Free speech and football: Why they matter and why you should be thankful for them

Free speech and football represent the best aspects of America: unapologetic individuality.

In Canada, neither football nor free speech are particularly popular. While Canadian football remains a protected sport (there have been talks of an NFL team in Toronto for decades; good luck), it truly has one of the most bizarre sets of rules of any professional league in the world.

Have you ever heard of a "rouge"? Watch this embarrassing end to a CFL game where the teams kick the ball back and forth to each other until the clock runs out.

While football has a mixed origin story that involves both America and Canada, the NFL flows better, is more exciting, and involves far less kicking than the CFL. One can claim the CFL is more traditional or is charming in its rule book, but the fact remains it is just not as good as American football.

Therefore, the NFL and its American football predecessors reflect exactly what makes American great: taking something good and making it better.

When the Founding Fathers left the drudgery of Europe to make a new country, a new Constitution, and a new way of life, they simply made a better-functioning society, with a superior rule of law.

This, of course, is best reflected by the First Amendment.

There exists no other nation in the world where free speech is enshrined in law — not before the formation of the United States and not after. This concept may seem odd or even outrageous to the average American, but a quick news search reveals a backward set of speech laws in every nation that is a close U.S. ally.

In Canada, human rights tribunals act as kangaroo courts, where a panel of unknowns determine the fate of a citizen accused of bigotry or hate. One of the most famous cases, for example, happened when Canadian comedian Mike Ward was ordered to pay $42,000 for insulting the appearance of a disabled person during a comedy show.

A few years prior, a Toronto comedian was fined $22,500 by a different tribunal for insulting a lesbian at a comedy show. More recently, a woman in the United Kingdom was investigated for "inciting racial hatred" because of a post she made on X a year prior. Police called it a criminal matter, as opposed to the sometimes used "non-crime hate incident."

Down under, Australian legislation seeks to make it a crime to use "vilifying" speech. This would be on top of current racism legislation that makes it a crime to "offend" or "insult" someone based on ethnicity. There are other aspects of the law that are more redeeming, but with 49% of respondents in a recent survey supporting "new measures to protect people from hate speech" in Australia, there may be more clamoring for less speech.

These instances, while indeed laughable, are often frightening for people in these countries.

Imagine walking down the street, fearing arrest for a conversation you might be having. This is a very real possibility in some of the most like-minded countries to the United States.

This is why I am thankful for America, for free speech, and for real football.

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