The reality is trumpeters are more offended by players taking a knee in silent protest than a complete jerk mocking an ACTUAL POW.

Spoiled little draft dodger that he is.

---

As a Veteran and Conservative allow me to express my opinion on this whole mess.

It started with one player at first sitting, then taking a knee during The National Anthem (Kapernick).  This happened during last season under a different President when the country was already pretty divided.  It is my understanding that he did it to "protest" his perceived "racial inequality" and "police abuse towards blacks".  A few other players joined him, though it wasn't widely televised or spread.  I personally didn't think that his platform, time and place was the proper way to do it, but it's all in hindsight.  It's also very much his right to do so.

Throughout the off-season and even into the preseason, the MSM was reporting on the player not having a job.  Some said it was because of his "protest" actions while others said it was because of his talent or lack thereof.  That's a whole other debate, but the fact of the matter is the media kept pushing the story line, much like the Michael Sam story line of just a couple of short years ago.

Fast forward to this past week/weekend.  President Trump opened his mouth (wrong thing to do in my opinion) and the media immediately picked up on it.  Do I agree with The President?  In some aspects yes in that I would not use our National Anthem as a form of protest by any means.  However, how he worded it was very wrong and only "added fuel to the fire" of our divided country.

Many players and teams had issues with that and teams were scrambling with a way to deal with it.  Coach Mike Tomlin explained it the best in that the team was going to do something "united and together as a team".  Their choice was to try to remove themselves from the politics by staying off the field during The Anthem.  It wasn't a "snub" towards The Anthem, The Flag, the military or veterans.  They just didn't want any part of it.  Unfortunately, the MSM didn't report it that way.

The Jaguars chose to lock arms with one another in a display of unity during The Anthem including the owner of the franchise, players that stood and players that took a knee.

The media (see a pattern here yet?) made it out to be more than what it really was.

Quite frankly I see teams and players uniting more than dividing, and that's not a bad thing.  Using The National Anthem and display of The Flag is probably not the right venue for doing so, but one thing that it did accomplish was to get people talking about it, the same way that President Trump should not have said what he did, but at least it got a conversation going.

My hope is that this whole thing fades away and that we do work together to fix whatever problems that we have as a society.

---

There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

The reality is trumpeters are more offended by players taking a knee in silent protest than a complete jerk mocking an ACTUAL POW.  

Spoiled little draft dodger that he is.

I never looked at it like that. That is rather ironic isn't it?

---

There might be a little flurry this week, the coaches will shut this down after that.

---

1. Not being guilty of the crime for which the police were there to investigate is irrelevant.

2. Not being charged with obstruction doesn't mean he didn't obstruct the investigation. Often, people are released simply because the hassle isn't worth the charge. For example, in Georgia, if you're in a place (behind the slot machine) not usual for law-abiding citizens AND you take flight upon seeing the police, you've committed a crime. On this note, the police have to afford you an opportunity to explain why you were there, and if they believe it's sufficient then they can release you. Hell, you can be the owner of the business you were behind, if you ran when you saw them then you still committed the crime.

This doesn't mean Michael Bennett didn't commit a crime. 

3. & 4. If Michael Bennett is hiding behind slot machine and waits until the police show up to start running, then he's begging for their attention. No one else on their video did what he did. This isn't like the shooting happened and he started running. The shooting happened, and he hid behind slot machine. He waited for a while, and when the police see him, he takes off running. Not only does he take off running, he jumps a barrier and runs into traffic.

Surely you don't believe this is normal behavior.

Also, if I was that officer, and I thought I was chasing someone with a gun--and his actions supported involvement (which it does)--then I would absolutely threaten to shoot him if I thought it would keep him from actually pulling a gun.

2.  If Bennett were released upon potential obstruction of justice because the police did not think the hassle was worth the charge, then why in the world would the charge of obstruction of justice be worth the "hassle" of putting a gun to the head of an unarmed black man?

