Or is it? The playing of the National Anthem and the American flag since 9/11 have been associated with supporting the military. Our volunteer military. Disrespecting the anthem is the same in many eyes as disrespecting the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform. That doesn't sit well with most people. The NFL learned this lesson loud and clear last week.
People are sick of being preached to. News channels with a certain bias - click! I have other things to do. Hollywood movies with a liberal message? No thanks I'll stay home instead. Concerts where the singer decides they will preach their political message instead of singing the hits? Fuck you - shut and sing. A sporting event where the players disrespect the flag? Let me see how loudly I can Boooo!
Football has become better to watch on TV than in person for many reasons. Having the teams protesting during the National Anthem is one more reason for people not to go. Going to the games in person are no longer a must-experience event. But games on TV basically make the NFL a long running TV series. People eventually get sick of watching TV series - no matter how much they love the series. I stopped watching The Simpsons and South Park not because I stopped enjoying watching but because both had been on the TV for so damn long. Could the NFL become another TV series people get sick of watching?
The NFL has been tone deaf for at least the entire tenure of Roger Goodell. I can't think of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who has had a worse record. Handling of BountyGate? Alienated the New Orleans fans. Handling of domestic violence? Yeah right. DeflateGate? Patriots fans HATE Roger Goodell (I'm Exhibit A). San Diego moving so LA could have two team? I think the half-filled soccer stadium for Chargers games speaks for itself on how that's working. I can't believe Roger Goodell hasn't been fired.
Anyhow - here's my picks for today:
Patriots -9 vs Panthers - taking the Pats. (Also I teased the Pats to -3 with the over in the game down to 42.5 points.)
Jaguars -3 at Jets - Jacksonville just seems like the much better team.
2-6 for the season. Maybe the time has come for you to start taking the other side on all my picks? Or is today the point my record starts turning around?
Good luck.
Go Sawks!
ReplyDelete;-)
I watched less football last year than I ever have. I used to watch all day Sunday, as long as I could see a decent game. The Bears played Thursday, and they suck, so I'm not watching any games today. Fuck the owners and the players for buying into someone else's bullshit that was aimed at ruining another thing that normal people enjoy.
ReplyDeleteGoodell has to be in the running with Gary Bettman for the worst commissioner in history. I would love to see what Kennesaw Mountain Landis would have made of this shit sandwich.
Interesting that only 11 players in the league took a knee yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThat's 11 players going on IR tomorrow.
DeleteI think the message that kneeling during the anthem is not acceptable behavior was made clear when liberal New England very loudly booed the defending Super Bowl champions because a bunch of players took a knee two weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteThe NBA gets it. NO KNEELING. Or put another way - as Michael Jordan said "Republicans buy sneakers too"