NFL BANS Kneeling During Anthem

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I might start watching again... IDK...

New policy requires on-field players, personnel to stand for anthem

ATLANTA -- NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday.


The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23582533/nfl-owners-approve-new-national-anthem-policy

[pete311]

Political correctness

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Political correctness
More like damage control... stop the financial hemorrhaging.

Businesses tend to take such measures when facing bankruptcy.

The NFL is a business.

[Gunny]

Guess a compromise is better than nothing.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Guess a compromise is better than nothing.
I'd be willing to bet more conservatives watch the NFL than liberals. So why the NFL thought it was OK to allow players to piss on the flag and national anthem was beyond me.

I guess sometimes they just have to learn the hard way.

[hjmick]

I realize this is not going to be a popular opinion on this matter, but...


I don't agree with the decision. Let them kneel if they so choose.


Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them kneeling, but I do believe it's their right.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I realize this is not going to be a popular opinion on this matter, but...


I don't agree with the decision. Let them kneel if they so choose.


Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them kneeling, but I do believe it's their right.
Well... the NFL is in the business of making money. Any business is going to curtail something it's employees are doing if it's costing them money.

Say someone owns a restaurant and their wait staff was telling people to piss off, well that restaurant owner is going to tell them not to do that anymore.

Really doesn't have anything to do with rights at that point. The people have all the right in the world to tell people to piss off, just not at work. NFL players are at work. I think the NFL has every right to tell them to stand or pay up or go somewhere else.

That's my two cents.

[Gunny]

I realize this is not going to be a popular opinion on this matter, but...


I don't agree with the decision. Let them kneel if they so choose.


Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them kneeling, but I do believe it's their right.I can respect your opinion, but you're correct in that I am not going to agree with it. I've seen people die for those Colors. Some things shouldn't be disrespected in the name of someone's warped political cause. The symbol of this Nation is one.

If you hate this Nation so much that you feel the need to disrespect it, its symbol and all the people who have died for that flag to be where it is, then leave. There's a whole big World out there waiting swallow you up.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

This whole kneeling thing was a farce anyway. If these players were so passionate about police brutality towards blacks, then why didn't they go kneel in front of a cop shop?

It made zero sense to piss on our flag and national anthem. They were showing disrespect to our flag and national anthem, not cops.

It was stupid.

[Elessar]

I am glad the owners all pressed for this, and was thinking to myself before -
"If you do not want to stand, then stay in the locker room."

Exactly what the League and Owners said. The league should inspire unity and
honor among the employees - PLAYERS! The ones doing the protest were a minority of players.

Imagine a military member or Police, Fire or First Responders, refusing to stand during a program
that featured the Anthem. Military would be written up pronto. Police or Fire,
suspended or canned, I would bet. Remember how many Cops, Firefighters, and
other First Responders died at 9/11?

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/05/23/nfls-new-policy-on-national-anthem-players-teams-can-be-fined-if-they-dont-stand/23441848/

Trump and Pence on the decision:
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/05/23/trump-takes-a-victory-lap-after-nfl-owners-release-new-national-anthem-rules/23442041/

[Black Diamond]

Too little too late.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Too little too late.
That's what I'm thinking... and we'll see if they even enforce it.

[Gunny]

Wonder what would happen to a Russian Olympic athlete who refused to stand for the Russian anthem ... or an Islamic extremist who refused to assume the position and chant the hate prayer along with the others ...

No I don't.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Wonder what would happen to a Russian Olympic athlete who refused to stand for the Russian anthem ... or an Islamic extremist who refused to assume the position and chant the hate prayer along with the others ...

No I don't.
The Russian - arrested and thrown in a gulag.
The islamist - his head would be sawed off.

The American - praised for being "brave."

Go figure...

[revelarts]

Wonder what would happen to a Russian Olympic athlete who refused to stand for the Russian anthem ... or an Islamic extremist who refused to assume the position and chant the hate prayer along with the others ...

No I don't.


The Russian - arrested and thrown in a gulag.
The islamist - his head would be sawed off.
The American - praised for being "brave."
Go figure...

so do we want to be like Russia and the Islamist? Are they the models?
Forced worship "respect" of the state symbols and forced worship of Muslim symbols and Mohamed?

And I don't see many former or current gov't employees or military praising them for being brave. Not even the heads of the NFL or NBA.



Political correctness
EXACTLY!
Freedom ...but not like that. it's to horrible to bear.
Left and right both have their Politically correct lines.
At which point thinking stops and only sustained emotional outrage, belittling of the offenders, then beating the offenders into submission, off the public stage and out of their jobs is in order.

