The MRC's Sports Anti-Vaxxer

Mysterious Media Research Center sports blogger Jay Maxson hates COVID vaccines almost as much as he (or she) hates LGBT people.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 2/17/2022

Maxson ranted in a June 17 post:

The micro-managing, freedom-stifling NFL control freaks are going way out of bounds in newly announced vaccination requirements. The league on Wednesday released a list of 10 ways it can punish teams without a full roster of vaccinated players.

SB Nation reports teams without 100 percent of their players vaccinated “will have a much, much more difficult season under new rules.” Along with: “Players can still choose not to get vaccinated, but they’re not free from consequences.” Both are huge under-statements.

The NFL’s new guidelines are so petty that they extend to family interactions and player use of team cafeterias, weight rooms and saunas. Fully vaccinated teams don’t have any restrictions in these regards.

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It’s fair game to say some of these draconian rules challenge individual and civil rights.

Maxson followed that up on June 21 by complaining that anti-vaxxer athletes were getting called out:

Sports media outlets over the weekend unleashed their fury on former and current pro athletes who spoke out against COVID-19 vaccinations. NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton and current Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley are expressing concerns about vaccines.

NBC Sports Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio went ballistic on Beasley, saying he “unfairly assailed the NFL Players Association for agreeing to rules that give vaccinated players far more freedom in 2021 than players who refuse to get vaccinated.”

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Deadspin writer Bryan Fonseca piled on Stockton, too: “The ex-Gonzaga Bulldog even went on to add that he conducted his own research, which he’s holding to a higher regard than the health professionals who are researching all this for a living, a common pivot from people who have yet to be vaccinated, and probably won’t be.”

Research can apparently only be trusted if it’s in agreement with the beliefs of the left-stream media. Or if it comes from the mouth of LeBron James, who boasts of how well he educates himself on issues (but won't say if he's been vaccinated or not). Then it’s the Gospel truth.

On July 30, Maxson grumbled that one NFL player ultimately did the right thing:

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was not planning to get the COVID-19 vaccine. However, he has backed down out of fear that the NFL will make his life miserable if he refuses to get the shots, and he’s getting the vaccine.

Many are roasting the NFL for his draconian vaccine-or-else pressure. Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins even suggested he may end his pro football career over being made to get vaccinated.

On the flip side, Vanity Fair thinks the NFL imposing the choice on athletes is peachy-keen. Its headline declares "The NFL Is Setting the Standard for COVID Vaccine Crackdowns."

Maxson then forwarded a typical anti-vaxxer argument, claiming that "Numerous athletes have tested positive for COVID despite having been vaccinated." Maxson didn't mention that the Delta variant is much more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19 -- even among vaccinated people -- or that vaccinated people who catch COVID are much less likely to be severely ill from it, which is the best argument for getting vaccinated.

Maxson huffed on Aug. 13 that a college football team was making the safety of its spectators a priority:

Vaccine mandates have reached into college football. Tulane University is the first major college football school to require so-called vaccine “passports,” and it now remains to be seen if other universities will follow like lemmings.

To attend a Tulane home game this season, fans will be required to prove they’ve been vaccinated or have tested negatively for COVID-19 within the past 72 hours. On top of these stipulations, all fans must wear masks at the outdoor game site.

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All of this assumes that vaccines still lacking full FDA approval are the be-all, end-all to the spread of coronavirus infections. When in fact, that’s not true. News apparently hasn’t yet reached New Orleans about vaccine failures and complications, or people catching COVID-19 for the second time. Tulane only averages 20,000 fans per home game to begin with, and now the school wants to make it tougher to draw fans? Go figure.

Maxson then sounded like a full anti-vaxxer by pushing horror stories of alleged adverse effects to the vaccine:

A few weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (Rep-Wis.) held a press conference featuring individuals who’ve suffered terrible reactions to vaccines. Among them was the wife of former Green Bay Packer Ken Ruettgers, who received the Moderna vaccine in January. Four days after receiving the first dose, she experienced severe neurological reactions that still inhibit her ability to live a normal life, including muscle pain, numbness, weakness and paresthesia. Others told similar horror stories, including one woman who incurred $250,000 in medical expenses.

Does Tulane University really want to flirt with liability for similar stories resulting from its football games? Do other universities across the nation want to be complicit in health horror stories as well? Football fans can choose to stay home and direct their own health decisions, rather than take unneeded risks forced on them by football teams. This fall, we’ll find out how essential Tulane football really is in the minds of fans.

Maxson is apparently referring to a June 28 press conference that Johnson held. Johnson was later forced to concede that there's no actual evidence any COVID vaccine caused the side effects he was hyping. Maxson didn't mention that more than 600,000 Americans have been killed by COVID, and that many millions of Americans have received the vaccine without incident.

