The NFL and the National Anthem

edmunddantes

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I've seen more confederate flags in pennsyltucky than I have in the (substantially greater) time I've spent in Texas. It's an odd place.

You may not be entirely wrong. G38 was born in Alaska, but his parents were from western PA and he grew up a Steelers / Pirates fan. It's not that common a name, wouldn't be surprised if it were a distant relative.
First college I went to was Dickinson in Carlisle PA and I grew up 10 minutes outside of the Philadelphia city limits. I went to Dickinson in 2004 and volunteered for the Kerry campaign there.

Rural Pa does have some differences with the Amish and Menonites (spelling on mobile) but excluding them... bottom line is you see the same ratio of truck nuts to trucks on the road and confederate flags are much more common in rural PA.

I don’t think this is just Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania is much worse than other states with large rural areas. YMMV.
Lots of confederate flags in rural ME where I grew up.
 

reggiecleveland

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I grew up in rural Saskatchewan. This is the province that began universal health care and was for years a stronghold of the farthest left of Canadian politics. But, today polls show that the rural areas support Trump at higher levels than rural USA, and are bastions of racism and white supremacy.
 

dcdrew10

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First college I went to was Dickinson in Carlisle PA and I grew up 10 minutes outside of the Philadelphia city limits. I went to Dickinson in 2004 and volunteered for the Kerry campaign there.

Rural Pa does have some differences with the Amish and Menonites (spelling on mobile) but excluding them... bottom line is you see the same ratio of truck nuts to trucks on the road and confederate flags are much more common in rural PA.

I don’t think this is just Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania is much worse than other states with large rural areas. YMMV.
My wife is from York, PA, which is has a pretty sizable ultra conservative white population, but my mind was blown when driving to a wedding in the rural area outside of York and I saw the number of Confederate flags flying at houses. We’re talking about an area that was invaded and captured by the Confederates and is about 30 miles from Gettysburg. It was like seeing a bunch of French people fly Nazi flags. I used to think Pennsylvania was a weird place but then I thought about my hometown, Charlton, Ma and the fact that crosses were being burned on people’s lawns in the 90s and I went to high school with people who flew the Stars and Bars on their trucks. Rural white people exist everywhere and many have conservative leanings.
 

soxhop411

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uncannymanny

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They should all do it. Management will have to choose to cave or forfeit 4 games in week 1 (with all of their ticket sales, concessions, merch, and blowback on the rest of the schedule).
 

Reverend

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They should all do it. Management will have to choose to cave or forfeit 4 games in week 1 (with all of their ticket sales, concessions, merch, and blowback on the rest of the schedule).
Interesting...

I mean, think of the law suits from season (seasons'? season's? seaons?) ticket holders.

So, "labor" (i.e. the players) is in the interesting... and rare... position of being able to put ownership on the hook for legal responsibility for the financial disaster that they can cause if they choose to... just by taking a knee?

Um... well played NFL...
 

Reverend

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I would love to learn the identity of the first NFL lawyer who totally freaked when he figured it out.
 

uncannymanny

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Heh. I wish the NFLPA had told them to pound sand, but they’re probably saving their bullets for contracts.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I don’t understand why the league hasn’t just covered its tracks as much as possible by keeping all players in the locker room for the anthem.
 

JimD

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Lol - I can't think of a better group to get completely maneuvered into the Neville Chamberlain role by Trump than NFL owners.
 

Cellar-Door

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The NFL is surprisingly bad at this. They should have waived at Trump and ignored him. The people who were worked up 100% aren't going to boycott the NFL long term, it wasn't happening. Trump has the attention span of a gnat, if they had just ignored him he'd have gotten bored and found a new target. Creating a rule brought it back up again, and now it's heading for a fight with the NFLPA and dragged out coverage.
 

Eddie Jurak

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The NFL is surprisingly bad at this. They should have waived at Trump and ignored him. The people who were worked up 100% aren't going to boycott the NFL long term, it wasn't happening. Trump has the attention span of a gnat, if they had just ignored him he'd have gotten bored and found a new target. Creating a rule brought it back up again, and now it's heading for a fight with the NFLPA and dragged out coverage.
I think that what really brought it back was the bad Russia press.
 