On collage campuses or the professional sports fields there's not much difference.

[Black Diamond]

That's what I'm thinking... and we'll see if they even enforce it.
Union will fight it.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

so do we want to be like Russia and the Islamist? Are they the models?
Forced worship "respect" of the state symbols and forced worship of Muslim symbols and Mohamed?

And I don't see many former or current gov't employees or military praising them for being brave. Not even the heads of the NFL or NBA.



EXACTLY!
Freedom ...but not like that. it's to horrible to bear.
Left and right both have their Politically correct lines.
At which point thinking stops and only sustained emotional outrage, belittling of the offenders, then beating the offenders into submission, off the public stage and out of their jobs is in order.

On collage campuses or the professional sports fields there's not much difference.
Well, I don't agree with your summation, rev, the thing is, if you're a patriotic American you should WANT to stand for our flag and national anthem to show the respect they deserve.

If you don't want to, then what are you doing here?

[hjmick]

Out of respect for those of you who served, and for whom I have the utmost respect, this will be my last words on the topic, and they will be the words of someone else...

"I’ve seen a lot of posts over the last 24 hours regarding “respecting the flag” and what that means…and how athletes who use their public forum to voice dissent are somehow “unpatriotic”. I want to offer a different opinion.

My father is buried at the foot of the flagpole in Golden Gate National Cemetery. He landed at Normandy, fought at the Battle of the Bulge and liberated Nazi camps in Germany. His enemy was fascism. I served as a Green Beret in the early 1970s (pretty sure you all know what that entails). Our enemy at the time was communism. My son is currently a serving officer in the Army, who on his dress blues wears the Bronze Star he was awarded during a year-long tour in Afghanistan. His enemy is and was the Taliban and the threat of terrorism.

Three generations of my family, serving the USA, in harms’ way. Three vastly different enemies, but enemies who shared one common trait. ALL of them stifle free speech. All of them bully, degrade and terrorize those who hold opposing views and who peacefully express them. All of them are intolerant and demand “loyalty” to the leader.

I can tell you, speaking for three generations of my family, it is PRECISELY for men like Kaepernick, and his right to peacefully protest injustice, that we were willing to serve. There is NOTHING more respectful of our country than living up to its ideals. There is nothing more patriotic than to say “I’m concerned with injustice, and will use my position to try and address it.”

Want to know what’s unpatriotic? Using your white privilege to avoid serving, citing “bone spurs in the heel” while playing varsity tennis at college while others went. Want to know what is antithetical to American values? Using the most powerful pulpit in the land to incite violence – against ANYONE. Want to define disgraceful behavior? Denigrating a man like Senator John McCain’s service and heroism while you sat home.

Want to respect the American flag? Then respect the ideals for which it stands. Bullying language and calling peaceful protesters “sons of bitches” who should be fired aren’t among them."

https://www.facebook.com/michael.sand.129/posts/10209994259472453

[Abbey Marie]

My thoughts, FWIW:

Some people can only see things through their own cultural/gender/racial lens. Many if not most blacks see "black issues" over the flag and everything else for that matter. These days women are doing much the same with "womens' issues". What is good for your team, your employer or your country, takes a third-row back seat to your peoples' issues.

I agree that these players have a 1st Amendment right to protest. But what trumps that is that employers have the right to enforce employee conduct on company time. What is more "company time" to an NFL player than during a Sunday afternoon game? These players have the whole rest of the week to protest 'til the cows come home. Or better yet, they can just not play at all in the ultimate protest.

It truly aggravates me when people try to equate this with people actually being silenced in totalitarian regimes. Puh-leeze.

[Russ]

so do we want to be like Russia and the Islamist? Are they the models?
Forced worship "respect" of the state symbols and forced worship of Muslim symbols and Mohamed?

And I don't see many former or current gov't employees or military praising them for being brave. Not even the heads of the NFL or NBA.



We don't want to be like Russia or the Islamist in this respect, but it is a great illustration of how ironic things are. The more freedom people have, the more they use the freedom just to complain that they don't have enough freedom.

[Russ]

I realize this is not going to be a popular opinion on this matter, but...

I don't agree with the decision. Let them kneel if they so choose.

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with them kneeling, but I do believe it's their right.

