(08-09-2017, 07:03 AM)Caldrac Wrote:

(08-03-2017, 02:24 PM)NYC4jags Wrote: Just a guy drawing needed attention to a social injustice? 

A dummy lacking a respect for our flag/anthem? 

A has-been? 

A better QB than Henne, or Bortles? 

All of the above? 

Discuss here rather than filling the football threads with politics, please.

I think his mind and beliefs are in the right place but he's gone about it the wrong way to an extent. The media loves anything that bleeds and when it bleeds it bleeds. They're just as guilty for feeding into this divide and conquer mentality we've all been victims of. 

I don't get caught up in yellow ribbons and flags though. I think you can be proud of your country and not be a hypocritical [BLEEP] about it. Trying not to steal too much thoughts on that from George Carlin. But that pretty much sums it up. I leave symbols for the symbol minded. 

As far as being a has been? Maybe. To an extent. He had a winning record and nearly a Superbowl come back and victory with Harbaugh before York decided to railroad his entire team into the ground by firing him and then hiring and firing back-to-back coaches that clearly didn't know what they were doing. 

As far as being a better QB than Henne and Bortles? Yes. I'll say he is. His numbers aren't that much better nor worse than either of those two. And he's actually won football games. Personally if this team can manage another top ten defense and hopefully a top ten or better rushing attack you would assume Bortles could manage the team at least and win games. If he can't. Colin probably could. Seeing is that is when he had success in the NFL. 

As far as my views regarding his views? I don't have a problem with his kneeling. Didn't hurt my feelings. In fact. I think a lot of fans are hypocrites. Including the NFL itself. Half the fans crying about him kneeling during the anthem probably have their big fat [BLEEP] plopped down in a recliner on Sunday's as it's being performed while [BLEEP] and moaning about Colin not standing. So there's that. 

There's also the fact that the NFL didn't care for the anthem being recognized or honored until roughly 2007 or 2009 when it became something more they could further profit from. Keep that in mind. The NFL doesn't even honor our military for free. They make money off of them. They put their colors and emblems on their jerseys and sell them for more profit. It's the same ploy they use in October when they pink it all up for women. Profit. 

As far as black injustice and cops getting away with things? Sure. It happens. Sometimes it happens in clear cut understandable situations and sometimes it happens in inexcusable situations and people should be held accountable. It also just doesn't happen to black america though. It happens to white america as well. Even if you took all the minorities out of prison today it would still be overpopulated with white people. The mainstream media won't tell you that though because it would make us seem more alike. And they can't have that. They need us hating one another. They've been good at it since the television was invented. 

So in truth. No one is truly absent nor absolved from injustice. Sadly, what happens is a lot of departments get into the habit of fishing in the same areas. It's mostly your run down, low income, rural trailer parks or hoods that get targeted because that's where all the illegal activity is taking place. Whether you believe it's a systematic problem that keeps people poor or a racist system tied into it is up to you. 

It's a two way street at the end of the day though. We can all do a better job at being open and honest about this. And we can all do a better of job trying to understand each other's views without getting butt hurt on both sides. Liberal and Conservative snowflakes alike. 

The only two items I didn't approve of with Colin last year were the socks with cops depicted as pigs and the Castro thing. You can't get anything accomplished by fighting fire with fire in today's world. It just leads to everybody losing on both sides. And you certainly can't get up on a soap box and preach of oppression while wearing a t-shirt of one of the most iconic oppressors since the 20th century. Especially when an overwhelming amount of Cubans will tell you how terrible it was under Castro.

I usually mostly agree with what you have to say, but I must comment on the two paragraphs that I highlighted in red in your quote.

The first part of your quote.
I personally did have a problem with not only him kneeling, but also sitting during our national anthem.  I personally served a bit over 9 years of my life defending his right to do so.  I think that his reason(s) for doing so are misguided and wrong.  However, like many of the thousands (or millions) that actually protected his right to be a pompous [BLEEP], I would never take that right away from him.  Call me a hypocrite if you want, but that Flag and that Anthem means something to me.  This might sound kind of "goofy" to some people, but if I'm watching an NFL game, a NASCAR race, etc. in my home, we do go silent and stand during the Anthem.

The second paragraph from your quote.
I can (somewhat) agree with you on this.  Now the Anthem has always been played along with a flyover at just about every NFL game and NASCAR race that I've ever attended.  I honestly couldn't say for sure when they started televising it at NFL games, but IIRC it's always been done at NASCAR races.  Quite frankly I've never really paid that much attention.

However, Kapernick's "protest" was pretty deliberate to get the cameras on him, and it was specifically to show his dis-respect for our country, our Flag and what it stands for.  Did he want to bring awareness to some problem in society?  Perhaps.  Did he ever think about the men and women that serve now or served in the past, sometimes paying the ultimate price to enable him to do so?  NOPE.  In the end it was all about "him" and his "cause".

I do recall a story from last season where the NFL was profiting in some way for their "military appreciation" or something like that.  I don't remember what the whole story was about, but it clearly was for profit rather than for patriotism.  That's the part that I agree with you about.

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