3 & 4  For you and I, perhaps it is abnormal.  I would not run for myriad reasons.  I was always taught to be courteous and comply with the police, even if you disagree with the reasoning behind the interaction.  At this stage of my life, I am not sufficiently athletic enough to elicit more than laughter from any officer who had to "chase" me if I lost my senses and ran.  Honestly, I have been fortunate enough to have never been arrested-or shot- and I'd like to keep it that way.  But perhaps if you grew up where Bennett grew up, perhaps if you grew up where police mistrust ran rampant, perhaps if you had interactions or knew of unjust interactions with police that increased distrust or fear, perhaps that is a normal-or at least understandable- response for him and those with similar experiences.  Granted, the interest of maintaining order would mandate some police action in that instance.

Being a surviving relative of a Law Enforcement Officer killed in the line of duty, I'm all about officers ending their shifts going home to their families safely.  But there has to be a limit..a reasonable balance between self preservation and citizens right to life.

Because they aren't putting a gun to his head because he's obstructing the investigation, they're putting a gun to his head because they think he's shooter... you know, because he decided to run when they saw him. You have the luxury of saying that they did this to unarmed black man. Do you think they thought he was unarmed? Did his behavior support being unarmed or uninvolved? Do you think they cared what race he was? Don't get it twisted. He did something incredibly stupid at the worst possible time, and he was treated like a suspect because he acted like one.

It's abnormal because it's abnormal. Police only need to act on the reasonableness standard when dealing with detaining potential suspects. Was it reasonable to detain someone and treat him like a suspect if he runs upon sight of the police and flees into traffic? I'd say that it is. This idea that police simply go around violating everyone's rights is laughable. There are around one million LEOs. Of course there will be bad examples, but there are millions upon millions of police-to-citizens encounters every day and nothing ever happens. Just because Bennett got it into his head that he felt like he needed to run because of some made-up injustices, it doesn't make what he did any smarter. 

I'm curious where you stand. Do you think they bypassed all of those black men and women and targeted Bennett because of his race? If not, then why do you keep mentioning his race. If so, how do you explain why they targeted him.

---

Many players and teams had issues with that and teams were scrambling with a way to deal with it. Coach Mike Tomlin explained it the best in that the team was going to do something "united and together as a team". Their choice was to try to remove themselves from the politics by staying off the field during The Anthem. It wasn't a "snub" towards The Anthem, The Flag, the military or veterans. They just didn't want any part of it. Unfortunately, the MSM didn't report it that way.

You mean how he chewed out the one player that has respect for our flag? Or how the owner sent a letter pleading to the fans to not abandon them? It is going to get worse IMO. A lot of fans are now burning their NFL stuff and tickets. The issue is the President shouldn't have gotten involved in entertainment and the players shouldn't have gotten into politics. A recipe for disaster and it's playing out.

---

They aren't "raising awareness." People are already very aware that inequality and racism exists. Some deny its existence but the protests aren't going to change any minds. And the protesters apparently are UNaware that nearly twice the percentage of white criminals are killed by the police than black criminals. Apparently they are also UNaware that more than half of the cops-shoot-blacks stories are left wing racist spin. Ideally the number of innocents shot by cops should be zero. That includes the greater percentage of non-black innocents shot by cops. The country is doing what it can to eliminate this but you can't always predict what a cop will do until it's too late.

The players who protest may claim they love their country and the military. But the result is that a player who protests during the National Anthem is blaming his country and insulting the military by his actions, whether or not it was the intent, to protest the actions of a few bad apples. The country in general and specifically the US military have nothing to do with the bad cops.

Well the protest was centered around police brutality so I guess they got that one right. Why not have a very simply rule that body cams must be mandatory? More so than a gun or any other piece of equipment. At very least it would help some of those contentious cases..

The cowboys knelt before the anthem and stood when it was played and were resoundly booed and criticized for doing so by their fans. So let's not pretend this is all about the flag and the anthem. The players are protesting because they love the country not because they hate it, but that's how it's being spun by idiots.

As jj pointed out, if the message is misconstrued by 75% of the population, then it's a stupid way to protest. And that's assuming that they were actually protesting police brutality and not the United States. Kaep in particular was extolling the Castro government as being better than the US, so there has been an anti-American factor in the protests.