I take your point, HJ, but there is a difference between having a right to do something and doing it during your working hours. Having "the right" to kneel means they don't get arrested for doing it. Doing something objectionable during your working hours still leaves your employer the right to punish or fire you for doing it. It also leaves the customers (in this case NFL viewers) with the right to dislike the players, to resent the NFL, and to turn the channel.

[NightTrain]

Out of respect for those of you who served, and for whom I have the utmost respect, this will be my last words on the topic, and they will be the words of someone else...



Micheal Sand is a raving moonbat. Scroll down his page to see his other rants... he's hardly objective.

[revelarts]

Well, I don't agree with your summation, rev, the thing is, if you're a patriotic American you should WANT to stand for our flag and national anthem to show the respect they deserve.
If you don't want to, then what are you doing here?

the people that don't want to stand have said many times WHY they don't want to.

But some people seem unable to see past their own personal views of what they think the flag should mean to everyone and how everyone should do and think exactly as they do concerning it.
So they don't seem to be able to even comprehend any other views on the subject of "the flag" and "the anthem".
So many have ASSUMED the worse motives of national hatred plus contempt of the military as among or -the REAL- reasons for their actions instead of their clearly stated motives.

So is your question "If you don't want to, then what are you doing here?" an honest one?
Can you understand that others have a different way of honoring the flag, anthem and country while trying to get the country to... more fully... live up to the ideals of the anthem and the flag?

But if doing it your way or leaving the country are the ONLY 2 options you can imagine , well,
then there's not really any way to explain it.

[Gunny]

the people that don't want to stand have said many times WHY they don't want to.

But some people seem unable to see past their own personal views of what they think the flag should mean to everyone and how everyone should do and think exactly as they do concerning it.
So they don't seem to be able to even comprehend any other views on the subject of "the flag" and "the anthem".
So many have ASSUMED the worse motives of national hatred plus contempt of the military as among or -the REAL- reasons for their actions instead of their clearly stated motives.

So is your question "If you don't want to, then what are you doing here?" an honest one?
Can you understand that others have a different way of honoring the flag, anthem and country while trying to get the country to... more fully... live up to the ideals of the anthem and the flag?

But if doing it your way or leaving the country are the ONLY 2 options you can imagine , well,
then there's not really any way to explain it.Cut the crap. "others DON'T have their own way of HONORING the flag" by dishonoring and disrespecting it. You need to go back to bed and wake up again, Rev. That was not even up to lame standards.

[Gunny]

This is what I think about the author's comments above:

I did NOT serve for people like Kaepernick. My father was a Vietnam vet. I despise people like him to my very core. People like that don't deserve the Rights they have, and certainly not for anyone to sacrifice everything so some squealy shitbag can run around disrespecting them.

[revelarts]

For me it's simply as this.
the Flag and athem represent the BEST ideals of any nation on earth.
and when those Ideals are NOT lived up to in various ways.
Then any individual or group has the right to peacefully protest. Including taking a knee at anthems . BTW Kappernick got the idea from a soldier on the team that told him it would be a respectful way to protest and yet still honor the flag and anthem. odd that.

If others don't believe theres a problem fine.
But the act itself .. as far as i can tell... is not an attempt to DISHONOR the country OR the Vets.
it's a way to point out a perceived injustice.

If it were postal workers, or Native Americans or Vets themselves doing it in protest I'd say the same.

I see it nearly the same as the right to pray.
If an employer tells me that I'm not allowed to quietly pray on the job at times when I'm not required to work. Sorry the employer has crossed the line, not the prayer.
You can't ethically REQUIRE certain forms of patriotism at your place of biz.
What if the Boss says everyone one must sing the anthem and salute the flag coming into work, at breaks, and at lunch, and on the way out the door? Because the boss loves the Country just that much. I'm sure many people would just do it... FOR THE MONEY. But seems to me it's a violation of personal freedoms the flag represents.
Freedom of worship and the lesser freedom to honor the flag and country as you please seem to me on upper and lower tracks.
And yes Country is under God in my book. Christians are my "group" if you want to put me in one.
And if the country isn't moving toward Godly standards then maybe it should be protested, heck many on the right were talking about "revolution" while Obama was in office and if Hillary was elected. Under what flag would the "new" gov't be under i wonder? the confederate??

[revelarts]

We don't want to be like Russia or the Islamist in this respect, but it is a great illustration of how ironic things are. The more freedom people have, the more they use the freedom just to complain that they don't have enough freedom.

well seems to me the freedom NOT to be forced into state worship or religious worship with jail or death is one of a BARE minimum of freedoms people should have.
we hold these truths etc etc..

