football today. I would like to think everyone unites and they play football

He elevated acts of peaceful protest to an ersatz patriotism test. This will get a lot worse before it gets betters. The Potard In Chief has set management against players and players against themselves.

He is trying to destroy sports because he is an gelatinous mess who was never any good at them, his claims he could have been the next Babe Ruth notwithstanding.

He dared the players to engineer more.

I hope everyone, players, coaches, even referees take a knee in a show of solidarity against our rascist pResident.
I can't think of anything that would garner more respect for the NFL.
It's great to see this gesture spreading from the NFL to MLB, hopefully it spreads all the way down to high school, junior high and little league.
It's a small token gesture but one that makes the masses aware of the one giant stain on our history, rascism. Old white men like trump just don't get it, the kids do. Before this season is over I'd like to see players kneeling at every high school football field in America, that would be real progress.

and those in the stadium walk out. Then what happens?

and some in the stands might take a knee, too.

We have nothing in common with them and they have nothing in common with us, except for sharing a piece of real estate. The divide is as natural as a geographical fault line. Trump has just brought the divide to the fore and made us look at ourselves.

when you have answered my question you will be answering your own

Dissent is patriotic.

You equate a silent respectful protest against racism with.... what? A handful of white spectators who might be so offended that a football player is allowed to silently protest racism that they actually walk the fuck out of the stadium?

Really? REALLY?

issue. How do you handle AAs who don't agree with you? Where in this picture does my biracial granddaughter fit in?

The National Anthem should be a unifying moment. Just my opinion as you have yours. I will fight for your right to speak, to protest whether I agree with it or not. I just don't understand why we can't have a moment where we don't see color but talent

.....with their livelihoods if they do. Fuck him.

and many other things. I hate to argue with folks here

There really are not "two sides" to this issue.

The President is a fucking dictator. Period. That's what you should be outraged about.

The President of the United States is now moving on to threatening people's livelihoods if they don't conform to his view that it's not an appropriate place to protest.

Do you think there's an "appropriate" penalty then? All ears.

He obviously has no control over the teams or the league.

If it is truly a free speech issue, those who want to kneel can do so and those who prefer to stand can do as they choose as well.

The penalty, if any, can only be imposed by the team owner or the league.

If the owners and league didn't take action!

You see nothing wrong with that? This is essentially a totally unprovoked attack! Players ARE exercising their free speech just fine, but he's sticking his nose in to mess with the people's speech he doesn't approve of. I.E...not worshipping his fat white supremacist ass!

And you're fine with this? No problems at all?

Got it

They have your answer. Or (gasp!) try googling it.

Americans walk out of an NFL game? What a hoot. Most of us don't even vote.

From his failures. This time it's the shitty healthcare bill.

I wish someone would take his toys away

There can't be a single NFL coach, owner, or player who is not pissed off with Trump.

And for those who aren't at the game, the best way to send a message is actually to turn on the game.

Trump wants ratings to plummet. He wants millions and millions of Americans to purposely not watch football today.

Best way to combat that is to turn your TV on to football today, even if you aren't watching it. As long as the TV is on Fox or CBS during a game, it's being counted for the ratings.

I'm wondering what would happen if every Black athlete
took a week off from their respective sports in support
of Colin K and LeBron J.

Enjoy your stay.....

But I would hope everyone takes a knee or sits in solidarity.

It will be fewer than hoped for.

hoped for? By whom?

The whole team should refuse to take the field after halftime. That way everyone would know they were making a statement with a stadium full of fans and no game.

As it is now, the anthem is not televised, so the only people that can even see a protest are the ones at the game. This way the whole country would know what it was about

they have the pre-game ceremony, some folks standing, some kneeling, some sitting.

Then they play the games.

I suspect some players will be asking themselves why today is different than every other day.

at least in the community service side of things. They generally stay out of politics publicly, which is to be expected. But modern athletes are much better educated and connected than in the past.

The truth is, many pro athletes are Repubs, that kind of comes with making shitloads of money. But many athletes also came from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the condition of being black in America is not always solved by getting rich. In some ways, this current flurry of protests was triggered by a player from the Seahawks, Michael Bennett, who was detained by the Las Vegas police after an event. He alleges being mistreated and intimidated. The LVPD and the union disagree. Who do we believe in the current atmosphere? BTW, Bennett is a Defensive lineman, he is not a small man. I'm sure the cops thought they "had" to intimidate him because of that. Since then, Bennett has sat out the anthem, feeling that he is not protected in ways that many of us take our rights and safety for granted. His white team mate, Justin Britt has been standing next to him, with a hand on the man's shoulder. Standing, yes, but supporting his friend and brother.

If you are a large strong black man you are particularly scary to white police.