Why you probably won't be seeing any kneeling players prior to this year's Super Bowl

American Thinker ^ | 01/16/2018 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

It looks as though NBC's plan to show NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem before the Super Bowl has been foiled.  You can blame random chance, player morale, or cosmic justice, but the defilement of our National Anthem before the biggest TV audience of the year is unlikely to happen.  Valerie Richardson reports in the Washington Times:

It appears that NFL players are no longer taking a knee during the [N]ational [A]nthem [–] namely[,] because none of the teams with still[] active protesters has qualified for the postseason.

By the end of the regular season, only five teams featured at least one player regularly sitting or kneeling on the sidelines for the anthem: the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants[,] and the Oakland Raiders.

None of those franchises made the playoffs, even though four of the five did so in the previous season, leading to speculation about whether the take-a-knee protests wound up dragging down team performance along with TV ratings.

"By their actions, the kneelers brought controversy into the locker rooms, and this kind of distraction is always going to be detrimental to team cohesiveness," said Robert Kuykendall, a spokesman for the conservative corporate watchdog 2ndVote.

I have long struggled to understand why wealthy owners of NFL teams tolerated this affront to the taxpayers who lavishly subsidize their new stadiums, and to their fans who skew male and patriotic.  The most plausible theories involve their fear of alienating black players and their desire for acceptance in politically correct high society.  But more than anything else – even money, apparently – they want to be winners (that is, owners of winning teams).

[dsc]

Your argument seems to be that the two things are dissimilar because flipping the bird is always misconduct, while kneeling is only misconduct in one set of circumstances.

Kneeling is also misconduct if the player is a homosexual and is sexually harassing or taunting a heterosexual teammate.

Then, too, a player bantering with a teammate in the locker room can use “the bird” without offense.

[Enterprise]

The FReepers who appear on Bender's NFL threads to criticize and jeer have made their point, again and again. For the most part I have been ignoring them. I make my picks, see how I do, and get ready for the next week.

In their zeal to bash NFL players who disgrace themselves by kneeling, and thereby disgrace their teams, I only ask that the FReepers who are angry at them don't take it out on long time loyal FReepers.

[Alberta's Child]

Collective bargaining is exactly how the NBA dealt with the same situation back in the 1990s.

[Alberta's Child]

No. Actually, I live in a world where I worked in managerial roles that required me to cover my employer’s ass whenever employee conduct issues needed to be addressed.

[beergarden]

I may do just that...to you. Go back to your cave as I dont give a rip about your stupid opinion of me.

[beergarden]

awww, you must really be an idiot to think pinging impy and Bender and the rest makes you look so COOOOOOOOLLLLL

yOU’RE still PATHETIC lol

Now put this in your empty cranium. I NEVER stated that Impy and Bender are hypocrites you imbecile. They run those threads. They can do whatever they want. Now point out exactly where in MY post did I call out impy and Bender hypocrites?

see I did not have to ping because you know why? Im not a pathetic snitch like you who has to call everyone because you could not defend yourself from your post

[Alberta's Child]

Your argument seems to be that the two things are dissimilar because flipping the bird is always misconduct, while kneeling is only misconduct in one set of circumstances.

Well, yes. The two things are dissimilar because one of them is almost certain to be considered "misconduct" in a legal proceeding -- while the other one is not likely to meet any objective definition of "misconduct."

This is why written rules are so critical in any labor dispute. Labor law does not look kindly on any type of disciplinary measures that can be construed as being arbitrary in nature. Without documented rules in place, a player who kneels during the national anthem is likely to be considered no less respectful than one who closes his eyes or looks down at the ground.

[discostu]

The funny part about how the NBA handled it is that Stern classic magician misdirection to take care of it. He put in a dress code on players arriving at and leaving the game, which caused a lot of grumbling about freedom of expression and not technically on the job and blah blah blah, meanwhile he also codified anthem behavior and nobody noticed until NFL players started kneeling and people started wondering if NBA players might join in. I never really liked Stern but even I have to give him credit for killing a potential problem nobody saw coming.

[edzo4]

Much like no one cares if you watch football. Btw which beer is in the garden? Hopefully none of those advertising during the NFL games, hate to think you were just a massive hypocrite.

[Alberta's Child]

I don't think the NBA's situation was a case of a quiet codification of national anthem behavior without anyone knowing about it. They had a situation back in the 1990s very similar to the Kaepernick charade, and they fixed the problem in the next CBA.

Issues like this are the easiest ones to deal with in a CBA because no player is going to take a stand and bargain away leverage on things like salaries and benefits just to keep their right to kneel during the national anthem.

[RS_Rider]

I deleted the bookmarks for my local news so that I don’t inadvertently witness some NFL headlines.
Will restore the bookmarks after the season is over.
Sometimes I can go till Thursday before I find out if the Steelers have won or lost.

[beergarden]

No you troll. I said I dont watch football because I care about my country. Just like you care that animals knee and disrespect my country. And that’s alright with you because you watch the nFL? And I thought FR was a conservative rightwing forum...not a neocon liberal borderline forum with America-hating members like you.

[tomkat]

Karma ran over the dogma

Ohmy, that's good  :-))

[discostu]

The problem is consistency of situation. Flipping the bird is always the same message, a message that is not generally considered protected speech in most employment circumstances. Kneeling is not. Tebow kneeled during the anthem through his whole career. Now he was kneeling in prayer not in protest, but it immediately shows the problem with trying to say kneeling is bad. It’s a certain type of kneeling with a certain intent which players could easily nuance, especially if goes to court. Unless behavior during the anthem is codified in the rulebook and CBA (which is only the case in the NBA) trying to after the fact declare some behavior misconduct is doomed.

[edzo4]

Thats Funny, you’re the one helping the left destroy masculinity.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/09/29/limbaugh-left-destroy-nfl-n2388440

[discostu]

Some of it is size of the game. NFL has so many more eyes on it. And it’s worth remember that Kaep sat for 2 games before anybody even noticed. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t really just about losing his starting gig then when asked about it he spun it into something else.

It’ll be interesting to see how it goes in the next round. I know the owners are hoping the whole thing will go away so they can quietly add the rule during the CBA without anybody noticing. If it’s still a topic of discussion it could be rough for them. Of course they’ve been really good at “dropping” the 17th game to get concessions in the past, so there’s always that card.

[dsc]

“while the other one is not likely to meet any objective definition of “misconduct.”

I think a good lawyer could convince a fair jury that it was, based on the players’ own statements regarding their motives.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Deputy head janitor?
.

[beergarden]

I dont go to stupid links. Maybe you should head there too hypocrite ;)

[dsc]

“Flipping the bird is always the same message”

Not at all. Sometimes it is an indicator of group solidarity.

“Tebow knelt during the anthem through his whole career. Now he was kneeling in prayer not in protest”

How do we know that? Because he told us. And how do we know that the miscreants were kneeling with the intent to engage in misconduct? For the same reason.

“Unless behavior during the anthem is codified”

We need to bring back the reasonable man standard.

“trying to after the fact declare some behavior misconduct”

Come on. Everybody saw that it was misconduct from the very first.