Bills Mafia? Bird Gang? Is the NFL Really Supporting Organized Crime?

Fans can call themselves whatever they want. But the NFL shouldn’t be so enthusiastic about supporting “gang” and “mafia” names.

It’s hard to imagine anyone in the “back the blue” crowd being excited about the Arizona Cardinals’ season opener against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The competition should be great. Each team has a lot to prove, starting with a pair of dynamic quarterbacks looking to make the leap from promising youngster to established star. And each team is trying to make up for recent disappointments.

But if you or someone you love works in law enforcement, how can you ignore the fact that every fan base pretends to have ties to a criminal organization?

Accounts mafia? Bird gang?

Are we serious?

Hollywood has sanitized our gang image

What kind of message does that send, especially in the wake of Colin Kaepernick’s banishment after protesting police brutality during the national anthem before games? Wasn’t his point twisted into an anti-police message and used to justify teams refusing to sign him just a few years after he led a team to the Super Bowl?

Didn’t it become a flashpoint in the 2020 presidential election cycle? Wasn’t a group of peaceful protesters arrested at a Black Lives Matter rally in Phoenix and charged with gang membership because they were all wearing black?

Hollywood turns the mafia into a group of cuddly, fat, old men who swear and eat pasta as they try to make their way in a world that doesn’t give them a chance because of their background.

The same goes for the music industry and street gangs. They are portrayed as groups of debauched teenagers just doing what they have to do to survive in underprivileged neighborhoods where violence and addiction are rampant and hope is hard to come by.

We all know that those fairy tales only add more glamour to extortion, human trafficking, drugs and murder.

Or not?

Cardinals Bird Gang? Bills Mafia? Why is this OK?

Why is Bills Mafia OK? Why are Bills Mafia t-shirts for sale on the NFL website? Why are the Cardinals using #BirdGang to promote the team on social media?

And why aren’t they the only ones?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the Yinzer Mob. The LA Chargers have the Bolt Gang. The New York Jets have Gang Green. I even found a reference on Reddit to the Fins Cartel for the Miami Dolphins.

Organized crime is not something to play around with. Just ask the family of murdered Arizona Republic journalist Don Bolles. Or anyone affected by gang violence in NFL cities like Los Angeles or Chicago.

It’s one thing for fans to identify themselves this way, but NFL executives can’t tolerate this.

If you think I’m being ‘politically correct’

There will undoubtedly be plenty of football fans who think I am too sensitive, too politically correct or too arrogant.

Maybe they’re right? Maybe words don’t mean anything and we should be free to call ourselves and each other whatever we want. Maybe we should just pull out all the swear words.

Maybe I’m being selfish or shortsighted? Maybe I just don’t want to think about something that makes me uncomfortable when I’m just trying to watch a game.

Why I will never go there: Another Trump rally

Maybe I’m a preachy hypocrite? After all, I’ve seen “The Sopranos” and “The Wire.” I’ve read enough novels by Mario Puzo and Donald Goines. And I wouldn’t have a hard time reciting lines from horribly incorrigible gangster movies and hardcore rap records.

But that’s all adult entertainment, right? We don’t support junior versions of organized crime like we do with peewee football, right? Nobody dresses their kids up like little Marlon Brandos or Tupac Shakurs like they do when they dress kids up in Josh Allen and Kyler Murray jerseys, right?

The NFL should not tolerate this behavior

Part of the appeal of violent movies and music is that we know it’s all taboo. This kind of entertainment tickles a kind of anarchic itch that no one in their right mind would ever want to see in real life.

I am especially concerned about children who see their fathers and mothers walking around in mafia and gang clothes every Sunday.

I would ask these adults what they would say if a group of criminals hurt someone they loved or demanded money from their small business? I would ask what would happen if one of their children came home wearing gang colors? Or how would they feel if their neighborhood was overrun with drugs and prostitution? Would they be okay with that?

Maybe so.

I just don’t think that should apply to the NFL.

I have enough friends and family who wear a badge every day, I can’t imagine the Bills Mafia and the Bird Gang making their lives easier.

I can’t imagine anyone who supports public safety or believes in law and order seeing these nicknames and thinking they’re cool, no matter how much they love football.

Reach Moore at [email protected] or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.