Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The owners had a meeting in NYC last night and the end result but an anthem mandate did not come out of it. Instead we got an offer to promote some sort of bi partisan prison bill as well as organizing a social justice boot camp? Huh?

What did they gain out of this if there was no agreement to stop the behavior that is alienating so much of your constituents and causing ratings and attendance to tumble? Your constituents, your loyal followers has made its demand. All must stand respectfully for the anthem. No kneeling or fist in the air riff raff of any kind.

I hope the NFL realizes the magnitude of die hard, decades long Steelers fans burning Terrible Towels and tickets on youtube. Packers fans burning cheeseheads. Patriots fans chanting "stand" and booing their own world champions for kneeling during the anthem. This is unthinkable stuff. Attendance and ratings are both down.

A few weeks ago you had teams hiding in locker rooms, the Cowboys kneeling before the anthem with Jerry Jones, sideline arm-locking. Ok it was a show of unity that the owners support their players after President Trump's comments. I don't think any owner wanted to be down there participating in that stunt but they bit their tongue and did it. And they got nothing in return out of it either.

It's unfathomable that it has gotten to this point, that this league didn't suffocate this baby in the crib before it became this monster hurting their bottom line. I think there is still time to salvage things but it has to happen soon. Some fans will never be regained. But if you don't see real backbone out of these owners and a firm mandate on anthem behavior that the NFL's paying customers are satisfied with, they will kill the golden goose.

Is there an endgame with these protests?

Social Justice works for me.

sheajets wrote: ....suffocate this baby in the crib....

Nice.
"Nip it in the bud" might be a less traumatic metaphor.

It's too late to stop it now, as I think I referred to it here once before, Pandora's Box has already been opened, and it is spreading in all kinds of different directions, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. The owners and Goodell couldn't force the players to stand for the anthem, all they can do is hope the media stops making a big deal about it, because when people stop talking about it, the players will stop doing it. A lot of this I think is a tactic for players to draw attention to themselves.

Does Kaepernick really think a team (we'll say for the sake of discussion, the Packers, since they need a QB) would purposely not give him a shot at QB if they thought he might help them get to the playoffs this season? Do you really think they would be willing to write off this season in order to teach that guy a lesson or because Roger Goodell ordered all the NFL teams to avoid him? Their object is to win the Super Bowl, and if I were running the Packers and I thought Colin Kaepernick (even with his baggage) might possibly help the team win some games, I would give him a tryout. And you better believe the Packers are thinking the same thing.

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's too late to stop it now, as I think I referred to it here once before, Pandora's Box has already been opened, and it is spreading in all kinds of different directions, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. The owners and Goodell couldn't force the players to stand for the anthem, all they can do is hope the media stops making a big deal about it, because when people stop talking about it, the players will stop doing it. A lot of this I think is a tactic for players to draw attention to themselves.

Does Kaepernick really think a team (we'll say for the sake of discussion, the Packers, since they need a QB) would purposely not give him a shot at QB if they thought he might help them get to the playoffs this season? Do you really think they would be willing to write off this season in order to teach that guy a lesson or because Roger Goodell ordered all the NFL teams to avoid him? Their object is to win the Super Bowl, and if I were running the Packers and I thought Colin Kaepernick (even with his baggage) might possibly help the team win some games, I would give him a tryout. And you better believe the Packers are thinking the same thing.

Kaepernick is good enough to be in the league right now but he's not good enough to be worth the headache and circus. If he was really good...of course he's be starting

I don't think Kaepernick believes he has any chance of winning this lawsuit, but to whatever fans he has right now it was probably a necessary step to show that he's still fighting.

JuggernautJ wrote:Is there an endgame with these protests?

Social Justice works for me.

sheajets wrote: ....suffocate this baby in the crib....

Nice.
"Nip it in the bud" might be a less traumatic metaphor.

What if a majority of the leagues fans don't believe in their cause, or their methods of bringing it to light, or even the fact that the sport has now become a political battleground.

