Posted on 12/01/2014 7:41:03 PM PST by Phillyred
I guess life would be less complicated if we just left sports to be about the games.
I get it that a lot of people who watched Sunday’s NFL game between the St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders were angered that Rams players Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin made a visual statement about a polarizing social issue.
During the introduction of the St. Louis offense, the five players stopped near the tunnel and raised their arms in the universal sign of “I surrender.”
It was a statement about the recent grand jury decision not to indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of teenager Michael Brown. Wilson is white. Brown was African-American like the five players. Some witnesses to the shooting said Brown had his hands up and was surrendering when Wilson fatally shot him.
The grand jury decision not to indict Wilson for a trial set off a second series of protests - several that turned violent - and has re-opened a national debate about police and the value they place on the lives of African-Americans.
Still while I understand the position of those who say, this debate does not belong on a football field, I applaud the NFL for reportedly supporting our Constitution by deciding to not fine or discipline the Rams players for exercising their First Amendment rights.
In our society, sports, particularly televised sports, have become a powerful platform for addressing social issues.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
High school football is as close as I get to the NFL..... Fall Friday night home games are the best for our small town......
Might watch the super bowl each year but have no desire to watch ignorant dipshits who politicize an defend a criminal pos such as this bemoth punk Browns actions that are responsible for his demise at the hands of law enforcement.
The grand jury transcript , all 4799 pages, are available to the public on the net for free. Not a question , nor a doubt after reading that transcript as to the validity of the proper use of deadly force.
The NFL players that act this way and other dumbass losers who act out their racist agenda and continue to act as criminal agitators by inciting riots, arson and murder prove themselves more and more to be lower than whale shit in the mairanas trench intelligence scale.
My opinion....
The author should have continued: "And, in order to be perfectly consistent and fair, I would have written the exact same article if the players had struck a 'Heil Hitler!' pose on the field."
Regards,
Later that night in St. Louis, four black teens beat a man to death with hammers.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/us/st-louis-man-killed-hammer-attack/
I want those five players banned from NFL for life. Nothing less.
Thug culture and all those fans spending their money to keep them acting like asses.
I’m gonna agree with O’Reilley on this one...
They’re idiots. They have no idea what they’re doing.
If only Rams-fans stayed home. I know better than to expect that level of concern.
Before their gesture the players should have gone up into the stands and robbed a fan.
Brown was not surrendering. Somebody punch this turd in the nose.
“But they should be sent to an IDIOT rehabilitation camp. If there is such a thing.”
It’s called grade school, they should be sent back to school to get the education they’ve missed. I heard sound bite by one of these clowns, totally illiterate. All the schools that pushed them though even though they couldn’t speak a coherent sentence.
How would you feel about players flashing signs... perhaps "Homosexuality is a sin" or "Where's the birth certificate?" or "abortion is murder"...etc? First Amendment and all that, right?
Yeah, maybe they could have burned up a few sections. Then they could really identify with the protesters. I am primarily a hockey fan.
They all looked like they just finished robbing a liquor store.
I agree they shouldn’t be fined. What should happen is whites should quit supporting the National Felon League and these a**holes.
Was this free speech or was it slander? After all, the story of hands up was pretty well discredited by the evidence. At any rate it was not a wise choice.
If they wanted to show their support for Ferguson, they could have worn the “I heart Ferguson” or something like that. Employers have rules all the time about work place behavior, so I don’t really think that free speech applies here - they were there to do their job - play the game.
Once upon a time there was a group called the Dixie Chicks. They found out that unwise decisions and big mouth yield undesirable consequences. NFL and owners of the Rams might just want to think about that.
Yeh, and how about they move out of their ritzy neighborhoods (probably West County) and live in Ferguson? Their mansions should provide a pretty good property tax revenue for Ferguson Schools.
“How is the NFL ever going to punish anyone in the future for making any kind of overt political gesture?”
The best way to punish repulsive behavior, whether legal or illegal, is to punish their pocket book. If the league refuses then it’s up to the fans. Stop buying tickets, don’t watch their team on TV, don’t purchase their sponsors products or services, if offenders do commercials boycott those products, if offenders have businesses don’t give them your business. If a significant number of people do these things I guarantee a shift in behavior, pronto.
...”How is the NFL ever going to punish anyone in the future for making any kind of overt political gesture?”...
Everything is allowed except Christian prayer.
Hell - don’t punish them. Take them off the roster so they can pursue careers in racial politics and thereby work in a job that fulfills them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.