any thoughts on what went on yesterday.
I still believe kneeling down during the anthem is wrong. The other protests of standing arm in arm were acceptable as far as I was concerned and warranted.
Not going on the field is also disrespectful to the fans and people who support the league as advertisers etc. This is a business and the players make their livings from the NFL.
This is very sensitive and everyone has an opinion. Trump for a change was not that wrong IMO in his opinion about kneeling. It is disrespectful to the country we all live in. A protest such as holding hands in solidarity is OK in my opinion but not kneeling.
I was at the Jets game and did not have an issue in how the teams handled it. But reading some of the others ?????
I guess the Steelers stayed in the locker room all day as they couldn't even beat the lowly Bears.
i think kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful despite what anyone says. There are other ways to express solidarity about a cause then disrespect or insult an awful lot of people who feel very differently about this.
Kneeling during the national anthem is as disrespectful to many as name calling or making racial or ethnic comments.
Trump is disepectful to the human race.
Any employee of any business thats disparages this country should be forced to be jobless and homeless and sent to a re-education camp.
(SARC)
i think kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful despite what anyone says. There are other ways to express solidarity about a cause then disrespect or insult an awful lot of people who feel very differently about this.
Kneeling during the national anthem is as disrespectful to many as name calling or making racial or ethnic comments.
Who made you the arbiter of how people can or should protest?
Obviously lots of people agree with you and lots don't. So?
I prefer that people don't interject politics into sports.
I also prefer people don't interject politics into music.
Music can sometimes be interjected into sports.
Sports never works well interjected into music.
IMO 
If you have a bigger problem with your fellow citizens exercising their freedom to peacefully protest than you do with a President who publicly condemns that freedom, yet won't condemn his violent Nazi supporters, then you don't understand what the National Anthem celebrates in the first place (it's not just about bombs). Yesterday NFL players protested because they were directly attacked by a President (which is totally nuts and abnormal, by the way) and they have every right to peacefully respond. Anyone upset by their response is only paying attention to the how and not the what.
The Supreme Court made it clear in the 1940s that people don't have to stand for the flag.
I wish these players had found a different way to protest, but it's their right.
Trump embarrassed himself with his speech, but it fired up his base, and it got the media going, so it makes sense that he would once again generate outrage to cover up his ongoing issues.
I am disgusted with the NFL (No F'n Logic). I think it's moronic and misguided. I will not support them or their sponsors. It's a false narrative. 3 more African Americans shot dead this weekend in Chicago. Is THAT why the Steelers were afraid to come out of the locker room? Only the honorable stood hand on heart for the National Anthem.
The 3 dead brought the years total of shot and killed in gang violence to 500 in Chicago. "500" just in Chicago. Why don't any of these a-holes go to their inner cities and preach family values, Fathers taking care of their children, staying in school and off the streets. The police are the victims and yet cops as pigs socks actually exist are a product and then they're worn. BLM? That's what the NFL is crawling in bed with? What a joke. "When 5 cops shot and killed in Dallas the NFL bans any team tribute to honor them, but allows this. They have become the "pigs". The police are diverse, they're mostly military as we want composed trained individuals to respond to emergencies. They have seen the trauma of the world. When we need them they come, for loved ones passings to "shots fired" reports. When the B.O.L.O.'s (be on the lookout) and APB's (all points bulletins) describes certain individuals it's in the public interest to stop those who fit the description. If the witnesses called in scrawny white kid with a pink Mohawk shooting people, EVERY scrawny white kid with a pink Mohawk needs to be stopped and investigated. Is that not common sense? A beautiful young black police officer was just assassinated in NYC a few months ago. She was not only a police officer, she was also a single mother of 2 sweet kids. Where was the outrage when a black man walked up and shot her in the head point blank for no reason while she sat in her car on a night shift trying to make ends meet. I take a knee to the stupidity of it all.
Promote responsibility, don't have 10 kids with 5 different women and abandon them all. You just destroyed lives not created. Promote staying in school and being responsible American citizens not American burdens. Antifa? I'm shedding tears for what this country once was and to what it's becoming. I take a knee to the NFL and it's lost cause of lost causes. Misguided buffoonery. F' em.
God Bless the USA and it's Men and Women who serve proudly and sadly suffer due to all this crap.
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[Edited on 9/26/2017 by Fretsman]
Trump is all about Trump. Hook, line, and s(t)inker.
I guess things can't be all bad in the good ol' USA when people are complaining right or wrong about how professional athletes address the Star Spangled Banner. Just eat, drink, and be merry... and spin lots of ABB 
This photo of a kneeling 97-year-old World War II veteran quickly went viral after the man’s grandson posted it to Twitter.
"His concern was that the president was hiding behind patriotism and the flag,” the grandson, 38-year-old Brennan Gilmore, said. “To him it's the value those symbols from the flag represent, and by suppressing those the president was undermining those core values and he didn't like it.”
