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NFL Kneeler Will Fight New Policy

[Blind Gossip] You may have heard that NFL owners just voted to approve a policy mandating that team players and team personnel on the field stand during the National Anthem. If they sit or kneel, they will face some sort of unspecified penalty.

If a football player does not wish to participate in standing for the National Anthem, he has the option of staying in the locker room until the National Anthem is over and then joining his teammates on the field.

Well, there’s one player who has already decided that he is not happy about either of those options… so he is going to test the rules!

He is mad and he says that these are two stupid choices and he does not want his free speech suppressed. He’s talking about going on the field, BUT instead of just standing there quietly, he will do his own sort of protest. Maybe raise his fist or do a Wakanda salute or turn his back on the flag. Something that will give the NFL the finger. He wants the other players on the team to join him.

To make it a little easier to guess his identity, he is an offensive player who plays for a team on one of the coasts. He was one of the kneelers last year.

Similar: Pressured To Stay In The Tunnel

Player and/or Team:

[Optional] Is the new policy fair or unfair? If you were a player, what would you do? Please keep your comments civil.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. The policy is fair. The majority of fans want to enjoy watching sports without political commentary. Sports used to be a fun distraction from the real world, and I am glad the NFL is finally putting their foot down on this matter. Honestly it infuriates me that these employees think they should be the exception to their employer’s rules, and giving the finger to your employer and in essence to many of the fans who disagree with you is a stupid idea. Just hurts the sport, fans & their career

    • What about freedom of speech? Isn’t that a bedrock of the US? Isn’t that what military members fight to preserve?

    • I’m a huge supporter of free speech, but the first amendment protects you from government censorship and prosecution. The NFL is a private organization and can make whatever decorum rules they want.

    • I am not allowed to say or do many things at my job. I get paid to follow the rules and fired if I don’t. Protest on your own time.

    • Ummm… the first amendment. Every American has the right to express themselves.

    • Not at work! An employer can fire you for what you do and say if it reflects badly on them, or goes against their policy or anything, really. Protest on your own time, but if you are identifiable as an employee while doing something they find objectionable, they can still discipline or fire you. Free speech basically means you can complain about the government and not be arrested or killed. It doesn’t mean you can say anything you want at any time.

    • I agree it seems very clean cut to me. On your employers time or in the uniform of your employer you follow their rules. I work for a Fortune 100 company and we can’t wear branded clothing to any kind of protest. It is so simple and yet people want to assign it a false narrative.

    • Why do they even play it? Why are sports being politicized? We started doing it during WWII. Maybe it’s time to fold up the flag & the anthem & just play sports!

    • Yes, we do have free speech, but these guys are getting paid to do a job just like anyone else. When you’re on the job, you have to follow the employer’s rules or find another job. There are MANY things I can’t do at work, it’s the way it is.

    • Well, most of the stadiums are paid for with tax dollars, so maybe they should stop taking tax dollars if they want to be exempt from the constitution. You can’t have it both ways.

    • Stadiums are indeed mostly payed by taxpayers (to stimulate local economy) but the profits go to the owners of the team.. who are usually private corporations that make money off of advertising. Advertisers don’t want to take a stance and that’s a messed up reason to stop a player from expressing themselves. At the end of the day, I’m glad that someone that has a public tribune sacrificies everything for a greater good.

    • For all the people citing freedom of speech as the reason why these football players should be allowed to kneel, you are missing the point of my comment. The football players are employees, they are welcome to freely speak their political views outside of their workplace. I know if I was doing what they are doing at my work, against my employers wishes, while also making many customers angry, I would be fired.

    • The 1st Amendment only applies to the government impeding on your right to free speech. Private corporations and businesses can restrict your speech. That being said, the players may have an argument. Since President Trump has vocally and publically called for the kneeling to stop and made comments about how maybe they shouldn’t be in our country, if they can show that the NFL made this rule because they felt pressured by Trump, they could argue a 1st Amendment violation, due to his…

  3. Ooooohhhhhh ! Not good. It is more than freedom of speech. He’s at work. My work had a policy to not discuss politics YEARS ago because it is so divisive. The NFL lost a lot of money last year. Also Direct TV-they would ask specifically if you were dropping the sport package b/c of the kneeling. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

  5. The player needs to remember that he is an employee representing the company (the team) during the game. He has the rest of the week to protest whatever he feels like. Employers can legally set standards for workplace behavior.

    • he is also a brand within himself. The NFL need the players more then the players need them. If I were and NFL player, I would definitely use my platform to raise some issues….. ESPECIALLY when im on the field.

