Sports

Can American men's gymnastics team give a waning U.S. sport a boost in Paris?

Published

2 years ago

July 28, 2024

Can American men's gymnastics team give a waning U.S. sport a boost in Paris?

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When John Roethlisberger was an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, he and his gymnastics teammates vanned to meets at Iowa, at Iowa State, at UW Oshkosh and Wisconsin. Every year, they’d fly to Michigan, where they’d compete against the Wolverines on a Friday night and head to Michigan State on a Sunday.

Of those teams, only Michigan continues to sponsor the sport today. This is not breaking news. The decline of men’s gymnastics has been both ongoing and relentless, a death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts slashing that has pushed it to near extinction. Only 12 Division-I universities now sponsor men’s teams, none do at the D2 level and just three in D3. All of 319 men competed in NCAA gymnastics this past season.

The danger of real elimination, though, has never been more real than it is now. With payouts to athletes about to come due from a recent House settlement, athletic departments are looking to pinch pennies. Sport elimination remains a real threat and, with so few viable teams and athletes already, men’s gymnastics is ripe for the picking.

Yet the college system still serves as the direct feeder for international competition. In Paris, the United States is fielding its strongest men’s Olympics team in decades, with legitimate aspirations to make a team podium for the first time in 16 years. All five men headed to Paris come via the college route — Asher Hong and Frederick Richard remain in college, at Stanford and Michigan, respectively. Paul Juda wrapped up his eligibility with the Wolverines this year and Brody Malone with the Cardinal a year ago. Pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik lost his senior season at Penn State to COVID-19.

USA Gymnastics desperately needs the college system. But can the USA gymnasts, with a successful run at Paris, help save college gymnastics?

“This team could do a lot. They are the tip of the spear,” says Roethlisberger, a three-time Olympian who remains outraged at his alma mater’s decision to eliminate gymnastics in 2020. “We have athletes who can absolutely win medals, but will they be the darlings of these Olympics? Probably not.

“We are on the precipice of catastrophic change in college sports. So who is going to stand up and say, ‘I’m going to show the world how this can actually work?’ Our athletes can do a lot, but they can’t do it alone.”

Thom Glielmi used to scam money off his pals, taking $10 bets that he couldn’t flip off whatever he could find — the roof of a garage, for example. He did it largely for the thrill, but then he spied the gymnastics equipment at Lincoln-Way Central High School in Illinois and realized he could put his flipping to good use. He ditched baseball, signed up for gymnastics and found himself a life. A former gymnast at Southern Illinois, Glielmi is now in Year 22 at Stanford, where this year he led the Cardinal to its seventh national championship.

“If my high school didn’t have gymnastics, I’m not sure what would have become of me,” Glielmi says.

It’s the same question he asks when he hits the recruiting trail now: What’s to become of the boys who want to compete? In 1982, around the time Glielmi was flipping his way through Lincoln-Way, more than 75 colleges and universities sponsored men’s gymnastics, and in 1984 one of them — UCLA — supplied three members of the United States team that captured Olympic gold. A decade later, the Bruins program was eliminated. By 2002, only 21 teams remained at the collegiate level.

The initial culprit — or at least the easy blame — was Title IX. Forget that Title IX didn’t make a whole lot of sense as a counterargument — gymnastics, unlike, say, football, offers a women’s equivalent — but athletic directors, looking for easy fixes to federal equivalency regulations, slashed the sport in big numbers in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

COVID brought another wave, and now men’s gymnastics has fewer NCAA teams than water polo.

“So many guys, I just feel terrible for them,” Glielmi says. “The competition is so high, and there’s just nowhere for some of these athletes to go.”

