Football Discussion Forums

What the NFL and other major sports leagues can't or won't realize is that their "wokeness" threatens to turn off (and subsequently tune out) fans end masse. Regardless of your political leanings or views on the current protests, the average fan enjoys his favorite sport as a escapist diversion to these very things and the daily grind of life.

Who doesn't like to hang out with friends, enjoy a cold one, and root for their favorite teams? The NFL in particular is in very real danger, teams, players, and coaches alike, of totally skewering their golden goose. Talk about a buzz kill!

This then presents the XFL with a golden opportunity to prevent that very same scenario; an opportunity that could very well present the league as a real alternative to the NFL. Football is a business and businesses have rules, be it a dress code, code of conduct or rules regarding your travel expenses. Conduct Rules can be made and rules can be enforced, if you have guts to do so. I have always believed in having the minimal amount of rules necessary and then strictly enforcing the ones you have - the XFL could and should do the same IMO.

The XFL should try to put the sport back in football, it' suppose to be for the fans anyway, and get back to just playing ball.

Nuff sed.

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:06 am

Tank55 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:38 pm Right, it's America, not North Korea. The football game isn't here to serve the pregame pomp; the pregame pomp is here to serve the football game. I love Whitney Houston and the F-15s as much as the next guy, but when it starts detracting from the game -- the thing that actually matters -- it's not "caving" to drop it. It's putting your product ahead of lame culture war BS.

Well we disagree. It is caving if you don't play the anthem. Playing the anthem is common in sports throughout the world. Anthem is national pride, not politics. Injecting SJW into sports "in your face" is injecting politics into sports.

The point is NFL is not eliminating the Anthem - they are injecting politics into sports and using a sledge hammer not a scalpel - its a real turn off.

Jason Whitlock (formerly on FS1) from Outkick describes it well.

https://www.outkick.com/roger-goodell-t ... g-the-nfl/

I try to avoid interjecting into these threads because I know this site generally has opposing views to my own, but this really is just a silly argument. Playing the national anthem is a political issue because it has been made a political issue since 2016. Sports and politics have always been intertwined.

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:06 amAnthem is national pride, not politics.

"National pride" is political, by definition.

GDAWG wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:03 pm If the XFL doesn't do anything, players in the XFL will end up kneeling while the national anthem is playing. This XFL will need some sort of policy dealing with this as if the XFL doesn't do anything, that is a signal to players that they can do anything they want in regards to dealing with social justice.

The XFL DID have a policy. It was written in the contracts: you must stand during the anthem, period. Refusing to do so would be a violation of the contract.

As of now, that policy is still in effect until/unless a new commissioner changes that.

Tank55 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:20 pm

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:06 amAnthem is national pride, not politics.

"National pride" is political, by definition.

Not at all, don't conflate national symbolism with politics.

johnnyangryfuzzball wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 5:32 pm

GDAWG wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:03 pm If the XFL doesn't do anything, players in the XFL will end up kneeling while the national anthem is playing. This XFL will need some sort of policy dealing with this as if the XFL doesn't do anything, that is a signal to players that they can do anything they want in regards to dealing with social justice.

The XFL DID have a policy. It was written in the contracts: you must stand during the anthem, period. Refusing to do so would be a violation of the contract.

As of now, that policy is still in effect until/unless a new commissioner changes that.

Good point.

XFLInSTL wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:35 pm

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:06 am

Tank55 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:38 pm Right, it's America, not North Korea. The football game isn't here to serve the pregame pomp; the pregame pomp is here to serve the football game. I love Whitney Houston and the F-15s as much as the next guy, but when it starts detracting from the game -- the thing that actually matters -- it's not "caving" to drop it. It's putting your product ahead of lame culture war BS.

Well we disagree. It is caving if you don't play the anthem. Playing the anthem is common in sports throughout the world. Anthem is national pride, not politics. Injecting SJW into sports "in your face" is injecting politics into sports.

The point is NFL is not eliminating the Anthem - they are injecting politics into sports and using a sledge hammer not a scalpel - its a real turn off.

Jason Whitlock (formerly on FS1) from Outkick describes it well.

https://www.outkick.com/roger-goodell-t ... g-the-nfl/

I try to avoid interjecting into these threads because I know this site generally has opposing views to my own, but this really is just a silly argument. Playing the national anthem is a political issue because it has been made a political issue since 2016. Sports and politics have always been intertwined.

When the national anthem is made a political issue - you ignore it. Like I said above - when you cave, they'll just find something else, that's how they work. Sports and politics have not been intertwined unless it China or USSR, national pride and sports have in the USA, but that's diff.

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:01 pmNot at all, don't conflate national symbolism with politics.

Don't conflate your personal feelings with actual definitions of words. The first definition when you google "political" is "relating to the government or the public affairs of a country." The distinction you're trying to draw doesn't exist.

Some of us are just trying to watch the game. If you care more about this inanity than football, that's your right, but polluting every single thread with calls of "keep politics out of sports" when you transparently mean "keep incorrect political opinions out of sports" is infuriating. You're the other side of the same coin.

Tank55 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 8:35 pm

4th&long wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 7:01 pmNot at all, don't conflate national symbolism with politics.

Don't conflate your personal feelings with actual definitions of words. The first definition when you google "political" is "relating to the government or the public affairs of a country." The distinction you're trying to draw doesn't exist.

Some of us are just trying to watch the game. If you care more about this inanity than football, that's your right, but polluting every single thread with calls of "keep politics out of sports" when you transparently mean "keep incorrect political opinions out of sports" is infuriating. You're the other side of the same coin.

Politics in the that sense is not the politics we are seeing, its uni-national vs bi-partisan or counter culture. The US Mail is not political but it is governemnt. So is the G W Bridge. That's my point.

When it comes to standing during the anthem I will always support the players and what they want to do. That’s my only opinion.