Something to think about......
DIMEMAN
Posts: 22,403 ✭✭✭✭✭
Rolf Krueger, who played in the NFL for 7 years, sent this to me.
Sonny
If A Man's From TEXAS, He'll Tell Ya. If He's Not, Why Embarrass Him By Askin?
NFL History...history not often reported or leaked to the ticket holders.
I hope this helps you; it opened my eyes, to understand just when the public’s respect for the NFL organization started to crumble....
In 2012 the NFL had an issue with Tim Tebow kneeling for each game to pray, they also had an issue with Tebow wearing John 3:16 as part of his eye-black to avoid glare, and made him take it off.
In 2013 the NFL fined Brandon Marshall for wearing green cleats to raise awareness for people with mental health disorders.
In 2014 Robert Griffin III (RG3) entered a post-game press conference wearing a shirt that said "Know Jesus Know Peace" but was forced to turn it inside out by an NFL uniform inspector before speaking at the podium.
In 2015 DeAngelo Williams was fined for wearing "Find the Cure" eye black for breast cancer awareness.
In 2015 William Gay was fined for wearing purple cleats to raise awareness for domestic violence. (Not that the NFL has a domestic violence problem..).
*In 2016 the NFL prevented the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal on their helmet in honor of 5 Dallas Police officers killed in the line of duty.
- 2016 the NFL threatened to fine players who wanted to wear cleats to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
So tell me again how the NFL supports free speech and expression, all of a sudden... It seems quite clear based on these facts that the NFL has taken a position against any action by NFL players demonstrating RESPECT for any issue: For God, social causes such as mental health, cancer, domestic violence, for cops killed arbitrarily for being cops, for the Memory of 9/11...
BUT they will allow demonstrations of DISRESPECT for our National Flag, our National Anthem, for America , and for the American People, if it will help mollify a particular Group and its supporters. That is who and what the NFL now is shown itself to be.
Comments
Jon I think you should boycott the NFL. If you’re boycotting the Baseball Hall of Fame because Pete Rose this seems like a no brainer to me
Good luck on this thread. I’ll not check back in as I’m staying out of this issue (I promised it to myself)
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Can't watch the game anymore. Don't watch the game anymore. Used to watch Three Sunday games and MNF two decades ago. Maybe 2 games per week a decade ago.
Don't like the replays (understand them though) Don't like the hit penalties (understand them though.) Don't get why a bunch of guys blessed with incalculable athletic talent would piss on the game that has brought them unfathomable wealth.
Yeah, I'll catch a few highlights from Golic on Monday as I usually have the sports radio show on while working. I'll glance at the standings in the paper once a week to see if Cleveland wins a game.
That is all they will get from me though. That is more than they deserve.
...and there is a better chance of John Daly taking all 4 majors next year than Justacommeman staying off of this thread.
I just watch the games and ignore everything else. It's really not that hard, I pay attention to the football. I watch the games, I watch the highlights, I play my fantasy football, etc. And I just don't pay attention to the other stuff.
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somebody didn't get the cheerleading job
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Insert witicism here. [ xxx ]
Dimeman's post of course is absolutely right about the hypocrisy of the NFL, and we all know it.
Frankly, the NFL caught a very lucky break with the legalization of sports betting. The drop in their fan base and support due to their ineptitude towards properly dealing with the kneelers, will be made up with a new customer base of addicted gamblers who will watch as many NFL games as they can, start to finish, with the supreme hope that they can win enough game bets to break even with the bookies.
I still enjoy the NFL, and will continue to watch it. I refuse to allow a timid commissioner, some cowardly owners, the kneelers and the militant fist wavers, to spoil my fun of enjoying professional football.
That being said, I believe that most Americans will choose our flag and national anthem over some sports league. So the NFL needs to tread very carefully in moving forward with this.
The league should have fined Kaepernick two seasons ago the first time he did it, and cut him the second time he did it, and that would have likely put an end to this. But the league didn't do that. So the problem festers.
Thankfully at least Kaepernick didn't get signed after his season of kneeling. That tells me that there is still hope for the NFL.
Same chance as me staying off a GOAT cheerleaders thread. LOL
Mark I know you don't agree with me and the others about our Flag and NA, but it is a problem and will have to be dealt with. Later Bud.
I'm just still feeling a little bit slighted that none of us here at Sports Talk were invited to Mark and Jon's wedding.
Although I've heard that it was simply fabulous.
Steve....never mind.
I was going to send a nice gift card, but I wasn't sure whose last name I should address it to?
Okay, i jumped the shark, i admit it.
I believe DIMEMAN is making a good point, that seems to be lost on most people and the media, which is...
...that players are EMPLOYEES of the team and NFL, and they are AT WORK in the scenarios outlined by DIMEMAN in his initial post.
As an employee, you are representing what your EMPLOYER wants and expects of you when you are at work.
"True" freedom of speech is not extended to an employee when they are at work, and the employer has the right to determine what they allow to occur or support when they are at work.
Players can attempt to utilize their freedom of speech, but they should be prepared to suffer ramifications by their employer when they do so.
It doesn't matter what the "cause" they are representing: religious beliefs, social beliefs, un-authorized groups/associations.
Unlike the NBA, which has very specific rules on standing for the National Anthem -- the NFL doesn't -- which has put them in a bind with the NFLPA and players.
Erik
No he isn't . None of us play in the NFL , at best we watch the games. All we can do is refuse to watch .
