The Pittsburgh Steelers football team will remain in the locker room during the National Anthem

So you too are going to try and convince me this all started recently Kippers started this nonsense last season it's as simple as that! What Trump did was hardly any worse then OBatard claiming the police acted "STUPIDLY", has that slip your mind? Regardless of the tit-for-tat this nonsense started with Kippy last year and Trump is just another recent excuse to justify an ongoing group of rich Black ball players grand standing is all.

 

Busted!

 

Oops! Sorry! I somehow misread your post.

I would still only be guessing about the booing. Maybe the fans agree with Trump, not the players (?). Maybe the fans went to see a football game, not a display of politics or a tantrum(?).

 

My favorite part about these so-called fans who are now "fed up" and "done" with football, is that many of them have taken to burning their jerseys and fan gear or dumping it in the trash over these protests, because that was the final straw. I don't remember these people destroying their gear when say, Michael Vick, got to stay with the Eagles. Or when Ray Rice clocked his fiance. Or when Adam Jones inevitably gets in trouble. Or even with Ray Lewis, who had a big trial for murder back in 2000 yet fans still wear his jersey faithfully to this day, but now THIS is offensive, THIS makes him a scumbag. There's Texans fans I bet who are burning their J.J. Watt jerseys while forgetting that he raised millions of dollars for Hurricane Harvey relief when that happened.

Even funnier is how fans seem to forget they're the ones who bought the gear in the first place, so it's their money they're burning.

 

That's incorrect. The Steelers were criticized for failing to take the field and stand for the National Anthem.

The crowd didn't know if the Cowboys were going to stand for the National Anthem, either.

I haven't heard anyone complain about the teams that stood and locked arms during the National Anthem, so I'm not aware of anyone taking issue with statements of unity.

The players brought this on themselves, and if they compounded their errors and stupidity by refusing to stand for the Anthem before the game that's their own fault. They could have expressed their opinion and displeasure in another way and in a different venue but they chose not to, and that's their own fault. They're grown men, for crissakes - Trump didn't force them to anything.

Yet, their protests involve the flag and the anthem, so they've made it about the flag and the anthem.

That's not clear, because we don't know what the crowd expected when the Cowboys took a knee. Again, not all teams took a knee and I'm not aware of anyone taking issue with the teams who stood and locked arms during the Anthem.

Free speech works both ways. If you can't handle that perhaps you should check what you are dog whistling.

 

WRONG. He said "Should fire" Not "have to". He gave an opinion, not an order. The law you've cited does not cover this

 

Guess you didn't read the law:

(2)
influences, or offers or threatens to influence, the official act of another,

 

Individual events including Olympic games aren't the same as the scripted theater that is the NFL.

 

But he didn't influence the NFL to do anything. In fact, they did the opposite.

 

I do like that last sentence especially

While I agree with the post overall. I do have to bring up one minor point about Ray Lewis, the trial was because someone in his "entourage" had killed someone and I believe he was totally exonerated and has not been in trouble since.

And I really agree with you about Michael Vick. What he did was deliberate and totally gratuitous cruelty to helpless creatures. If you or I did it we would probably never see any real gainful employment ever again, yet this reprobate makes millions. The NFL should be ashamed.

 

"or THREATENS to influence"

 

"THREATENS TO INFLUENCE"

I'd say his threats were real.

You can deny it; it's all legalese to me, but his threats seem pretty real.

 

What threat? What he said was HYPOTHETICAL.

 

It was a HYPOTHETICAL.

 

Yeah, I get it. Teflon Don. Nothing sticks to Teflon Don. He absolutely acted in a partisan way to influence the NFL.

And he did JUST THAT.

 

Well since now apparently hypotheticals are "threats", I'm assuming he'll be in jail any day now....
......
......

 

Yeah, that's true about Ray, I think he did plead guilty to obstruction of justice IIRC. But as soon as the Ravens won the Super Bowl that whole issue was pretty much pushed to the side, and it was ignored even more when they kept winning games and by the time they won a second Super Bowl it was pretty much forgotten.

Matter of fact, whenever players start winning games those criminal issues seem to get ignored just like that.

 

If you go on YouTube you'll find people burning Mike Vick and Ray Rice jerseys, and you know Lewis didn't get convicted of murder. I must admit his trial did sour me on him.

Does anybody really own any Pac Man swag?

What you may be missing, mic, is that what Vick, Rice, Jones and Lewis did wasn't personal to most fans, but disrespecting the flag, anthem and all they stand for is deeply personal to many.

As for Watt, I don't know what he's done to warrant burning his jersey...

I doubt anyone has forgotten that...

 

It's stuff like this that made me howl with laughter after Roger Goodell got butthurt about Trump "disrespecting" the NFL. Methinks the Commissioner doth protest too much...

 

I will take you for what you post.
And how it relates to what I posted.
Who are they? How many are they?

 

No, and that wasn't the comparison I was making. The comparison I was making was athletes using free speech to protest during ceremonial portions of athletic events.

 

There are 2 protest issues going on now.
1 - the former protests in which about 5 players were left kneeling before games to protest racial injustice.
2 - when another 195-200 joined in last weekend in response to a no nothing president.

 

You're OK with the crowd pre-emptively booing, just in case?

We're not going to agree on this subject. Best I can tell, you're not going to be convinced of anything. I am confident in my belief that the flag and anthems are merely symbols of our Constitutional nation that allows free speech. When I stand for the anthem or put my hand over my heart as the flag passes by, I am celebrating the rights guaranteed by the Constitutional government that uses them as symbols. I am also aware that the country isn't perfect and some things need to be addressed. If someone else chooses not to stand or put their hand over their heart to call attention to an issues, that is their right, and I don't get to tell them how to protest. They also don't get to tell me how to protest. That's how free speech works both ways.

The players did not bring this on themselves. Trump brought this on them, and teams like the Steelers chose not to be drawn into the controversy. It's documented that the protests were dying down, until Trump made the statement.

If you think I am dog whistling, it would probably be a good idea to re-read my posts.

 

My guess is it was the other team's fans booing the competition, but that is not what Trump tweeted. He further insinuated himself into the controversy to keep it going.

 

I have different expectations from government than you do because I believe that good government is possible. I have seen it first hand all across the globe. If you voted for Trump, you are a ball and chain around our nation, you cannot hide from this decision anymore than you could hide from accepting a racial curse in front of your children. Goals? What goals? I am 61 years old and have followed politics daily since 1972. I have yet to see any of your goals work for the people, not one single goal. As for immigration, I live in SoCal. We have had immigrants coming here since the day we took it from Mexico, I have no problems with them at all other than over population concerns. There is no such thing as universal health care within our current system. I believe in universal health care for everyone, you don't it seems. As for Trumps business acumen, I am a businessman and if any of my sales team members acted like him or did business like him, I would fire them on the spot. As for the 62 million, that is a very small percentage of the voting population and mostly older white people. Young people don't have the ingrained hatred the older white boomers have for others. How my generation turned into these monsters is beyond my ability to grasp, but here we are, the most privileged generation in the history of mankind turned into a bunch of Archie Bunkers.