Do you live in a deeply blue area? I deal with this every day at work. My Facebook news feed is almost entirely people bad mouthing the NFL currently. And people sharing memes about how terrible Obama was compared to Trump. Every news channel covers what Trump says. I deal with it all day every day in every part of my life. I deal with it by not paying attention and enjoying the things I enjoy. Remember when Chick-Fil-A was a gathering place for homophobes? It happens a lot. It just happens to be Republicans in power now. So it brings more of the other side out.
Yes, I know they do, and I think it's often inappropriate as well. I would say over the last decade liberals have them beat with the over the top activism, but like you said that depends where you are, and that's not really the point. There's a time and a place for everything, and just because some might agree with the general point being made doesn't make it a good idea to spout it off in any and all forums.
This has me laughing pretty good. That might literally be the worst yard I've seen. Like I know it's hot in Texas, but not a single bit of grass?
If this is true, isn't this just the function of the dominance the GOP has held in Congress and in state legislatures? If you're the group in power you don't need activism - you just use your power to enact the changes you want to see.
It's a football game, not a funeral. I don't think very many people in this thread understand how protesting works at all. People are saying, "say what you want but only do so in places where I don't have to listen to it." The choir is not the group of people that needs to be preached to. He needs his message to be heard by people who aren't listening yet. Could he take it too far? Sure. But he's not smearing feces on the flag and lighting it aflame. He's just taking a knee. The most benign and nonviolent form of protest ever. Moreover: This board: SAFE SPACES ARE DUMB AND FOR THE WEAK MINDED Also this board: ugh, why do I keep having to think about things I don't want to think about
One of the best takes on the NFL protests actually comes from the NBA. All that from a white 68 year old Air Force Academy graduate who is also one of the best basketball coaches of all time.
Yawn. More white privilege? You want to end the NFL entirely? Start talking white privilege on Sundays during the games. Look, I'm all for free speech, I would never argue against it. I think Trump is being a jackass as usual but I also think I tuned in to watch a game, not a political stunt. So don't mind me as I tune out and do some other mindless task that allows me to not think about politics on my Sunday. Whether you or anyone else likes it or not, a significant percentage of the country looks at what is happening as unpatriotic without consideration of the fact that this is part of their free speech rights (which is very ironic). That is going to hurt the NFL. The NFL is in an unwinnable set of circumstances. No matter what they do, they are going to alienate someone with their reaction to what is going on: Either fire/fine the players for kneeling during the anthem which will enrage both the BLM crowd, the limp-wristed yoga-fag crowd (though I don't know the data on whether they watch football or not) and the free speech crowd. Conversely, they can do what they are doing and get the reaction that is building. The ratings of next week's games will start to really tell the tale.
Im avoiding another discussion on race like The Plague, but as far as not kneeling for the National Anthem, Trump (once again) made the situation worse by wading into it and taking a side. He will never realize that roughly half the country has an apoplectic reaction toward him. A normal President might take a magnanimous approach and acknowledge that while standing for the Anthem is a symbol of respect, the people that choose to kneel are using it to symbolically protest the current state of race relations and are not intending to deliberately disrespect the country or the flag and maybe their concerns are worth at least listening to rather than declaring them unpatriotic traitors and further widening the gap between citizens. I understand that politics is literally every where now and people want some kind of escape like football to forget about it for a few hours, myself included. But the harder one side pushes, the harder the other side pushes back. If we want to stop politics, particularly identity politics, from creeping into every facet of society, it might be worth listening to each other for a change.
Oh, please. The idea that tens of millions of people are going to stop watching the NFL because there's some silent politicizing for 2 minutes before the game when most people are making a pit stop at the fridge for some beers anyway is the most hysterical of pearl-clutching. You know as well as I do that the only thing that really makes people mad enough to stop watching the NFL completely is when their team moves to another city. Again, more bullshit. When the ratings were down last year, the consensus on every NFL board I frequent was that it was for three reasons: Attending games is just too expensive, and people were getting absolutely sick of the constant commercial interruptions (specifically calling out the hated TD - commercial - PAT - commercial - kickoff - commercial sequence), and quality of play sucked. The prevalent thought on the number one threat to the NFL in the long term is that fewer and fewer kids will take up football as their sport of choice because of the concerns for brain injury. All this nonsense that people are going to stop watching the NFL because of some politicizing is just that - nonsense.