The National Anthem, the Federal government, and the US military have no control over whether or not a cop turns bad. Most of these cases occurred in cities run by socialist Democrats, hardly the ones who would be expected to be complicit in hiring racists as cops. Even those most ardently concerned with racism or police brutality aren't going to make the right hires 100% of the time.

The Cowboys were booed because the fans thought they were going to kneel throughout the anthem, since they did it right before the anthem. If they weren't trying to sow confusion they could have taken a knee and then stood 5 minutes before the anthem, not 5 seconds.

---

                                                                          

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

Many players and teams had issues with that and teams were scrambling with a way to deal with it.  Coach Mike Tomlin explained it the best in that the team was going to do something "united and together as a team".  Their choice was to try to remove themselves from the politics by staying off the field during The Anthem.  It wasn't a "snub" towards The Anthem, The Flag, the military or veterans.  They just didn't want any part of it.  Unfortunately, the MSM didn't report it that way.

You mean how he chewed out the one player that has respect for our flag? Or how the owner sent a letter pleading to the fans to not abandon them? It is going to get worse IMO. A lot of fans are now burning their NFL stuff and tickets. The issue is the President shouldn't have gotten involved in entertainment and the players shouldn't have gotten into politics. A recipe for disaster and it's playing out.

I agree with this statement 100%.

---

Well the protest was centered around police brutality so I guess they got that one right. Why not have a very simply rule that body cams must be mandatory? More so than a gun or any other piece of equipment. At very least it would help some of those contentious cases..

The cowboys knelt before the anthem and stood when it was played and were resoundly booed and criticized for doing so by their fans. So let's not pretend this is all about the flag and the anthem. The players are protesting because they love the country not because they hate it, but that's how it's being spun by idiots.

As jj pointed out, if the message is misconstrued by 75% of the population, then it's a stupid way to protest. And that's assuming that they were actually protesting police brutality and not the United States. Kaep in particular was extolling the Castro government as being better than the US, so there has been an anti-American factor in the protests.

The National Anthem, the Federal government, and the US military have no control over whether or not a cop turns bad. Most of these cases occurred in cities run by socialist Democrats, hardly the ones who would be expected to be complicit in hiring racists as cops. Even those most ardently concerned with racism or police brutality aren't going to make the right hires 100% of the time.

The Cowboys were booed because the fans thought they were going to kneel throughout the anthem, since they did it right before the anthem. If they weren't trying to sow confusion they could have taken a knee and then stood 5 minutes before the anthem, not 5 seconds.

This whole protest thing has been completely confusing and when people are confused, the point you are trying make via the protest, is completely lost. Therefore it was pointless. 99% of the problem was that Colin Kaepernick is a poor spokesman for any issue. He was a backup QB who thinks he was better than what he actually was on the field and priced himself out of the market. The Che Guevara and Fidel Castro shirts, as well as the pig socks, (where they were dressed like cops), turned a lot of people off. He appears to be some kind of trouble maker. You can't come at people like that. When people saw his antics, they formed an immediate opinion and refused to listen to the rest of the message. Kaepernick is directly responsible for the message getting lost. If he would have been more subtle and respectful, maybe Trump wouldn't have added his opinion, (that nobody asked for) and this thing wouldn't have turned into such a fiasco.

---

As jj pointed out, if the message is misconstrued by 75% of the population, then it's a stupid way to protest. And that's assuming that they were actually protesting police brutality and not the United States. Kaep in particular was extolling the Castro government as being better than the US, so there has been an anti-American factor in the protests.

The National Anthem, the Federal government, and the US military have no control over whether or not a cop turns bad. Most of these cases occurred in cities run by socialist Democrats, hardly the ones who would be expected to be complicit in hiring racists as cops. Even those most ardently concerned with racism or police brutality aren't going to make the right hires 100% of the time.

The Cowboys were booed because the fans thought they were going to kneel throughout the anthem, since they did it right before the anthem. If they weren't trying to sow confusion they could have taken a knee and then stood 5 minutes before the anthem, not 5 seconds.

