Filming Your Son's Reaction To His Favorite Player Being Traded Is Child Abuse
This is child abuse and I'm tired of pretending it isn't
In this world of clickbait and trying to generate as many impressions and eyeballs on our content as we can, there has to be a line drawn somewhere.
Look, I know I'm a little late to the party here, but last week the New York Jets decided to trade one of the pillars of their defense, cornerback Sauce Gardner, to the Indianapolis Colts.
It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that the forever-under-construction Jets are once again rebuilding, but not everyone who roots for New York teams is used to the constant and unrelenting kicks in the crotch that some of the more seasoned veterans are.
Take this kid, for example, whose dad decided to broadcast his son's moment of anguish when finding out his favorite player moved several hundred miles down the road to the whole world on social media.
This is just child abuse. We can all agree on that, right?
What is there to be gained from sticking a phone in front of your son's face and pressing record right before you break his heart?
Just smack him over the head with a cast iron skillet next time, why don't you? It would probably hurt less in the long run.
I've seen this kind of video go viral before, so this is just the latest in a long line of parents thinking it's fun to toy with the emotions of children.
And it isn't just mean to do to kids either.
I turn 33 at the end of the month, and I can say with certainty if my wife did this to me after some Gators player hit the transfer portal, she would be finding divorce papers on her desk the next morning (just kidding, babe, I love you).
Even the normally cynical comments section has plenty of sympathizers with this poor, young Jets fan.
Parents, I can promise you, whatever Elon is paying you for these videos isn't worth it, since you'll be paying all of that back in bills to get a good shrink for your son to help cope with the internet shame he's experiencing.
So remember, the next time your child's favorite player gets shipped off to a new home, keep the phone in your pocket.
Sit down with them and gently explain how sports will be a source of agonizing pain for the rest of their lives, and that feeling irrationally angry towards a group of people you've never met is perfectly normal.
This parenting thing isn't easy, but someone's got to do it!