(08-09-2017, 01:16 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(08-09-2017, 08:46 AM)Caldrac Wrote: It's not bull [BLEEP]. It's the truth. Again, how am I wrong? It's cool to punch women? It's cool to slap them around? It's cool to abuse children? It's cool to cheat the game and system for a competitive advantage? It's cool to pay players under the table to deliberately go out of their ways to put players out? And still get to keep their jobs? it's alright to smoke weed, snort cocaine, drink lean or take steroids? Come on. That in essence on it's own is utter bull [BLEEP] if I've ever seen it.

I don't care about all of that. I am specifically looking at the hypocrisy here of the NFL. And I am specifically looking at the hypocrisy of the massive amounts of blind little sheep that willfully and ignorantly buy virtually anything their flavor of the month has to say hook, line and sinker. 

It's pathetic. I agree. Being in the NFL is a privilege. But to say it's bull [BLEEP] that the NFL doesn't condone illegal behavior and the cheating of their own game with little to no ramifications or consequences is just ignorant sir. And that they turn a blind eye to one individual who was trying to raise awareness at a time when it honestly needed to be raised.

What kind of [BLEEP] message is the NFL sending with their hypocrisy here? We'll condone black athletes for fitting stereotypical trends off the field and give them multiple chances. Not a problem there. But, a black athlete daring to be a voice for the voiceless at the largest potential stage with the highest impact at a peaceful level until the media keeps poking and prodding at it? No, we can't have that. No way in hell can we condone that.

Those behaviors you describe are handled by the criminal justice system when appropriate and by the League office in every case. As a society we generally don't care about those things as our spending patterns indicate. We do care about Kaepernick's behaviors as those patterns also indicate. If the outcry against Joe Wifebeater was the same as that against CK then the League would react differently because we, the money, would demonstrate our interest about those things with our money. It also matters that CK isn't all that talented; much like Tebow his circus is bigger than his value.

I understand where you're coming from. I honestly do. The criminal justice system has it's own role to play. I am still not aiming at that here though. I can't help but once again, circle back to the NFL owners and the hypocrisy it clearly gives off to society. 

Society does care about those things. Michael Vick and Ray Rice rightfully had their [BLEEP] handed to them by society and the criminal justice system. Vick ended up being given another chance. Rice didn't. And that's because his Mike Tyson K.O was caught on camera. And that's the only reason he didn't get another chance. 

Even though that happens yearly in the NFL on various teams from multiple players. It's just kept quiet internally and condoned in silence when these low lives still manage to keep their jobs after getting a little love tap on the wrist for two, three or four weeks and a little tiny fine that barely puts a dent in their salary. 

As far as "talent". That's up to the eyes of the beholders. Some people on this forum actually think Blake Bortles is a solid QB. Some people think Tom Brady isn't the greatest QB to ever play the game. It'll always vary and differ based on how you measure an athlete's worth. 

So I won't keep going down that path. My biggest problem is the hypocrisy of it all. As an organization. How can you look at yourselves in the mirror knowing you'll let real life, off the field offenses go by you with little to no real, true, impactful punishment? And then completely black sheep another player for trying to start a fair and honest conversation that a lot of us don't want to have at the end of the day. 

And why aren't we grilling the NFL for docking our military with price tags to wear their colors and put garbage on them? And why haven't we grilled the NFL for deciding until 2007 or 2009 to salute and pay tribute to our military? There's just so many landmines of hypocrisy here and they all deserve to be called out on it. 

As I've said previously. Do I think Colin is the greatest QB out there? No. Is he potentially a better option over a good portion of the NFL's current QB situations? Absolutely. Do I agree with everything Colin stood for or stands for? No. Not all cops are bad. Hell, I've seen just as many reasons on film as to why some cops do have an itchy trigger finger. Again, goes both ways. It's a two way street. The Castro shirt he was wearing and the reasoning behind that was also foolish. Didn't agree with that either. 

But, somehow as a society. We've reached a point where somehow, some way, an athlete taking a knee for his own personal beliefs in peace is now more unforgivable and less offensive than the scumbags that are currently on rosters that have had one, two, or sometimes three cases of offenses that would have cost the average Joe his job without hesitating. 

I just can't shake that as a human being. It's hard to fathom. But, then again, it's about money, and it's about greed. So I get it from that perspective. It's disgusting. But I get it. 

As far as him messing up the integrity on the field? I don't get that either. You want to talk about integrity on the field being soiled? Look no further than New England on more than one occasion. Look no further than New Orleans with the head hunting and bounty games they had during their best season in franchise history. I am sure I can find more examples of this if I really wanted to and tried. 

It's just a shame.

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(08-09-2017, 01:47 PM)americus 2.0 Wrote:

(08-09-2017, 08:24 AM)Caldrac Wrote: It circles back to the hypocritical nature of the NFL in general though. It's okay to slap your wife around (as long as it's not seen on video) and it's perfectly okay to abuse your son and go to court about it but you'll get a chance or multiple chances again in the NFL.

It's okay to take illegal substances a few times and get fined and suspended for it but you'll still get another chance in the NFL. It's perfectly cool to do cocaine, get a DUI, kill someone with a vehicle, make a fool of yourself off the field and be involved with rape and murder allegations whether guilty or not and still get another chance in the NFL.