    • Lady living legend I agree with you that the players should use their own platform the point is game time is not their platform to make public statements, but if they feel that strongly they should buy their own air time or press time but not steal what their employer has bought and paid for expressly for the purpose of football.

    • @livingladylegend Funny I see it the other way around: the player needs the NFL more than vice versa. Why? Limited teams and positions to play…and the NFL can fire you, then scout for some new talent. Unfortunately that’s what I learn from the corporate world: no employee is irreplaceable!

    • Unless you are in a specialty field like pro sports. You think k if LeBron were to make the demands, the NBA wouldn’t meet them? Or in if Oprah were to make demands, or The Royal family? It’s all about power and how you use it.

  6. You don’t have free speech protections in a working relationship, where you are working for your employer voluntarily. This is a Supreme Court ruling.

    There are other NFL quality players lined up and ready to replace you.

  7. Player: No idea who the player is

    [Optional] Is the new policy fair or unfair? If you were a player, what would you do?

    And I really think the new policy is totally unfair. I mean if the players want to kneel in sign of protest, they should be able to do it. They should be able to have the choice. I feel that if you’re someone who got upset over that, you’re most likely than not, focusing on the wrong issue.

  10. Hope the thug gets fired. May his career go the way of Kaepernick. I am SICK of these idiots dogging the very country that allows them to make big bucks.

  11. Unfair rule by “owners”. Don’t get me started. I am from a military family and I respect the flag. You need to do something big to make big change.
    I would Instagram a picture of myself kneeling on the field before each game with detail about why black lives matter and the desired outcome of the movement.

  13. “do a Wakanda salute” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    the absolute state of the black community

  15. More than 1 should do what they want to protest.

    The new ruling is beyond stupid.

  16. There’s just one problem – he is an employee. Your freedom of speech can be regulated by your employer. I used to work for a large company that prohibited any employee from making any political statements or endorsing any candidate or issue while on company time or while representing the company in an official capacity. That applies here.

    If he wants to give the NFL the finger, I think he’ll find they’ll give him the finger right back…as in suspension or free agency.

    • I concur. We have a policy very similar and if an employee wants to express their political alliance then it’s on their time and their dime not on the employers time and dime. It causes too much conflict within the corporation.

      I agree with the policy.

    • That’s why he needs people to back him up. If enough players do it, the NFL will be screwed. I honestly hope that happens.

    • Bandida, there are plenty of other players who would love to be playing and making money if others want to walkout. The NFL is a private business and therefore can make their own policies. What makes these players any different then the rest of us? I cannot make political statements at work with out repercussions and neither should they.

  17. What these men are protesting is so much more important than this. I support them in whatever they decide to do.

    • If it’s so important to them then why don’t they organize outside of work I tune in to watch football and I resent the fact that they’re making it political I might listen to them if they were more organized but you don’t really know what each one is kneeling for they all have their own different agendas

  18. I have no guess who this is but if I was a player, I’d do what the NFL told me to do. Players are on the job. If ratings continue to go down, their millions will disappear. Make your social statements on your own time.

  19. Gee. Might be nice if they penalized all the players who beat their wives. Nah. THAT ain’t gonna happen. * the NFL.

  20. Only kneeler I know of besides. Colin kaepernick is Marcus peters who now plays with the raiders. I hope he is a cancer….

  21. I’m not sure of who the player is. I’m personally someone that believes that if you live and work in a country, you respect the flag. I think that they should stand and be polite. That being said, I do understand that it’s their right to kneel and I respect that too.

  22. It is unfair and outrageous. They may pay these athletes millions, but they make billions off of them! The price of your job should not be your freedom to protest in a democratic country!

    • Key word “paid”. They are at work. They are there to work, not protest. It’s become a thing now that has nothing to do with the original intent. Which by the way was misguided from the beginning.

    • Amen!! The fake protest was started because kap heard he was gettin benched for poor performance. He then came up with this kneeling bs the very next game, thinking there’s no way they would bench him if he protest racial injustices! If he really cared, if he really wanted to make a difference-he would go to a street corner in the projects and kneel. He doesn’t care one iota about racial inequality!!!

    • Agreed and it was his gf’s idea. He has been asked several times to debate or even discuss but he is not bright enough to do that.

    • What is oppressive about honoring the men and women living and passed on who have protected the interests of our country to keep our freedoms safe? Standing for a song to honor them and our country is the LEAST one can do.

