The Freedom to be A Dick

[DOUGHBOYS]

I try not to be a dick. Most of the people reading this try not to be a dick.
Sometimes, we lose it. Like when somebody cuts us off in traffic or says harming words to a family member.
We sometimes, just become 'that guy'..
Still, for the most part, we try not to be a dick.

We live in the best country in the world. We are free.
We are free to curse at politicians who tax us too much.
We are free to disagree with those taxes.
We are free to drink and smoke.
And yes, even free to be a dick.

Even though we live in the best country in the world, we have problems.
Racism since the start.
Genderism since the start.
Its improved through the years.
Slavery has been abolished.
Women vote.
To ask for perfect equality would be a pipe dream. It won't happen in this country or any other.
Still, we progress slowly to be better.

Today, A friend of mine told me he no longer plays fantasy football.
Because he no longer watches or follows the National Football League.
He could not watch players sitting down for our Anthem, then cheer for or against that player.
So, he decided not to watch them taking a knee or taking the ball at all.

These players think they're standing for something as their kneeling.
Think about that.
They're not doing a thing that is constructive.
They're not helping anybody.
They are kneeling to an Anthem in which they stood, for years before.
Standing as a child, with hand over heart for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Standing for many National Anthems as they participated in sports through their youth.
Now, on a stage, money in pocket, having it 'made'.they take a knee.
They say there's wrong in America. That they are showing 'awareness' for our problems.
We don't need the 'awareness' lesson.
Believe me, we all know about some of the failures of our Country.
Big picture.
You are free to kneel down in front of the flag that gave you the freedom to kneel.
You are free to be rich in the richest country in the world and still flip your middle finger at the flag.
You are free to be a dick.

Players, owners, and politicians are going out of their way to defend players rights to be a dick.
We get it.
We don't like it, but we get it.
A small picture of wrong's in America is somehow greater than the country that gave you those rights to begin with.
These players are not jailed as they would be in most countries.
Instead, they have folks going out of their way to protect their rights to be dicks.
That alone, should illustrate what a great country we have.

The NFL lost 15 percent of their viewership last year.
This year another 10 percent.
America does not kneel during the National Anthem to protest NFL players treatment of women.
We could, but we don't.
America does not kneel during the National Anthem to protest a league trying to hide concussion injuries for many years.
We could, but we don't.
America goes about its business and stands proud for the National Anthem.
We know the NFL has problems, but that's just a small part of America's problems.
My friend chose not to watch the NFL whether players are standing or kneeling now. It looks like several others have taken that same road.
Kneeling during the National Anthem?
I'd be willing to bet that these players do not kneel for the National Anthem at a daughters event.
Somehow, that would be disrespectful to their daughter.
They wouldn't do this even if his daughter had done wrong and stayed out all night against his wishes.
No need for 'awareness' about the wrongs of his daughters transgressions.
In this case, he knows the Big Picture.
That he has to live with and love his daughter. It's the same for his country.
But, it is easier to be disrespectful to his country.
A country that gives them the freedom to be a dick.
The same freedom I have, to think of them as such.

[NorCalAtlFan]

lol. love the faux outrage of people over this.

let's get the premature draft going

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'm with you!
I'm ready to kick your ass....faux trash talk...sq...

[NorCalAtlFan]

that's more like it! i think you're kicking my ass in a league or two, so give me this one

[KJ Duke]

It's not the protesting that bothers me: it's the jumping on the bandwagon, it's the self-promotion of wanting to be associated with a popular cause, it's the (as dough points out) lack of protesting over many other issues now or in the past, and it's the fact that some of these players either have done things as bad or worse as what they are protesting or happily associate with those who have. Blech.

But it doesn't affect my watching interest. My only interest in 99.9% of the players in the league is how they are doing for my team; if I want heroes to look up to they're not gonna be football players ... maybe if I was 12 yrs old I'd be affected.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I thought you were kicking mine!
We're in too many leagues together.
Ah well, our philosophies are similar, As long as we're doing well, we're good.

KJ- I don't think kids worship or think of players as heroes like past generations.
Now, with Maddon video games and fantasy football, they are more of a means to kids ends.
These players are getting the same thing they seem to need on the field. Attention.
A first down motioned, a faux celebration, looking desperately or begging for a referee's flag after a ball that should have been caught...These players are finding the wrong ways to get attention.
But, it's the EASY way.

