Rules For Thee: Kyrie Irving Wins, Everyday New Yorkers Lose

As a fan of basketball, and a person who is paid to write about sports, the news on Thursday that Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving will finally be allowed to play in the city of New York delighted me.

Irving is one of the most entertaining players in the game, and his full-time participation certainly will make the Eastern Conference Playoffs more intriguing.

But I’m also able to put my love of basketball to the side when a policy allows for the elite of our society to continue to prosper and skirt the rules, while regular folks are forced to make the decision between injecting a vaccine in their body or losing their jobs.

For the past several months, Irving has been a part-time player, only allowed to play in Brooklyn’s road games due to New York City’s private sector vaccine mandate. See, Irving is unvaccinated. The ultimate no-no in liberal cities.

The rule never made any sense, especially as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in the winter, for both the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike. New York also implemented a wildly bizarre exception that allowed unvaccinated visiting players to compete in the city.

On Thursday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams essentially said that the rule was the reason for the exemption, saying that it created an “unfair disadvantage” for players who call New York City home.

“Today, I signed emergency Executive Order 62, expanding the performance exemption to private employer mandates,” Adams said on Thursday. “This is about putting New York City-based performance on a level playing field. Day one when I was mayor, I looked at the rule that stated ‘home town players had an unfair disadvantage [to] those who were coming to visit.’”

“And immediately, I felt that we needed to look at that,” Adams continued. “But my medical professionals said, ‘Eric, we’re at a different place. We have to wait until we’re at a place where we’re at a low area and we can re-examine some of the mandates.’ We’re here today.”

He’s absolutely correct. It was unfair, not to mention stupid. But you know what else is unfair and stupid? Allowing performers and professional athletes to remain unvaccinated while mandating that everyday New Yorkers be vaccinated in order to remain employed.

In February, more than 1,400 city workers were fired from their jobs after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the city’s deadline. According to The New York Times, “About 900 of the fired staff worked at the Department of Education; about 100 worked at the New York City Housing Authority, the public housing agency; 36 were from the New York Police Department.”

That would be your “everyday people.” Workers who do not have a four-year, $136.5 million contract to dribble a basketball. Will the 1,400+ people who lost their jobs in February once again find themselves employed? Nope.

“A large number [of employees] were hired with the understanding they had to be vaccinated,” Adams said on Thursday. “They understood that and they decided not to do so. So at this time, we’re not entertaining it.”

You see, they’re not “performers” — that very special kind of person who elevates above the rest of us because of their talents.

It is the ultimate “rules for thee but not for me” situation, and it offends me. The elites of our society don’t play by the very rules they force down on the rest of us.

It’s been on full display from the very onset of COVID-19. From Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) getting her hair cut when salons were shut down to my former governor, Gavin Newsom (D-CA), attending an event at the French Laundry in Napa, California, our ruling class has sneered at the very rules they impose.

Why? Because they can. And they’re at it again.

I’m thrilled that I get to watch Irving play basketball during the NBA Playoffs. I’m thrilled that he stuck to his principles and won. It’s not on Irving that the mayor of New York City sees him as better than regular New Yorkers. But if Irving and the rest of the “performers” are allowed to work in New York City while remaining unvaccinated, then so should those who make their living in education, who work for the Housing Authority, and who risk their lives trying to protect ours. 

The rules should apply for me. Not just for thee.

Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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