American star Fred Richard celebrates after his horizontal bar routine Saturday during the Olympic qualification round. (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)

No surprise, then, that as the college opportunities dry up, so too does the interest. Men’s gymnastics always has fought an uphill battle. Roethlisberger came to his sport naturally. His father, Fred, was a 1968 Olympian and spent three decades as the head coach at Minnesota; his big sister, Marie, was a 1984 Olympian. He also knows he is the exception. Roethlisberger speaks regularly at awards dinners and camps and often opens with a favorite joke. He describes the giddy joy of a delivery room, where a newly proud papa grabs his infant son and declares, “I finally got my gymnast!” He laughs at his gallows humor.

“It’s the truth,” he says. “Those are the norms of our society. Most little girls try gymnastics at some point. They dream about bows in their hair and sparkles on their leotards. Little boys dream about playing football, baseball or basketball.”

There are, in truth, plenty of ancillary things at play here. Societal norms indeed feed popularity. “You can see more cornhole on TV now than men’s gymnastics,” Roethlisberger says. Even physiology has a role. “You have to be strong (to do this sport),” says Gina Pongetti, a physical therapist and owner of MedGym, who has worked in gymnastics for more than 20 years, “and many of them aren’t right away, so they get frustrated and quit.”

But largely it is the intersection of opportunity and cash. Roethlisberger has a summer camp, Flipfest, in Tennessee that attracts 400 kids on average per week. Fifteen percent of them are boys, a minority but still a solid number. The Tennessee Secondary School Association does not sponsor boys gymnastics, and, according to the most recent National Federation of High Schools participation report, not a single of its member high schools in Tennessee offers it.

In fact, only 100 do nationwide, with just 986 high school-aged boys competing. So, are colleges no longer funding gymnastics because there are no gymnasts to fund, or are there fewer gymnasts because there’s nowhere to go? Most people associated with the sport believe it’s the latter. Gymnastics is not cheap. A conservative estimate for competitive gymnastics runs $500 per month.

Yet the return on that investment is opportunity at just 15 schools — and only 6.3 scholarships available at each school.

“There’s an understandable quid pro quo,” Pongetti says. “The dollars and the time put into the gym, that turns into the college scholarship opportunity, but what if there’s no college scholarship or even opportunity to compete?”

Roethlisberger is in the thick of it. He has three boys. They’re enrolled in gymnastics, not just because their dad loves it but because he truly believes that its combination of strength and balance offers the best foundation for any sport. But he also knows that there could be a tipping point.

“They can love it all day long,” he says. “But then you start to look around and say, ‘Well, there’s nowhere to go. How about we try baseball or lacrosse?’”

Glielmi considers the number being tossed around as the likely sum necessary to fund athletes’ payments post-House settlement — $22 million. “That’s 22 gymnastics teams,” he says with a sigh. He’s not wrong. Men’s gymnastics is not a departmental money maker, which makes it an easy sport to slash. A glance at the NCAA reports filed by Penn State, Ohio State, Illinois and Oklahoma show deficits ranging from $600,000 to $1.9 million. It also, however, does not cost much, especially at places that have viable women’s programs and available practice gyms. The expenses at those same schools average around $1.3 million.

But the dearth of teams offering the sport combined with the need to shave spending puts men’s gymnastics in a vulnerable position.

“The less programs that stay, the easier it is to follow suit and chop,” says Pongetti. “It’s a dangerous, dangerous, domino effect.”

By and large, athletic directors have not been historically creative when faced with similar crises. Minnesota cut its men’s team in 2020 — per the NCAA report, it saved the school $748,167 in expenses. Administrators stood their ground even after the alumni rallied to offer to fund everything except coaching salaries and gym space. Instead, the alums, along with head coach Mike Burns, funded a club sport that this year included a roster of 25 that went on to win the club national title. Since 2021, the school provided gym space rent-free but in May announced it was reappropriating Cooke Hall to use for the diving team. The gymnasts have nowhere to go.

“This is the Titanic attempting to turn around in the Suez Canal,” Roethlisberger says. “Athletes are going to get paid from the school, so what are we going to do about it? There are ways. Engage the alumni. Huddle up. But what athletic director is going to stand up and say, ‘Here’s the new model?’ Who is going to be bold enough to do that?”