I know!
Score touchdowns like Barry Sanders.
Or catch every ball like Jerry Rice.
Now THAT would get attention.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I can hear my Mom's favorite line ringing in my ears over this....

"Two wrongs don't make a right"

[Edwards Kings]

I am not 12. Wish I was, but I am not. I am a mature adult. It is the players (and owners...and Roger Goodell...and the rest of the NFL) who are acting like they are twelve. Childish...not child-like... but childish...immature, babyish, infantile, juvenile, puerile.

I am offended by the players kneeling during the National Anthem. It is their right to protest. I would fight to protect their right (as I volunteered to do and as many in my family have fought and died to protect such right). Why? Because our Republic is an advanced form of democracy, one of whose key tenants is to protect the speech of those whose actions and words (even poorly chosen and fundamentally incorrect ones such as what these moronic players are doing) make your blood boil. But with these advanced rights, rights as Dan mentions are so rare even in this modern world, comes advanced responsibilities. How you choose to exercise your rights will have consequences.

One of those consequences is the decreased viewership and support of the NFL. Good. Hit them in the old hip pocket.

I will not support the NFL...like last year I will not watch games....I will not buy any merchandise, down to any product, candy bar, soft drink with any NFL team logo, or any product endorsed by an NFL player...I will not buy any tickets (at this stage of my career and economic demographic, I do not buy the cheap seats).

That is my choice...my speech...my freedom to chose my actions and how these actions best represent me. The NFL will not miss me, but how many more "me's" can it afford to lose? A lot I guess, but somewhere, sometime, it will start to hurt.

Personally, I hope the NFL folds. It won't, but I wish it would. Rather, they will eventually throw somebody under the bus (Goodell?) to lessen the backlash.

One more thing...Colin Kaepernick doesn't have a job because he sucks...not because of his stupid protest.

And by the way, for a sitting President to get involved in the way President Trump has (even if I may agree with SOME of his words) is demeaning to the Office. President Trump has chosen to get down...way, way down...to the level of these morons. It very easily could have been handled or addressed in a more mature and thoughtful manner.

"What have you done when you have bested a fool?”

― Charles Portis, "True Grit", 1968

[NorCalAtlFan]

"If y'all see me in the news, and I make the news for something that I ain't got no business making it for, don't bash me. Say it was a young guy living."

-Clinton Portis, RB, circa 2004

Wayne, I'm glad you said you wouldn't support the NFL and not football in general. I think you lose your Georgia status if you forsake college football...............

I hope when the dust settles on this that both sides will do the impossible and actually know the words for the national anthem! For something as venerable as the anthem, it probably bothers me more that most Americans don't know the words. Watching citizens, athletes, politicians, etc mumble their way through it is more annoying/disrespectful to this ole libtard.
But I have hope. The most attention paid to it in on a long time.

Has the draft started Dan??!!!

[DOUGHBOYS]

In the weeks after 9/11, little mattered within the borders of our Country.
All of us were saddened.
All of us felt like we had been violated.
All of us, a little timid.
But something wonderful happened during those weeks. There was a cohesiveness in our country not seen in our country since the 40's.
Race, creed, everything within our borders took a back seat to this outside threat.

This divisiveness is the opposite. It serves no purpose. It's a black eye for the NFL and sports.
I would rather see the National Anthem not played at all before sporting events, rather than see see folks use and abuse it as a pulpit for personal opinion.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Just sent out the email, Bryan!

Pick one is up!

[headhunters]

dan- you shouldn't have sent out that very 1st e-mail about September 30th. I am gonna make you wait until you are begging for me to make a pick.

[headhunters]

btw- pbs has been airing a 10 part feature on the vietnam war. those days make these days seem like a picnic.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Ha! Have fun with it, Mike!

[Edwards Kings]

Wayne, I'm glad you said you wouldn't support the NFL and not football in general. I think you lose your Georgia status if you forsake college football...............

GO DAWGS (no...not the ones in Mississippi)!

Don't forget...I have the "Born in Savannah", "I have read Flannery O'Connor", and "Being able to catch dinner using string, a hook, and some spoiled chicken liver" life-long exemptions to losing my Georgia status!

But underlying your sentiment is a risk...as the years go by, the things I have been offended by tend to pile up. By the end of my life, I may be stuck with only rereading "To Kill a Mockingbird" and eating watermelon flavored Jolly Ranchers for entertainment as everything else in some way pissed me off....