But the complaint isn't really about freedoms, it's about more equal justice and less harsh/unjust law enforcement. Less innocent people harassed and killed by police.

But yeah, hoping for more freedom from a state that sometimes harasses and kills you for no good reason doesn't seem like a very outrageous "freedom" request to me Russ.

And frankly we don't even have the freedom that constitution and the bill of rights outline at this point. So frankly I wish people on all sides would complain about our freedoms more.

[aboutime]

We, jointly...cannot forget. If they choose to take a knee for any reason. WE TOO have a choice...NOT TO SPEND OUR MONEY to help them pamper their Million Dollar Football Contracts by supporting their Ignorance.
If they really want to make a point. They should all go back to get educated, and learn how the Politicians they Worship have lied to them for so long...they endorse their ignorance through Hatred, Stupidity, and Racist tactics called Liberal Democrat Disinformation.

[Gunny]

For me it's simply as this.
the Flag and athem represent the BEST ideals of any nation on earth.
and when those Ideals are NOT lived up to in various ways.
Then any individual or group has the right to peacefully protest. Including taking a knee at anthems . BTW Kappernick got the idea from a soldier on the team that told him it would be a respectful way to protest and yet still honor the flag and anthem. odd that.

If others don't believe theres a problem fine.
But the act itself .. as far as i can tell... is not an attempt to DISHONOR the country OR the Vets.
it's a way to point out a perceived injustice.

If it were postal workers, or Native Americans or Vets themselves doing it in protest I'd say the same.

I see it nearly the same as the right to pray.
If an employer tells me that I'm not allowed to quietly pray on the job at times when I'm not required to work. Sorry the employer has crossed the line, not the prayer.
You can't ethically REQUIRE certain forms of patriotism at your place of biz.
What if the Boss says everyone one must sing the anthem and salute the flag coming into work, at breaks, and at lunch, and on the way out the door? Because the boss loves the Country just that much. I'm sure many people would just do it... FOR THE MONEY. But seems to me it's a violation of personal freedoms the flag represents.
Freedom of worship and the lesser freedom to honor the flag and country as you please seem to me on upper and lower tracks.
And yes Country is under God in my book. Christians are my "group" if you want to put me in one.
And if the country isn't moving toward Godly standards then maybe it should be protested, heck many on the right were talking about "revolution" while Obama was in office and if Hillary was elected. Under what flag would the "new" gov't be under i wonder? the confederate??

When the ideas are "not lived up to" try looking at home before blaming the Nation. Let's not forget what this is about. Blacks crying about the police. Blacks by percentage commit more crimes that whites. There are more blacks in prison. More blacks get hurt by police. More blacks commit crime. Did I mention that already? Therefore more blacks get arrested and they ALL want to fight and argue with the police. They pull guns, knives, run, fight and whatever. But that's okay, right?

How about DON'T BE A CRIMINAL? That's not the country's fault. It's not the police' fault. It's YOUR fault. Fix it your fucking self and get off my TV with your personal bullshit problems. I got my own. Blaming the country for you being a fuckup is a copout from personal responsibility. Fuck, write your Congressman.

When you abuse your rights to trample mine, then it's fuck you. Yours end where mine begin. Want to be in the NFL and act like you have anything in common with some ghetto thug driving your Alfa Romeo to your mansion after you work once a week and disrupt the entertainment I'm paying you for for your bogus ass bullshit? Expect me to stop the gravy train. I don't come sit on your lawn and bitch about your party wasting $200M and counting on a witch hunt do I? Oh. I'd get arrested.

Grow the fuck up.

[Black Diamond]

Political correctness
Fine. Reinstate the clippers owner sterling then.

[Abbey Marie]

Sitting or kneeling during the anthem while the cameras are rolling is an attempt to manipulate the public, no more, no less. And at least 10% of NFL fans say screw that, I don’t want to be manipulated.

Go find a job where your boss and your customers don’t care if you disrespect the symbol of our country.

[Elessar]

Why are these "upright" Politically Correct* <Ugh! I hate that term!> entertainers not protesting real injustice?

How about protesting blacks killing blacks in Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore and scores of other cities?
Why are they not protesting hispanic gangs killing each other other in LA, San Diego and along the SW border?

Oh...those are all FINE! It is when LE does it that it is not 'fine'. Kind of blind aren't they?

* Politically Corrupt is more like it

[LongTermGuy]

Political correctness

......Getting its ass - kicked with reality and common sense.......

