Dear America,

Here we go again; second verse same as the first.

The NCAA yanks an ad -- already bought and paid for by the way, as part of the original campaign packaged around the Super Bowl with CBS (who happens to the parent company operating the NCAA website) -- because of it's offensiveness and lack of inclusiveness; basically, for not meeting the standards of the NCAA which is:

"should be generally supportive of NCAA values and attributes and/or not be in conflict with the NCAA's mission and fundamental principles," according to NCAA standards. The NCAA may exclude ads or advertisers "that do not appear to be in the best interests of higher education and student athletes."

ERIC GORSKI
AP Education Writer

NCAA YANKS FOCUS ON THE FAMILY AD
AMID CONCERNS ABOUT GROUP'S STANCE
ON GAY RELATIONSHIPS
February 24, 2010

"But Pat Griffin, a retired University of Massachusetts Amherst professor who is a consultant to the NCAA on gay and lesbian issues, said it's not a generic feel-good message.

She said the slogan's "life" reference is anti-abortion, and celebrating families does not extend to all families but "a very specific kind of family — heterosexual married families. A large part of their energy goes to preventing other kinds of families of having recognition."

Griffin said it's one thing for CBS to accept such an ad, but it's different for the NCAA.

"It's not the right image or role for the NCAA to be endorsing an organization that has such an extreme right-wing Christian political mission," said Griffin, who used her blog to protest the ad.

From LUCINDA TREAT, in the Huffington Post today,

"While the ads themselves cleverly couch their message in the neutral tagline "Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life," Focus on the Family's mission is dedicated to right-wing Christian values, among them advocating against abortion and gay marriage.

And many commissioners have demonstrated the savvy to determine precisely where wield that influence -- even if there is no simple bright line to be drawn. NFL commissioners have decided, in years past, to put the NFL's support whole-heartedly behind the United Way and to oppose domestic violence. In turn, these Commissioners have steered clear of controversial issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and who should be the next president of the United States. These commissioners have consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of where the line should be drawn based on what unites, rather than divides, their core fan base. Commissioner Goodell is no different."

The AD:
A picture of a father holding his son and the words,
"All I want for my son is for him to grow up knowing how to do the right thing."
 
Shut the front door!
(Oh, I wanting to swear, but I chose to do the right thing instead)
 
Hey, Lucinda or Pat, have you gone to the Focus on the Family website?  Have you listened to Dr. Dobson or any one of the personal testimonies free for view on the home page?  Have you actually taken the time to peruse the teachings and support services available to any family, ranging in views from how to love your children and raise them to be good stewards and responsible members of the family/community to how to deal with heartbreaking infidelity or grief within marriage?  Both of you use the "right wing extremist Christian mission" as if your "left wing extremist anti-christ-ian" view is the new black. 
 
Have we really come to an age where we have to be so politically correct that we must censure our values to fit purely the liberal societal mold?  How can the promotion of good values and strong families threaten anybody, including gay families or pro-choice activists?  Is the deliberate focus on building healthy and vibrant traditional families such a threat to community, or for that matter, college students who are just beginning to embark the ever-challenging road of finding a soul mate and creating a family of their own?
 
Why can't the answer just be, okay NCAA, go ahead and take the advertising from Focus on the Family, a place where "helping families thrive" is their sole mission and purpose in life -- and then go cozy up to any one of the many gay activist groups and ask for their ad? 
 
Last I checked, THIS IS AMERICA.
 
FREE SPEECH, notwithstanding all views and especially that which is bought and paid for, is worshiped and glorified, is it not?
 
A liberal never really seems to want free speech or the freedom of religion or the freedom to protect your home or the freedom to live the American dream if in fact it gets in the way of their world, the wayward society that it is; I'm beginning to think they abhor tradition of any kind  -- or how else can you explain the continuous uproar with an organization that is simply ever mindful and deliberate of it's focus, which when all is said and done is perfectly harmless when up against the devious, character attacking, divisive nature of the activists from the left.
 
Somehow, we've come to a place where we interpret having convictions -- if they be conservative or bear any significance to Christianity -- as wrong.  I mean, according to Pat, just saying the word "life" is fighting words -- automatically signaling the horrific and archaic pro-life stance; how could anyone wish to protect the life of unborn child? It's "not the right image", says Pat. But enough about Pat,

let's get back to this ad.
 
As the Focus seems to be a simple one -- one of supporting the duty of a father to a son.
Once we choose to have kids (and I mean every sense of the word CHOOSE), it is our duty as parents to teach them to do the right thing; while on a deeper level, it may actually promote college kids to pause, if only for a second, to realize that having children is a great responsibility and not one to be taken lightly.
 
Taking it a step further, I wonder just how many college football players have a story where the father maybe didn't do the right thing, let alone teach it to their sons?  It's hypothetical, I know, just throwing the question out there, because who's to say?
 
But can we just give thanks that someone, like Focus on the Family, is saying it? 
 
If we, as a country, don't make a concerted effort in this direction, to deliberately and confidently take appropriate action to instill the power of good parenting and child raising, how can we expect to make a positive difference in the growing number of families troubled with domestic violence, child abuse, irresponsible behavior, addiction, school drop out, and anything else that wreaks the family unity (no matter what it looks like)?  Truth is, it does not happen by accident or without real attention -- and a look around any community will confirm that.
 
If we continuously kill the messenger, such as the case in this situation, every single one of us will lose this battle; where in the world is the appreciation for the bigger picture? 

Instead of irresponsibly and irreverently flying off the handle against convictions, as Lucinda and Pat find it so easily to do -- perhaps they could just play a part in correcting this ridiculous dialog between the left and the really left by simply supporting what they believe in without the attack, without the ridicule, without the belittling of the ideology or belief of another view, which apparently is wildly different than their own.  Who ever would have thunk doing the right thing could be so wrong?

Anyway, would it be so wrong for me to ask that in the future, perhaps you could just go back to your people, if that's who they are, and rise up with your own ad of another view -- perhaps a picture of two guys holding a baby from China and saying the very same thing?  Or, does that not turn enough heads, raise up enough skirts, or create enough social outrage for you to profit by?

And you know, while I'm thinking of this, CBS could actually learn something from ABC, as they characterize a perfect example of how this works every week in the hilarious, well written and superbly cast, Modern Family -- absolutely brilliant!  Of course, you're probably not too happy with the show that just precedes it, which is somewhere in The Middle; funny as that sounds, as it is where the majority of Americans sit with their convictions every Wednesday night -- sitting on the couch, eating ice cream, and getting our jollies laughing at the differences we all have in common. That is UNITING, not dividing.
 
The only one's who seem to be preaching hate seems to be people like you, Lucinda and Pat -- it may be good to know, you catch more flies with honey, girls.
 
Make it a Good Day, G
 
And once again, second verse same as the first, wins again -- who really looks bad when it is all said and done?  Certainly not the focus on the family... and that is good advertising at it's best.