A whole bunch of people have their panties in knots over the sit/stand anthem maneuvers.
Sitting or standing during the anthem is PROTECTED FREE EXPRESSION and HURTS EXACTLY NOBODY.
What a bunch of whining babies blowing up social media.
The English Crown treated the colonies as a throwaway source of labor and money. Same as corporations treat us now. The Brits were overthrown by people who were tired of being OPPRESSED
If you think black oppression in this country is a mirage, YOU ARE TRIPPING.
The NFL has had a damaged, overpriced product for some time. WAY MORE WHINY BABIES over the anthem than domestic violence/abusers in the NFL or CTE.
Some folks see reality, some folks see what they're told reality is, some folks are seeking answers, and some folks are Waitin For Brains.
Up until 2009 the players did not take the field until after the Anthem, solution? Return to that standard. No protests, no one is offended and fans do not have to be faced with political B.S. on a Sunday afternoon.
Up until 2009 the players did not take the field until after the Anthem, solution? Return to that standard. No protests, no one is offended and fans do not have to be faced with political B.S. on a Sunday afternoon.
i was going to say this exact same thing. what happened was the nfl actually thought more people would turn the game on earlier if the players were on the field for the anthem. they wanted more viewers and of course you can add some commercial breaks because of this
Some folks see reality, some folks see what they're told reality is, some folks are seeking answers, and some folks are Waitin For Brains.
Except she isn't wrong and you're way off the ranch (hint: Sunday's protest was against the President)
All of the people who burned their own expensive jerseys and tickets might want to direct their energy and attention toward aiding our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico who are currently devastated. But there are people who would rather allow themselves to get riled up by President ManBabyChild, who is still butthurt because he couldn't afford the Buffalo Bills, on a topic that was mostly over with.
How about just doing away with the anthems before domestic sporting events period. It serves no purpose other than to cast the event as some sort of patriotic spectacle that has no relevance or connection to the event itself. When a crowd gathered for an ABB concert - any national anthem before that event? How about when you go to the movies - they fire up the national anthem for everyone to stand for before a screening of IT? No, of course not - because the anthem has nothing whatsoever to do with those events, and it has nothing to do with sports events either. You want to play both countries anthems before Canada plays the US in hockey or something - fine I guess. There's at least some geopolitical connection to the nature of the event. I can do without it, but I can at least see some relevance. National anthem before the Orioles play baseball against the Pirates tonight? What's the point?
How about just doing away with the anthems before domestic sporting events period. It serves no purpose other than to cast the event as some sort of patriotic spectacle that has no relevance or connection to the event itself. When a crowd gathered for an ABB concert - any national anthem before that event? How about when you go to the movies - they fire up the national anthem for everyone to stand for before a screening of IT? No, of course not - because the anthem has nothing whatsoever to do with those events, and it has nothing to do with sports events either. You want to play both countries anthems before Canada plays the US in hockey or something - fine I guess. There's at least some geopolitical connection to the nature of the event. I can do without it, but I can at least see some relevance. National anthem before the Orioles play baseball against the Pirates tonight? What's the point?
+1 I've thought that for a while especially when someone performing it does so obnoxiously IMO. Many Americans take their professional sports too seriously. Like my friend said yesterday, I watch football for escape. Keep politics etc. out of it.
It's completely disrespectful, and is accomplishing nothing. It was so embarrassing watching the game from London on Sunday morning and seeing the kneeling. how about those who want to protest all wear a different color glove, or an arm band, etc. How about donating money or game checks to charities that educate people of their issues or concerns, or that actually do something. and why is this seem to only be going on in nfl? yes trump handled it wrong, and should stay out of it, but he's not wrong. I feel like were on the verge of nuclear war w N korea, maybe he should concentrate on that.
so - what is the meaning behind the flag?
it is different to everyone but to me, it stands for, among other things, a country that allows for:
freedom of expression
the right to protest peacefullly
the right to criticize the government
a nation where everyone is equal under the law
we are lucky to be living in a great country with these rights protected. There are some countries that if you speak against the government, you disappear. Sunday was another form of peaceful protest, in response to comments made by Trump, who once again sounded like he was out to pick a fight.
Feel free to disagree.
btw, Trump's comments about the safety rules in the NFL shows a lack of respect for the players health, which imo is far more insulting
[Edited on 9/26/2017 by stormyrider]
[Edited on 9/26/2017 by stormyrider]
...though a wise man once said...
I'm done with the NFL. Not going to watch on TV either. The thousands dead in the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, 9/11 means using the flag and the anthem as a means of protest is grossly dispresptful to people of all races who died or permanently injured wearing the uniform.
Hold up a protest sign in the end zone or keep a touch down football and donated it to an inner city sports team with a protest note taped to it. That kind of thing.