  24. I think the policy is fair. Players can still express their opinion, just not at work.

    They have the freedom of speech to talk about how much they hate the USA on their Twitter feeds, blogs, YouTube videos, merchandise, whatever they want. Just not at work.

    I don’t know who the player is, but he’d better be a very strong player with an ironclad contract. If you’re a mediocre player without a contract and you start protesting at work, you can find yourself long-term unemployed.

  25. Oh god what a moronic baby. Why doesn’t he move if he hates America so much? What is he even protesting? If it’s the recent rise of nationalism then it’s hilarious he doesn’t realize Wakanda is the most nationalistic place of all ?

    The new policy is fair. NFL is a business and people go to games to watch football and ESCAPE politics and other problems. Stay in the locker room if you hate America that much and then be an activist in your free time, not at work. We can even talk politics…

    • We can’t even TALK about politics at my job let alone make a big scene about it.

    • I’m not even American and have to agree if you hate America so much why play for an American team. The fans pay money to watch a game and it’s because of they fans and American he earns very good money. Leave if your not happy.

    • I’m assuming he would rather stay in the country of his birth and try to make it better rather than give up and leave.

  26. I don’t know who it is, but I think it’ disgusting and disrespectful. Football players are acting like a bunch of whiny snowflakes. I grew up in Baltimore and have seen my fair share of murders. I’ve lost friends to senseless, random crimes. My sister grew up with the Baltimore County Police officer who was murdered this week. I’m outraged for the military and police who put their lives on the line for us. Hate football now. Go kneel in Arlington cemetery and put a wreath down on their…

    • Amen my husband is BPD. That was his sister in blue killed by a criminal from the city. It is a false narrative because less than .5% of cops have even had a complaint filed against them. Stats say teens in the city are 25x more likely to be killed by a peer than a cop. Also in 2016 only 16 unarmed men out of 20 Million were killed by the police. Any unarmed is too many but people need to look at who is killing black men and it very rarely the police!

  27. Chris Long – Eagles

    Fair – the workplace is not a democracy – if an employee doesn’t like the rules they can find other employment. Also, they can protest on their own time. Personally, I love my paycheck, I would follow the rules.

  28. This policy is unfair.

    Kaepernick decided to kneel because of the issue of police brutality and it was suggested by a veteran that he kneel

    Kneeling isn’t to disrespect veterans or the country, it’s to say that this country who claims to treat all its citizens fairly is failing at doing that

    These players don’t hate America, they just want America to be better at protecting it’s very own citizens

    • Oh how misguided you are. The fake protest was a RUSE started by kapernick to try and keep his job!!! How’d that work out for ya kapernick??? Go to the projects and kneel on a street corner if you really cared and wanted to make a difference! #FAKEPROTEST

    • Then why doesn’t he do something about it kneeling is just thumbing his nose at the problem if he feels so strongly he should put his money where his knee is

  29. it’s a stupid policy…Why play the national anthem in the first place…It’s a private event… there is no need for it…

  30. I do not care who it is in the NFL.
    Protest on your own time by using other platforms; public protests outside your job.

    I have had numerous family members that fought for our freedom.

  31. Collective bargaining and the player’s own contract have wording that conflict with each other. A court case would probably last for years. This is not about the flag. This is about inequality. In a perfect world where everyone was against injustice and inequality we would see no players on the field during the anthem.

  32. Policy is unfair and most of these stadiums are paid for by the city taxpayers rather than the owners who reap all the benefits. The cities should stand up and side with the players who are true patriots showing no disrespect to anyone but kneeling to bring awareness to a very easily resolved problem if people had respect for ALL people.

  33. If there was a clear, concise objective to the ‘protests’, I might understand it. If the kneelers were actively going into communities to try and change what they’re protesting, I might understand it. All I see are a bunch of privileged, overpaid boys playing a game while disrespecting our flag, our anthem and our nation. If they’re so unhappy here, they could go to another country to play their game.

  37. I’m going to take a knee at work next time my boss says something that offends me. I’ll let you know how long it takes me to get fired.

  38. Chris Long. The NFL is dead to us so unless the new policy continues to make news I’ll never know. Overpaid NFL athletes will soon learn it’s going to hit their bank accounts when they take a pay cut because NFL income continues to decline.

  39. I fully support these players’ rights to protest, prance, wear pink * hat equivalents, and just be activists to their little hearts’ desires.

    I just don’t support their doing these things while in the workplace or on workplace time. They can do whatever on their own time. You and I are not allowed to be activists while at work.

    These players seem to detest this country, but they damn sure like capitalism when it’s paying them millions to chase guys and play with balls. ??