[darin]

Sitting or kneeling during the anthem while the cameras are rolling is an attempt to manipulate the public, no more, no less. And at least 10% of NFL fans say screw that, I don’t want to be manipulated.

Go find a job where your boss and your customers don’t care if you disrespect the symbol of our country.

And if the NFL was serious about protecting the sanctity of the Anthem, they would simply refuse to show the disrespect - like when fans streak on the field.

I suspect the NFL thought it was cool and progressive and then after the backlash pretended they weren't, what is tantamount to, promoting the kneeling.


Nevermind the fact the kneelers are kneeling for something that doesnt exist

[revelarts]

Sitting or kneeling during the anthem while the cameras are rolling is an attempt to manipulate the public, no more, no less. And at least 10% of NFL fans say screw that, I don’t want to be manipulated.

Go find a job where your boss and your customers don’t care if you disrespect the symbol of our country.

"Manipulating" the public is what peaceful protest are about.
But because it's hoped to help change a situation does that mean that it's not sincere?

When the Vets marched on Washington after WW1 and set up camps in DC, it was to "MANIPULATE" the gov't and the people into fulfilling it's obligation.

The fact that they camped out there didn't mean that some of them weren't homeless and would have had to camp SOMEWHERE anyway.

Bottom line seems to me is that some folks just don't like it. They are horrified by the concept. And they can't bear to see it. (but don't seem to have any horror or outrage over innocent dead people at the hands of police)

Just like some folks didn't want to see Tim Tibow pray, or display the various bible verses over the years. And Folks wanted to run the DUCK guys off TV, and shut down the Christian real estate brothers TV shows and the Christian Real Estate Flipper couple.

IMO both sides have become snowflake filled. And rather than have REAL freedoms of speech, they both just want to simply run off anyone that "offends" them. Banish them from public view and out of work.

Grown adults Left and Right, neither seem to be able bear 30 secs of a contrary opinion. Or sincerely manage to tolerate being in the presence others expressing their beliefs.

[darin]

"Manipulating" the public is what peaceful protest are about.
But because it's hoped to help change a situation does that mean that it's not sincere?

When the Vets marched on Washington after WW1 and set up camps in DC, it was to "MANIPULATE" the gov't and the people into fulfilling it's obligation.

The fact that they camped out there didn't mean that some of them weren't homeless and would have had to camp SOMEWHERE anyway.

Bottom line seems to me is that some folks just don't like it. They are horrified by the concept. And they can't bear to see it. (but don't seem to have any horror or outrage over innocent dead people at the hands of police)


Nobody has horror or outrage over the white men and women killed by police. That's part of the issue.



IMO both sides have become snowflake filled. And rather than have REAL freedoms of speech, they both just want to simply run off anyone that "offends" them. Banish them from public view and out of work.

Grown adults Left and Right, neither seem to be able bear 30 secs of a contrary opinion. Or sincerely manage to tolerate being in the presence others expressing their beliefs.

About right.

[Abbey Marie]

"Manipulating" the public is what peaceful protest are about.
But because it's hoped to help change a situation does that mean that it's not sincere?

When the Vets marched on Washington after WW1 and set up camps in DC, it was to "MANIPULATE" the gov't and the people into fulfilling it's obligation.

The fact that they camped out there didn't mean that some of them weren't homeless and would have had to camp SOMEWHERE anyway.

Bottom line seems to me is that some folks just don't like it. They are horrified by the concept. And they can't bear to see it. (but don't seem to have any horror or outrage over innocent dead people at the hands of police)

Just like some folks didn't want to see Tim Tibow pray, or display the various bible verses over the years. And Folks wanted to run the DUCK guys off TV, and shut down the Christian real estate brothers TV shows and the Christian Real Estate Flipper couple.

IMO both sides have become snowflake filled. And rather than have REAL freedoms of speech, they both just want to simply run off anyone that "offends" them. Banish them from public view and out of work.

Grown adults Left and Right, neither seem to be able bear 30 secs of a contrary opinion. Or sincerely manage to tolerate being in the presence others expressing their beliefs.

There is a difference between standing on a street corner with a sign, and forcing an audience tuned in to watch a sporting event to see you disrespecting the symbol of our country. If you don’t see that, I give up.

As for Tebow, etc., I get that Christianphobics hate representations of Christianity. Since we aren’t all Christian, I feel sad and move on. But we are all American. And we all owe a debt we cannot repay to those who fought under that flag.