This whole protest thing has been completely confusing and when people are confused, the point you are trying make via the protest, is completely lost. Therefore it was pointless. 99% of the problem was that Colin Kaepernick is a poor spokesman for any issue. He was a backup QB who thinks he was better than what he actually was on the field and priced himself out of the market. The Che Guevara and Fidel Castro shirts, as well as the pig socks, (where they were dressed like cops), turned a lot of people off. He appears to be some kind of trouble maker. You can't come at people like that. When people saw his antics, they formed an immediate opinion and refused to listen to the rest of the message. Kaepernick is directly responsible for the message getting lost. If he would have been more subtle and respectful, maybe Trump wouldn't have added his opinion, (that nobody asked for) and this thing wouldn't have turned into such a fiasco.

I agree with this.

Basically, nobody wins. The fans lose their enjoyment of the game. The networks lose viewers and thus advertising revenue. The NFL loses fans and broadcast-rights revenue. Merchandise sales will plummet.

Kaep started this mess. He originally was called out for sitting during the anthem, not kneeling, and I suspect it was just because he was either lazy or unhappy about not starting, and later came up with the police brutality claim as an excuse. A few other players jumped in, but all-in-all it was a minor factor.

It might have eventually gone away had the media not continuously pounded a "Kaep was blackballed" story. Then Trump made it 100x worse by weighing in during a campaign speech. Even then, if Trump's statement was just ignored as the meaningless babble it was, things would have been salvageable. But the media, then Goodell and some of the owners had to fuel the fire.

Right now there's no end in sight.

---

                                                                          

"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

As a Veteran and Conservative allow me to express my opinion on this whole mess.

It started with one player at first sitting, then taking a knee during The National Anthem (Kapernick).  This happened during last season under a different President when the country was already pretty divided.  It is my understanding that he did it to "protest" his perceived "racial inequality" and "police abuse towards blacks".  A few other players joined him, though it wasn't widely televised or spread.  I personally didn't think that his platform, time and place was the proper way to do it, but it's all in hindsight.  It's also very much his right to do so.

Throughout the off-season and even into the preseason, the MSM was reporting on the player not having a job.  Some said it was because of his "protest" actions while others said it was because of his talent or lack thereof.  That's a whole other debate, but the fact of the matter is the media kept pushing the story line, much like the Michael Sam story line of just a couple of short years ago.

Fast forward to this past week/weekend.  President Trump opened his mouth (wrong thing to do in my opinion) and the media immediately picked up on it.  Do I agree with The President?  In some aspects yes in that I would not use our National Anthem as a form of protest by any means.  However, how he worded it was very wrong and only "added fuel to the fire" of our divided country.

Many players and teams had issues with that and teams were scrambling with a way to deal with it.  Coach Mike Tomlin explained it the best in that the team was going to do something "united and together as a team".  Their choice was to try to remove themselves from the politics by staying off the field during The Anthem.  It wasn't a "snub" towards The Anthem, The Flag, the military or veterans.  They just didn't want any part of it.  Unfortunately, the MSM didn't report it that way.

The Jaguars chose to lock arms with one another in a display of unity during The Anthem including the owner of the franchise, players that stood and players that took a knee.

The media (see a pattern here yet?) made it out to be more than what it really was.

Quite frankly I see teams and players uniting more than dividing, and that's not a bad thing.  Using The National Anthem and display of The Flag is probably not the right venue for doing so, but one thing that it did accomplish was to get people talking about it, the same way that President Trump should not have said what he did, but at least it got a conversation going.

My hope is that this whole thing fades away and that we do work together to fix whatever problems that we have as a society.

Very well said.  I agree with all of that.

---

This whole protest thing has been completely confusing and when people are confused, the point you are trying make via the protest, is completely lost. Therefore it was pointless. 99% of the problem was that Colin Kaepernick is a poor spokesman for any issue. He was a backup QB who thinks he was better than what he actually was on the field and priced himself out of the market. The Che Guevara and Fidel Castro shirts, as well as the pig socks, (where they were dressed like cops), turned a lot of people off. He appears to be some kind of trouble maker. You can't come at people like that. When people saw his antics, they formed an immediate opinion and refused to listen to the rest of the message. Kaepernick is directly responsible for the message getting lost. If he would have been more subtle and respectful, maybe Trump wouldn't have added his opinion, (that nobody asked for) and this thing wouldn't have turned into such a fiasco.