If their salaries go down? Will they be ok with that?

We had the 'protest' discussion in this thread http://www.profootballresearchers.com/f ... 1&start=10 ... I have no new thoughts about it.

Though I am still saddened that it trickled down the levels of football.

For example high school football in WA.

Last season there was a school poised to be possible state championship contenders or at a minimum have their best season in school history and make the state playoffs for the first time. Instead by mid-season their team was divided (because kneeling is divisive, obviously) because part of the team was more worried about taking a knee (for attention, obviously) than on their season. Really screwed the senior class in their final year of HS football. They ended up 6-4 and didn't qualify for the state playoffs. Good team, season ruined because of emulating professionals who's first act in this allaged protest was to wear socks depicting police officers as pigs. Classy.

The interesting part and more of a feel-good story, is that same team came together in the off-season and decided as a TEAM to stand for the anthem in 2017 and that there would be no more attention-seeking nonsense. Smart kids that realized what they lost in 2016 because of the divisiveness. Currently they are 6-1 this season and in first place in their league.

Possibly most interesting of all is that in week 5 of this season in a league game their opponents - a high school named after a man who was on Flight 93, no less - took a knee during the anthem for the first time in their teams history and went on to get blown out and lose their first league game in 2-years. In the 3 weeks since they first took a knee they are 1-2, matching the amount of losses they had in ALL of 2016.

Sad, to me, that you have one school who derails their 2016 season and now seeing it again with another school in the same league in 2017. In 20 years they're going to be thinking back about what could have been, as opposed to any good that came from hopping on the look-at-me bandwagon.

JuggernautJ wrote:Is there an endgame with these protests?

Social Justice works for me.

This is the answer.

It's a -- let's be honest -- pretty benign way of calling attention to chronic, toxic issues that many football fans would prefer to not acknowledge. When the protests fly in the face of the phony, manufactured patriotism that the NFL puts on display, that turns those fans' apathy into anger toward those protesting, rather than toward the systemic problems underlying.

As far as what the protests will lead to, they've already led to plenty of discussion, some constructive and some not. If they make anyone think about the issues at hand more than they had been, that makes them worthwhile IMO.

And if they upset you that much, keep in mind that your television can be turned off as easily as on.

Reaser wrote:We had the 'protest' discussion in this thread http://www.profootballresearchers.com/f ... 1&start=10 ... I have no new thoughts about it.

Though I am still saddened that it trickled down the levels of football.

For example high school football in WA.

Last season there was a school poised to be possible state championship contenders or at a minimum have their best season in school history and make the state playoffs for the first time. Instead by mid-season their team was divided (because kneeling is divisive, obviously) because part of the team was more worried about taking a knee (for attention, obviously) than on their season. Really screwed the senior class in their final year of HS football. They ended up 6-4 and didn't qualify for the state playoffs. Good team, season ruined because of emulating professionals who's first act in this allaged protest was to wear socks depicting police officers as pigs. Classy.

The interesting part and more of a feel-good story, is that same team came together in the off-season and decided as a TEAM to stand for the anthem in 2017 and that there would be no more attention-seeking nonsense. Smart kids that realized what they lost in 2016 because of the divisiveness. Currently they are 6-1 this season and in first place in their league.

Possibly most interesting of all is that in week 5 of this season in a league game their opponents - a high school named after a man who was on Flight 93, no less - took a knee during the anthem for the first time in their teams history and went on to get blown out and lose their first league game in 2-years. In the 3 weeks since they first took a knee they are 1-2, matching the amount of losses they had in ALL of 2016.

Sad, to me, that you have one school who derails their 2016 season and now seeing it again with another school in the same league in 2017. In 20 years they're going to be thinking back about what could have been, as opposed to any good that came from hopping on the look-at-me bandwagon.