Rev, I think you need to take off your “I’m against authority” glasses and try to judge each case on its merits. Sometimes, believe it or not, authority is actually ok, and law enforcement, whether police or TSA agents, is a positive thing.

[Black Diamond]

https://www.lifezette.com/referral/doug-baldwin-seahawks-drops-the-ball-on-anthem-and-nfl/

[jimnyc]

I worked at a very large law firm at one point. Of course they paid me a nice salary, and my job was basically to do as told by my superiors while on the clock. I DID NOT get to choose things I would do at will and then claim "freedom of speech" - as the reply would ALWAYS be "Sure, you have your freedom of speech at 5pm, and until then you do and say as I please".

This was the norm at every single job I had from a kid delivering newspapers to anything out there today. I'm fully and 100% aware of what freedom of speech is.

They are even giving them an option of staying in the locker rooms somehow - but that they don't want them coming out and making any type of spectacle or protest on THEIR dime while THEY are paying THEM millions.

These guys all have major coverage on their social media, or with the regular media at times, or what they want to do at home, or donate their money to, or they can open an organization to do and help people, they can run for public office, they can plan press conferences, pull out a summit like Ali did with others to draw attention to a cause...

SO MANY other options, but they want the one that gets the most air time - which happens to be when America is tuning in for FOOTBALL - and when the owners are paying them MILLIONS to play FOOTBALL.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I worked at a very large law firm at one point. Of course they paid me a nice salary, and my job was basically to do as told by my superiors while on the clock. I DID NOT get to choose things I would do at will and then claim "freedom of speech" - as the reply would ALWAYS be "Sure, you have your freedom of speech at 5pm, and until then you do and say as I please".

This was the norm at every single job I had from a kid delivering newspapers to anything out there today. I'm fully and 100% aware of what freedom of speech is.

They are even giving them an option of staying in the locker rooms somehow - but that they don't want them coming out and making any type of spectacle or protest on THEIR dime while THEY are paying THEM millions.

These guys all have major coverage on their social media, or with the regular media at times, or what they want to do at home, or donate their money to, or they can open an organization to do and help people, they can run for public office, they can plan press conferences, pull out a summit like Ali did with others to draw attention to a cause...

SO MANY other options, but they want the one that gets the most air time - which happens to be when America is tuning in for FOOTBALL - and when the owners are paying them MILLIONS to play FOOTBALL.
Well put, Jim... and the only way the owners can pay these primadonna ass holes choosing to piss on our flag is if WE WATCH and continue to support the NFL. This was a STUPID idea from the start, and the NFL should have nipped it in the bud two years ago when brillo head started it but no, they'd rather see the NFL head for bankruptcy before they come to their senses.

[jimnyc]

Well put, Jim... and the only way the owners can pay these primadonna ass holes choosing to piss on our flag is if WE WATCH and continue to support the NFL. This was a STUPID idea from the start, and the NFL should have nipped it in the bud two years ago when brillo head started it but no, they'd rather see the NFL head for bankruptcy before they come to their senses.

Yup, agreed.

They need to just go back in time now. Let them come out and exercise, then back to the lockers for the national anthem. Then announce the teams or players back onto the fields. A shame it's come to that though.

Players have already announced thinking of ways to skirt the rule already and get messages across another way. Put the current rule in place - and add an addendum to it that if anyone purposely skirts the written rule as is, that they get fined anyway if they skirt the rules.

[jimnyc]

So basically, the players do as they please prior to the games, and then they are angry that their BOSSES want to exert control over them. Well, unless this is something allowable as per their contracts - then the owners are well within their rights. Furthermore, IMO, the players COULD technically be running afoul of one of various clauses in their contracts.

---

NFLPA’s Smith: NFL’s New Anthem Rule About ‘Exerting Control’ Over Players

NFL Players Association (NFLPA) Executive Director DeMaurice Smith believes the motive behind the new National Anthem rule in the NFL is about the league “exerting control” over the players.

“It doesn’t appear to have the full support of all of the CEOs who own teams. It punishes not only players who wish to protest but also could end up punishing players who want to come out and stand and salute the flag,” Smith said Friday on ESPN’s “Get Up.”

He added, “[I]t smacks more of a desire to exert control rather than a desire to actually stand up and support the rights and freedoms that our country was founded on.”

Wednesday, the NFLPA pledged to review the new policy and fight it if anything violated the collective bargaining agreement.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/05/25/nflpas-smith-nfls-anthem-rule-change-about-exerting-control-over-players/