If only it were limited to two minutes of nonsense from a meaningless symbolic gesture. It's not though. Every channel you turn to is talking about it at length. Coupled with below points you make in terms of quality of product is starting to make the sport less appealing to many. So, let me get this straight. The league already has a problem with the quality of the product, the cost of the product, the safety of the product and now they want to add politics into the recreational activity that is viewed by many to be an escape from reality? Essentially, creating a palatability problem? Eventually, there is a tipping point where people decide they aren't interested anymore. Like I said in my last post, the next few week's ratings will tell a story. Over the last few years I have stopped (more like limited) watching the game because free agency has changed it, instant replay has changed it, rule changes have changed it (protecting the quarterback & pass interference) and the media coverage has become completely insufferable - they have literally sucked all of the life out of the game. My only remaining interest in it is fantasy football and quite frankly I don't even need to watch to do that.
Football, and all other sports, have always been political by choosing to play the National Anthem at their games at all. I never understood how sports got so tied up with nationalism in the first place. You guys are much more connected to the general sports-watching population than I am, what would the reaction be like if at least one of the results of all this was they just stopped playing the anthem at games, do you think?
Just off the top of my head, MASSIVE right-wing pearl-clutching. Rush Limbaugh might just have an aneurysm.
Wow. It's pretty sad to see the flag and the National Anthem referred to as a left vs. right political battle. Those two things are meant to bring us together as a country in spite of our differences, not tear us apart because of our differing political views.
Why would it need to stop? It used to be a nice unifying event that was part of the group experience. (Sure you can listen to your favorite band on a CD, but being at the concert with fans is more fun.) Playing the National Anthem before the event is not unique to the NFL, football, sports or the United States. When you are at the game (or used to be, anyway), there are mostly fans of your team, but the other team as well. And it's a mix of many races, beliefs, political backgrounds, sexes, and socio-economic status. Yet, for that 2 1/2 minutes, everybody stops and does the same thing. Parents take a minute to remind their kids to take off their hat or put their hand on their heart, vendors stop moving. What's wrong with a little harmony moment? The United States as a country and as a people has flaws, but it is a great nation. Stopping to acknowledge that should be something to make us better by appreciating that moment of unity. JJ Watt raised over $37 million dollars, mostly in the preseason and didn't have to kneel during the anthem to raise awareness. There are other ways.
It's a huge nothing burger as it is, if they did away with it next week the uproar would be insane. If they decided to phase it out in a few years I bet no one would notice or care.
FYI, I would notice and I would care. I'm not going to shout at anybody about it, or try to be hostile if someone chooses to kneel or not participate, but I would care. Just sayin'
I didn't say it needed to stop, or even suggested that it should be stopped. I was just curious what people who cared more about it than I do would react in the (extremely unlikely) option for an outcome that's just removing politics and nationalism from sports altogether. I, personally, think that forced group nationalism where opting out from it is super controversial is creepy and uncomfortable and anti-American, but ever since my school system decided to stop doing the Pledge of Allegiance when I was in fifth grade I've only had to deal with it at a couple baseball games a year so it doesn't concern me all that much. Also, it doesn't seem like people are making the connection, but the whole point of this kind of protest about these kind of issues during the National Anthem in particular is that the line "and the land of the free" (and all of the "American values" the song as a whole is supposed to represent) is still considered ironic at best to a bunch of groups in this country. That was especially the case when the song was written. We don't sing the full song, but we stop right before the verse that relishes in the deaths of slaves that were choosing to fight on the other side in exchange for their freedom in the War of 1812. The whole point of Kaepernick (and others) kneeling is saying that that song doesn't represent or include him since he's not free in the face of police injustice. Whether or not you agree with the sentiment, that's where the whole decision is coming from.
The funny thing is that players weren't even required to be on the field for it until 2009 when the US military (Army I believe) paid the NFL to have the players go out and have it broadcasted. Edited to add: