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Veterans Day +1
I took Saturday off for a day of rest and relaxation. I put on my Navy Veteran tee shirt but did not go out and see how much free stuff I could get. I sat at my laptop, goofed off playing old computer games (Masquerade Bloodlines ATM), and watching football. Today, I get online and see this headline on Drudge: NFL announces ‘no change’ in national-anthem policy in face of Veterans Day boycotts.
Is this what we’ve come to? A bunch of spineless (or clueless, or both) league officials and owners, along with a group of spoiled-brat, ungrateful multi-millionaire football players (protesting based on a lie) continuing to disrespect this country? Today is the Sunday after Veterans Day. If they can’t even put a halt to their protests on this one day, then they can burn in hell for all I care.
Can you tell I’m fed up? You bet I am. I remember when I was in the Navy, we always looked forward to coming to periscope depth so we could copy the satellite broadcast. That was the only way we got football scores when underway. Players like Rocky Bleier of the Steelers (injured in Vietnam), were inspirational as well as fun to watch play. Pat Tillman is a modern day inspiration, having quit to league to serve in our military, at the cost of his life.
What players today are inspirational? Certainly not the ones kneeling, unless you want to say they’re inspiring a lot of us to turn off our TVs or stay home from the stadiums. Even the Steeler who stood alone for the Anthem was browbeaten into a public apology. What’s up with that? Is it so hard for millionaires to acknowledge that this is a nation that fixes its problems? I submit the idea that widespread racial bigotry in this country is a thing of the past, because of what this country is, and how it was founded. However, I also submit bigotry can return if these protests, statue removals, and renamings continue to occur.
Now, get off my lawn!
Published in General
I’m glad they aren’t changing their policy. I certainly do hope the players and media change their behavior, though. Not that it makes any difference in whether I watch them. I sometimes join Mrs R in watching Big Ten college games, but she hardly ever watches a pro game, so I have no reason to, either. If I did, the media behavior would probably make me go away. There is more than enough PC, trendy-lefty talk from the announcers/preachers of college games.
So how did your sex robot enjoy the game?
What is this thing called Major League Football? From what I have heard it is a bunch of grown men playing a children’s game and pretending it is somehow important.
Seawriter
None of them did. My first sex robot brings me beer when asked, then stomps off saying I never pay her any attention. Come on, I say “Thank you” to a dang robot!
The Hillary model also brings me beer, but shakes the can up first.
My wife’s Felix model ignores the games, and gives her mani-pedis after serving her champagne.
It’s now the other way around.
That is what usually happens when grown men focus their lives on childish things.
Seawriter
My son always said he was going to hang around bars with his purple heart. I don’t know that he did, though.
I join you in your fed up-edness! My lawn sports a US flag, at all times.
I am a veteran and some will say elderly but I got a pleasant surprise yesterday. I have a really big lawn that I mow in the summer and this time of year it is covered with leaves. I rake and dispose of the leaves but it takes me a long time and I still had plenty to do.
I looked out and saw five people on my lawn raking my leaves. I went out to greet them, give them some water, and thank them. The five were a father, mother, and three teen-age children from the community doing their part in the church’s ‘do good day’ to help the elderly. It just happened to coincide with Veterans’ Day. After a couple of hours raking they loaded the leaves and trucked them away.
Later, I mentioned this good deed to my daughter who said she has known the family for several years. She said the father started a business years back, sold it for tens of millions, and, as far as she knows, is still quite wealthy. I was a little surprised but favorably impressed.
Needless to say, I did not tell them to get off my lawn. Wouldn’t it be nice if these very wealthy NFL owners and players could reach an accord so that they would do something, on a par with what this family did for me, in the inner city communities for which they are expressing such great concern instead of disrespecting our national patriotic symbols.
What do all Americans have left in common if not our flag and national anthem?
I don’t consider it childish. We all enjoy things that entertain us, and football happens to be one of mine.
With their misguided thinking and selfishness, these players are sucking one of the best things out of the game – the ability of people from different walks of life to come together and enjoy a game and root for their team. I don’t care that the black guy next to me probably voted for Obama, or the Hispanic gal probably is for open borders and amnesty. No, I see fellow fans wearing the same team jersey I am, rooting for a team win.
However, now politics have crept into sports. Sure, it always there, but it was latent. These players (with help from ESPN and other sports announcers) have brought it into the spotlight, and are forcing us to choose sides. This ruins sports, as well as other places where politics don’t belong.
I submit the only childish things here are the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of the players, the owners, and the league. Liking a sport is in no way childish – it is normal.
I understand playing football damages your brain. I didn’t realize that managing a league or owning a team did that, as well.