What we have here is a lot of whining by people who don't like the anthem kneeling but won't stop watching. Its like they are saying I care so much about this but I won't make a stand and shut the TV off because it would be a slight inconvenience. Heroic stuff , the forefathers would be so proud.
Those guys that died of old age at 32 , who had no electricity , or running water , or central heat , or vaccines , or airconditioned cars to ride to easy jobs in.
Those guys would be so proud of the whining of a bunch of couch potatoes . Whining about a completely passive voluntary activity.
Those forefathers would say stfu you babies and get to church , you are supposed to be spending the whole day in church on sunday you heathens
You're way off base with your examples, and I think you know it.
This is about compromise which is what our Republic and most Americans are all about. Unless it is something despicable such as terrorism which is unacceptable on any level.
Hey, you can do whatever you wish on Sunday during the Fall...as long as it's legal. LOL
For me, I'm watching NFL football. Go Eagles!!!!!
This is your opinion...and not a very good one.
I shut the TV off and dropped out of all my fantasy leagues.
That's fine....but who is that hurting.....not the players and not the NFL.......ONLY you.
It's not hurting me at all, way more free time I can use to work on selling to compensate for $$ lost from cashing in fantasy leagues. Individually, I'm probably not hurting the players or NFL, but as a collective it's the only way to have an impact on them.
If it makes you feel better fine, but you are having absolutely NO impact on the players or NFL. Just because you turn them off......they are still doing it.
Few of us are the ideal advertiser demographic as old timers are already brand specific, though the walk in tub ads may still be persuasive.
Better than not watching and something that will get the attention of the NFL is dropping cable for a spell. Half of the network dispersion is funneled to the sports channels, even for the little old lady in Des Moines that has no interest in the NFL or MLB.
It is true that individually, we don't make much, if any, difference; but together, as a group, we can!
Personally, I have not watched any NFL games in two years (and I live in football-crazy Texas). I also dropped my cable TV in early February 2018. I still get my MLB fix for around $50 per season on MLB.com (thanks to their military discount), and I get CBS.com live-streaming service for ~$10 per month.
If we can continue to get others to join us in our NFL boycott, and if the NFL continues to thumb their noses at us, then the pressure will only continue to grow against the NFL, and one day, they will be forced to change their ways.
Steve
I just want to watch football. That’s all, I’m not getting into this anymore, everyone knows how I feel. ( I am glad that Kap is not back in the league though)
...and Cleveland will be holding a 2019 Super Bowl parade.
I don't have any sports cable so that doesn't matter either.
Stop trying to start a fight, I haven’t posted a thing about anything you support since I said I wouldn’t.
Well they could get Johnny Football back.
these issues are tricky in part because of the way the media and Politicians tend to distort things. I believe what the players say, that it has nothing to do with disrespect for the Flag or the Nation, the intent is to draw attention to Policing. the actions of the players have certainly caught everyone's attention, but Politicians have tried to manipulate it by playing on patriotism and flag waving.
I don't really pay attention to the issue past the fact that the loudest voices seem to have the least credibility, and I find that amusing.
keets, weather they are disrespecting the Flag and NA or not...…….it gives the impression that they are. There are many other ways to bring attention to this cause that will not cause all this controversy. Why not use other ways. The NFl needs to go the way of the NBA...….problem solved.
it is the constant media attention and primarily the POTUS fixation on it that causes the stir, past that it strikes me mainly as a sign of solidarity. I really don't have a problem with it but my generation grew up protesting. I can't understand the "Love It or Leave It" mentality. I protested the Vietnam War and then I enlisted in the USN. I supported the Invasion of Iraq and when it became apparent that our Government had lied to us I became politically active and campaigned, something that continues to today.
I will support my Country actively and always show proper respect for Our Flag, but I will also stand in defiance of what our leaders do when they are wrong. the NFL players are expressing that sentiment in their own way.
Don't disagree to the extent that the teams are not ours but theirs. Even as adults we idiotically invest huge emotion in a sorry bunch of mercenaries, as long as they wear the right uniform.
Conversely tax payer dollars should never be hijacked to subsidize the owners and their unsavory basket of flag haters.
Let them kneel on their own soil.
the owners and their unsavory basket of flag haters
I don't know how else to say it or how many times it can be said, it has absolutely nothing to do with hating the Flag. it has nothing to do with disrespect or disdain for the Military. the entire "movement" is rooted in the participating players' belief that Law Enforcement across the Country don't appear to be held accountable for a disproportional number of shootings of Black Citizens by White Officers. that is why they are kneeling.
the fact that so many think it is about something else is a tribute to the power of the media and the repeated fake Patriotism exhibited by POTUS. I am (coin)startled that so many otherwise intelligent people get sucked into the BS, but we are all free to choose what we believe.
Bull crap Keets. Kapernickel started this crap and could not define his reason for kneeling. He tossed out a bunch of hot buttons including Hillary and Trump (this was pre election). It sort of morphed into BLM and then when the president chimed in, it became a match of wits.
The NFL will never go broke, but less eyes are following the game. Older neighbor will never give up his beloved Packers, but the other couple games that he watched each weekend, done.
Players may not care, but their agents are certainly taking note.
uh oh, someone's touchy, so that means I touched on some truth. please excuse me for showing yourself to you. here I thought you were open minded and only here for fun, it turns out you're neither.
Agents are dirtbags , should we worry about them?
Speaking of agents Tom Brady needs to fire his , did you see the new deal?