Posted on 05/26/2018 5:04:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
It took two years, boycotts by fans, declining TV ratings, growing alarm among advertisers, a drop in the sale of gear and especially a public shaming by President Trump, but the owners of NFL teams have finally decided their players will not be allowed to kneel or make other protests during the playing of the national anthem.
The NFL Players Association claims the owners' decision violates the players' "free speech rights." No it doesn't. Players are perfectly free to protest anywhere, anytime they wish, just not at the start of games for which the owners pay them large amounts of money they are unlikely to make elsewhere. If you think free speech rights are valid wherever and whenever one wants to speak, try protesting something on company time where you work and see how long you keep your job.
The NFL is a business. The business is sports. If any other business is hurt by the behavior of its employees, management either requests a change in behavior, or sacks the employee for the sake of the bottom line and the morale of other employees and customers.
If players take the owners' check, the owners have a right to lay down certain rules, as in football. Players who want to make a difference beyond symbolic protests, which they say raises awareness about racial injustice and other inequalities, can use their financial resources and celebrity to invest in the lives of people they regard as victims. Perhaps they could pay for the private education of children trapped in failing public schools or provide job training and child care for single mothers who rely on government assistance. Some players do go beyond protests with their good works. The protesters and others can follow their example.
With its decision to order players to stop the demonstrations, the NFL isn't finished. Their next issue should be how their cheerleaders are treated. It's been a long time since NFL cheerleaders actually led cheers. Today, they shake their barely clothed bodies in suggestive ways while male fans who have consumed too much beer can ogle them.
Cheerleaders have recently gone public with complaints that some NFL teams encourage their participation in off-the-field events, which subject them to unwanted sexual advances. As The New York Times reported last month, "... performing at sporting events is only a small part of their job description. They are also required to fulfill what often is the unsavory side of the job: interacting with fans at games and other promotional events, where groping and sexual harassment are common."
The cheerleaders told the newspaper that team officials with the NFL, as well as those associated with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL), are aware of the problem, but have done little or nothing to stop it. They should. Sexual harassment is illegal and with the #metoo movement, clearly the "rules" and level of tolerance for such inappropriate behavior have changed.
While skimpy outfits might encourage certain men to think they are invited to make advances toward women, and while these cheerleaders might wish to dress more modestly at off-field events (which they should not be forced to attend) that does not absolve men from sexually harassing them.
NFL owners have done well by banning protests during the national anthem. They should now act to stop the harassment of their cheerleaders. And it shouldn't take two years to do it.
The term I have used over the years and I certainly don’t claim I created it since I’m sure I heard it from someone else is as sincere as a hookers smile.
You only see real student athletes at Division III schools. The others at least in football & basketball are just revenue generators for the school.
Poor old Cal must be going senile.
Kids are not playing football in numbers anywhere close to what they used to.
Harassment of cheerleaders is the least of the NFLs problems.
The sport is dying, many factors.
That is exactly what they are.
So many of these athletes shouldn’t even have a high school diploma. They just get passed along to stay eligible.
He’s right but the reason the NFL is somewhat bulletproof is the gambling aspect. I heard years ago about half the NFL audience is gambling related. That core group don’t care a whit about any of this controversy just the point spreads and other gambling related stuff. The other half has taken a shot since as we know a portion of them do care about the anthem and what it represents. Right now the NFL is still the biggest thing in American sports but this is really the first time since its rise to that lofty position in the 1960s and 70s that real damage has occured to it. It’s not fatal but if the theme of living without the NFL continues to grow they will have a much larger problem than before. They are damage control mode now and we shall see if it works or not.
That is exactly what they are.
So many of these athletes shouldn’t even have a high school diploma. They just get passed along to stay eligible.
FYI, there are exceptions.
GU Athletics No. 1 in Nation in APR Gonzaga student-athletes tied with Holy Cross and Villanova with a 998 mark.
INDIANAPOLIS — Gonzaga Athletics combined to post the nation’s best Annual Progress Rate (APR) multi-year average of 998, tying GU with Holy Cross and Villanova for the highest mark, according to data released by the NCAA on Wednesday.
Astoundingly, GU’s 15 APR-eligible teams all posted a perfect 1,000 score for the 2016-17 academic year to continue to boost Athletics’ academic profile nationally. Of those 15 teams, nine have perfect 1,000 scores in the APR’s multi-year average, which is a combined mark of reported data from each of the past four completed academic years. Gonzaga’s best-ever mark of 998 this season is 15 points ahead of the NCAA multi-year average of 983.
Gonzaga is one of only two schools, along with Villanova, to post a top-25 mark in APR and put both its men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams in the NCAA Tournament and reach the Sweet 16 in men’s basketball. When compared to West Coast Conference institutions for WCC-sponsored sports, Gonzaga’s 997 score was the highest league multi-year average by seven points, over Santa Clara’s 990. All of the GU programs that compete in the WCC, outscored the league average by at least six points.
Gonzaga also tied for the highest mark in the nation in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate at 99 percent, in data that was released in Fall 2017, and was third in the nation last week in the percentage of teams receiving the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award at 11 of 15 (73.3 percent).
We still have outstanding the not-minor issue of a new $90 million subsidy for Communist groups coming from the NFL.
NFL needs a complete leadership overhaul to ever get my attention again.
Fast forward 20 years, and you have a university with undergraduate enrollment of nearly 6000, and vastly improved facilities on campus.
What I knew as the (Bing) Crosby Library is now the Crosby Student Center. The new library is triple the size of the old one.
It is undeniable that the success of the basketball program contributed greatly to the growth of the student population, not to mention the endowment...there was no endowment when I attended in the 70s, when the school was staring bankruptcy in the eye.
I don’t necessarily believe that bigger is better.
I am a University of Alabama graduate. We had like 16,000 when I was there. We have about 20,000 more now.
Alabama has added five national championship trophies to our trophy case over the last nine years under Nick Saban. We love Nick Saban and what he’s done for Alabama.
Endowments weren’t the same in the 70s. There are now people hired to positions to raise money for such. Some of the Ivy League schools have raised billions of dollars. I am close friends with a guy that raises money for a college. These people hit up all the rich people and are willing to name buildings after the really rich ones that give them money.
I would love my team just the same if real students went out and played the game. I believe a lot of high school athletes would be better off too because they would focus more on academics if they knew they had to get accepted on their own into the colleges and universities they choose. The ones that hope to play college sports that don’t cut it would be better off too because they have a better education. IT WOULD BE BEST FOR HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES BECAUSE SO MANY NEVER MAKE A LIVING THROUGH SPORTS.
Gonzaga is an admirable school as is Villanova.
Grades everywhere, however, are as artificial as a Harvard “B” which is about the same as a KU “D”.
The good news is their now former fan base realizes this and NO LONGER SUPPORTS THE PERVERTED nfl WITH ANY OF THEIR VALUABLE TIME AND HARD EARNED MONEY, COSTING THE nfl BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN FOREVER LOST PRESENT AND FUTURE REVENUE!
The leftist nfl commissioner, owners, coaches, managers and players have killed the goose fan base that laid their billion dollar gold eggs; the nfl is dead and they strangled it to death with their own hands.
No matter what the nfl says or does, we are NEVER coming back, NEVER!
I went to Yosemite on the Sunday they played the Super Bowl and had the big buffet at the grand lodge. No lines, no waiting, no crowds.
If they had not allowed this to begin with, then they could have handled the situation. As it played out we all got to see how they really felt about this great nation. I know with the people I know this is just too late. Football as we knew it is over I believe, not that I think it will simply end but more like phased out over a period of time. Our family, and everyone we know has filled the time they used to set aside for football with other things.
Interesting this writer thinks the issue is solved, like magic. Still clueless as to the genuine feelings involved.
And to blazes with the SJW, PC PINK, black racist, anti-American, anti-law enforcement, anti-U.S. military, anti-Christian, pro sodomite, pro anarchy nfl! They literally HATE our country and H A T E and DENIGRATE their own (now former) nfl fan base.
This leaves white fans out in the cold - and forced to make a decision about whether the sport is enjoyable enough to watch in a detached way without considering the attitudes of its participants toward them. Many will still continue to see their NFL teams as proxies for their cities or regions and will support them. Those who are inclined to give up NFL fandom have probably already done so. So the owners have probably calculated that there isn't much more downside in letting the players do whatever they want - announce this policy change but don't actually do anything to enforce it.
But that will NEVER HAPPEN because, unlike Ceaser, the owners would have to pay for it themselves, out of their own pockets and ever dwindling profits and THEY ARE ALL TO CHEAP AND GREEDY TO DO IT!
To me what happened with the NFL was they chose to promote patriotism in a big way at their games. It was all about the Flag, the military recognition- they made such a big show of it. That is what sets them apart from college and other teams. Many thought it was real, come to find out nearly all of that hoopla was paid for by the government as part of military recruiting. About the same time that was sinking in, the players began to protest the Flag, National Anthem. We all got to see how the players and the NFL itself actually felt about this country and how little they actually respected the military and Flag.
The contrast was truly bad optics. Switching from all the patriotic hoopla to players kneeling during the anthem was a sharp contrast to fans. Staying in the locker room or being on the field, that was their choice and without the focus on players openly protesting during the anthem fans didn’t really care if players were on or off field before that happened. They chose to allow players to protest on field, during the National Anthem. Now I doubt many care whether they are in or out of the locker room or even whether they stand tall or kneel in protest. Those that truly care are already done with the NFL.
NFL owners have done well by banning protests during the national anthem.
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No Cal, the NFL has not “banned protests” during the National Anthem. The NFL has actually tried to hoodwink its more patriotic fans into thinking they have banned protests in an attempt to get them to renew season tickets and come back to following their games.
Actually the league is allowing players to remain in the locker room until the Anthem ceremony is over. Obviously, avoiding standing as our National Anthem is played is also a sign of disrespect. Imagine the scene pre game. 10 players on one team standing at attention. the anthem finishes and 50 players trot onto the field at that point, showing their complete disrespect and making a powerful political statement by so doing.
The NFL is a politically correct cesspool of social justice pandering and should be abandoned by conservative, patriotic Americans. The NFL will never willingly rehabilitate itself. Owners, players, and management have no respect for their customers or their country. Abandon them please and wait for Vince McMahon’s XFL to begin play in 2020
The cheerleaders use their bodies and movements to create value. They own the consequences. And, if they want to get close enough to the men they are trying to stimulate, they have earned the touching as well. And, for my part, if it doesn’t involve duck tape or a van, they have earned the handling too. If they don’t want the response they are inducing, they need to find something else to do.
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