I didn’t know that about football. I did know it about rugby. But it’s not the game that damages your brain, it’s the party afterwards.
The Iroquois confederation of 5 tribes (and later, 6) used sports to keep their confederation from splitting apart and reverting to warring tribes. Males (and possibly women, too) belonged to moieties that cut across tribal lines. IIRC it was something like all first sons belonged to one moiety, all second sons belonged to another, and the moieties would play each other in sports or group together in other cultural activities. It gave each person an identity, or sense of belonging and loyalty, that cut across tribal lines. So somebody who was Mohawk was loyal not only to his Mohawk group, but also to a group that cut across tribal lines.
There is nonsense taught in some places about the U.S. Constitution being derived from the Iroquois confederation. It was not; however, there are important things we can learn from how the Iroquois kept their confederation together.
Dang, I learned a new word. Thanks!
Citizen of the Galaxy, baby.
Always wondered about Baslim.
There’s your problem.
Given that I invest my time and emotions in various made-up stories, dramatizations, and games frequently featuring dragons and wizards, I will not begrudge another man his choice of harmless entertainment. That stated, my feelings about sports are similar to those expressed here:
I cannot “boycott” the NFL, having not watched any games since I was a little kid. But I’m glad to see many Americans taking a stand on this.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. It’s an old adage the NFL should familiarize itself with.
For what it’s worth, by all accounts they did halt their protests for one day, with the sole exception of two 49ers.
And that’s well and good. However, done against the backdrop of all these protests, it comes across as pandering instead of heartfelt appreciation. Real appreciation can – and should – be done every weekend . . .
That’s why I don’t think the NFL should changed its policy. The players should offer decent respect without being ordered to do it. Heartfelt respect would be even better. Having to do it because the boss said so would not be healthy for anyone concerned.
If they can’t do it, then if we have any respect for our flag they should suffer social opprobrium and financial loss. If that doesn’t happen, I question whether our own priorities are in order. (But it does seem to be happening, at least to a noticeable degree.)
The players are not showing decent respect, and they should be ordered to do so. If they can’t show repsect for our flag, our country and our men & women in uniform (inculding law enforcement), then they should be made(yes, forced at the cost of their jobs) to show respect for those of us that do.
Say goodbye to the NFL if this is allowed to continue . . .
Respect cannot be forced on these NFL players, owners, and management so they may very well forfeit professional football as the source of their livelihood.
We’ll have to disagree to disagree about that. (I hate when people agree to disagree.)
Of course it can. Subordinates in the military are forced to salute (show respect for) their superiors whether actually respected or not. In private business, employees are forced to wear uniforms, and to respect the customers with pleasant, cordial behavior.
The NFL forces penalties on its players for bad behavior off the field (such as disrespecting wives or girlfriends by hitting them). I want bad behavior on the field defined as disrespecting the National Anthem by not standing.
And such is the beauty of Ricochet. Almost everyone is respectful of others’ views, no matter how different. This is especially true when you meet Ricochetti at Meetups.
You didn’t include all of my sentence. Who is going to do the forcing here? Owners and management have chosen not to force respect.
I thought it was obvious. Team owners and league management should force it. Because they have chosen not to do so (well within their rights as a private business), they have decided to let market forces dictate the results of their actions. And right now, market forces don’t look all that good for them . . .
Oh, and I hope Goodell loves his new salary and perk:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/roger-goodell-seeking-private-jet-life-contract-article-1.3627789
I think Roger is on the side that benefits him the best, not what’s best for the country.
I agree that showing respect can be forced, and disagree with those that say respect has to be earned. I also disagree with those who think the military should be run like any other American business. There are some things that are proper in enforcing military discipline that would not be proper in private business. You could argue, I suppose, that with its tax exemption the NFL is not a private business, but there are other entities exempt from taxes that are and should be private. (Perhaps in order to stay that way, they should not be tax-exempt.) And I don’t think it’s right to allow private businesses to enforce political behavior on their employees, but on the other hand, everything is political these days, so it might not be an easy line to draw.
The Hatch Act forces political behavior on Federal workers (actually, it enforces non-behavior). Respect for the flag is not poltical-disrespect is.
By the way, do you think the formerly kneeling players that stood for the Anthem on Veterans Day Sunday were told in no uncertain terms (e.g. forced) to stand, or did they do so out of respect? I’m guessing the former . . .
Oh, and respect can be earned, and it can be taught. Good coaches earn the respect of their players, for example. Bad coaches typically earn disrespect. Students in school are taught to respect the flag, and to recite the Pledge of Alligiance (or they used to be).