Author Topic: Boycott the Knee?  (Read 21902 times)

Hawkmoon

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Boycott the Knee?
« on: September 24, 2017, 11:35:09 AM »
President Trump suggests that fans boycott the NFL until players stop disrespecting the U.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/politics/trump-calls-for-boycott-if-nfl-doesnt-crack-down-on-anthem-protests.html

In response, more players take the knee, and now baseball players are getting in on the action. Unfortunately, I don't watch television and I couldn't afford a ticket to an NFL game even if I wanted to go to one (which I don't), so I can't join the boycott any more than I already have. I'm curious how the rest of y'all feel.

I get that players have a right to their opinions. I even get that they have a right to use their fame to promote their opinions. I don't accept that disrespecting the flag that hundreds of thousands of men (and some women) have died for is in any way an appropriate expression of their opinions. Plus -- these players make a big deal over their "right" to violate federal law (the Flag Code), yet they don't seem to think that the President has a right to suggest that the fans exercise their right to not buy tickets to the games.
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Ben

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2017, 12:02:19 PM »
In some ways I think the best thing would be to ignore them (I ignore all team sports anyway) and I'm not sure Trump lowering himself to celebrity pissing contests is worthwhile.

On the other hand, I saw the statement from the NFL about how their "great organization is being disrespected" as if they were at all important, and I have a hard time having any sympathy for the stance of millionaire SJW one percenters that the NFL also says, "...have great influence in our society".

Maybe they have great influence over the bread and circuses crowd that can't think for themselves. Personally, I have a thousandfold more respect for my plumber than I do for a millionaire that throws a ball around. My plumber has useful skills and contributes directly to society, and frankly, I also respect his general knowledge and outlook over that of these privileged dbags. His salary and theirs should be reversed if we're paying based on if the person is worthwhile or not. Same goes for loudmouth celebrities in general.
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BobR

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2017, 01:01:48 PM »
I have said all along the only way to deal with this is to take away the publicity. Don't show them kneeling, don't talk about them kneeling, just act as though it is another day at the field. Once they realize the publicity over they will either stop or not. But no one will care because no one will know. I'm just waiting for the Nascar drivers to start.  >:D


bob


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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2017, 01:02:05 PM »
I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why playing the National Anthem before a sports balling game is necessary at all.  I've come to believe that the frequency of our exposure to it has watered it down to a meaningless gesture.  Why not save it for gatherings for Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veteran's Day, and at 0800 on military installations?
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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2017, 01:10:20 PM »
I agree with both Ben and Bob.
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MikeB

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2017, 01:21:56 PM »
We can ignore them, but the liberal media including much of the sports media would keep reporting and celebrating it. So as a society ignoring isn’t really an option. I completely stopped watching football last year to a great extent over owners allowing this behavior. There are other reasons including over paid whiners, but this was the proverbial straw for me. I haven’t watched a game this year yet either. I was never a watch all day Sunday and Monday night and whatever games; but I used to catch at least one game a week, sometimes more. Now I don’t bother at all.

zxcvbob

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2017, 01:44:33 PM »
I don't goto professional sports events and seldom watch them on teevee, so boycotting them would be a meaningless gesture for me.

The way I see it, they are embarrassing the boss on company time.  (they can sit during the National Anthem when they attend a NASCAR race, etc, as a spectator on their own time)  I'm not sure why the NFL or the team owners haven't sanctioned them somehow.  Maybe they have with one or two, the name Kaepernick comes to mind but I don't know much about him.
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Ben

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2017, 01:54:35 PM »
We can ignore them, but the liberal media including much of the sports media would keep reporting and celebrating it. So as a society ignoring isn’t really an option. I completely stopped watching football last year to a great extent over owners allowing this behavior. There are other reasons including over paid whiners, but this was the proverbial straw for me. I haven’t watched a game this year yet either. I was never a watch all day Sunday and Monday night and whatever games; but I used to catch at least one game a week, sometimes more. Now I don’t bother at all.

True, and it may be splitting hairs, but I would call what you (and many sports fans) are doing more akin to "actively ignoring" versus "boycotting". You're not out picketing or writing social media screeds - rather, the more they do this crap the more disinclined you are to watch a game simply because the political blatherings* cause you to lose interest into what the experience of watching sports is supposed to be about. The more the media focuses on it, the more people will "actively ignore", because they just wanted to sit down with a bag of doritos and a beer and watch a game.