I'm into Aaron Judge right now anyway. He's the most exciting player in sports right now.
If I can function without live ABB I can skip my football games. Not using my two tickets will be a big financial pill to swallow though.
Eric Reid: Why Colin Kaepernick and I Decided to Take a Knee
By ERIC REIDSEPT. 25, 2017In early 2016, I began paying attention to reports about the incredible number of unarmed black people being killed by the police. The posts on social media deeply disturbed me, but one in particular brought me to tears: the killing of Alton Sterling in my hometown Baton Rouge, La. This could have happened to any of my family members who still live in the area. I felt furious, hurt and hopeless. I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what or how to do it. All I knew for sure is that I wanted it to be as respectful as possible.
A few weeks later, during preseason, my teammate Colin Kaepernick chose to sit on the bench during the national anthem to protest police brutality. To be honest, I didn’t notice at the time, and neither did the news media. It wasn’t until after our third preseason game on Aug. 26, 2016, that his protest gained national attention, and the backlash against him began.
That’s when my faith moved me to take action. I looked to James 2:17, which states, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” I knew I needed to stand up for what is right.
I approached Colin the Saturday before our next game to discuss how I could get involved with the cause but also how we could make a more powerful and positive impact on the social justice movement. We spoke at length about many of the issues that face our community, including systemic oppression against people of color, police brutality and the criminal justice system. We also discussed how we could use our platform, provided to us by being professional athletes in the N.F.L., to speak for those who are voiceless.
After hours of careful consideration, and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former N.F.L. player, we came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, the next day during the anthem as a peaceful protest. We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.
It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag and military personnel. We chose it because it’s exactly the opposite. It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest.
It should go without saying that I love my country and I’m proud to be an American. But, to quote James Baldwin, “exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
I can’t find words that appropriately express how heartbroken I am to see the constant smears against Colin, a person who helped start the movement with only the very best of intentions. We are talking about a man who helped to orchestrate a commercial planeful of food and supplies for famine-stricken Somalia. A man who has invested his time and money into needy communities here at home. A man I am proud to call my brother, who should be celebrated for his courage to seek change on important issues. Instead, to this day, he is unemployed and portrayed as a radical un-American who wants to divide our country.
Anybody who has a basic knowledge of football knows that his unemployment has nothing to do with his performance on the field. It’s a shame that the league has turned its back on a man who has done only good. I am aware that my involvement in this movement means that my career may face the same outcome as Colin’s. But to quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And I choose not to betray those who are being oppressed.
I have too often seen our efforts belittled with statements like “He should have listened to the officer,” after watching an unarmed black person get shot, or “There is no such thing as white privilege” and “Racism ended years ago.” We know that racism and white privilege are both very much alive today.
And it’s disheartening and infuriating that President Trump has referred to us with slurs but the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., as “very fine people.” His remarks are a clear attempt to deepen the rift that we’ve tried so hard to mend.
I am nevertheless encouraged to see my colleagues and other public figures respond to the president’s remarks with solidarity with us. It is paramount that we take control of the story behind our movement, which is that we seek equality for all Americans, no matter their race or gender.
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What we need now is numbers. Some people acknowledge the issues we face yet remain silent bystanders. Not only do we need more of our fellow black and brown Americans to stand with us, but also people of other races.I refuse to be one of those people who watches injustices yet does nothing. I want to be a man my children and children’s children can be proud of, someone who faced adversity and tried to make a positive impact on the world, a person who, 50 years from now, is remembered for standing for what was right, even though it was not the popular or easy choice.
Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) is a safety for the San Francisco 49ers.
Some folks see reality, some folks see what they're told reality is, some folks are seeking answers, and some folks are Waitin For Brains.
Gotta admit this made me laugh!
Forget what you think about Trump's stance on the protests. Calling protesters "sons of bitches" is as low as a U.S. President has EVER gone. What an example he is to elementary school children.
He actually said "Sons of b*tches"? Really? Sorry, I am done dong searches on trump's antics, it always opens a toxic waste dump.
He actually said "Sons of b*tches"? Really? Sorry, I am done dong searches on trump's antics, it always opens a toxic waste dump.
Yes he did at his Alabama rally last Friday...But Neo Nazi's and KKK had some really nice people with them
I like the topic. Whipping Post is where we should be discussing this.
Up until 2009 the players did not take the field until after the Anthem, solution? Return to that standard. No protests, no one is offended and fans do not have to be faced with political B.S. on a Sunday afternoon.
That is not correct. The only change in 2009 was evening games. Players had always been on the field for your Sunday afternoon games and starting in 2009 they also were for the prime time games.
I like the topic. Whipping Post is where we should be discussing this.
It's Anything Goes? It also happens to be the only spot I visit here.
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[Edited on 9/27/2017 by Fretsman]