Maxson moved his (or her) ire from football to basketball in an Aug. 30 post:

The National Basketball Association announced over the weekend a new vaccine mandate for its referees, coaches and others who work with players. With few exceptions allowed, these people must get the jab and recommended boosters. However, players and fans are not facing a vaccine ultimatum. How unfair is that for those under the mandate?

Referees – as well as trainers and coaches -- appear to be the NBA’s low-hanging fruit. The league may be too cowardly to try to force LeBron “King” James and other high-profile players to take the jab. The National Basketball Referees Association sold out its constituency on the vaccination mandate. What will happen with referees who suffer adverse reactions to vaccines is anybody’s guess at this point.

Maxson spent an entire Sept. 2 post ranting about "draconian vaccine mandates": "Like the rest of society, the sports realm is spinning out of control over draconian vaccine mandates. Vaccine-related madness is dominating today’s media reports on pro football, basketball and baseball." Like most anti-vaxxers, Maxson never explains why it's so "draconian" to try to save lives and maintain public health so sports can go on.

Maxson went on to rant about his then-current cause celebre, NFL player Tyrann Mathieu: "He got vaccinated. Then he caught COVID-19. So vaccines do not guarantee insulation from the coronavirus. And besides, the vaccine gestapo are now hyping boosters, which further undermine the efficacy of vaccines." Again: Vaccines don't completely eliminate the threat, but they do keep you from getting severely sick if you catch it again. (Again, Maxson censored the fact that the Delta variant has changed the game.) And the claim that vaccine boosters "undermine the efficacy of vaccines" is nonsensical. The effectiveness of many vaccines wane over time, and at least some of them require booster shots -- there's a reason one gets a flu shot every year, after all.

In an Oct. 5 post, Maxson got upset that NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (whose name he misspelled as "Kareen") "managed to link coronavirus vaccinations with race, particularly Black Lives Matter" in an NPR interview, huffing in response:

Kyrie Irving and other non-vaccinated players who fully supported BLM beg to differ. The two issues are not conjoined at the hip. These players are showing this by their actions, by their personal discernment.

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What’s also not fair is that in this NPR interview, A Martinez never broached the subject of adverse reactions to vaccines, which were fast-tracked through to federal approval. If everyone thought vaccines were safe to use, it wouldn’t be such a big issue, but that’s not the case. Oh, that’s right, leftists are doing diligent research through so-called reputable sources like Dr. Anthony Fauci and MSNBC. And unlike the unvaccinated rubes, they have all the correct information.

Two days later, Maxson got upset that Canada was enforcing vaccine mandates and didn't exclude pro basketball players, invoking Kyrie Irving again:

There is no point in unvaccinated NBA players making the road trip to Toronto. That Canadian city can sentence them to jail time and fine them $750,000 for leaving their hotel, according to a report in The Athletic. Other NBA cities will prevent such players from playing in games and also from attending practices. Yes, it’s one big, tangled web of freedom-dousing nonsense gripping the league.

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Irving calls the limitations “oppressive.” The city of Toronto calls them “criminal.” Brooklyn, the Bay Area and New York haven’t yet gotten the memo about the land of the free.

Maxson's whining continued on Oct. 10:

ESPN’s blog, The Undefeated, jumped down LeBron James’ throat for not calling on all NBA players to submit to COVID-19 vaccinations. The coronavirus pandemic is actually an act of social justice and a fight for equality rivaling opposition to police brutality, says The Undefeated’s senior writer David Dennis Jr.

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The ESPN Undefeated writer also says that Kyrie Irving and other vaccination resisters are perpetuating the possible spread of an epidemic ravaging black folks and this contradicts every statement they’ve ever made about standing for black folks in America. They can no longer be trusted when they speak of how black lives matter.

The dictatorial Democrats could not have stated this anti-freedom, race-baiting sentiment any better than Dennis.

Maxson was perversely happy in an Oct. 17 post cheering how turning thousands of college football fans into guinea pigs ended up working out better than many people expected:

Have a plate of crow, fear-mongers Dr. Anthony Fauci and Joy Reid. Your expectations of huge college football stadiums packed with thousands of fans serving as super-spreaders of COVID-19 have been disproven.

College football has reached the mid-season point, and COVID-19 outbreaks are on the decline in many of the states with the largest stadiums. Through weeks of mostly unmasked fans sitting side by side at college football games in huge stadiums, the dire predictions of the doomsday crowd have fallen flat on their face.

“As soon as I saw it (the opening of college football stadiums to fans in September), I thought COVID’s about to have a feast,” Reid told Dr. Fauci on NBC Today. “What did you think?” Fauci said, “I thought the same thing. I think it’s really unfortunate.”

