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I Just Decided not to Get the NFL Package!
I was waiting to see how the National Anthem situation would play out and I’m not surprised that a player chose to kneel. Brandon Marshall, a Denver linebacker and former teammate of Coward Kaepernick, showed his solidarity with his old frat brother by shunning the flag of the country that helps him get a 7 figure salary. Some Seahawks are contemplating the same thing.
I stood by the NFL as a customer even when they had murderers, rapists, wife beaters, child beaters, cheaters, drug abusers, and alcoholics run amok. I bought the NFL package every year as long as I can remember but no more. If those guys want to protest the flag so be it but I’m protesting with my pocketbook. I will not pay good money this year to go to any games. Even if one person on my beloved Bruins hockey team refused to stand I’d take the same stance and shun their product. There are consequences for everything unless you’re name is Clinton. I do understand the NFL won’t notice or care nor will anybody really but I’ll feel better about myself. We’ve all had friends or family serve and some have paid quite a price. The least a decent human being can do is to stand up as long as physically able. Whatever the protestors collective message is doesn’t matter one iota to me and until the players are standing for the flag the NFL can enjoy a season or more without my money.
Published in General
I doubt you will be alone. This crap needs some line drawing.
[Thumbs up] to you Doc!
I swear to God, if that rumor I’m hearing about the Seattle Seahawks all taking a knee during the national anthem of their game on September 11 turns out to be true, I will forever renounce any association with them or with professional football.
And if you know the story of how I became a Seahawks fan in the first place, that is saying a lot.
Didn’t watch the opening night game tonight. I probably won’t watch any NFL this year. I’m done with it. I’ve got better things to do.
This is the only way things will change.
I’ve run in to Kap a few times in town. If I see him again I’m going to tell him to kiss my [expletive].
My husband and I just watched the episode “Call of Silence” for NCIS the other night. It’s the best episode the series ever did. A very great actor Charles Durning played a Medal of Honor recipient Ernie Yorst. Durning was actually a World War II veteran, and he became an actor afterward. (He has the distinction of playing Santa Clause in five movies.) He passed away in 2012, and he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
What our guys did in World War II is beyond anyone’s understanding today. I am so grateful to them.
Thank you for standing up for these guys.
Many years ago, Jane Fonda wanted to film part or all-I can’t remember-of a movie in the Massachusetts town I come from. With the full support of pretty much everybody in our town, the Mayor and the board of Aldermen drafted some weird thing which stated that Jane Fonda was not welcome in our town, and they made it very clear to her that she could forget about filming a movie in our town. I doubt that it hurt her career, but it made us feel good, and that made it worth it. There is so much about Massachusetts to not like, but I am so proud of my town for banning Jane Fonda.
We can’t remain silent in the face of this stuff.
Over the last four or five years I’ve lost a lot of patience with the NFL’s product in general. The games are okay, but the commercial breaks are continuous and spoil my enjoyment. As a result, I’ve already been watching less and less. I can’t stand watching the Super Bowl anymore. Even the halftime shows are interminable pap.
Not watching any football? Heh — the Bears are going to make that easy this year.
If the NFL management doesn’t understand its fan base (ie. Doc Jay and company) and instead patronizes and pampers their special snow flake players, I suspect many will turn off their sets. Political commentary on a Sunday afternoon grid iron is boring and pathetic. Shut up and play the game.
I think it’s exhausting how suffused all levels of entertainment are with politics and personal preferences. Was it Rich Lowry who said at National Review, “Some people just want to watch the game.”
I’d like to think that there are at least some NFL players who don’t play along with media figures asking them about anything besides football.
They’d have to start playing some before it could be watched.
And Tom Brady’s the one who gets suspended.
Thanks to my dear departed football-crazy husband, we have been major Seahawk fans and were season ticket holders almost from the inception of the franchise back in the days of Jack Patera. We faithfully went to those games, rain or shine, in the days when we were the joke of the NFL, but were thrilled when they won and totally depressed when they lost. I count the day we won the super bowl right up there with the joy of giving birth. However, if they take a knee, these spoiled brat multi-millionaires, will lose me.
I’ll refrain from saying what I think about Kaepernick’s community organizing. I plan to protest the protester with my own sit-in, that is, sit in front of my TV, tuned in to NFL football, as always, because I enjoy the game.
My hope is that the broadcasters will promote the dignity of the sport, and leave the politics to the Sunday morning talk shows. In that spirit, I’d like the announcers to weigh in on the controversy by saying this:
.
Keep in mind this is the same League that told the Cowboys no to putting a decal on their helmets honoring the five police officers who were gunned down. NFL sucks, has for a long time, in terms of the product they sell. If you want to watch real football–the way it was supposed to be played–then you should watch nothing but college ball. The NFL is WWF that happens to have a football somewhere in there.
For you Sea Chicken fans, back when it was all about the game:
One more for you:
Just wonderful@MarciN. Husbands and fathers and grandchildren and cousins. And nephews and sons and boyfriends. Impossible to calculate the sacrifice.
And appreciate it enough.
I know I will be crucified for this but watching football or any weekly sports event that lasts more than say one hour is such an incredible waste of time. I plead guilty to doing it too, but only occasionally, certainly not every week.
But then so is watching most TV programs.
I can’t see Russell going along with that. If he does, he is not the same guy that played here at State (I guess his new bride may have something to do with that).
I was glad to see no Panther player pull that stunt. It only draws attention to yourself (as if that’s not the point). I have a feeling Mr. Richardson wouldn’t put up with it, much less our coach.
I did see where Tortorella said any USA hockey player who does this will sit the bench. Good for him.
Yeah, that kind of nonsense would be annoying at anytime, but if they do it on 9/11 the only message I would get from it is this:
Back to 15 needed I see, to upvote. Unless Doc jay gets his own number.
Well said. If it were my team, they would not play. Even if I forfited the game.
There is always college football to watch
And the cheerleaders, too.
When I was at Arlington Cemetery last May, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a group of veterans was also in attendance. They were given a place of honor down on the terrace itself, so it was easy to see that these were WW2 and Korea Vets—old guys, attended by nurses and assistants. One was in a wheelchair. When the flag was presented, (pre-sent…arms!) he stood up. It took a lot of effort, and the help of his assistant, but he got to his feet and held himself more or less straight. For some reason —I think having to do with the presence of the Danish prime minister—it was a good five or ten minutes before we were given the release order. He stood the whole time.
Doc—make sure you let the NFL/Powers That Be know that you won’t be there. This is a good time for writing outraged letters.
The NFL has a sliver of a justification for that. They do have a written policy about what can appear on the uniform. They do not have a written policy about not being a swine during the National Anthem.
Football players are entertainers. Full stop.
And like all entertainers, they should be grateful they are paid so incredibly well to do something that is, truth be told, non-essential. And like all entertainers they all need to learn that their opinion about anything other than their specific craft has absolutely no bearing on anything anywhere with anybody as it relates to real life.
But until America drops its celebrity-love culture, we are going to occasionally have these dopey divas shove their unwanted causes down our throats.