Politics Have Invaded Football

[mos6507]

"since their wealth and fame grants them a greater opportunity to affect change than an average citizen has, and since they have benefited from the money and support of those citizens they should give back and set a positive example for others."

Sounds like the definition of being a role model to me. But please, continue splitting hairs if you like.

Setting a positive example extends to more than whether they sit or stand during the national anthem.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

"since their wealth and fame grants them a greater opportunity to affect change than an average citizen has, and since they have benefited from the money and support of those citizens they should give back and set a positive example for others."

Sounds like the definition of being a role model to me. But please, continue splitting hairs if you like.

Setting a positive example extends to more than whether they sit or stand during the national anthem.

Ahem, ...

"since their wealth and fame grants them a greater opportunity to affect change than an average citizen has, and since they have benefited from the money and support of those citizens they should give back and set a positive example for others."

Learn to read in context.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I actually think they've got a right to sit or stand, but I felt in his defense that he came across like he was putting them on a pedestal. The fact is it's been a long time since athletes have lived up to being role-models. Everything from doping scandals to domestic violence, rape accusations, to outright murder. Pro athletes really should not be seen by the public as role models.

"since their wealth and fame grants them a greater opportunity to affect change than an average citizen has, and since they have benefited from the money and support of those citizens they should give back and set a positive example for others."

Sounds like the definition of being a role model to me. But please, continue splitting hairs if you like.

Setting a positive example extends to more than whether they sit or stand during the national anthem.

I must have missed my wholehearted defense of doping, domestic violence, rape, and murder. Can you please point to where I said athletes shouldn't stop doing those things, or where I denied that those things were a problem? My post was a call for athletes TO set a better example, not a commentary on past behavior. It's like you're having an argument with an imaginary friend. Why don't you give the actual content of my post a shot from now on, mmkay?

Protesting is not a zero sum game where if you take a knee during the anthem that means you can't also set a positive example in other areas. And not all the athletes who are protesting have done the crimes you mentioned, so should they all not be able to protest because some of them have committed crimes? And doing something wrong does not automatically invalidate the thing you're protesting against. You can be an asshole who also happens to be protesting for a good cause.

And if you want them to be better role-models, I would say making a principled stand for a cause you believe in the face of widespread criticism and potential loss of revenue is a pretty good start. I'm not saying they deserve an award or anything, but it also doesn't deserve your casual dismissal and condescension.

 

[{ Emilia }]

 

[Jedi_Master]

I might have missed it, but I don't recall seeing the National Anthem as a part of last night's TNF broadcast on CBS.

They don't show the coin-flip anymore except at the Super Bowl, and they trim other "non-essential" parts of the broadcast to cram in more commercials for gambling websites and boner pills, so imagine in the very near future they won't show the singing of the National Anthem or "God Bless America", the fly overs, or anything else that leads to discussions of scandals that the NFL wants everyone to forget about.
If you notice - they don't highlight big hits anymore, don't show slow-motion replays of big tackles, the broadcasters don't discuss the bone-shattering hits, and they are close to getting rid of kickoffs. The NFL is risk-averse and realizes that it's dominance hangs by a very slender thread.

So going forward, National Anthem protests won't cost the NFL any viewers, and they don't affect the NFL's business model because the NFL would never allow that to happen.

 

[sidious618]

I was at a Yankee game about a month ago and during the seventh inning break they play that stupid God Bless America song. So we're all supposed to stand, and I do because I don't want some sports fan beating the shit out of me (really need to take those self-defense classes). About five rows behind me these two assholes in their early thirties start screaming, "HATS OFF. HATS OFF." Now, you're only supposed to take your hats off for the anthem, but these two morons were so overcome by patriotism that the fact slipped their mind. I thought they were idiots, but I was also somewhat amused.

Until they started screaming at this young girl, maybe 13, who was there with her mom. "TAKE YOUR HAT OFF. HAT OFF!"

The girl snatched her hat off, terrified. In a moment of stupidity, I snarled "Fucking assholes!" at the two guys. They seemed completely confused at my attack, which is lucky for me because in hindsight these two definitely seem like people who would've pummeled me into the ground. They left shortly after, drunk.

Basically, Americans' relationship with meaningless displays of patriotism is really unhealthy. The people who dare to question such displays are almost always more on the ball than those who complain about it. It does amuse me that the people who complain about Kaepernick are also the people who moan about safe spaces and political correctness.

 

[M'Sharak]

Drawn by a longtime member of TrekBBS, btw.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Basically, Americans' relationship with meaningless displays of patriotism is really unhealthy.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I've seen many of the same people oppose athletes sitting down or taking a knee during the national anthem, oppose peaceful protests by the Black Lives Matter movement or other marchers, and oppose more violent protests that result in burnt out police cars and damaged businesses. So, I'm just curious, what level of protest against police brutality and unjustified killings of minorities would be considered acceptable?