It's perfectly cool to be caught up in cheating and spying allegations and bounty allegations and investigations and get a small fine or slap on the wrist about it. And you can carry on with your career in due time.

That's the kind of message the NFL owners are sending to America. And it's easy to see why black people are getting hot and bothered by it. Any decent human being can see the hypocrisy of that. And it should be called out again and again.

Colin has never had any off the field issues that I am aware of. At least not made publicly. He's been on winning teams. He's been to a Superbowl. He's had some pretty good performances to get there. A few in particular that you rarely see. Such as a win in the snow in New England. When he had to actually step up and out perform Brady after he dismantled their "vaunted" defense that particular year. Something that had not happened in ten years.

You can't tell me that our team, along with teams like Cleveland, the New York Jets, Buffalo, Chicago, Los Angeles Rams, the tinhorns out in Houston and roughly more than 50% of the NFL can't use a QB of his caliber at the minimum as a back-up or a potential starter in the event something happens to their rookies, overpriced QB pick-ups from free agency or turnover machines they currently have installed as their "starter".

I am not going to say I know more than some of these multi billionaire owners of the NFL. But I do know your win and loss record dictates how successful you are. And I also know you can point at a good amount of these teams with really bad win and loss records over the past decade that can be singled back to the QB being pretty much garbage. Like ours.

So. I'll admit it. I am hypocrite myself. I'll still watch the NFL because I love football. I always have. Always will. But, to say Colin doesn't have a place in it as far as experience, ability and potential is an ignorant statement to make. And no matter how people want to dissect it or slice it up. Often times your political views and stances betray your words.

I'll call anybody out on that too. I don't give a [BLEEP] if you're a blowhard liberal, conservative, democrat or republican. You have to call it as you see it. Without hiding behind the flag, bible or children. Or behind what your great, great grandpappy or daddy did way back when.

Take a stand. Own up to your hypocrisies. Because that's all this is at the end of the day. You can do things illegally and still have a job. But if you exercise a legal right that was set up by our founding fathers who also fought tyranny and oppression for a hope of a new world. Or if you try to start a conversation that's been an issue in a country for just north of 50 years when things started turning a new corner for hopefully the better. Back to the bread line for you.

That's what the NFL is showing here. That's not an opinion at this point. That's looking more and more like the truth of it by the day.

Being judged by the court of public opinion is often worse for these folks than anything an actual court could do to them- if they even make it to court- and if the crime is 'bad enough.' 

As for the hypocrisy issue, in life we are hypocrites and don't even know it, or we don't care as long as it's not That Company. We swear we won't buy from XYZ because they're too conservative/liberal, we won't give our money to JKL because they do/don't cater to the LGBTQ folks, etc. I have a ultra conservative friend who has refused to give money to Starbucks because of their views. Yet she will give her money to another coffee giant whose views are the same, just not advertised as much as Starbucks, but she knows. 

I know I have reacted strongly to things in the past, a knee jerk reaction. After having time to calm down and really think about it, I realize my initial reaction was out of pride instead of reason. Most of the time we react based on emotion, pride being the main one, simply because someone went against how we believe something to be. We don't think about anything other than our views. We don't try to see things from another perspective. I try to tell my very conservative friends that being open minded about a thing doesn't mean you agree with it, it means you're willing to listen and try and understand a different point of view even if you end up agreeing to disagree. 

I don't agree with anyone disrespecting the flag in any way or for any reason. I do respect their right to do so. For me the flag is a visual reminder of the sacrifices made by men and women in uniform. To me, for someone to disrespect the flag is to say those sacrifices don't matter. That pisses me off. Straight up. However, the flag means different things to different people and that's what I try to remember when I see it not given the respect I feel it deserves.

I have similar views. I have ultra conservative friends. I have ultra liberal friends. I have friends from the LGBT community and I have friends that will take you out to the gun range and proudly rub their right to bare arms and their NRA card in your face. Totally, totally cool with all of that. I get it. 

I used to go bonkers when I saw people stepping on our flag, whipping their [BLEEP] with our flag or burning our flag. Now all I do is just shake my head and pity them. Sure, it's not perfect here. But, having had many friends from all around the world specifically come to our country for the freedoms it affords makes me sad. It makes them sad too. A lot of snowflakes here have no idea how good they've had it for the most part. And it could always be 10x harder or worse in X, Y & Z for the most part. 

I generally stand right in the middle of things though. Dead center. I am conservative when it comes to constitutional rights, family values and freedoms. Especially when it comes to guns and religion. Even though I am not personally nor heavily involved in either of those fields or aspects. But I also believe there's two genders only. And I also believe marijuana should be completely legal everywhere. And I believe the Government shouldn't have the right to tell a woman what she can or can't do with her body. I believe in gay marriage and equality. 

I think our economic and welfare system is a joke. And I think our education system needs an enema. I probably sound like I am all over the place. I believe in the separation of church and state and feel they aught to pay their fair share of taxes like everyone else if they want a proper seat at the table. But that's just how I view things. I am ultimately a cynical pessimist I suppose. For me it boils down to context and the nature in which it was conducted. And that's why it's hard for me to stay quiet about this issue. Because I think in fairness the context was right at the time. And the nature was peaceful.

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