NFL players will be forced to stand - because...uhmm...America is a free country

[Noah Abrams]

--
Because nothing says "patriotism" quite like ordering people under penalty of a fine to stand up during the National Anthem, the taxpayer-soaking cajillionaireswho run the National Football League have announced a new policy of fining any team caught having an employee sitting, kneeling, or acting disrespectfully on the field while "The Star-Spangled Banner" plays before a game.
---

No doubt there will be a deafening silence on this latest authoritarian move by the conservatives who supposedly love the freedoms of this country and thus despise political correctness.

Very much doubt the left would have much to say about this either...because, well...it probably doesn't poll well. Nothing to be gained politically. Better stick to the usual things.

All the while America loses more and more of its freedoms...

http://reason.com/blog/2018/05/23/nfl-players-will-respect-the-flags-autho

 

[feralkid]

Isn't the NFL a private company; meaning it is not bound to the constitution, as the government is?

 

[theeedude]

At least we can dispatch with phony tear jerker patriotism knowing that players are standing because they are don't want to lose their jobs.

 

[FIVR]

It's ok because their brains are mush anyways

 

[SNC]

--
Because nothing says "patriotism" quite like ordering people under penalty of a fine to stand up during the National Anthem, the taxpayer-soaking cajillionaireswho run the National Football League have announced a new policy of fining any team caught having an employee sitting, kneeling, or acting disrespectfully on the field while "The Star-Spangled Banner" plays before a game.
---

No doubt there will be a deafening silence on this latest authoritarian move by the conservatives who supposedly love the freedoms of this country and thus despise political correctness.

Very much doubt the left would have much to say about this either...because, well...it probably doesn't poll well. Nothing to be gained politically. Better stick to the usual things.

All the while America loses more and more of its freedoms...

http://reason.com/blog/2018/05/23/nfl-players-will-respect-the-flags-autho

I might see your outrage and join in if they were also being forced onto the field. They are still able to stay off the field, no issues with them doing that. I really do see both sides - and yes I know that will sound to some like something someone else said but- and I see reasons for allowing and denying it. I quit watching pro sports a while ago, so long I really don't remember the exact year. But my issue was with the money they made and the fucking incessant whining of these now millionaires who got there by playing a fucking game. I get it there's a ton of work involved, but it's still a fucking game. If these guys really wanted to do something, how about when they get their signing bonus, they donate it to the highschool they came from, pop in every now and then and talk to the kids. Be the role model they are talking about when they kneel at the anthem. They have resources, but they would prefer a few jags and land rovers to a new stadium or weight room for the kids in bad areas now. And don't get on the look at all the rich folks not involved in sports that could do the same thing - cause I agree - it's not what this is about. As for the other side, shut the fuck up. I just love hearing the people bitch about a guy kneeling on tv and when the shot pulls away there are a dozen others in the shot kneeling taking pictures and holding mics. Not one mention about them or the dozens of others sitting around drinking beer and talking. If your gonna draw attention to yourself, be prepared to do something about it. If your doing it in hopes that it will draw attention to something you show zero interest in but what others to do something about it, shut the fuck up.

 

[SNC]

It's ok because their brains are mush anyways

Says the guy who has oatmeal for brains.

 

[Puffnstuff]

If they don't like working for a team that requires them to stand they can always get another job just like the rest of us do in the real world.

 

[IJTSSG]

What are these guys protesting against? Anybody remember? Kneeling during the anthem, burning a flag are the absolute worst ways to protest anything. The story always becomes how you're protesting, not what.

For the record I don't give a shit what you do during the anthem and I don't care if you burn a flag as long as it's your flag. There should be no laws prohibiting either. It's a free speech issue.

NFL teams can put whatever employee conduct policies they want in place as long as it's legal and the CBA allows it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[dainthomas]

NFL owners are just trying to get their most racist viewers to come back. Expect 1000% more military jet flyovers and maybe some tanks driving across the field.

Probably futile as I'm sure they've all switched to tractor pulls or major league fishing.

 

[FIVR]

NFL players should all light up a fat one in protest during the national anthem. Nobody said they couldn't get high

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I wonder if a good attorney schooled in Constitutional law might have this stopped. The NFL is a private entity, however, it does receive legal protections and benefits via the government. In other situations, this has been used as leverage for civil rights. I'm not a big fan of that in general, but if the NFL wishes to punish people based on their political or religious beliefs of players it might (and might is the word, I don't know for sure) represent an avenue of opportunity for players.

Hopefully legal experts will opine.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

The nfl is free to do what it wants. They don’t have to accept employment if they don’t want to abide by their policies. It’s no different than anywhere else in private life.

 

[interchange]

I see no problem with the NFL having the right to enforce this policy. It's a social and business matter not a governmental one.

Edit: actually I do remember them receiving payment from the government essentially for doing patriotic displays. That might change things.

 

[BoomerD]

If they don't like working for a team that requires them to stand they can always get another job just like the rest of us do in the real world.

Yep...if they want to protest, they should do it on their own time. Almost any of us would be fired for protesting on company time...and in a company worksite.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I have no problem with this decision. If I owned a team I’d just keep them all off the field until the anthem is over.
I don’t blame the league for wanting to avoid stuff that detracts from the game.

 

[MrSquished]

The league can do what it wants legally, doesn't mean I believe it is ethical.

The first team that stays in the locker room for the anthem will have me as their biggest fan. As long as it's not the Eagles or Cowboys. Then they'll have my respect but not my cheers.

 

[dainthomas]

All the people posting on the internet on company time saying it's cool for teams to fire people for kneeling. Lol.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

All the people posting on the internet on company time saying it's cool for teams to fire people for kneeling. Lol.

If my company has a stated policy against it and I violated that policy then I can’t really complain if it’s enforced can I?

 

[Noah Abrams]

Ok so the issue is not what they can or cannot do legally. Though even that might be questionable since they receive tax subsidies. But regardless...

Not too long ago the conservatives were howling in protest about a tweet from a professor about a former First Lady, now dead. Every day you hear them bemoaning the culture of political correctness. Like any other hypocrites, their so called principles only get activated when it is something offensive to them.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I didn’t care if the stood, sat, danced, or if better yet the anthem wasn’t even player at all. But they are representing the company and on the company clock so I don’t really see it as a free speech issue

 

[sactoking]

Barring a series of arbitration and judicial rulings to the contrary I don't think the NFL can really enforce this, private enterprise or no. The NFLPA secured the right for its members to protest during the national anthem via collective bargaining in 2009. The NFL reaffirmed that collectively bargained right in 2016. In 2017 the NFL again said it was the players' right. I'm pretty sure labor law precludes an employer from unilaterally invalidating a collectively bargained provision.

 

[MrSquished]

League sources are saying that the NFL is terrified of trump. Basically this wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for the president

 

[ElFenix]

the free speech issue is where the president was using his bully pulpit to harangue the nfl into this policy. there's also the fact that the players were required to be on the field during the anthem because the DoD was paying the nfl to do this little part of its dog and pony show.

frankly the DoD having to pay for it seems far worse than anything the players have done.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Each employer has to right to write their own code of conduct under their employee rules and the employee has to decide whether or not they wish to comply and knows what the consequences are if they don't.

 

[davidm71]

Its a free country in that they have a right to work somewhere else. If I tried that crap I would be fired!