The NFL Protests

Thanks, triggyr! Gonna drop some truth bombs later today. Boom! Racism solved.

I think it’s dangerous to to write everybody off. Not all of those that would be concerned about the protest need are mouth breathing, knuckle dragging Fox News watchers.

The liberal tendency to everybody else off as ‘beyond the pale’ doesn’t change minds it just allows them to be reinforced.

I like Dale Hansen (I’ve seen other responses he’s done) and if one person came for sport but went away thinking differently I applaud his efforts and think we should be encouraging more.

Kapernick’s kneel is the definition of how to peacefully protest in a way that confronts society in an irrepressible way and on a symbolic level.

People always wonder what they would in historic situations. Most, it seems, wouldn’t really know. But we’re living in a historic situation now. How many people today who want to shove Kapernick under the rug would have done the same for Rosa Parks, had they lived then? Comity and the status quo have their own logic and appeal. Don’t rock the boat in this way.

Million+ women who marched against Trump - one of the largest marches in decades. Trump supporters just shrug. One man kneels during a game where they commodify black men into gladiators? A textbook on making a protest that sticks. If Kapernick’s kneel bothers you - that’s the point.

I did it in PA when I was a kid, growing up near Philly.

I never had a problem with it.

So my fellow Dallas Stars fans have a tradition of yelling Stars!!! twice during the National Anthem at every home game, drowning out the singer for those two particular moments. I can’t imagine how disrespected the dead troops and families must feel during that horrific display of anti-American, unpatriotic disgusting sentiment.

Can’t wait to see them booing themselves and self-flagellating after the anthem each game.

I’m also a little dismayed at the lack of selfies of people standing at homes during anthems, with their hands on their hearts. I mean, who would go to the loo or get another beer during this sacred moment?

Yes, all three of my kids did so at their elementary schools. Neither they, nor I, had any concerns about it. It is not so much the flag, but the promise of what it represents that we honor in our family, especially the “with liberty and justice for all” part. This republic was always a shaky proposition, and is very much a work in progress.

But what a beautiful mess it is. Worth fighting for.

I literally couldn’t have said it better. So well said and delivered. Go sports guy!

That was great. Who is this? Just a local sports guy somewhere?

In Dallas, yes.

You know who’s advice we need about this?

“I believe in free speech, I believe that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but I don’t agree that they should hold the United States of America or the world hostage by taking a venue where people are tuning in to watch a football game and imposing their political views,” Seagal said during a Wednesday appearance on ITV’s “Good Morning Britain.”

“I think it’s outrageous, I think it’s a joke, it’s disgusting,” said Seagal, who last year became a Russian citizen.

“I respect the American flag. I myself have risked my life countless times for the American flag and I don’t understand or agree with this kind of behavior. I think it’s an outrage.”

Today I learned Steven Seagal is a Russian citizen, and has been since November 2016.

If he doesn’t like America he should just leave the country.

Wait what?

As I understand it (and as I said above I had forgotten about this) the teams in the NFL stayed in locker rooms for the national anthem until recent times. With 9-11 reviving patriotism and Pat Tillman (an NFL player who died in Afghanistan as an army ranger) being memorialized in stadiums across the NFL suddenly the league itself became much more patriotic. There is a statue of Tillman outside Arizona State’s football stadium now.

With 9-11 and Tillman the NFL grabbed patriotism as a sales device. The NFL is all about money. Remember, this is the league that was charging the military to have military salutes prior to games.

I know a few vets who are very unhappy with this. But I think it starts with how you viewed the BLM movement and Kaepernick to begin with.

damn we are bad ass

Don’t forget the baby boomers part. That would have worked in real well with that diatribe.

Uh, this is a straight up lie, right? He’s an actor. He never served in any kind of real military position.

He was in a reality show as a deputy. maybe that’s what he’s talking about?

Nah. He probably misremembers Under Siege as something that really happened.

Probably. He was given an honorary title with the police in Louisiana, and then of course moved on to Maricopa County in Arizona - the land of Joe Arpaio. Maybe the risking of his life was the fear of being mistaken for an immigrant while there?

When we moved back to the U.S. last year, my kids came home from their first day of school demanding to know what the heck the Pledge was and why they had to stand and say it every morning. We had forgotten all about it and so didn’t warn them. They found it a bizarre ritual.

And that’s how Satan has taken over our bathrooms and flower shops.