Politics and Football don't mix

I predict a business-savvy owner with below average scruples is going to take advantage of the political climate by coming out with a statement, causing the Cowboy fan base to increase considerably, lol!

Here's another rhetorical (and ironic) question I have about Tomlin's decision and comment, "I was looking for 100 percent participation, we were gonna be respectful of our football team":

How is an individual's right to choose being respected when 100% are made to vote and follow the edict of the coach by respecting the team and majority rule?
 
How is an individual's right to choose being respected when 100% are made to vote and follow the edict of the coach by respecting the team and majority rule?
Because the NFL is a business... the Team is that players job. Go tell your boss $#%% you I am doing what I want. You get fired. If the team voted 100% and you did your own thing than I can see that being an issue for that player.
 
From what I've seen, any demonstration, or comment against what the Trump people are doing is considered an affront to the flag.

Personally, as a vet, and retired police officer, I find his even holding an elected office is an affront to the Constitution, and Bill of Rights, of the nation I fought to protect.

Trump, and those pushing his agenda, have wrapped themselves in the flag, and are using it as a weapon to divide people, and doing it very well. But that's not on them, it's on us, when we don't show those who are demonstrating against him and his agenda, that we support them.

By condemning the minority players in the NFL because of their actions, we might want to take a better look at their families. One hell of a lot of them come from families whose parents have, or are serving, and many who have died in protecting this country.

Their problem isn't the US. Their problem is that their fellow Americans are being treated as second class citizens, and nobody has the right to do that to anyone in this country.

Although I stand for the Anthem & Flag, I also stand with their right to show their concerns for the government that's represented by our flag. It's there, in our Constitution, and Bill of Rights, that we have a right to do exactly what they're doing. It doesn't say it's for white folks only.
 
Because the NFL is a business... the Team is that players job. Go tell your boss $#%% you I am doing what I want. You get fired. If the team voted 100% and you did your own thing than I can see that being an issue for that player.
That's my point Mark. And the team owners have rules as well saying they're to be on the sideline for the National Anthem.

Edited (Upon further review):

Maybe because of my military service and understanding of what the flag represents, I admit to having a hard time enjoying games because of these demonstrations. I don't see this as a right or left issue. Most Americans don’t want their flag disrespected, especially by millionaire, wet-behind-the-ears athletes who are paid to entertain and have no clue what the anthem or flag represents. (I mean really, sit or kneel for our anthem in London but stand for God Save The Queen, the anthem for the country we won our independence from and country who supported the Confederacy?)

Add in a POTUS who is great at over-the-top, provacative, unreasonable and idiotic statements capitalizing on current concerns and fanning flames. Trump has been successful in making this issue even bigger and getting the players and owners to unite against him as being divisive. The same owners who ignored the divisive acts by Kaepernick and his media allies that injected politics into football in the first place, but cracked down other political acts like 9/11 tribute cleats. It's a set up for the perfect battle.

I don’t begrudge athletes their free-speech rights. Paraphrasing a quote, many of you have probably heard a military member or vet say, "I disagree with what you say or do, however, I will fight to the death for your right to say or do it." But please keep in mind that many of us believe disrespecting the national anthem selfishly puts personal agenda and partisanship above a symbol and ideal of nationhood and unity that many have died for. Owners and coaches who either choose to not participate or allow players to kneel shouldn’t be surprised that more fans booed their teams on Sunday than applauded their (ahem) "bravery". Ironically, applauding this behavior makes you complicit in dividing and fueling this patriotic sentiment and are helping Trump exploit it to his own political advantage.

My viewpoint is that political statements or stances don't belong in the stadiums. Players want to be politicians and use their platform to lecture us, the press is complicit in making them moral spokespeople, and Trump wants to exploit the players for his own personal vendetta. Guess who the losers are? Millions of us NFL fans who who want to relax and unite under our own fandom and cheer for our teams on a weekend after a tough week of work.

The solution? I don't know, but you can't make patriotism compulsory. You can make it understood that disrespecting the flag to make your point is inappropriate rather than pretending to identify with the victimhood of those making these statements and placing them on a pedestal for using our flag to address a cause. Shame on those that do. And I am disappointed in our POTUS for dividing further by throwing gas on it.
 
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Although I stand for the Anthem & Flag, I also stand with their right to show their concerns for the government that's represented by our flag. It's there, in our Constitution, and Bill of Rights, that we have a right to do exactly what they're doing. It doesn't say it's for white folks only.

exactly.
 
I don't think anyone is saying the players don't have a right to speak their minds they just should NOT do it at their place of work. I think many of us would get fired from our jobs if we made political statements at work in front of clients. These players want to go on social media and state what they want fine. They want to go march in a rally on their day off fine. Just keep it off the field is all I ask.
 
Mike Tomlin comments after Villanueva stood for the anthem. "I was looking for 100 percent participation. We were gonna be respectful of our football team."

Tomlin needs to learn to shut his trap. You have a guy who fought for his country and could not find it in him to not stand for then anthem. Lot of players defending players who sit or kneel but seems many steelers are upset that he decided when a teammate decided to stand instead of doing what everyone else on his team did. To me Tomlin and those players re hypocrites defend one action but are disappointed in another.
 
As long as I'm on the soapbox- we should change the anthem to 'America the beautiful'. Better song. More about love of country than the war song we now use. Just my 2 cents.


Before the settled on the Star Spangled Banner, "God Bless America" was almost made the official national anthem, and was the unofficial anthem for a long time. Hence why you see people remove their hats when singing the song.
 
An interesting point that we might want to think about. I agree, politics should stay out of sports. But, the moment they raise the flag, and play the anthem, politics has entered the stadium. As a nation, we stand for a political point of view. It's what makes a nation - unity through discussion, and discourse, if necessary.

I'm having a problem with navigating a lot of this whole thing. You see, it isn't politics that's causing the problem, and the lack of respect for our flag and anthem. It's blatant racism, and the people responsible for it, cloaking themselves in the flag, trying to convince everyone that racism is good, as long as you're a "patriot." It's a false patriotism and political view, because it's against the very fiber that this nation represents.

What's interesting is how nobody who wants these people booted for not standing has taken one step towards addressing the reason these athletes are doing what they're doing.

You want the problem to end? Abolish racism by getting the racists out of politics, and remove our flag, and our anthem from sporting events. At this time it's usage to promote racism is a stain on all of us. I refuse to go against my brothers in arms, whom I was so fortunate to be blessed serving beside.



In the meantime, I'll stand for the anthem and flag, but I won't condemn others who won't for good reason. More than once, I saved a black person's life, and they did the same for me.
 
After another day of thinking of this.....I wonder if the Kapernick thing was actually going to pass on because all he did was kneel. I don't recall hearing that he did anything else for the perceived injustices he allegedly feels so strong about. I still think it was calculated on his part to get some notoriety (with some coaching from his girlfriend). There were less than 10 percent of the players taking part. The PC media ate it up and exacerbated the issue. And still it seemed destined for a early fizzle out. What changed? The millionaire whiners were upstaged by the billionaire whiner. Why would a responsible leader of a country, let alone the leader of THIS country, come out and pour gas on a dumpster fire?
Why would a person, who NEVER served his country (in fact he applied for numerous waivers to get out of serving his country), wrap himself in our flag and call other people (who broke no law) sons of bitches? If you want to fix a problem, start at the top. Just for the record- I didn't vote for Hillary either, so don't accuse me of that. Call them as I see them. This is all distraction from the real problems our country is facing and the principle characters are acting like highschool girls. (I know because I raised two of them!)
 
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