It Is NOT Ok.

What Can We Do About the NFL?

We can stop watching for one.  We can also stop buying the products and services from companies who support the National Football League through sponsorship and advertising.  We can turn to the NBA or Major League Soccer, where the players, many of them not from the United States, stand at midcourt or midfield before every game while the National Anthem is performed – and stand WITH respect.

There are a number of ways to tell NFL players that they are wrong to disrespect the National Anthem and our Flag.  I find it humiliating and embarrassing that grown men (well, at least age-wise) cannot reconcile that disrespecting the National Anthem and Flag sends a really bad message to most Americans, nonetheless our youth who for some reason look up to a lot of these players.  As I have stated in previous posts, the right to express your opinion and the freedom of speech are some of the cornerstones of being an American, but just like protests that get out of hand, the disrespectful displays at most NFL venues we have witnessed over the last few weeks needs to stop, and stop now.

I am proud of the number of people I have talked to in the last two weeks who have told me they are done watching the NFL, at least in the short term.  A friend of mine explained it to me this way: “why should I spend 3 1/2 hours on a Sunday watching football played by people who disrespect America when I can support teams like Atlanta United? “Besides, Saturday’s are for football.”

I am not a hypocrite. I was raised supporting the Miami Dolphins of the NFL.  I spent many years in the Atlanta area and I have been and I still am a big supporter of the Atlanta Falcons.  What I am now realizing is that the NFL and most of their players don’t care about the people who have protected our country and served in the military.  Their path of protest is demeaning and unjustified. Seriously, did one of more talented wide receivers in the NFL, after scoring a touchdown, get on all fours and lift his leg? Who, in their right mind, would take the time to watch players behave like morons?  (As a side note, the NFL fined the player a grand total of $12,000…..a player whose annual salary this year $1.8m and is guaranteed $8.2m next year).

I would love to hear from some of the NFL players of the past, the men who through blood, sweat and tears (and little pay) made the NFL a thread of American life.  It would be great for Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, Willie Lanier, and Mean Joe Greene to bust down a locker room door before a game a send a message to these spoiled, low-life brats.  A message, I would assume, that today’s players would never forget.

It is a new month and hopefully some this nonsense stops soon.  Adios and have a Funday Sunday.