Sadly, more and more aspects of life are becoming politicized, and for the people involved, there won't be any endgame. The difficult questions and problems aren't being asked or tackled, because that would involve reflection. I don't mind pro players using their platform to help the disadvantaged, but disrespecting the country has failed, and we see it in the TV ratings. With their wealth and access, NFL players had so many better ways to spread a message of activism. For every authentic case of police brutality, there are countless examples of gang violence, and single parent households are a big reason for inequality. I'm very concerned about the future of the country.

sheajets wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's too late to stop it now, as I think I referred to it here once before, Pandora's Box has already been opened, and it is spreading in all kinds of different directions, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. The owners and Goodell couldn't force the players to stand for the anthem, all they can do is hope the media stops making a big deal about it, because when people stop talking about it, the players will stop doing it. A lot of this I think is a tactic for players to draw attention to themselves.

Does Kaepernick really think a team (we'll say for the sake of discussion, the Packers, since they need a QB) would purposely not give him a shot at QB if they thought he might help them get to the playoffs this season? Do you really think they would be willing to write off this season in order to teach that guy a lesson or because Roger Goodell ordered all the NFL teams to avoid him? Their object is to win the Super Bowl, and if I were running the Packers and I thought Colin Kaepernick (even with his baggage) might possibly help the team win some games, I would give him a tryout. And you better believe the Packers are thinking the same thing.

Kaepernick is good enough to be in the league right now but he's not good enough to be worth the headache and circus. If he was really good...of course he's be starting

I don't think Kaepernick believes he has any chance of winning this lawsuit, but to whatever fans he has right now it was probably a necessary step to show that he's still fighting.

I hope the Packers give Kaepernick a tryout, just so he can put up or shut up. If he can take over for Rodgers for the remainder of the season, he can prove he belongs in the NFL. Very good players with baggage don't last in one place for very long, ask Terrell Owens, who nearly led the Eagles to a Super Bowl win and less than a year later they were more than willing to cut him loose due to his behavior.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

sheajets wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's too late to stop it now, as I think I referred to it here once before, Pandora's Box has already been opened, and it is spreading in all kinds of different directions, and it isn't going to stop anytime soon. The owners and Goodell couldn't force the players to stand for the anthem, all they can do is hope the media stops making a big deal about it, because when people stop talking about it, the players will stop doing it. A lot of this I think is a tactic for players to draw attention to themselves.

Does Kaepernick really think a team (we'll say for the sake of discussion, the Packers, since they need a QB) would purposely not give him a shot at QB if they thought he might help them get to the playoffs this season? Do you really think they would be willing to write off this season in order to teach that guy a lesson or because Roger Goodell ordered all the NFL teams to avoid him? Their object is to win the Super Bowl, and if I were running the Packers and I thought Colin Kaepernick (even with his baggage) might possibly help the team win some games, I would give him a tryout. And you better believe the Packers are thinking the same thing.

Kaepernick is good enough to be in the league right now but he's not good enough to be worth the headache and circus. If he was really good...of course he's be starting

I don't think Kaepernick believes he has any chance of winning this lawsuit, but to whatever fans he has right now it was probably a necessary step to show that he's still fighting.

I hope the Packers give Kaepernick a tryout, just so he can put up or shut up. If he can take over for Rodgers for the remainder of the season, he can prove he belongs in the NFL. Very good players with baggage don't last in one place for very long, ask Terrell Owens, who nearly led the Eagles to a Super Bowl win and less than a year later they were more than willing to cut him loose due to his behavior.

I'd be very surprised if the Packers do, simply because Ted Thompson doesn't operate that way. The last time Rogers went down, in 2013, they didn't sign a new QB until back Seneca Wallace also got hurt. And that new QB wasn't really new; he was Matt Flynn, who had previously spent 4 full seasons with the Packers and had appeared in 40 games for them, so he was very familiar with the system.

There was an informal poll of Packer fans asking if the Packers should sign Kaepernick or Romo, and the majority favored Kapernick.