Harrison Butker is the Kansas City Chiefs’ placekicker, which makes him an enemy in Denver.
Harrison Butker has made good on 38 of 39 field goal attempts in 14 games against Denver, another reason for Broncos fans to boo him whenever he trots onto the field in a game against their home team.
And who can forget Butker’s 60-yard field goal just before halftime on a Thursday night last October—one of four, plus an extra point (13 points, total), that were the difference in a 19-8 Kansas City victory that was the Chiefs’ 16th straight win over the Broncos?
Nonetheless, Harrison Butker deserves the support of Broncos fans now.
In case you missed it, Butker delivered the commencement address last week at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
So, what’s the big deal? you ask.
Butker had the temerity to tell the 485 or so graduates that marriage, motherhood and making a good home were commendable. Not at the expense of a woman having a career, but as part of a fulfilling life.
IT WAS THE DAY BEFORE MOTHERS’ DAY.
So, what happened?
The National Football League joined the woke chorus condemning Butker for expressing such “offensive” sentiments.
“Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity,” the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer was quick to say—inclusion being an exclusionary term in this case.
“His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
Talk about hypocritical! To pander to mothers everywhere and their families on Mothers’ Day, the same NFL pumped out tributes “from around the league.”
It has come to this in pro football:
A player who gets in trouble with the law deserves time for his alleged offense to be “studied.” (See, most recently, Rashee Rice, ironically one of Butker’s Kansas City teammates.)
But a player who stands up for traditional values is incompatible with the modern NFL.
GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, issued a statement calling Butker’s remarks “woefully out of step with Americans about PRIDE, LGBTQ people and women.” To which, I say consider the source.
Kansas City Star columnist Sam McDowell mischaracterized the speech as promoting “the role of homemaker—not as an acceptable choice, but as their duty as a husband’s servant.” What a crock!
Perhaps the NFL felt compelled to disassociate from one of its star players because it has been trying desperately to appeal to more women, and Butker had the audacity to quote Taylor Swift—offending fans of the pop singer who brought countless females to televised coverage of Chiefs games last season because of her romance with KC tight end Travis Kelce.
Former—that’s former—Monday Night Football reporter Lisa Guerrero posted on social media: “Hey NFL. If you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group (straight white men are already watching your product), come get your boy.”
Puh-leez!
It was pointed out that Butker’s mother, Elizabeth Keller Butker, is a medical physicist at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta and holds a degree in chemistry from Smith College, a private women’s college, as if that contradicts his message.
Isn’t being the mother of Harrison and his sister Charlotte worth mentioning, too?
Gracie Hunt, flamboyant daughter of the Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt, expressed respect for Butker and his accomplishments on and off the field. And social media has come alive as mothers with careers spoke out in Butker’s defense.
At the risk of attracting similar rebuke, let me go on the record as agreeing with Harrison Butker and those who defend him.
Having a career and being a wife, mother and homemaker are not mutually exclusive. Advocating for the domestic side of that equation is not “controversial” and does not deserve scorn and condemnation.
It would be great to see the Denver Broncos issue a statement that disagrees with the almighty NFL.
Broncos fans: Do your part, too.
Communicate to the NFL that the league—not one of its players—is way off base.
At the same time, tell Harrison Butker that, while you hope he misses every kick he attempts against the Broncos, you support, one hundred percent, his right to express his view.
Whether or not you agree with it.
Denny Dressman is a veteran of 43 years in the newspaper business, including 25 at the Rocky Mountain News, where he began as executive sports editor. He is the author of 16 books, nine of them sports-related. You can write to Denny at denny
dressman@comcast.net.