Dodie, Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply to my post. I spent 30 years on my city's PD and, unfortunately, saw 10-12 fellow officers fall in the line of duty during that time. I agree with you that had the event of the two officers been on national there would have been a massive outpouring of thoughts and prayers for the officers as there was for the football player.
The last line of your post exemplified the exact reason I posted. I wanted to bring to light that there were two instances that occurred last week, one well-known, and one not, and to maybe make anyone who saw it stop for just a moment and think of the woman and men who are the thin line between civility and anarchy.

The basis for the difference is the fact that millions of people were watching the entertainer on national TV and the two police officers were witnessed by only a few, if any at all. As a result the national news media picked up the entertainer's story and many millions more people have expressed interest in that individual. The police officers were only noted in the local news and not the national news. Thus a relatively small number of people were aware of the loss of life and the severe injuries.

As an additional note, the entertainer's GoFundMe donations have been pledged to go for helping a wide variety of charities, not the entertainer's personal wants or even needs. His employer will be paying his hospital bills and his rehabilitation, not the GoFundMe money.

Yes it is tragic that two police officers and their families are suffering but the officers knew the risks of the job just as the entertainrer knew his risks.

I am not trying to justify the fact that millions have gone to one person because of his public presence, nor to diminish the importance of police officers duties and dangerous situations. It is a fact of life. local news takes a back seat to national news. Is it right? No! but it happens.

I worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was informed from the beginning that if ever there was a situation where inmates took control (riot or uprising) and I was a hostage, I would not be considered a person of importance or power, no matter my position. I knew that and my family was so informed. It was fact and condition of enployment. If I did not agree I could resign or decline employment. Just a little reality and not wanting to begin any debates or arguments. Also not trying to move this to the attic.

I've come to realize that "professional sports" teams are corporations and the players are employees, just like us who worked for an employer. It's a business and nothing more and one that an investor can purchase stock in as well.

What we are watching are two companies competing with each other on game day. It all comes down to revenue for the owners through the various spin-offs that earn income such as ticket sales, broadcast, logo copyright item sales, etc, etc.

I realized that it is no different than our company fighting for market share against our competitors yet I doubt we could sell a single ticket for anyone to watch our competition in the marketplace.

I've come to the conclusion that the real competition in sports, played for the love of the game, is high school sports where a game-day win to a student means more to them than a professional that gets paid the same whether they win or lose that day or a baseball player that strikes out and stands in the field the entire time with never a ball coming his way.