That it falls largely to the colleges is part of the problem. In many other countries, sports are government-funded. Here, many of the national governing bodies offer little if anything in the way of financial support, and rely instead on the college system as the feeder program. Fourteen U.S. teams headed to Paris, including men’s gymnastics, are made up entirely of NCAA athletes. More than 100 members of the track and field contingent come from the NCAA ranks, and 44 for swimming.

Minnesota’s program carries on with alumni support. Shane Wiskus, here at the 2021 NCAA championships, was a Tokyo Olympian. (Carlos Gonzalez / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

But there is no real reciprocity between the NCAA and the NGBs. A think tank commissioned by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee post-pandemic suggested such a partnership, and the two groups have discussed aligning forces. Nothing concrete yet has come out of it.

Men’s gymnastics is not entirely blameless. NCAA women’s gymnastics is growing. NIL opportunities have made staying in college more appealing to Olympic gymnasts — Team USA members Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles all went to college — and their participation has helped raise the sport’s profile. The ACC and SEC Networks regularly broadcast meets and ABC aired the NCAA championship. The decision to stick to the more familiar scoring system — a 10 is perfect — has helped keep viewers engaged, as well as entertained. The men, on the other hand, use the open-scoring system, where a combination of difficulty and execution results in a final score.

There is ample evidence of interest. Richard has 670,000 TikTok followers and 310,000 more on Instagram. More than 50,000 follow Malone’s Insta account.

“We hear all the time that there’s a great product here,” Glielmi says. “We just haven’t put it together. If we can manage all of that and stay true to the sport, make it easier to understand, we’ve got a better chance of people sticking around.”

Which is where this men’s team comes in.

Americans love nothing more than winning, and the lack of medals has hurt men’s relevance. This team has the stuff to change that. After the Tokyo Olympics, the United States made a concerted effort to up the difficulty in its routines. At the 2020 Games, the U.S. started a full 6.5 points behind its competition because its sets weren’t properly stacked. Now they stand just two points behind Japan and 3.6 behind China, well within striking distance of the podium.

In Saturday’s qualification round, the U.S. qualified fifth for the team all-around. The final is Monday.

Along with his social media following, Richard brings legit hardware to Paris. He is only the fourth American man to medal in the all-around at the world championships — he won a bronze — and the first in a decade to medal in more than two world events. Malone, an Olympian in 2020, is back after a gruesome leg injury. He has a good shot at medaling on the high bar. Pommel horse specialist Nedoroscik is the 2021 world champion in that event.

Maybe more than anything, they understand their mission.

“That is my passion, and that is all of our responsibility — growing the sport,” says Richard. “All of the medals, the success, that’s what this is about. We grew up giving everything to gymnastics, and we want kids growing up to have way more colleges to select from, to be blessed with what they deserve.”

GO DEEPER

Fred Richard, after lifetime of handstands, is built to burst onto Olympics scene

(Top photo of gymnast Paul Juda during U.S. Olympic trials: Elsa / Getty Images)

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Sports

Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

Published

9 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

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Eileen Gu released a statement on social media Monday, reflecting on her controversial decision to compete for Team China despite being born and raised in the U.S.

Gu’s statement tied the decision back to her passion for promoting women’s sports, and encouraging young girls to pursue sports.

“I gave my first speech on women in sports and title IX when I was 11 years old. I talked about being the only girl on my ski team, and, despite attending an all-girls’ school from Monday through Friday, becoming best friends with my teammates on the weekends through the common language of sport,” Gu wrote on Instagram.

Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos after the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“At the same time, I was made painfully aware of the lack of representation – at age 9, I felt that I was somehow representing all women every time I stepped in the terrain park. Landing tricks was about more than progression … it was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.’”

Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season in which she did compete for the U.S.

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season, and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team. I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny. I felt like I knew everyone,” she added.

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”

Gu’s statement concluded by acknowledging that certain people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the U.S., while insisting the choice maximized the impact she would have.

“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport. I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide,” Gu wrote.