JakeRae

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I'm just dropping in to note that this does not alter my position with respect to the morality of continued support of the league. It's good they are walking this back but it does not alter the very clear message they sent when they enacted the policy in the first place.
 

Reverend

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I'm just dropping in to note that this does not alter my position with respect to the morality of continued support of the league. It's good they are walking this back but it does not alter the very clear message they sent when they enacted the policy in the first place.
I respect your position, but I must disagree in one significant detail.

I am significantly more likely to watch the intros to the 1pm games to see if all hell breaks loose before finding something else to do.
 

BigJimEd

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Which, until like 5 years ago, was exactly how it used to be (aside from the Super Bowl).
Not entirely true. In 2009, the NFL changed their routine for prime time games. Before then the anthem was played earlier due to the way TV covered those games and players would still be in locker room. But for Sunday afternoon games players were on the field during the anthem.


Also, game operations did address the anthem prior to this offseason. This policy goes back in some form or another to the 68 Olympics. Search Rozelle and Meggysey.

The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem.

During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.
 

Hoya81

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"Jerry Jones said the Cowboys are required to stand for the anthem. The ongoing discussions between the NFL and NFLPA have no bearing on the Cowboys. They will stand. He said President Trump's comments have become problematic. He wishes it would go away"

Jerry throwing finding another way to throw Roger under the bus.
 

jose melendez

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"Jerry Jones said the Cowboys are required to stand for the anthem. The ongoing discussions between the NFL and NFLPA have no bearing on the Cowboys. They will stand. He said President Trump's comments have become problematic. He wishes it would go away"

Jerry throwing finding another way to throw Roger under the bus.
To be clear he said all Cowboys need to be on the field and standing for the anthem. That's much worse. I wish so badly that just one elite player on the Cowboys would test him on this, to show the world how full of crap he is.

Also, in light of how upset everyone is by taking a knee, I propose the black power fist for all anthem singings.
 

allstonite

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Seriously. Even if you didn't give a shit or were neutral about the original cause for the kneeling (police brutality) it's now become a labor vs. management issue. Until these rules are negotiated in a CBA, if they ever actually are, every player should take a knee just as a show of unity against the owners and support for fellow players. I doubt it would happen but I'd love to see it
 

Reverend

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To be clear he said all Cowboys need to be on the field and standing for the anthem. That's much worse. I wish so badly that just one elite player on the Cowboys would test him on this, to show the world how full of crap he is.

Also, in light of how upset everyone is by taking a knee, I propose the black power fist for all anthem singings.
Meh.

 

grimshaw

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My college roommate once woke me up while drunk and told me not to forget to remember the titans.
I punched him in the throat.
 

Reverend

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Will someone, anyone, fix the spelling in the thread title?
Do you realize that, because I am dyslexic, you have now sexualized the title for me?

I'm not even a little bit kidding.

But I also would like to second the call for an editing of this thread title.
 

dbn

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Feb 10, 2007
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La Mancha.
Do you realize that, because I am dyslexic, you have now sexualized the title for me?

I'm not even a little bit kidding.

But I also would like to second the call for an editing of this thread title.
I hadn't previously noticed but now can't stop laughing. Keep it the way it is. It's almost even appropriate.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Never noticed it either, and I've read the title many times. It took me about a minute to spot the typo after being informed there was one. It's really odd because Bramdon Perez is driving me insane. I usually notice.
 

johnmd20

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I also never noticed the error. That's insane, man, I'm half convinced it was changed yesterday, specifically done to make me question my sanity.
 

DJnVa

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Admit it folks—you saw it was started by Soxhop and never really read the title.
 

koufax32

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Our fears are confirmed. Jon Abbey hates fun.

Penalty was misspelled as penality in the thread title.
 

Reverend

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Admit it folks—you saw it was started by Soxhop and never really read the title.
Hey, look, I don't know what their excuses are, but if I stopped at everything that "looked mispelled" to me I would never get anywhere. So I've always felt something was wrong, but never bothered to really look.

Although, I guess we know how common that is now in some shape or form.

Frankly, I'm now glad I got to participate in this. I feel very close to you, @dbn , @bosox79 , @johnmd20 , and even @uncannymanny now, even though it was a schooner.

I see this thread was started on May 22. Wow.