Approximately 13 months ago, Colin Kaepernick, who played quarterback for the 49ers, started doing something that seemed totally harmless, but ended up causing total chaos. He started kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. He said, ““I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color”. Since then, many other players have started following his example and started kneeling, locking arms with their teammates, and skipping the anthem all together. This has created a huge buzz in social media. With mixed feelings about the whole thing, many people have started arguing. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has even gotten involved, tweeting, “The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National …show more content…
According to http://time.com/money/4958955/nfl-players-national-anthem-protest-trump-boycott/, NFL television ratings are down by about 10%. People have also started getting refunds for NFL television packages, which cost about 280$ for the season. Many different bars all across the United States have stopped showing NFL games and started showing other things. “Bars and restaurants in Massachusetts, South Carolina, Louisiana, Tennessee, upstate New York, and Texas are among those that say they will stop showing NFL games on TV.” Many people have also started to burn their NFL belongings, such as team gear, and even NFL tickets. Videos of people burning their belongings have made rounds all over social media. “Corporate sponsors like Nike, Ford, Anheuser-Busch, Under Armour, and McDonald's collectively spent $1.25 billion on the NFL's 32 teams last year. Now, some are under fire for failing to condemn the player protests. Under Armour in particular has been singled out, with commenters saying they will no longer buy its
The NFL in particular is known for its focus on order, power and control, where operations are anonymous and interchangeable. With that players and employees are none else than compliant with league regulations. In this case Colin Kaepernick’s protest had the ability to go against the grain and break the façade of being afraid to voice his opinions. Today’s generation has become very open to sharing their opinions on social issues and Kapernick’s protest is just an addition. This protest instantly became political because of the fact that police brutality and racial is becoming a persistently uncomfortable issue that our country is facing. Every single there is something new about citizens being killed by the police for no reason, including recent cases such as Philando Castle and Terence Crutcher. Such issues will not be resolved until our society stands against it as a whole. It takes public figures such as Colin Kaepernick to stand with citizens to bring awareness about these issues in order to force change in the government and society. Whether industry leaders like it or not, I believe that such protest will continue to grow. Athletes and entertainers will continue to voice their opinions about social issues until changes come into effect.
Many think Tom Brady is a great quarterback. He has great statistics and has won many Super Bowls.
In college there are hated rivals that can’t stand each other. This causes college fans to have lots of pride in their teams. College stadiums also have student sections, which take the atmosphere on game day to the next level. College players know how the fans feel. This inspires them to play their hardest, and leave everything on the field to represent their school. In the NFL, instead of playing for a team because you want to represent them, players will play for teams who offer them the longest and largest contracts. Players hold out from participating in training camp because they want a bigger contract, and some even sit out games. The NFL seems to be more like a business, and geared towards making money. NFL players holding out, and being focused on money angers fans. Not all players are like this, but fans feel that the ones like this are being
Despite a dominant 40-10 win against the San Fransisco 49ers, it is not all good news for the Dallas Cowboys looking back on Sunday evening’s showing. The Dallas Cowboy’s lost All-Pro kicker, Dan Bailey, mid game, due to a groin strain in his kicking leg. It was announced this morning that Bailey could be out for several weeks while recovering.
Most players that enter the NBA draft early are 19 or 20 years-old. They are going to end up playing against 25-year-olds that are stronger, faster, and that have had more experience than they have. Along with more experience, they will not be as physically fit because one or two years of college will not do it, and high school will not do it. For example, Lebron James. He is considered one of the best to have played the game, and he went straight out of high school. Imagine if he had gone to college, he would be so much better. So if they leave after the freshman or sophomore year, they will be about five or six years behind and that will make it harder to get a spot on the bench. If they do not make it to the bench, then they will be in the D league for 2 or 3 years to help develop their skills. “The D-League uses a tiered compensation system that's based on experience. Players with ample NBA
Football games are no longer enjoyable because politics has made its way to the stadiums taking the joy away when a person sees their favorite player kneeling. They can’t know or understand why they are choosing to kneel so to them they see no reason to respect it. What if that player themselves had served, lost a loved one in the military, or have known someone to be a victim of a social injustice like police brutality? Where’s the
After calling all athletes who kneeled during the National Anthem cruel names, not only did more kneelers appear, but the standing teammates linked arms showing unity. Their reason may not’ve been only to protest on racial injustice, but to rebel against Donald Trump and show that this is their right. Various people, including President Trump, think that every athlete who has kneeled should be fired because they should not be able to protest in such a disrespectful way. It’s not only fans who find this protest wrong, but even some players do, including Drew Brees. Brees says he agrees with the context of the protest, but not the actions of it stating, "[I]t's an oxymoron that you're sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak
Football is not a dangerous sport for high schoolers to be playing. It is played to show others what great team work is all about. Football will always have hard hitting and injuries involved. But it is a great way to get into a good college. Great warm-up exercises before a game are great way to be ready for the game.
