Stand or be confined to the locker room

Maybe sacrilizing the act of steroided adults getting paid millions for playing a children's backyard game by calling it a "cultural institution", is part of the real problem.

I got the solution, get the flag waving crap out of there at all, and just play the dopey game.
It doesn't go all the way back to the beginning of football, it's fairly recent.

Matter of fact, keep military shit out of all sports.
Mixing military and sport is how we end up with The Running Man.

The fact that you're free to openly & brazenly express such an unsavory opinion without fear of being dragged from your home, interrogated, prosecuted, imprisoned, or simply shot in the head, is why you should be on your knees kissing the American soil you trod. Because without the civil liberties afforded to you by this great country, you'd be worm food.

But, if you're truly that unhappy as an American, feel free to book the first flight out to any country of your choosing.

Whatever your opinion, there was a status quo: the players played football and the fans watched it. The insertion of politics has disrupted that status quo.

Again, there was a status quo that fans were content with. No one forces or coerces the fans or spectators into participating. The players aren't required to do anything other than not be disrespectful.

You're a fat, virginal loser who would stroke out if you ever stepped into the sunlight and tried to toss a football. You're the morbidly obese finger-sniffer who wished he could have fucked the cheerleaders, and is still jealous the jocks got all the prime quim and you had to settle for fingering yourself and jerking it to Game of Thrones.

Go scribble some more stick figures and blog about Solo, Dickynoo.

This issue is easy to solve, and its the owners who have failed to put a stop to it.

You kneel during the anthem and disrespect the country, you're off the team.

Period. Bye-bye.

Doesn't matter who they are, how big of a star they are. Gone. Forever.

Just like Kaepernick. Blacklisted. Will never step foot on an NFL field again.

A few of these meatheads get shitcanned, and you'll see a quick end to this little controversy. Cause no matter how stupid these thug jocks are, they're just smart enough to know that there's no other way they're going to be earning millions.

Someone didn't watch the movie or read the book.

Neither had anything to do with the military mixing with sports leading to the creation of The Running Man show.

In the book America and the world economy have fallen into the shitter. America is a totalitarian state at this point. Ben Richards, having been blacklisted from his career, turns to the Game Network which runs violent game shows. He's chosen for The Running Man. In the end he flies a plane into the Game Network building killing himself and Killian. It's actually a great book IMHO and the movie should be redone.

In the movie Ben Richards, is falsely convicted of massacring a bunch of people rioting. After Richards escapes from the prison Killian sees the footage and wants him on the show. Richards wasn't supposed to be eligible to be on the show. Killian pulled strings to get him on the show. (the only weird part of the movie is why wouldn't they have executed Richards for his crimes?)

Meanwhile the NBA has had this rule for decades:

(2) Players, coaches and trainers are to stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line during the playing of the National Anthem.

And they recently came out and said they expect everyone to keep following the rule.

A few more trillion into some unnecessary wars should do the trick.

I usually don't respond, but consider this: why did you immediately equate my dismissal of the flag, patriotism, and the national anthem with freedom? Then why did you follow it up by inviting me to leave if I didn't like it? "You should be on your knees kissing the American soil you trod."

No. I shouldn't, and that you want me to shows just how little you understand genuine freedom.

I remember when it used to be "if you don't like it, you can go to Russia".

What happened to that?
Oh, right, Republicans spread their butt-cheeks for Russia for the sweet, sweet, oil money like crack whores, and good little mind-slaves like Flashlight fell in lockstep.

All that red-scare patriotism of GI Joe, and Red Dawn, and Rocky 4 was hot air that meant nothing then, it's hot air that means nothing now.
Whomever the enemy is now, they'll be ass-spreading to them in 30 years.

Yep. Jingoism isn't going anywhere, unfortunately, and it will continue to be used as a tool to divide.

Great, so we should get rid of the anthem at all sporting events. For once we agree.

Did I ever say I know the national anthem or care much about it? Newsflash - I didn't. I'm saying the NFL pays the players, so in this case it's their world, and the players just live in it. If the NFL considers not kneeling to be a form of political protest (on the job I might add) then giving them an alternative (opt out) is about as fair as any employer can be.
If the players are still upset by this arrangement then they can quit and get a real job - a job that pays a fraction of the amount they make in the NFL. The NFL isn't asking them to perform any task that is dangerous (other than playing football) or illegal.

wow....can you show the court where the big, bad soldier touched you by pointing on this figure? Bailiff, get him a tissue he's starting to cry again. Anyway how again is the US government going to end your life any time it pleases? Were you drafted to serve in the military?

It’s a testament to the American obsession with patriotism that you even need the anthem for domestic sports. Secondly, why does the First Amendment not apply to handegg players?

It's amazing how many people throw that amendment around without having actually read it.

This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. If it was the government telling the players that they had to stand and show respect to the flag, then it would be about the First Amendment.

