New policy requires on-field players, personnel to stand for anthem

[Jackofalltrades]

This is a polarizing issue and I do think the NFL has to address it. I don’t know that this is the right way to do it, but I understand their position. 

I’m on the fence with this to be perfectly honest. Do I think you should stand for the anthem? Yes and I think you should remain silent, unless singing along and should remove your hat/cap. Should you be compelled or forced to stand? No, because that flies in the face of the freedom we profess to covet. 

[Pimpdaddy]

...i feel like the protests are totally justified...but not at a football game...there are better avenues and venues to do this in.  You need a bigger event than a football game to make your mark or statement.... all this is doing is telling me who the candy azz's are for a few seconds and then my thoughts go to whether the panthers are going to run or pass on the first play of the game.

[NanuqoftheNorth]

7 hours ago, PanthersBigD said:

Compulsory 'patriotism' isn't patriotism. 

Quoted for truth.

[NanuqoftheNorth]

6 hours ago, PanthersBigD said:

 ...you won't make a fuss when they let the VA go all to hell, and continue to send our men and women overseas for pointless BS.  

and...

Quote

 If it were really about respecting the troops, our government would treat them like a precious resource, rather than meat for the grinder.

You're on fire today BigD!

[Fryfan]

8 minutes ago, bull123 said:

what happens outside the stadium is not important....activists are always trying to stir stuff up, carrying their little signs around

if anybody inside the stadium doesnt want to stand, that is their own business, they paid for their tickets and are not employees of the team...but I dont think those who actually respect the symbols of our Nation that are in the stands are going to like it...

the NFL is alive and well and is a long way from dying....maybe you missed the news that our team just sold for $2.2 billion

that's Billion with a "B"

People employed by the nfl and team kneel to get camera shots   Talk over the anthem to call for camera shot changes. Sell food.   

 

A whole buttload of things happen by nfl and team employees during the anthem that is not standing silently facing the flag. 

[Fryfan]

Just now, bull123 said:

but that is not visibly and with malice dis-respecting our Nations Symbols...huge difference

SO you are fine with casual disrespect

 

its the symbolic protest that you are butthurt over. 

[Fryfan]

Seems to me it’s more respectful to use our nations anthem as a time to peaceful draw attention to a nation issue the to have vendors selling burgers and beers during it. 

 

The owners dont seem worried about disrespect they are fearful of peaceful protest. 

[Darvinsun]

37 minutes ago, Jackofalltrades said:

This is a polarizing issue and I do think the NFL has to address it. I don’t know that this is the right way to do it, but I understand their position. 

I’m on the fence with this to be perfectly honest. Do I think you should stand for the anthem? Yes and I think you should remain silent, unless singing along and should remove your hat/cap. Should you be compelled or forced to stand? No, because that flies in the face of the freedom we profess to covet. 

Why don't league just make the players pay a small fine to the veterans if they don't stand. That way they will be helping both issues bc vets need the help the government surely isnt doing enough for disable vets and neither am I. If players choose to sit they pay a small fine which goes to the vets not the NFL . Players shouldnt get mad about the fine if they truly are not disrespecting them on purpose. My thing is standing for the flag is all good, but does it truly help them! I guess its more of an emotional uplift but everyone has family that was in the military do people actually think they are disrespecting their familes. People read too much into stuff and have twisted the meanng of the kneel. Everybody is entilte to their own opinions. Now the league has forced this. Stand and make us look good or u will be punished. Just let them make donations to the vets and still take a knee.

[Jackofalltrades]

1 minute ago, Darvinsun said:

Why don't league just make the players pay a small fine to the veterans if they don't stand. That way they will be helping both issues bc vets need the help the government surely isnt doing enough for disable vets and neither am I. If players choose to sit they pay a small fine which goes to the vets not the NFL . Players shouldnt get mad about the fine if they truly are not disrespecting them on purpose. My thing is standing for the flag is all good, but does it truly help them! I guess its more of an emotional uplift but everyone has family that was in the military do people actually think they are disrespecting their familes. People read too much into stuff and have twisted the meanng of the kneel. Everybody is entilte to their own opinions. Now the league has forced this. Stand and make us look good or u will be punished. Just let them make donations to the vets and still take a knee.