What’s that? Dr. Fauci wrong? Again? He seems to keep failing upward, in the view of those on the Left who have all but bestowed sainthood on him despite his sorry track record.

This partisan Fauci-bashing was an echo of a post Tim Graham had written the day before.

Of course, just because there was no spike in COVID cases during that period does not mean that COVID did not spread at stadiums.

In an Oct. 21 post, Maxson cheered that Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich, who was fired for refusing to get vaccinated, was contemplating legal action against the university. Maxson went on to complain that other media outlets pointed out that Rolovich's attempt to claim a religious exemption because of his Catholic faith was shot down because "Pope Francis and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have stated that 'all Covid-19 vaccines are morally acceptable and that Catholics have a duty, responsibility or obligation to be vaccinated.'"

As the highly contagious Omicron variant swept through the NBA, Maxson was ready to lash out again at the sport in a Dec. 12 post -- though there was no acknowledgment of Omicron's highly contagious nature:

This is supposed to be the league that is on the cutting edge of dealing with the pandemic. It was the first sports league to cease operations last year when the coronavirus flared up in the United States. It later restored action in a Florida bubble, where players were practically under house arrest between games. This is the league with a franchise in Brooklyn, which will not allow unvaccinated all-star Kyrie Irving (seen above in photo) to play or practice. It’s a league with a team in Canada that, next year, will not allow unvaccinated NBA players to enter the country.

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Vigilance is needed in times like these, yes. Unfortunately for the players, coaches and one team president, the NBA is not at the forefront on how to curb the spread of this nasty, persistent pandemic and its frequent surges. Perhaps the media members who’ve been praising the NBA to the hilt (while ignoring its China hypocrisy) will finally wake up and smell the coffee.

Maxson lashed out again at vaccination protocols (while finally acknowledging that Omicron exists) in pro sports in a Dec. 17 post:

Okay, vaccinations and protocols are not working, and professional sports were not supposed to be looking at a COVID-induced long dark winter. The experts and the politicians had all the “scientific answers.” Talk of temporary shutdowns and bubbles were supposed to be things of the past.

Nearly 100 percent of NBA, NFL and NHL players are vaccinated, and a majority have received booster shots. No matter, the coronavirus keeps mutating and staying ahead of vaccinations and boosters. The Omicron variant is roaring through multiple sports leagues, and more than a hundred NFL players are out with COVID-19. One NHL team had 30 cases, and an NBA team has 10 players sidelined.

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All the league rules and so-called scientific advice of the "experts" have not prevented the current crisis in professional sports and the greater culture. The president and Dr. Fauci were all talk. Vaccinations are failing right and left. Why should anyone think the geniuses in pro sports can gain the upper hand on COVID now?

The next day, Maxson freaked out at a New York Times suggestion that pro sports shut down until the Omicron wave passes:

The NBA, NHL and NFL have higher vaccination rates than the public at large. Most pro athletes have also received booster shots. Yet none of this has prevented the current surge of infections – proving the experts are wrong and they don’t have the inside track on “science.”

Basically, the NYT demands more of the same tactics which have repeatedly failed. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity. Vaccinations are not the be-all/end-all solution; they merely lessen the severity of infections in some cases. The pro leagues currently adding vaccinated players to the sick list daily demonstrates that the New York Times is wrong on practically every point it makes in the editorial.

But Maxson clearly wants the status quo, which has arguably been working far worse.

Maxson came to Irving's defense again in a sneering Jan. 13 post:

Did you know that COVID-19 vaccines are one of the modern wonders of the world? One of the nation’s top athletes isn’t aware of this though. The Brooklyn Nets’ guard Kyrie Irving needs to put aside his ignorance, get jabbed, keep everyone in New York City safe and serve as a good role model for people, says SBNation sportswriter Ricky O’Donnell.

A perennial all-star, Irving has refused to be vaccinated and has only been allowed to play in two NBA (road) games all season. New York and Brooklyn have jab mandates which have prevented him from practicing or playing at home this season. More on his playing status below, but let’s first get back to O’Donnell, an exaggerator-extraordinaire.

“The Covid vaccines are a massive achievement for humanity,” O’Donnell wrote (emphasis added). Except when they’re not.

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That’s some “massive achievement for humanity,” all right.

O’Donnell also insists vaccines “are safe and effective.” Except when they’re not.

The CDC reports these side effects: pain, swelling, headaches, nausea, fever and more. But here are the big ones: death, thrombosis, severe allergic reaction, damaged immune system nerve cells and inflammation of the heart.

Publishing an anti-science anti-vaxxer is probably not the look the MRC really wants.

The MRC has generally not been an anti-vaxxer organization -- it's all about politics, being against whatever liberals are for just to be contrarian -- but it allows Maxson to act like a far-right anti-vaxxer. Not good for the MRC's image.