How is forcing someone to stand for the flag not an intrusion of politics?

It wasn't a big deal until Trump started complaining about the son of a bitch. Remember when people on the right kept complaining how Obama wouldn't keep his big mouth shut about unarmed black kids getting shot? Good times.

Bull.

People like you seemingly have no clue why we have basic human rights. If the government doesn’t tell you something then the spirit of free speech and expression, which you yanks constantly tell me is unquestionable, can be binned when your partisanship demands it?

Pathetic.

You specifically asked about the First Amendment, not free speech. They're not the same thing.

Last year I met a former coworker for drinks and this topic came up. His position was, paraphrasing, "I'm sure black people are being treated unfairly. But you can't disrespect the flag, man." The more I thought about it I realized this guy is playing the role millions of Americans play on a daily basis: the useful idiot.

He is better than most because he is willing to admit black people are getting a raw deal, but ultimately undying loyalty to a piece of cloth and a song is more important. You know that garbage has been hardwired into him since he was 3 years old. I'm all for patriotism; many times the real patriots are the ones willing to stand up to the injustice in the system rather than just stand up for a song before the Dolphins lose another home game. Sorry to the snowflakes who were triggered, but if you find kneeling offensive you probably shouldn't be watching the game. Sports and protest have a long history and they are by no means mutually exclusive.

As much as I love the protests the NFL players are paid performers. When they are on the field they are working for their team. At their salaries they perform as told by their employer or they find another job. As for their off hours i assume they may have behavior clauses in their contracts. So they may be violating their contract for certain behaviors. It is the sacrifice you make to work there.

As for the NFL I would not be bothered with them because they are limiting an important social awareness they could make an impact with by catering to the disloyal bigots who are boycotting them for player protests over black issues. First off almost every fan uses the time during the anthem to get beer or shit. If you want to say it is disrespectful then you should be standing up for the anthem and silent yourself. If you are on the phone, talking, sitting, shitting, getting beer, playing grab ass with your friends, flipping channels, or anything but paying respect to the anthem your opinion the players are disrespecting the anthem is moot. Of course, I was not watching the games anyway, but if this is the stance of the league I will go on thinking they are a bunch of money grubbing social welfare whores who we should cut all taxpayer funding and tax breaks to.

Flags, crosses, Bibles, Ten Commandment plaques, guns, dollars, mansions, yachts, conservatives care more about things than people.


Think that's a broad brush?
Prove me wrong with some empathy.
*Doesn't hold breath*

what I wonder is if they called the kneeling tebowing if conservatives would have annurisms? I find it funny that when a white dude does it for Christian god then it is a form of respect, but if a black dude does it for real living people who are getting killed then @Paladin and his friends call it disrespectful. Does this mean Tim Tebow was disrespecting god every time he kneeled before him?

Fucking idiots.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the ‘employees have to follow the bosses orders on company time’ folks seem to be missing a very important piece of info.

The NFL is not just any business. It could not exist (in anything close to its current form) without the consent of the players. And I don’t in the general 'can't have a business without employees' way but that the NFL legally cannot operate without the players consent.

See, the NFL is a cartel. That is not hyperbole. The entire premise of the NFL is built around it. How do you get Any Given Sunday? By the team owners agreeing to salary caps and other roster rules to keep team wages equal (read: low enough that every team can pay it) and helping out struggling teams (draft, restricted free agency, etc) so that every team, no matter the market size or team owners wealth has a fair shot. And what do we call it when almost all* the businesses in a sector work together to set prices? A cartel.

Under American Labor Law this cartel structure would be illegal UNLESS the players (employees) agree to it as part of a labor agreement. Without a working CBA the league would have to either radically alter its business model (no salary caps, no setting wages for different positions, no restricted free agency, etc) OR cease to operate. This is why you have lockouts when a CBA lapses.

So yeah, the NFL owners have made a deal with the devil if you will. They have gotten players agree to lower wages and restrictions on movement in return for more control over working conditions. Which is why the whole boss v employee things doesn't hold water. Which brings us to point number two.

This new rule DOES NOT fine or punish players. It fines teams and then says the teams will then 'handle' it (or not). This is just the NFL's way to signal to the mouth breathers that they are 'doing something' without actually doing anything to the players (which they can't, see point one).

*Collectively the NFL teams control, what 98% of the professional football market?

The whole reason Kaepernick began kneeling instead of just sitting on the bench was because a veteran wrote an open letter inviting him to learn more about the sacrifices of soldiers. Kap meant this vet in San Diego, listened to his concerns...and decided kneeling would be the best way to go.

In true fashion, of course, all of that has been forgotten about and turned into HE H8Z OUR VETERANZ LOLOLOLOL

https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2016/09/kaepernick-meets-veteran-nate-boyer-kneels-anthem

If you care about vets, support charities that get more of them off the streets. Support VA reform. Better yet, stop supporting warhawks into office who create more of us in the first place.