We are on our way to shredding what is left of the Constitution. Why doesn't Goodell recognize this?

Stop the one, and we'll do the other.

I don't watch the NBA anymore because they force players to stand.
Glad to give up the NFL if they do the same.

before 2009 when the NFL started taking DOD money to have the players go out.

Knowing Goodell, people need to be prepared to eat $hit from joyous cons on social media ...

Let people enjoy non Olympic sports without a requisite dose of "patriotism".

Or at least also require that they stop selling beer in the stands during the anthem as well.

talented players, not substitutes or other scrubs.

they need the fans, and considering how the NFL ratings have become abysmal this season, I think the owners are going to do whatever they think the fans want.

And that may include no more pledges of allegiance or standing for the national anthem.
American democracy no longer exists since Russia hacked our election.
So what is the point?

The NA has nothing at all to do with the game of football

They just started with the players on the field 10 years ago.

They are shilling this a "rule change" They should stick to the rules of the game

A president should not be involved in this. Doesn't he have ANYTHING better to do?

He is an agent of chaos.

He has no right to ask what he's asking. IMO only Kaepernick can make this ask.

If the commissioner wants to ask the team leaders to support the movement, he can say that. To encourage the silencing of free speech -- that's a no go!

No they shouldn’t. Not if they fucking don’t want to.

So the Billionaire Owners and Trump ass kissers, had their paid stooge issue a Plantation Owners,mandatory Labor Compliance Ruling.

Next thing will be a Whipping Post in the End Zone for those who dare challenge the Mighty White Boss Man.

SAD.

sport he leads?

Keep the players in the locker room until after the Anthem is played. And why do they have to play the Anthem before every game. Most who attend games know what country they're in.

about ANY of these pro sports leagues. That said: Too bad the players don't have enough unity to just not show up to play. What would the owners and the leages do about that - fire everybody? Imagine the power of that! When these stupid sports teams start issuing checks for me to waste my Sundays in front of a TV, I might get excited. Although, maybe "excited" is stretching it.

Professional athletes are just like the rest of our nation's citizens. They all have different opinions.

It wouldn't surprise me to find that the divisions in our citizenry are paralleled in the ranks of athletes. There are a lot of players who supported Trump and his positions.

In short, I don't think that all of the players would go along with your suggestion. I wish they would, however.

how much does a average person pay for a ticket, $150.00 a piece in the nose bleed section, while you pull your little dictator shit.

You have the means asshole, to stop this nonsense, you are basically letting a fucking sexual predator and his worthless Penedjo lackeys inside Russia and outside Russia dictate the terms of freedom. I for one do not stand for the flag, and I do not sing the national racists anthem-----------------------why, because I don't have too, I don't have to make other people happy or sad and to make everyone feel good and show what unity, while I pay for jets to scream overhead or to make people take a big old flag and wave it up and down on the field.

Do you Goodell, that any part of that flag which touches the ground its is suppose to be burned, go on a military base and see how they raise and lower one, while everyone during and evening revelry has to stand and look to where the post is and salute.

I don't go to a game to play military , and I sure as hell don't go to a game and watch my thousands of tax dollars flying over head while I have a Congress and Penedjo sexual predator gutting my Medicare and Social Security to pay for this shit, while you and him and others make millions fucking people.

I just gotta ask Goodell, when was the last time that you heard this asshole sexual predator speak about the four soldiers that were killed in Niger .....................now that is something I can stand for before a game ----------------------to remember those four families and those four men, asshole.......................its about the Constitution, there is no mention of the "flag" in that document, no where

FUCK YOU

thats chicken feed for a GOP Oligarch !

watch the sport of football crumble from this utter BS.

That shit Goodell said right there. That is how you motivate Americans. "You can't." "You're not allowed." To whit, Americans tend to respond 'Fuck you', for better or worse on general principle.

There is often a cost for civil disobedience. It'll be interesting to see how the players respond. If enough continue kneeling or locking arms, that puts the NFL and owners in an interesting position. Will they fire the players? If they do nothing except huff and puff, they'll come across as the buffoons they are.

It's not about the flag or the anthem or patriotism.

It's about white policemen killing unarmed black civilians, in many cases kids. As another commenter observed, stop doing that, and they'll stop kneeling.

Everyone should be forced to stand for the anthem.............

Everyone knows this has nothing to do with patriotism and everything to do with submission.

Nothing say patriotism like a FAT CHECK...........

"Add in the fact that the NFL received millions of taxpayer dollars from the Department of Defense and the National Guard for patriotic displays, and it puts the entire Kaepernick hullabaloo in a different light. "Fans should have confidence that their hometown heroes are being honored because of their honorable military service, not as a marketing ploy," Senator John McCain, the Vietnam War veteran and P.O.W., said in a statement last year coinciding with "Tackling Paid Patriotism," a joint oversight report released by McCain and his fellow Arizona Republican Senator John Flake."


https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/yp89dj/stephen-a-smith-points-out-nfls-paid-patriotism-problem

Then stand with back to flag until not allowed.
Then stand with praying hands until ....

There is a huge principle at play here and I don't think the players will disappoint. I seriously doubt they'll let A-holes like dotard and his party, Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones, etc. stifle them. My money's on them doing the right thing and f*k the game and their BS narrative.

This is going to get very, very ugly before it's over:

Local labor union files complaint over Jerry Jones' anthem mandate
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20984095/labor-union-files-complaint-cowboys-jerry-jones-national-anthem-mandate-team

could act to remove the overtly racist third verse to the anthem

before they demand that African-Americans "honor" it.

And they are the same people who whine endlessly about political correctness,
but can't wait to force speech on others, as in standing for the anthem.

And actually, there are numerous legitimate reasons why someone might decline
to stand. For this Vietnam vet, it's the torture state.

People forget that Trump ran on an explicit torture platform - which somehow
the MSM neglected to highlight. Of course it is against both US and international
law.

I'm done standing to honor the torture state or its flag.

WTF, everybody take a knee this week! Celebrate the Constitution and what it stands for, the right for peaceful protest!!!!! Go to Hell Trump!

The proper way to salute the American flag after saying the pledge of allegiance, shame what happened to that...What is your point might I ask?

...and has a lot more to do with authoritarianism.

It's just without context your particular example could caused confusion for some.

judging by declining TV ratings, DirecTV returns, and merchandise sales.

While nearly everyone says they support "equality", not standing for the flag seems to have generated a negative response from the NFL's audience. The NFL is a business, and if they want to stay in business, they need to keep their audience happy.

..

do they have a CLUE regarding the irony of that bullshit?

And endlessly barrage the media with the truth about what this symbolizes, until 45 backs down.

I have a feeling it isn't going to go the way they think it is.

But this makes me want to go to one, just so I remain seated. It isn't freedom if it's coerced.