Which has a huge effect on the economy. The average person spends about three hours a week working on their team. Also, it is estimated that 32 million Americans spend $15 billion dollars total or $467 dollars per person in their lifetime. It effects businesses as well, it will generate a $13.4 billion dollar or $895 million dollar weekly loss in productivity over the 15 week fantasy season. The National Football League will also make money off of it because any product licensed by the NFL will generate revenue for the league. People will follow players more closely because they have them on their team which will increase sales of merchandise for the NFL. Americans will sometimes buy merchandise in support of their teams or fantasy
Henry Gass states, “The prospect of athletes speaking up has always been fraught” (2). Carl Stoffers states, “Many accused [Kaepernick] of thumbing his nose at America by not joining in a patriotic ritual that’s long been a fixture at sporting events” (8). Include the fact that the NFL which Kaepernick plays “[is] a league that promotes itself as a war game and brands itself with the flag” (Jenkins). Doubters are quick to label him unpatriotic because the place and time he protested might be wrong. The NFL show respect to military officials, Roger Goodell says, “The NFL believes very strongly in patriotism” (Jenkins). The military and American football has the same symbolic values. Carl Stoffers writes Starn says “[American is] the most sports-obsessed society in the history of the world, and we’re also a nation that’s obsessed with patriotism and pride in identity” (9). The national Anthem and the flag are symbols that American people believe make someone patriotic. Professor Blackistone writes, “[Kaepernick] dare to protest in the athletic arena, where [Americans] wrap sporting events in a prophylactic of patriotism used to demand political conformity and suppress discourse” (gtd. in
In this article, the author of “Counterpoint: National Anthem Protests Are Unpatriotic and Disrespect the Nation's Military” is talking about the National Anthem Protests within the NFL, expressing his own feelings, he condones that those protests Are “Unpatriotic and Disrespect the Nation’s Military”. These protest are in fact disgraceful and disrespectful towards the American flag for which fellow Americans have put there lives on the line to help protect the people of the country and to keep this country to stay alive! One NFL football player known as Colin Kapernick, A African American, was ultimately the icon for the National Anthem Protest
So, now that we have you all caught up, let's dig into the question at hand. Do NFL players have the right to protest the National Anthem while they are on the clock? Players are saying it is freedom of speech. While everyday Americans are saying it is a double standard and they could not do that without being fired from their jobs.
“Concussion rates for children under the age of 19 who play football have doubled in the last decade, even though the overall sports participation has declined” (Youth Football Concussion Statistics). Football is extremely popular in American culture. Children all across the world love watching and playing the sport. However, many studies have shown numerous possible long term effects of starting the beloved sport when young. Undeveloped brains have a harder time recovering from bumps and blows that occur during playing time. After examining the long term effects of children playing football, it is clear that the tradition of tackle football in youth should be held off until the brain is more fully developed,
Student athletes live very busy lives. A typical school day runs from 8:00-2:30, add in a two- hour practice or game, score a part time job, dive into some family time, a grand slam of homework and catch a little bit of sleep. Students are more stressed due to the many activities they are a part of. This issue affects a lot of people not only in this school district, but most other high schools throughout the country. All student athletes exercise more than other children who are not involved in an extracurricular sport. In school athletics, the players are called “student athletes” meaning that school activities come first. There are strict rules for student athletes, not only on the field but in the classroom as well. In physical education
Some schools force students to participate in organized school sports. However, I believe that schools should not make this a requirement. Some students may have medical conditions, family situations that don't allow them to participate in organized school sports, or they simply may not have the time.