Stand or be confined to the locker room

https://abcnews.go.com/US/nfl-mandates-players-stand-national-anthem/story?id=55383840

Some of the agitators are already planning a revolt, no doubt.

I think it's a fair compromise. If you don't believe in showing respect to the flag/anthem you can opt out, but you aren't disrupting the ceremony for those who do want to participate.
I'm sure a few people will bitch, but overall I think it will be accepted.

So which is your favorite part of the anthem, TLS, the third stanza or the fourth?

Which is the part where they lock the cage?

Borrowed from a colleague's Facebook page because he's right.

To many people, a person kneeling or sitting during the anthem is a deliberate sign of disrespect. It isn't simply a protest. If players were wearing "Black Lives Matter" pins or had special color socks to demonstrate, few would be upset.

This is a reasonable compromise. If you don't want to stand during the anthem, you don't have to. Stay in the locker room.

For myself, I'm not at all bothered by a player staying in the locker room. I am bothered by a player deliberately disrespecting the flag/anthem/etc.

The question, then, becomes why they should give a shit whether or not you are bothered. The whole point of a protest is that it removes people from their comfort zones. For you? Mission accomplished.

Wouldn't it be cool if the league ended up with an empty field? That's a lot of tickets refunded...the only language the owners understand.

Can you remove people from their "comfort zone" at some other time/place when the fans didn't invest their time/money to watch you play fucking football?
If you get paid millions annually (or even hundreds of thousands) maybe you need to get out of your financial "comfort zone" or else abide by your employers rules.

As a customer of the NFL (well, I'm not, but let's just say), I can express an opinion on the league's policies and can refuse them my patronage if I feel those policies are inappropriate. And the policy of allowing players to protest through disrespect of the country is one I and many others find very offensive.

At the end of the day, the players are employees in a business, and that business should not allow behavior by the employees that alienates the customers. The players are free to protest all they want--just not on company time.

If you work at McDonald's, the management there won't--and, of course, shouldn't--allow you to wear a "Fuck the Police" hat. You have no right to protest when acting in the company's employ. The company does not exist for your protests to make its customers uncomfortable.

You're well on your way to become Dinner v.2.

So which do you prefer (assuming you know they exist), stanza 3 or stanza 4?

Paladin is right - you are entitled to your opinion, just not on company time. Why should an athlete be different from any other employee?

True, but ultimately the fans drive the success of the league. Virtually all NFL fans spend their time watching not simply for the game, but to forget the stress and political garbage of the day, if only for a few hours each Sunday.

I fully understand that the players feel this is their biggest stage on which to make a statement. However. fans simply won't stand for it and the players are slitting their own throats.

That's really the bottom line.

As one of our sports anchors put it to me today (as he was headed to the studio), "If I went in there and decided to protest something before my segment, I'd be fired."


I agree with what my friend said about going back to the old policy of having teams stay in the locker room until after the anthem.

Because they are usually black. Can't discipline the black man, can we?

What you say is actually quite meaningless, what do you know?

The *truth* is closer to what others predict will be your reaction. After all, you are inherently biased about your pov, while they have no particular personal interest in how you might feel, and are thus more credible predictors.

My own 2 cents, as before on this topic: people promoting this cause will achieve most success when they use words and merit-based arguments. So I hope the true nfl 'activists' and true-belivers step up (pardon the pun) and make their case. The data I've seen support a need for some reforms, but also show drastic improvement on all metrics over years or decades save the emotional ones.

I ask this question every time this comes up, and have yet to get an answer.

If kneeling is so disrespectful, why do people do it in church?

They feel the country is engaged in their systemic oppression. More to the point, if I worked at McDonalds, and I was told to pledge the national anthem, that falls outside of McDonalds' purview, because while they can tell me who to serve, and follow a code of conduct, they cannot force my patriotism as a requirement of their employment. It would be like working for an Italian restaurant and being told you must pledge your loyalty to Rome. You have to do no such thing, and to try and force you opens them up to lawsuits. What's happened here is the NFL and the U.S. military got into bed together and started fucking around. Well, now the baby's come full term. It's a stupid ass decision, and they're apt to pay for it.

It's what you get when you sell your soul and cozy up to the military for assloads of cash.

P.S. Fuck patriotism, fuck the flag, and fuck the national anthem. I will ascribe my allegiance to no governing body that can make the decision to end my life at any time it pleases, or to end the life of others if it so desires in order to obtain their resources.

Why do people park on the driveway, and drive on the parkway?

The comparisons are about as apt.

This may have been posted here before: https://www.npr.org/2017/10/17/5583...d-nfl-player-talks-about-take-a-knee-protests

The owner of the Jets has already come out and said he personally will cover the fines for protesters.

Paul Allen better do the same.

All the bald-eagle fellating bullshit was paid for by the military in the first place.
Howcome all the alleged "liberty", junkies aren't creeped the fuck out by that?

How could she ever marry a man who disrepects her like this?

Giving the finger at a friend affectionately is same as waving the finger at a cop on the highway?

Grown ups call it "context."

I figure you can't really be serious. But fuck, maybe. Left-coast libs are an odd bunch.

I guess in the eyes of Whitey McSportsfan, failing to slobber enough while engaging in bald eagle fellatio is a bigger problem than black people being systematically murdered by armed agents of the state.

The mouth breathers were demanding the league DO SOMETHING!!!!1! to those uppity negros. I don't think they would accept the locker room solution as they need to see the blacks forced to do as they want.

The idea seems to be that by fining the team which will then privately discipline the players (or not) the league has taken a stand while not actually going up against the players.

So, the players will continue to protest, the league owners will fine themselves and pay themselves and the mouth breathers will (hopefully) fall for it and move on.

If punching someone in the head is so terrible, why do boxers do it?

Context matters. Bigly.