Buccaneers: Bruce Arians says protests ‘don’t do crap,’ wants action instead
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians wants action
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians met with the media following practice Thursday afternoon and gave his thoughts on the current social landscape of the United States.
Arians, who has been outspoken on matters of social justice, was asked about the current landscape of the country and his thoughts on the protests taking place, particularly with the NBA boycotting games on Wednesday, followed by teams in MLB, MLS and the WNBA doing the same.
"“Your responsibility is to take action,” Arians said via the NFL Network. “I don’t know if protest is an action. I think each guy has a personal thing. I would beg them to take action. Find a cause and either support it financially or do something to change the situation because protesting doesn’t do crap, in my opinion. I’ve been seeing it since 1968.”"
While Arians received some push back for his quote, it doesn’t seem like this was said in a way to deflect or disagree with those who chose to protest. Instead, Arians is seemingly making the point that he has seen protesting for several decades and he wants to see more action taking place and more athletes getting involved in more ways than just words.
The Buccaneers still plan to practice moving forward
Several NFL teams elected to sit out their practice today in the face of the social unrest around the country, but the Buccaneers were still on the practice field.
Arians said he and his team had a meeting before practice and that he’ll respect and get behind any decisions that they make. However, he wants to see action in whatever they elect to do as a team ‘as long as it’s something to do with change and not just taking a day off.’
Four NFL teams didn't practice today, NBA/MLB teams didn't play last night, but Bruce Arians said today of his talk with players: "If they want to do something, we'll do it, as long as it's something that's going to have something to do with change and not just taking a day off."
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) August 27, 2020
More and more it seems that Arians is ready to move past just having conversations and take action.
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He has been very open about his beliefs when it comes to social justice for quite a while and it’s clear that he wants to see his Tampa Bay team take true steps to creating a better community and country.