Last night, my — and I use that word loosely — Atlanta Falcons played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football. I have to confess that I turned it off before the game ended. The Falcons weren’t doing well. And I’m not a fan of these Thursday night Amazon games, to be honest. Plus, I’m kind of hung up on this show Queen of the South on Netflix and was dying to see what Teresa Mendoza and James Valdez were up to. Especially James Valdez. Ladies, I highly recommend.
Where was I? Oh yes, football. So I didn’t see the end of the game or the post-game show because I’d just assume crawl into a hole with no TV at all than sit through that Amazon crew’s hot takes and bad jokes, but the Falcons apparently came back and pulled off a 29 to 28 win over the Bucs. Rise up! And our star running back and the only former Texas Longhorn I like, Bijan Robinson, joined the post-game panel.
Apparently, he was talking about some portion of the Thursday night game resembling a fun childhood backyard football game, and he said, “Smear the Queer. That’s what this is. Smear the Queer.”
People are all up in arms because Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson referenced the kids tackle football game “Smear The Queer”
This is a non-story & there’s no need for Bijan to apologize. That was the name of the game.
If you wanna call it “Kill the Carrier” now, go for it.… https://t.co/tJXn1H12wT pic.twitter.com/vAPWTVcdzg
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) December 12, 2025
As you can imagine, this didn’t sit well with certain folks.
I’d never heard of “smear the queer,” so I had to look it up. Apparently, it’s a kids’ game that dates back many decades — before I was born, even — back when the word “queer” simply meant what it meant, “strange or odd.” Of course, the alphabet mafia has now hijacked the word, and if you use it the old-fashioned way, you’re subject to getting canceled.
The best description of the game and what it was back in the 1970s and 1980s that I could find was actually on a Gen X Reddit board. Some guy wrote:
In elementary school, we used to go to recess with a soccer ball, but rather than playing soccer we played a game called Smear the Queer. It was a mash up of soccer, football and rugby. There really weren’t any rules other than 1) you get a point if you get the ball to the other team’s goal, and 2) don’t complain to the teachers.
Note – this was the early to mid 80’s, we were kids, and to us, ‘queer’ meant weird or unusual. It was not meant as a slur against gay people, as we really were too young to understand sexuality.
Apparently, it had to be rebranded in the 1990s and 2000s because you couldn’t say “queer” anymore, and a Google search tells me that a lot of people call it “Kill the Man with the Ball” or “Kill the Carrier” now. Apparently, that wasn’t the case in Tucson, Ariz., where Robinson grew up, so he only said what he knew. But that’s not acceptable.
And I have to add that I don’t know him personally, but everyone who meets him says he’s a great guy with a good head on his shoulders. He’s a fan favorite here in Atlanta, and he’s an outspoken Christian. Those who spend time with him say he’s kind, humble, and grounded, and he does a lot for his community. Not to mention that he’s one of the best players in the NFL right now and has a big future ahead. He also does some acting on the side — Matthew McConaughey actually mentors him — so he spends time in Hollywood, the belly of the woke beast.
In other words, he’s not the type to go on TV and say something offensive on purpose, especially if it could ruin his career.
But that doesn’t matter. When I woke up this morning and checked X for writing inspiration, the very first thing I saw was Robinson apologizing if he offended anyone. That’s more disappointing than the fact that he said it at all.
Hey everyone I want to apologize for the insensitive comment I made in the broadcast, it was a football game we used to play as a kid but that’s not an excuse. I recognize the mistake and make sure to do better in the future. It was not reflective of my beliefs and I am so sorry…
— Bijan Robinson (@Bijan5Robinson) December 12, 2025
I get why he had to do it; he was probably even made to do it, but at the same time, he did absolutely nothing wrong. I’m sick and tired of people persecuting others over things like this. His words didn’t hurt a single person on this planet. Manufactured outrage is exhausting. Go pick on someone who is actually causing physical and mental harm to others, and leave Bijan alone.
Before I sat down to write this, I did what I often do with these matters: ran it by the gay couple who live next door to me. After making several jokes that are inappropriate to publish here, my neighbor said that he thought changing the word “smear” to “kill” was the more offensive aspect for a kids’ game, but overall, he thought the whole thing was stupid. Then again, they think all of this LGBTetc stuff is stupid. They just want to live their lives without a bunch of mentally ill leftists turning them into some kind of agenda.
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