Natural and manmade tragedies in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Las Vegas have diverted public attention from NFL protests. Indeed, the magnitude of human suffering associated with historic storms and the worst mass shooting in U.S. history have again reminded us of what really counts in life.
But the controversy lives. Some players continue to kneel. Many fans continue to boo. Advertisers continue to fret. The NFL continues to search for compromise. And all "sides" continue to talk past one another, a sure-fire formula for continuing ill feelings.
Colin Kaepernick's original decision to take a knee was a direct response to police shootings of African-Americans. We know this because Kaepernick said so. Immediately thereafter and continuing to this very day, however, the police indictment has been enlarged to include a more general critique of the criminal justice system's treatment of African-Americans. We know this because many of the kneeling players have said so.
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13 comments:
We can do without them, I wonder if they can do without us?
so tired of watching turd world scum bite the hand that feeds it! stop feeding these aholes with your time and money and guess what? they may actually have to go away! wake up all you 9 to 5 fools out there!
Most people I know aren't watching. They've destroyed the game...and that is what it was supposed to be - a GAME, not a political statement. They have really blown it!
And one could say that football fans are out of touch with the real reason the kneeling is being done. Turning your back on a flag (not kneeling) is the real way you disrespect it.
What is football? I haven't watched it in so long I forgot.
And the stadiums have more and more empty seats. How long can that go on before the owners bail on their investments. Billionaires HATE to lose money. City governments HATE to lose revenue. When will the kneeling players start to HATE losing money? All the while, ex-fans are saving all the money they used to spend on the NFL and watching the games. We are finding new ways to spend our entertainment budget every day. The NFL it rapidly closing in on the point of no return with the fans. We can live without football, and the longer this goes on, we'll decide we can live without it forever. The owners and Goodall are idiots for letting their players hijack their business for political ends. Can't be a black man's boss? Don't hire them.
12:37,Anyone who feels kneeling or anyway disrespecting the flag for the reasons they cite is out of touch with the facts.
Funny thought (for me at least). Maybe Obama is behind this. After all he is a basketball fan and he will do anything to disrupt the Trump Administration's agenda by disruption. I guess not so funny.
The majority of fans will loose interest in these NFL teams, and the players will loose their over paid salaries.
A handful of Black players are destroying the NFL because the league is to afraid to stand up to them. Trust me they will back down once you fire one of them.
I've never watched a football, basketball game in my life, live or on tv. I did take my son when he was younger to two baseball games, but that was only so he could meet a few players.
I was behind the wall picking up foul balls so my son could have some extra baseballs to play with.
I just don't have a FANatic gene, so things like Spectator Sports and Celebrities don't tickle my nipples. Never have.
I have been surrounded by celebrity all of my adult life, over 45 years worth, hundreds, many on a first-name basis and the one thing most of them know right off the bat, is that I won't go out of my way for them, I don't need a photo of me with them, I don't need to touch them, they know better than call me on a Friday night.
That is my wife's night, it cannot be bought, borrowed or bartered for any price by anybody and as I told Bon Jovi's manager two years in a row... No! I don't even ask her, because of course she would say, "Go do it, we can do something next week." Nope! She's been my most amazing for 46 years and she deserves at least one date-night, off-limits to others. Oh, tell celebrities No! twice, they never call again. THAT is the BEST BET IN VEGAS!
So, I have no emotional draw or ties to sports figures or the game.
I don't find SPECTATOR SPORTS interesting. I consider them fodder for those of us who perhaps wanted to do what they do, but were no good at it or at least not good enough to make a living at it, so we adopt them as our players, our team and we live our lives vicariously through surrogates.
We buy jerseys and wear them to let everyone know THEY ARE OUR TEAM. WE ARE DOLPHIN! WE ARE DODGERS!
We associate with the players, the logos, the games as though we are actually apart of them, we seem to NEED that fantasy association.
All the players care about is the money. I've heard them bitch and moan about signing autographs and how much they hate doing it. Not all, but a lot of them.
The signings and attention given to fans for some come natural, but for a large part, they only do it, because their contract demands it.
I'd rather take my son and his friends flying, drop down 50 feet above the Colorado River at 140 knts, daring fishermen to cast and catch themselves an airplane, one guy on the roof of his houseboat, nearly did.
I'd rather SCUBA dive with my wife and watch her surrounded by fish, she smiling so wide, she can barely keep her regulator in her mouth.
I've probably spent many of my football Sundays spelunking in mines and caves.
Hell, I truly would rather be fishing for that matter.
The closest I have been to sports is Golf, as a Photojournalist (I was invited to ride along with Robert Gamez to cover the event.) I have been fortunate enough to be included in Pro-Am-Celebrity Tournaments with Larry Bird, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, Fuzzy Zoeller (so drunk he ran his cart into a tree and rolled out on the ground.), Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Travino, Jan Stephenson, Tommy Smothers and Ken Mizuno.
Outside of that, I have not been close to, participated in or spent even a day playing or watching football, baseball, basketball, hockey... Just not my gig.
I'd much rather travel to a new place and explore, than spend ANY time sitting in front of a TV watching others do what I know I cannot do, pretending we are somehow connected.
So, THEY COULD PUT THE LOCK ON THE DOORS OF THE STADIUMS or turn them into homeless shelters for all I care.
Kneeling players or participants of any sort remind me of the instructions on how to assemble IKEA items:
Screw them!
The game and the NFL will never recover from what the players have done. Allowing the politicization of the game and polarization of the fans, has ruined the sport forever. RIP, NFL.
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