*Blatherings, because most of these guys have no idea what they are protesting. Also, it's hard to sympathize about "justice" when a guy is wearing police pig socks. How is that taking an honorable stand? They have no business criticizing Trump's name calling when they are basically doing the same thing in their call for "justice and equality". Michele Malkin had an interesting point today regarding the people that kneeled for the US anthem but stood for the British anthem, which perfectly makes my point about these guys not knowing what they're protesting:

Quote
Moron multi-millionaire @NFL players sit for USA...but stand for British monarchs & empire that colonized Africa. #NoFansLeft

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Perd Hapley

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2017, 01:56:13 PM »
One school of thought is that Trump has taken control of the issue, by making "the Knee" an anti-Trump gesture, and obscuring whatever it was intended to mean. And at the same time, he's associated himself with patriotism.
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Ben

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2017, 02:08:40 PM »
One school of thought is that Trump has taken control of the issue, by making "the Knee" an anti-Trump gesture, and obscuring whatever it was intended to mean. And at the same time, he's associated himself with patriotism.

Whether he's doing that or not, I would argue these players don't know their audience. The kind of people sympathetic to shows of "resistance" like this are in general not sports fans, while I would guess a majority of sports fans are "USA fans". Barring perhaps some segment of none-white sports fans (but I would argue certainly not all) they are simply alienating most of their base while appealing to people who never watch sports. Hence the half filled stadiums.
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French G.

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2017, 02:13:22 PM »
In some ways I think the best thing would be to ignore them (I ignore all team sports anyway) and I'm not sure Trump lowering himself to celebrity pissing contests is worthwhile.

 :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: You realize this is a guy who has been a WWE villian and made a TV career out of celebrity pissing contests right? That said, I hope they all get stupid, and no one watches.

I also hopes Nascar does it, be the final nail in that coffin.

Confession time, I realize I have kneeled for the national anthem. Last night even. Fixing my wrecked race car, heard it about halfway thru. Thinking maybe we play the thing before people start wrecking their stuff.
AKA Navy Joe   

I'm so contrarian that I didn't respond to the thread.

Ben

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2017, 02:18:25 PM »
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: You realize this is a guy who has been a WWE villian and made a TV career out of celebrity pissing contests right? That said, I hope they all get stupid, and no one watches.


Sure, but that was before he was POTUS. I still sigh a good bit when he goes off on these name calling twitter tirades that are in fact more suited to WWE than to his current position.While some of his twitter stuff is effective, I continually wish he would leave the junior high stuff behind.
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HankB

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2017, 02:24:30 PM »
. . . I have a hard time having any sympathy for the stance of millionaire SJW one percenters that the NFL also says, "...have great influence in our society".. . .
Sports figures DO have a HUGE and lasting influence on our society - after all, without the sleazy antics of current sport stars, what kind of questions would be asked in sports trivia games circa 2040?

In any case, the owners and the commish by their reaction have shown they deserve no more respect than the unpatriotic players who dishonor this country while on the clock.

<expletive> all of them.
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BobR

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #13 on: September 24, 2017, 02:49:26 PM »
I read that the NFL had a game in London and out of the article came this gem:

Quote
The players then stood up for “God Save the Queen,” the British anthem.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/09/24/ravens-jaguars-players-kneel-during-national-anthem-after-trumps-attacks-on-nfl.html

That right there tells me they aren't really protesting oppression or injustice. They are protesting because it is fashionable or they are showboating. If you want to protest oppression British soil would be a good place to start.

bob

Of course it could also mean their understanding of history only goes back 150 years or so. ;)

Perd Hapley

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #14 on: September 24, 2017, 03:48:13 PM »
I read that the NFL had a game in London and out of the article came this gem:

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/09/24/ravens-jaguars-players-kneel-during-national-anthem-after-trumps-attacks-on-nfl.html

That right there tells me they aren't really protesting oppression or injustice. They are protesting because it is fashionable or they are showboating. If you want to protest oppression British soil would be a good place to start.

bob

Of course it could also mean their understanding of history only goes back 150 years or so. ;)


Maybe they just watched this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSnJSUU_7q0


Most likely, they're just typical Leftists. They believe America invented slavery, racism, and every other form of bigotry and oppression. And their understanding of history goes back to about 2001, if that far.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #15 on: September 24, 2017, 04:04:46 PM »

Of course it could also mean their understanding of history only goes back 150 15 years or so. ;)


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Do you think any of them has any idea what was going on, in the U.S. or elsewhere, in 1867?
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #16 on: September 24, 2017, 04:31:27 PM »
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zahc

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #17 on: September 24, 2017, 04:56:02 PM »
Already "boycotting" through indifference. The most terrifying thing for the government, media, or advertising (which is what Big Sports is) is to be unneeded and ignored, so I ignore mightily. Disappointed I even had to hear about it on APS; interferes with my ignoring. Does anyone know of any good recipes for pemmican?
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #19 on: September 24, 2017, 09:25:30 PM »
https://amgreatness.com/2017/09/23/kaepernick-and-curry-pop-the-sports-bubble/

Precisely. NFL Commissioner Goodell said Trump has created divisiveness. Sorry, Commish -- Trump called it out, he didn't create it. Obama and Black Lives Matter created it, Kaepernick brought it to the NFL, and look where it got him.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #20 on: September 24, 2017, 10:47:34 PM »
Precisely. NFL Commissioner Goodell said Trump has created divisiveness. Sorry, Commish -- Trump called it out, he didn't create it. Obama and Black Lives Matter created it, Kaepernick brought it to the NFL, and look where it got him.