I agree and I think that may be a good solution. I don’t know what the “right” scenario is but I still think it has to be addressed.

[Fryfan]

2 minutes ago, bull123 said:

 

 

3 minutes ago, Darvinsun said:

Why don't league just make the players pay a small fine to the veterans if they don't stand. That way they will be helping both issues bc vets need the help the government surely isnt doing enough for disable vets and neither am I. If players choose to sit they pay a small fine which goes to the vets not the NFL . Players shouldnt get mad about the fine if they truly are not disrespecting them on purpose. My thing is standing for the flag is all good, but does it truly help them! I guess its more of an emotional uplift but everyone has family that was in the military do people actually think they are disrespecting their familes. People read too much into stuff and have twisted the meanng of the kneel. Everybody is entilte to their own opinions. Now the league has forced this. Stand and make us look good or u will be punished. Just let them make donations to the vets and still take a knee.

Do you think the military owns the anthem and flag?

 

 

[Fryfan]

3 minutes ago, bull123 said:

your point has merit, but i still see a big difference between purposely disrespecting and doing a job

 

3 minutes ago, bull123 said:

your point has merit, but i still see a big difference between purposely disrespecting and doing a job

I see respect in the action. 

 

 

[Fryfan]

4 minutes ago, bull123 said:

no problem shutting the concessions down during that time...actually a decent idea

I would support stopping concessions and other non vital things during the anthem. 

 

I dont support shutting down respectful protest and forced nationalism 

[Khyber53]

3 hours ago, RetiredCollegeCoach said:

When you fear for your children's lives or your family's lives, that's not politics. Tamir Rice dead at twelve is not politics. Eric Garner and Alton Sterling dead over nothing but nonetheless dead forever is not politics. If politics has "bled all over everything", maybe it's because people are bleeding all over. (And that's barely scratching the surface of how our country is failing its citizens, but dead people do get the headlines.)

As for the anthem and the kneeling and the new policy and the locker room and the blah blah, who really cares about the specifics? That was just one way for brave people to bring word about injustice to the wider world in a way that couldn't be politely ignored. It never had anything to do with the song or the flag or the "troops" that people who don't want to talk about injustice kept using as a shield. There will be other avenues of protest so long as this country keeps forcing people into protest. Some protests might even pop up at a football game - especially since, y'know, 70% of the players come from the group most severely affected by these issues. Let's all get ready for the new rules about "political" touchdown celebrations - they'll be issued one year from today.

 

I'm in favor of players taking a knee in protest if they feel the need to do so. I believe it is free speech and there's no two ways about it. It got politicized when people started calling it out as un-American in an attempt to divert attention away from how badly the country is being run or sold out as the case may be.

And yet, there is nothing more patriotic than speaking your mind except for someone actually defending that right, whether they agree with the statement or not. The league weaseled this and sold out because some political hacks called it out to a part of the public that had probably never noticed it or possibly even tuned in to see the national anthem being played for an NFL game. Heck, they rarely even televised the anthem before this, and only then after the two sides had turned it into its own political football to the point where the original reasons for taking a knee were lost in the overall discourse.

We should all be embarrassed by how it was handled, how petty it became, how it took away from the message, the country and our beloved sport, not to mention how it ate up all the air in the room while this was an issue. And now, rather than let it run its course, we're going to drag it out so that the pundits can roger the dead horse again in front of us all. Yippee. Yip-the-eff-eee.

So yeah, abandon taking the knee because the League has screwed that up well and good. Use the money and power of celebrity to find new platforms to raise awareness off the field. Let it go and find a new and better way. Play the game and allow all of us fans a few hours of solace from these times and catch us on a weekday when we our shoulders are already at the wheel.

 

[Darvinsun]

2 minutes ago, Fryfan said:

 

Do you think the military owns the anthem and flag?

 

 

? Your point? The uproar is the disrespect to the country and its vets who have fought for the country! They can set up a a fund to go to the vets just like they set up funds to go to every other cause we have in the states! Who cares about who owns the flag and anthem!  The whole issue people are having are for the family members who have died and lost limbs for this country!