Why the First Amebdnent even applies to NFL players

You message is a lie. President Trump was not a draft dodger.

 

He's is a draft dodger and a son-of-a-bitch.

 

This is not a 1st Amendment issue. Not when you're on the job wearing your team owner's uniform. This kneeling during the anthem may not be offensive to all, but it is offensive to many.

I challenge you, if you have an employer, to go out and be offensive to many of your employer's customers while you're on the job, and let's see what happens. If you're self-employed, same thing. Let us know how it works out for you. The NFL has lost me as a customer.

These guys can protest all they want on their time.

My

 

No one ever said he cannot protest the playing of the national anthem or anything else. He is perfectly free to stand in front of city hall, the courthouse, outside the white house or on the steps of the capitol and protest until the cows come home. Have at it! Knock yourself out.

 

He used his feet as a reason to get out of the draft.

Donald Trump is a draft dodger..

 

If Trump Derangement Syndrome is a thing, then Paranoia Of Progressivism (POP) should be a thing.

I swear, SNL should take this pathetic outrage from the right and make it into a skit, just like they did with Sean Spicers pathetic performance. I'm sure kneeling down will become a phobia of conservatives now. You guys criticize leftists of violent protests, you criticize leftists of peaceful protests when you are saying that's what they should be doing. What exactly are you for?

 

The owners could fire them for causing a disturbance on the field (i.e. not standing if that's what the owner wanted). The First Amendment only protects you from punishment by the government--not from employers or the reaction of other people.

 

That would be a pathetic reason to fire them. Firing someone has to have some clout to it, not because they were kneeling on grass.

 

The players are entertainers. If they cause fans to stop watching due to their antics, they can be fired. Has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Personally, I think the players who don't want to stand for the Anthem should just stay in the locker room, like was done before 2009.

 

I really want to see these players take to Twitter the same way Trump has, and ask conservatives who are literally pi$$ing themselves in anger why kneeling during a two minute tune upsets them so much? Why something so miniscule is taking up so much of their energy? The Steelers did what you just said, and now Steelers fans are going ape over that too. I'm not even INTO football, but this outrage is so ludicrous I can't help but see what happens next.

 

No one stripped anyone of their first amendment rights. You don't have a right to express any opinion on your employer's dime and have him continue to employ you for it. Requiring that would actually violate the free association guaranteed by the 1st amendment.
Was colin arrested or charged with a crime? No? Then his 1st amendment right hasn't been violated.
You don't have a right to a job and airtime to use as you see fit.

 

Getting angry over kneeling during the National Anthem is like getting angry over someone kneeling during The Final Countdown. I's nothing but fanfare, people.

 

Not surprised you have no respect for your country. After all, you just claimed you are a progressive.

 

These players joined the NFL, in fact enthusiastically sought out contracts with NFL football teams..........in full knowledge that the NFL plays the national anthem prior to football games and has for decades.

Sure players have a First Amendment right. But they have no such right to do so while they are being paid by their employer. Especially a highly public image conscious employer.

I worked at Walmart for 9 years and the company was very clear about restricting their employees conduct while they were "on the clock". That is true for almost all employers.

You want to work? Or you want to protest in public? You have a constitutional right to do the latter but no right whatsoever to do the former. You certainly have no right at all to do the latter while also doing the former.

 

I think the sensitivity of the right is on display. This outrage is worse than the outrage on the left over Trump's election, and I didn't think anything could beat that. I guess if I kneel down during The Final Countdown too, you'll be offended. Grow up.

 

Employers are given too much leniency on what grounds they can fire people. Walmart has fired their associates for all sorts of bizarre reasons. Punishing athletes for wearing socks improperly or talking sh*t about a improper call by a official is ridiculous.

Is this the, "Land of the Free" or "Land of the Contracts?" Where is the freedom the athletes should have to negotiate the contracts, to fiddle around with the clauses, all the while being lawyered up? I still stand firm on behalf of the players who have kneeled, or have stayed back in locker rooms over one athlete who decided to keep conservatives from wetting their pants in anger. The NFL, as you describe in your second paragraph, is more sketchy than I originally thought. Who's to say there's no back room deals as to which team wins before the game by team billionaire owners if the NFL exercises such stiff regulations?

 

Thanks for proving my point.

 

What point was there to be had? You guys are getting angry over something so frivolous.

 

The point being that the NFL regularly regulates the free expression of its players, and doing so has not one thing to do with the constitutionally protected right to free speech which only means that a person cannot be imprisoned for that free speech. The right to free speech does not mean that an employer cannot regulate what you say or do in public.

You can support them all that you wish, that is certainly your right. Others can oppose their actions, and that too is their right. What we cant do is credibly pretend like the NFL not fining players for kneeling during the National Anthem has ANYTHING to do with the constitutional right to free speech. Nobody is trying to claim that the kneelers need to be imprisoned. Nobody is even trying to claim that the NFL is required to ban their actions. People are voicing their displeasure with the NFL's lack of action, and without question, that displeasure is at least part of the reason for the declining NFL viewership. The NFL can either listen to their customers displeasure or ignore it all together. I suspect exactly how much or little their revenues decline will play a large role in their ultimate decision. For that matter I suspect sufficiently declining revenues would even make the players all of a sudden not want to choose that means of voicing their displeasure. Injuring the goose that lays the golden egg is not in their best financial interests.

 

What I take issue with (and what Hoosier fails to address) is why we are getting so angry over something so frivolous, its pathetic. No one, not even Colin Kaspernick, was intending to disrespect anything.

 

You mean, like two scoops of ice cream, eating fried chicken with a fork, Melania's shoe selection, etc?

 

Try to stay on topic, start a new thread if it matters so much to you.

 

I didn't really even pay attention tot he two scoops of ice cream bit. Who cares about that?

 

The NFL is sure selective in its permissiveness of first amendment rights. Deangelo Williams asked for permission to wear pink all season to honor his mother that died of breast cancer...the NFL said no, only during breast cancer awareness month.
https://thinkprogress.org/no-except...r-pink-to-honor-his-late-mother-6e8b720b5b25/

The Dallas Cowboys were denied the right to wear the Dallas Police Department logo to honor the five officers slain by shooter.
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/...ar-decal-honoring-fallen-dallas-officers.html

So does the NFL believe in free speech or are they being hypocritical?