This a whole bunch. And don't forget ESPN politicizing everything for the past few years.


Whether he's doing that or not, I would argue these players don't know their audience. The kind of people sympathetic to shows of "resistance" like this are in general not sports fans, while I would guess a majority of sports fans are "USA fans". Barring perhaps some segment of none-white sports fans (but I would argue certainly not all) they are simply alienating most of their base while appealing to people who never watch sports. Hence the half filled stadiums.

The tinfoil-clad side of my head says that the Left has politicized sports in an attempt to reach those "non-whites" that aren't tuning in to politics from the usual channels.

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MechAg94

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #21 on: September 24, 2017, 11:24:45 PM »
This a whole bunch. And don't forget ESPN politicizing everything for the past few years.


The tinfoil-clad side of my head says that the Left has politicized sports in an attempt to reach those "non-whites" that aren't tuning in to politics from the usual channels.


That does sort of go along with opinions of liberals who blame defeat on not getting their message out.  Or assuming all the bad countries are bad because the "right" people haven't talked to them yet.  However, I wonder how many of the media types just assume everyone that matters agrees with them.  Or they are bucking for a news TV gig.
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Scout26

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #22 on: September 24, 2017, 11:39:31 PM »
Pete Rozelle would not have put up with it.  (Anyone remember what he did to Walter Payton and Jim McMahon for wearing "unauthorized" gear...namely headbands??)

Anywho, Kapernick was the perfect storm.  His antics would not have been tolerated in Pittsburgh, or Chicago, or Green Bay, or Dallas to name a few.  Only in San Francisco would he and his "Protest" be allowed to happen.  And like a cancer it has spread.  And the NFL ("Not For Long), doesn't get it.  They don't understand that their fan base isn't the guys in the skyboxes, but the guys that watch at home every Sunday, wearing NFL licensed jerseys with hundreds if not thousands of dollars in other NFL licensed merchandise.  Lots of both Blue and White collar guys who can maybe afford a ticket or two every year to go see a game.  But guys who love their country, imperfect as it may be.  

They already get enough politics and diverseness, in the news, in the movies, and even at work.  Come the weekend, they want to put put on the jersey of their favorite team, get together with their buds, drink some beers, and chow down while watching the game.  Then comes along this multi-millionaire who says that the country they know and love is "bad".   They just want to be entertained for a couple hours and leave all the politics and bushwa behind.

So, just like Hollyweird's box office receipts have tanked since they've gone full Trump Acceptance Rejection Derangement Syndrome (TARDS), so too has the NFL's.  Viewership was down 11% last year.  It's down a further 14% this year.  Seats, in not just San Fran/Santa Clara and LA are going unsold, but in other cities as well.  Even on the Secondary Markets.   Especially in those cities that have allowed players to kneel.  

The NFL thought it was above the fray and nothing could topple their empire...  Well, it looks like there was a Trojan Horse.  And like a cancer, once it wasn't stopped and allowed to spread, it's all over for the NFL.  They continue to alienate their fan base and it's too late to do anything to prevent it.  
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #23 on: September 25, 2017, 06:53:26 AM »
The WSJ seems to agree: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-politicization-of-everything-1506291118

Another article, yesterday, said Kaepernick had burst the NFL bubble. Another apt comparison.
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Scout26

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Re: Boycott the Knee?
« Reply #24 on: September 25, 2017, 09:01:41 AM »
In an unscientific poll of posts that hit my FB wall, it's running pretty much everyone, but one, boycotting/not watching the NFL.  My veteran friends were not a surprise.  However, many of my other friends (Including what could be called Die-Hard fans of the Steelers, Packers, Bears, Colts, and Patriots) have all sworn off the NFL.  Several of them I was truly surprised by, as this time of year there posts are all Packer Green, Patriot Blue, or Yellow and Black.  I was shocked that the Rooney's in Pittsburgh allowed the team to stay in the locker room during the anthem.

The backlash against the NFL is happening, and they don't know what's going to hit them...
« Last Edit: September 25, 2017, 11:38:35 AM by Amy Schumer »
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Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
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for the motherland.