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say was once a dream is now a reality.”

Gu has become a target for global criticism this Olympics for her decision to represent China while remaining silent on the country’s alleged human rights abuses.

In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” Gu answered.

“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. … So, it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence. I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.

“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

More controversy surrounding Gu erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and another American-born athlete who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025.

Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympics athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone due to partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China and western companies.

Her alignment with China prompted criticism from many Americans this Olympics, including Vice President J.D. Vance.

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

Later, when Gu was asked if she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” she said she does.

“I do,” she said. “So many athletes compete for a different country. … People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So, it’s not really about what they think it’s about.

“And, also, because I win. Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”

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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Gu has claimed she was “physically assaulted” for the decision.

“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” Gu told The Athletic.

“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Sports

Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

Published

10 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

From Hollywood actors to Olympic athletes and politicians, California’s newest Hall of Fame class runs the gamut in talent and achievements.

Academy Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and former governor/action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympic champions Janet Evans and Carl Lewis, authors Riane Eisler and Terry McMillan, chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, groundbreaking ensemble Mariachi Reyne de Los Ángeles and former state Democratic leader John L. Burton all earned a spot into the assembly of distinct Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.

This class, the 19th in state history, will be formally enshrined during a ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento on March 19 as a “celebration of their contributions to civic life, creativity, and social progress,” according to Newsom’s office.

The inductees “have reshaped our culture and our communities. Resilient and innovative, these leaders and luminaries represent the best of the California spirit,” Newsom said in a statement.

To be inducted, candidates must have lived in California for at least five years and “have made achievements benefiting the state, nation and world,” according to the California Hall of Fame website. To date, 166 Californians have been selected by three governors since 2006.

Schwarzenegger, 78, served as the state’s 38th governor and last Republican head of state from 2003 to 2011. His renaissance man biography includes a career as a body builder, highlighted by his Mr. Universe titles, action film success, political stardom and even tabloid-fodder infidelity.

Curtis, 67, a Santa Monica native, is among Hollywood’s elite and teamed with Schwarzenegger in the action blockbuster “True Lies” in 1994. Her acting career dates to 1977, and she earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Evans, 54, is a four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer and Fullerton native who attended Placentia El Dorado High School, Stanford University and USC. She serves as chief athletic officer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Lewis, 64, is considered by many one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. The track star won 10 medals, nine of them gold, in four Olympics.

Eisler, 88, and McMillan, 74, added multiple bestsellers to this Hall of Fame class.

Eisler’s critically acclaimed “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future” examines roughly 20,000 years of partnership between men and women and male domination over the last 5,000 years. The futurist, cultural historian and Holocaust survivor who has degrees in sociology and law from UCLA said she was informed of the honor last year by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and recently was honored by the Austrian government with its Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class.

“I am very honored at this time in my life to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame,” Eisler wrote in an email. “I have worked tirelessly to help create a better world, and firmly believe that a new paradigm, a new way of looking at our world and our place in it, is crucial.”

McMillan has written a series of smash hits, including a couple that became major studio films in the ‘90s, “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got her Groove Back,” centered on Black women’s voices.

Matsuhisa, 76, know for his iconic Japanese restaurant Nobu, which has six locations in California, owns businesses across five continents.

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles, founded in South El Monte, rewrote the rules of music, becoming the first all-woman mariachi ensemble that has entertained for more than three decades.

Burton, the former chair of the California Democratic Party who died last year at 92, boasted a political career that included time in the California State Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House.

“This year’s class embodies the very best of California — creativity, resilience and a spirit of community,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “These honorees remind us that innovation and courage flourish when people are lifted up by those around them.”

Sports

Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

Published

21 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.

They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.

Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)

Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians

Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.

Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.

Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.

And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.

“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.

Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.

Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting

Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.

“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.

“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”

Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.

“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”

Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel

Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.

Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.

“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.

“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”

This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’

“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”

Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.

And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.

One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.

Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.

(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence

And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.

“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?

“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”

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