I agree with this.

Basically, nobody wins. The fans lose their enjoyment of the game. The networks lose viewers and thus advertising revenue. The NFL loses fans and broadcast-rights revenue. Merchandise sales will plummet.

Kaep started this mess. He originally was called out for sitting during the anthem, not kneeling, and I suspect it was just because he was either lazy or unhappy about not starting, and later came up with the police brutality claim as an excuse. A few other players jumped in, but all-in-all it was a minor factor.

It might have eventually gone away had the media not continuously pounded a "Kaep was blackballed" story. Then Trump made it 100x worse by weighing in during a campaign speech. Even then, if Trump's statement was just ignored as the meaningless babble it was, things would have been salvageable. But the media, then Goodell and some of the owners had to fuel the fire.

Right now there's no end in sight.

I agree with most of that except for the last part about Goodell and the owners.  Trump attacked the players and the league, and the owners decided, rightly, that their best course of action was to defend the players.

---

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

---

The reality is trumpeters are more offended by players taking a knee in silent protest than a complete jerk mocking an ACTUAL POW.  

Spoiled little draft dodger that he is.

I'm sure Donald enjoys going home at night and telling Melania how gullible some Americans can be.

If John McCain was a loser for getting shot down and becoming a pow, can you imagine what he thinks of those who served in Vietnam?

Talk about losers! Some of them lost a limb or even died. What schmucks. They couldn't even figure out a way to get out of it. Some even volunteered!

And now he's playing those very same losers into doing his bidding in the culture wars.

Donald must think there are a whole lot of "low information voters" out there. And he knows he can count on them.

---

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

You think? And people don't even know they're being played.

---

The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

DING DING DING!

---

Original Season Ticket Holder - Retired  1995 - 2020


At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.
 

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

---

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

Try again.

How about the fact that his health care bill is being rejected.... again. He's gotta feel good about himself somehow and bashing the NFL is how he does it.

Keep thinking Donald is the king though.

---

Why does Trump continue to talk about this issue? He's clearly not helping either side on the matter.

The more he talks, the more the players get angry and continue protesting. The more the players protest, the angrier some fans get. It's almost like he's creating a diversion from real problems.....

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

North Korea?
Illegal Immigration? 
Terrorism?
Puerto Rico?

---

Original Season Ticket Holder - Retired  1995 - 2020


At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.
 

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

Try again.

How about the fact that his health care bill is being rejected.... again. He's gotta feel good about himself somehow and bashing the NFL is how he does it.

Keep thinking Donald is the king though.

An 80 year old receiving treatment for glioblastoma at Mayo Clinic is rejecting the health care bill that will help out Americans seeing up to a 200% increase in their health care premiums. This tells you everything you need to know. Healthcare shouldn't be a partisan issue, but unfortunately the democrats and RINO's care more about seeing Trump's policies fail than providing relief to millions of Americans.

---

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

North Korea?
Illegal Immigration? 
Terrorism?
Puerto Rico?

Pretty sure those are being handled....

---

What "real problems" are you referring to? That Russian investigation? How's that going?

North Korea?
Illegal Immigration? 
Terrorism?
Puerto Rico?

Church shooting?
Little boy defends mom from abuse (dies)?
Venezuela call to arms against US?

These all would have definitely been topics of discussion around here if not overshadowed by this past weekends activities.

---

Try again.

How about the fact that his health care bill is being rejected.... again. He's gotta feel good about himself somehow and bashing the NFL is how he does it.

Keep thinking Donald is the king though.

An 80 year old receiving treatment for glioblastoma at Mayo Clinic is rejecting the health care bill that will help out Americans seeing up to a 200% increase in their health care premiums. This tells you everything you need to know. Healthcare shouldn't be a partisan issue, but unfortunately the democrats and RINO's care more about seeing Trump's policies fail than providing relief to millions of Americans.

---

North Korea?
Illegal Immigration? 
Terrorism?
Puerto Rico?

Pretty sure those are being handled....

Oh they are?

How would you know when Trump continues to bring up the NFL?

---