The really terrifying nightmare for the NFL is that the loyal fans who quit watching will discover they never needed them in the first place

Just play football.

What a concept !

Tell Goodell and Lockhart that.

I'm not buyin' it, Art. You had the chance to make sure everyone in your organization did the right thing, and what do we get from you instead? Chickenshit, that's what.

Instead of hiding in the locker room, make sure all players appear on the field and stand for the national anthem, and let them know that you will FIRE anyone- ANYONE- who violates your directive.

You're the Goddamend owner, aren't you? Try acting like an owner. Stop with the chickenshit. Show some balls.

I have my refund from Direct TV for the NFL ticket.

Good on ya. Do you think it's sinking in yet? Do you think these fools are figuring out just how badly they've screwed up?

I think they are realizing it, but they won't admit it.

Oh wait they don't get it,

Titans WR says he will kneel all season if he has to until President Trump apologizes to the poor NFL players.

But wait I thought this was for a cause, still not sure what cause but now the butt-hurt is strong with them.

just speculating,

but the fact that just one Steeler stood for the anthem, and that one person has been getting praise all over the internet, had to have pissed off the Steeler coach no end.

It made the rest of the team look like the cowards and anthem bashers that they are.

I know the former soldier apologized for "selling out his team", but I can only imagine the pressure that was put on him. I respect him, but I would respect him more if he had stood tall throughout.

As for Rooney, "interpreted as a boycott of the anthem" - bet your ass we do. how stupid do they think we are ?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I'm not buyin' it, Art. You had the chance to make sure everyone in your organization did the right thing, and what do we get from you instead? Chickenshit, that's what.

Instead of hiding in the locker room, make sure all players appear on the field and stand for the national anthem, and let them know that you will FIRE anyone- ANYONE- who violates your directive.

You're the Goddamend owner, aren't you? Try acting like an owner. Stop with the chickenshit. Show some balls.

^^^^^This, in spades!

And, yes, it's got to be sinking in.

Anyone here willing to start watching again if the NFL caves and penalizes kneeling?
I fucking won't because they had their chance to make this rule when it was simply the right thing to do. Anything beyond this point is damage control for their lost revenue.

Rooneys letter shows how effective the campaign against the NFL players kneeling is, perhaps he's telling the truth that the organization decided that staying in the background was the right way to stay out of the fray, and it backfired.

Would explain why Villanueva recanted, peer pressure from teammates, coaches and owners, one small step forward for Villanueva and 50 steps backwards for a bad idea for the Steelers.

It still shows the power of the boycott, the NFL has big time issues, they are going to have to address it, and doing what they have allowed is going to make it worse for them to remain a part of the social justice league of dickheads and walk that line with the players and fans, one side or the other is going to be pissed.

I think I could deal with upset millionaire players over the loss of half the fanbase who
write the checks...

DirecTV may not release the numbers, but you can be sure they are giving them to the NFL.

I don't think the full impact has hit them yet as they are still trying to find a foothold to get ahead of it (at least some are), but I suspect that by this coming Monday, reality is going to set it in in a very big way once they see what happens with the upcoming games. Unfortunately for the NFL, this is going to be one of these times where they can't put the crap back in the horse, at least for this season. I believe the NFL or even individual teams could immediately put into effect a mandatory "stand and honor" rule right now and most fans and viewers that are in disagreement with the nonsense (myself included) would probably not be swayed that they are trying to be genuine in recognizing their mistake and still tank the season, just to drive the point home.

I've found college football to be much more entertaining in recent years anyway, so I won't be watching.

The NFL rule book ALREADY requires teams to stand for the Anthem! They're ignoring it as is Goodell, that hypocritical left wing piece of shit!

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
The NFL rule book ALREADY requires teams to stand for the Anthem! They're ignoring it as is Goodell, that hypocritical left wing piece of shit!

Would be interesting to be able to confirm this! Can anyone share a link or rule book image?

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
The NFL rule book ALREADY requires teams to stand for the Anthem!

Where did you get this information?

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
The NFL rule book ALREADY requires teams to stand for the Anthem!

Where did you get this information?

Multiple news sources I saw said that policy was put in place in 2009.

Yeah, Tomlin fucked himself into a corner with his words about Villanueva after the game and tap dancing since.

Apparently it's not an NFL rule but is from the Operations Manual.
That makes it a policy.

It seems to me we had separate ops manuals and rule books when I was an owner in the IFL.

quote:

Originally posted by Dtech:
Unfortunately for the NFL, this is going to be one of these times where they can't put the crap back in the horse, ...

That's the way I see it.

If they'd quietly let it be known that future behaviour such as Kaepernick's would result in undesirable outcomes for the offenders, nipped it in the bud, they probably could've weathered the small crapstorm they would've got from the left. Instead they let it grow.

Now they're screwed. If they try to back the train up they'll collide with a massive protest, including, no doubt, destructive "demonstrations." If they keep going in the direction they're going, they're going to lose their most faithful fans--some, perhaps many, permanently.

I'm not going to say "put a fork in 'em, they're done," but it's looking like that's a possibility.

Play football. Ok.

Be apolitical on the field. Ok.

Protest real inequities off the field. Ok.

Disrespect the flag, anthem, military, LE and other symbols of our freedom. Never acceptable.

Again, protest real inequities but never disrespect the symbols. Abstaining to me is a show of disrespect - intentional or not. You can't abstain from showing respect.