12/21/24
May 23, 2018
NFL to Punish Players Who Don't Stand During Anthem: Beginning in 2009, the NFL required players to be on the field during the national anthem (part of a rah-rah support the troops effort for which the league was secretly getting paid $5.4 million by the Department of Defense). Now the NFL is going a step further and forcing players to stand during the anthem unless they stay in the locker room until it is over. Does any of this feel like patriotism to you?
It is pretty North Korean.
Sometimes I feel like the NFL is trying everything it can to make me stop watching.
posted by rcade at 06:29 PM on May 23, 2018
Yeah, I should've been out years ago. This (of all things) is going to be my tipping point. Dropped out of my long-standing fantasy league as soon as I saw the story. Fuck these guys. I'll spend my Sundays hiking instead.
posted by Ufez Jones at 07:27 PM on May 23, 2018
I've been watching mostly PBS cooking shows on Sunday afternoons. I'll flip over to a Panthers game every once in a while just to see what's up, but the time spent on the game certainly has been dwindling as of late.
posted by NoMich at 07:32 PM on May 23, 2018
The league is in a race to the bottom with Len Dykstra, and I've got my money on Goodell.
posted by beaverboard at 09:26 PM on May 23, 2018
Yeah, this is pretty much the straw that break the monkey on my back (if I may mix metaphors). I've been addicted to the NFL for 35 years and have grown disillusioned due to the concussion business, the Washington Team name business, the way they treat their cheerleaders and a dozen other shitty business things they do. This is it. I'm done.
Worst things is they're doing it because they're scared of Trump. Which makes them cowards in addition to everything else shitty about them.
posted by Joey Michaels at 09:44 PM on May 23, 2018
Very Sad.
Complete bastardization of both the First and Second taking place.
Exercise your Nineteenth, people.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:05 AM on May 24, 2018
Isn't it obvious that the annual big fat propaganda check the government sends to the NFL each season is the reason for this.
posted by bo_fan at 07:23 AM on May 24, 2018
They should let the players do what they want and I think the owners are assholes/idiots but my anger at this is blunted by the option of staying in the locker room for the anthem.
posted by tron7 at 11:12 AM on May 24, 2018
tron7, that will only work if large portions of (or whole) teams stay in the locker rooms.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:27 AM on May 24, 2018
The fact that the NBA has had a similar rule does not seem as upsetting to me. Though I will admit, I only watch the conference and NBA finals and sometimes I do not even watch them.
A lot of the difference plays into Joey Michael's comment I've been addicted to the NFL for 35 years. At this point it feels very much feels like an addiction. I have been slowly pulling away from the NFL but 20+ years of FFL and Monday nights in the fall spent with friends is tough to give up.
posted by prof at 11:30 AM on May 24, 2018
tron7 or billsaysthis, or wait for the big uproar when a big name player is in the locker during anthem for equipment issues, extra treatments, or whatever and the questions of was he protesting or not.
posted by prof at 11:34 AM on May 24, 2018
Maybe we should root for the Jets?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:44 AM on May 24, 2018
I do assume a lot of players will stay in the locker rooms but even if it is just a few players there won't be any more visual representations of protesting to show on the news constantly so I don't think it will draw as much fire. I think it blunts both the effectiveness of the protest and the anger that is likely to come from it. Though, I wonder if you'll get whole teams opting to stay in the locker rooms as a show of team unity, though that only half-worked for the Steelers last year.
posted by tron7 at 12:23 PM on May 24, 2018
I hope that some team (or large portion thereof) opts to stay back for the national anthem and then comes out together when it's done and kneels together on the field. Surely, when it's not during the anthem, no one will find it objectionable anymore, right?
I feel like the NFL thinks they have quashed this, but they have probably actually just escalated it--particularly since they made this decision without the players.
posted by bender at 12:57 PM on May 24, 2018
Surely, when it's not during the anthem, no one will find it objectionable anymore, right?
posted by grum@work at 02:36 PM on May 24, 2018
So, the president of the USA had this to say about those that would take a knee during the playing of the national anthem:
"You have to stand proudly for the national anthem, or you shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there. Maybe you shouldn't be in the country"
Is this now a 1st amendment situation? You know, now that the figurehead of our government has said that you should be deported if you don't stand for the anthem?
posted by NoMich at 02:45 PM on May 24, 2018
And as others have pointed out, the way that statement from Trump was phrased, it really applies to everyone at the stadium. Is every single person in the stadium standing proudly and with respect, during the anthem. Standing proudly at the urinal, or in the concession line? Maybe they shouldn't be in the country?
Slippery slope....
posted by opel70 at 03:14 PM on May 24, 2018
And now, it is revealed that the owners didn't actually vote unanimously in support of the policy so much as they pretty much mostly agreed that it would be good.
But I have no doubt that Mike Brown was one of the owners who, if given a chance, would have voted in favor of forced patriotism for the privilege of making him richer. So fuck him, fuck the Bengals, fuck Goodell, and fuck the NFL. I was also one whose fandom was waning, to the point that I haven't invested in Sunday Ticket for the past 2 seasons. It's not too far a stretch to just give up on it.*
*I will still wear my snazzy Zubaz Bengals pants because they were a gift from my cyber-buddy rcade.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:04 PM on May 24, 2018
As I mentioned upthread, enforced patriotism
posted by tommybiden at 08:03 PM on May 25, 2018
CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie: statement is from 2017, but have confirmed policy holds true.
posted by tommybiden at 11:06 AM on May 26, 2018
And after all that, Trump is refusing to meet with the Eagles that were willing to meet with him.
posted by Joey Michaels at 07:56 PM on June 04, 2018
Gosh, the Eagles make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Good job.
posted by tommybiden at 09:59 PM on June 04, 2018
LeBron weighs in ...
posted by tommybiden at 01:50 PM on June 05, 2018
Enforced patriotism?