Because it sure seems to me that for all the lip service people pay to saying protesters have a First Amendment right to express themselves (which doesn't include violence, of course), that disclaimer is frequently followed up by complaints about how you're making me see uncomfortable things during my football game, or trite cries that "All Lives Matter" (as if that was ever in dispute) and attempts to discredit the entire BLM movement based on the actions of a few, or gleeful calls for the police to crack down on even the peaceful protestors with force, because that kind of violence is acceptable for some reason.

Taking a knee during the national anthem is about the most peaceful and least intrusive form of protest there can possibly be, and yet even that small gesture that lasts a couple of minutes is intolerable for many people too. Are you so lacking in empathy that simply acknowledging the existence of a problem through the softest form of political expression is too much for you to deal with? You want to complain about the completely overblown issues of safe spaces and political correctness but you can't handle athletes kneeling for two minutes during your sacred game which is already politicized to high heaven? Get a grip.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Pretty sure the short version of the opposition is basically "people who don't agree with me need to shut up."

 

[M'Sharak]

Pretty sure the short version of the opposition is basically "people who don't agree with me need to shut up."

Or "people who do not enjoy the same privileges from which I benefit by default," if we're being honest about it.

 

[ichab]

Ratings have dropped across the board in week three. I wonder why?

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/09/27/nfl-ratings-drop-across-the-board-in-week-3/

 

[Squiggy]

Shitty matchups? More competition? Younger generations not giving a crap? Older generations dying?

 

[Jedi_Master]

Shitty matchups? More competition? Younger generations not giving a crap? Older generations dying?

Nope. Plenty of Patriots, no patriotism.

 

[Squiggy]

Patriots should be ashamed they're not watching the National Anthems of every game and standing whilst it airs.

 

[auntiehill]

But, if they get off their recliners, they might spill their beer.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Ratings have dropped across the board in week three. I wonder why?
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/09/27/nfl-ratings-drop-across-the-board-in-week-3/

Shitty matchups? More competition? Younger generations not giving a crap? Older generations dying?

Plus, Monday Night Football went up against the highest rated presidential debate in history and the games have competed against a highly rated campaign in general. There are fewer high profile quarterbacks on the field right now (for example, Peyton Manning retired and was replaced by an untested seventh round draft pick. Tom Brady is currently riding out his four game Deflategate suspension), viewers might be having a crisis of conscious due to the concussions and other neurological and physical issues the players are suffering, more people watching streaming online which doesn't get counted with the traditional Nielsen's ratings, people may be upset with some of the players committing crime and domestic battery/child abuse, etc.

Even ichab's own article gave numerous other reasons besides Kaepernick's protest movement. And if it is partially responsible for the ratings drop, so what? That only matters if it forces the NFL to take action or not. It doesn't invalidate the movement itself, and in fact shows that it's having an affect on people, even if they'd rather bury their head in the sand and not watch than show some empathy towards minorities and their treatment by police.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

So, I'm just curious, what level of protest against police brutality and unjustified killings of minorities would be considered acceptable?

This is 'Murica! You think somebody is screwing you over, you get a lawyer and you SUE the bastards! Sue their pants off! Sue them till you own everything that ever was or will be theirs! Lawyers are happy to take a case that has merit! Sue 'em into indentured servitude! okay maybe not that far. Into bankruptcy! Get ALL the money! That's the 'Murican Dream!

I mean hell, if some crazy-ass TX cop can sue BLM, Obama, Clinton, etc, for the Dallas shootings, and the Gomers think that's just fine dandy - and you know they do, then certainly the reverse should be completely acceptable.

(Full disclosure: I loathe football. If these protests upset the people who watch it, to me that's just payback for all the Charlie Brown specials that were pre-empted by football games when I was a kid.)

 

[ichab]

Shitty matchups? More competition? Younger generations not giving a crap? Older generations dying?

Nope...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...use-of-national-anthem-protests/#30b2118d74b7

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Nope...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...use-of-national-anthem-protests/#30b2118d74b7

I like how that opinion piece where the author gives their guess on what is causing the ratings drop is titled "CONFIRMED", as if they conducted any polls or got any feedback from the NFL or ratings firms about what's causing the decline. The author may very well be right, but that's a misleading title.

There is something amusing about people who are so fragile that they can't even handle some athletes conducting a protest for two minutes being on their TV screen because it's getting in the way of the multiple concussions and debilitating injuries. And then they dismiss frequently unarmed and unprovacational black people being shot by police at alarming rates as unimportant on top of that.