegas Raiders have all publicly declared their support for Nassib and even went on to match his donation to the Trevor Project. Commissioner Goodell thanked him for sharing his truth and stated that quote, "Representation matters," end quote. That's what I'm talking about. The support from the NFL is a good sign that things are finally changing at a high level. Before his announcement, Nassib admitted that he agonized over the decision to share his sexuality for months. This is because gay players in the NFL have historically not been treated well. In fact, the last player to publicly announced that he was gay was Michael Sam in 2014. And although he was drafted by an NFL team, he didn't make the final cut and never saw a snap in an actual game. Whether being gay played a role in the team's decision to cut him is unclear but Sam reported receiving an onslaught of harassment from both fans and teammates. This is terrible. Now so far, Carl Nassib has only received support from the NFL. In fact, after Nassib's announcement, the NFL posted a video that declared quote, "football is gay." Along with the video, the NFL tweeted, "if you love this game, you are welcome here. Football is for all, football is for everyone. The NFL stands by the LGBTQ+ community today and every day." So while the NFL certainly has more work to do in creating an atmosphere that is safe, inclusive, and welcoming for everyone. This is a good start. Like the commissioner himself said, representation matters and it especially matters in an organization as big and as impactful as the NFL. Here's hoping the season continues in the right direction.
Bethany Van Delft 5:01
Thank you, Kenny. And yes, Commissioner Goodell, representation does matter. Hey Ten'ers, did you know that October 5th is World Teacher Day? That's right, an entire day dedicated to our tireless educators. Okay, class, I'm ready to party! Teachers have done so much for us over the past year. And we want to make the most of this special day by sharing your stories, thank yous and shoutouts for a special teacher in your life. Send us a note or submit a voice message to our website at www.thetennews.com or leave us a voicemail on our phone line at 877-TEN-NEWS. That's 877-T E N-N E W S. We cannot wait to hear your messages. And if you send them in by September 30th, we might include them in our World Teachers’ day episode. Now let's see what else is going on.
Bethany Van Delft 6:22
More promising news on the vaccine timing for 5 to 11-year-olds. Pfizer announced last week that its COVID-19 vaccine has been shown to be safe and highly effective in children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinical trials. If everything goes smoothly with the upcoming approval steps, children between the ages of 5 and 11 could start to receive COVID-19 vaccines by Halloween. Cool. NASA has been planning for years to send a robotic rover to the moon to search for water believed to be trapped deep inside lunar craters. The agency has now identified which part of the moon the rover will explore. It's called the noble a crater and it's located near the moon's South Pole. Finding water on the moon that astronauts can drink or use this fuel would be a game-changer for space exploration. We cannot wait to see what the rover finds and the new finding here on Earth. recently discovered handprints on the Tibetan Plateau in India, are believed to have been created by children during the Ice Age. That was 200,000 years ago, which would make those handprints some of the oldest art in the world. The handprints are preserved in limestone, and based on the size are thought to be created by two children between the ages of 7 and 12. Talk about leaving your mark. Coming up next.
Various Voices 7:57
What, what, what's the big idea? Trivia on The Ten.
Bethany Van Delft 8:04
Sarah Fuller made headlines in 2020 for being the first female kicker on an American football team when she made the starting kick in a college football game. Over the years, a number of female-only leagues have tried to form a different level of success. When was the first women's team put together? Was it, a) 1976? b) 1926? or c) 2006?
Bethany Van Delft 8:36
Did you guess it? The answer is B. In 1926, the first official women's team to take the field is said to have been put together for halftime entertainment for the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Over the years, a number of women's leagues have tried to gain a foothold and grow the popularity of this sport. Currently, there are three main full-contact leagues, the United States Women's Football League, the Women's Football Alliance, and the Independent Women's Football League. With the growth of other contact sports like professional wrestling and MMA, mixed martial arts, things might start to change for female football players. Excellent. We've included a link in our show notes to some very cool shots of past female football players from a 1939 Life Magazine Article. Keep in the fields, queens. Time is up. But before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Tens creative team is out tossing a football and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Kenny Curtis contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle. And our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News.
