It is becoming more and more evident that the owners and players in the NFL, find it acceptable to disrespect their country, and the fans.
The entire league, all it’s owners and players are to be blamed. Those players not taking part will become collateral damage if the fans decide to boycott.
The National Football League, A Club For Millionaires.
There are two types of members.
Team Owners 
Owners are millionaires and billionaires. They have enjoyed all that this country has to offer.
Many have worked hard, taken risks and built financial empires that allow them the opportunity and benefits of team ownership. For most, the opportunity for such success would not have been possible any other place in the world.
Had the owners built their businesses elsewhere, the NFL would not have been available to them.
Players
Players are paid exceptionally well. Not all are millionaires, but with proper financial management, they should be.
Even if they squander their riches, the NFL pension plan will keep them in a lifestyle most Americans will never experience.
Case in point, O. J. Simpson. He still receives a $25,000 per month in pension payments. Compare that to the $3,500 a month income earned by most football fans.
Players have been blessed with incredible athletic abilities.
Some have spent years developing their ability to achieve a skill level necessary to compete in the NFL.
Others needed only to show up to be exceptional.
As it relates to players, none would have the life they have without The United States and all that the country has to offer.
There are equally amazing, athletically gifted people in countries that do not offer the same opportunity.
None of those gifted athletes from other nations have the quality of life enjoyed by players in the NFL.
The opportunity is unique to The United States of America.
Considering this obvious truth, why do some players dishonor the very country that offers them the life they have?
Minimum starting pay for NFL Rookies
The protesting NFL players are gifted. Without a platform, a field to play on, they would be ordinary people living ordinary lives, fighting to make an ordinary living to achieve some level of success. Probably ordinary.
In short, they would be no better off than their counterparts from other countries. Like all of South America, all of Africa, all of Australia, all of Asia, and all of Europe. None of them have the NFL, or anything that offers the compensation of the National Football League.
Only the United States of America offers that field. The NFL is the only venue in the world that pays the money these men are paid to play football.
College Football
Only in the United States is there a collegiate program that allows football players the opportunity to display their abilities.
It’s ironic that some athletes complain about playing collage sports without compensation. (they do receive a free education) The very opportunity allows them to gain the attention of those with the high paying positions in the NFL.
We all know that most players never go to the pros. They do however, have the chance for a quality college education.
Here Is Where We Are Today
These athletes have been treated like they are special nearly all their lives. They have been afforded unprecedented privilege because of their special ability.
They are now protesting the only country in the world that offers them opportunity.
Maybe it’s their sense of privilege that gives them the right to use the NFL platform to espouse personal beliefs.
Athletes are entitled to their own personal beliefs. If they wish to be involved in issues outside of what people pay to see, it’s their right.
It is not up to any of us to say they don’t have the right to protest. They do and can dishonor the United States and the fans. Not standing for the national anthem is legal.
Being legal does not make it right. There are lots of things that are legal but are still an abomination.
It’s up to owners and the commissioner to set rules. They too are disrespecting all of us by not taking action.
How About A Boycott
Fans do have the right to a counter protest. What’s most effective, is a boycott. Stop going to games and stop watching on television.
It’s a sacrifice. Those who pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket don’t want to miss a game. Those invested in their fantasy leagues will need something else to occupy their time.
The idea of sacrifice brings to mind the solders, sailors, airman and marines who have sacrificed so much for this country. It seems that to disrespect the flag is to disrespect all those who sacrificed to defend that very flag.
The United States has given much to these players. Why would they choose to dishonor their own country?
The simple answer is arrogance. They can draw attention to their private social ideas because they have a big platform.
Some may do it only to prove something to themselves. They’re selfish.
The part they don’t get is, it’s not their platform. They are the players. The platform does not belong to them. It belongs to the game. The game that made them prosperous.
Baseball Made The Mistake
During the 1994 major league baseball season, players making huge salaries wanted more from owners making millions. The two sides could not agree and the players went on strike. The season was cancelled. There was no World Series in 1994.
When it was over, the players were still making huge salaries, the owners were still making millions. The fans were left empty, ignored and disrespected.
Thousands of faithful baseball fans quit baseball forever.
- Baseball forgot it’s fans.
- Baseball disrespected those who were faithful to the game.
- Baseball ignored the very people, fans, who make the game the business that it is.
Why would those same fans want to support baseball?
Football is doing the same. Players have decided that their fame allows them to disrespect the fans who love the United States.
Fans don’t want to know what players believe. Fans want players to give them something to be proud of. A game and a team they can call their own.
Failing to stand and respect our country when the anthem is played will not change a thing.
- Not world hunger
- Not climate change
- Not racism
- Not bigotry
- Not hatred
- Not poverty
What it will do is disenfranchise fans who love the game. It will separate football fans from perhaps the one thing that gives them something to look forward to.
There are millions of fans working at jobs they despise. They do it because it is needed to support themselves and their families.
For many of them, football somehow gives them purpose.
For players, all making incredible incomes to entertain fans, it is wrong to use their position to promote a private agenda.
They are welcome to what they believe. Using game time to advance the ideas, what every they may be, is wrong.
To disrespect the country that gives them so much opportunity makes those players unworthy of respect.
A Boycott is Simple, It is Also a Sacrifice
Stop watching professional football. Stop supporting advertising on football game broadcasts. Boycott football.
It is amazing how fast business will withdraw support for issues that are contrary to certain social agendas. Imagine if fans stopped supporting football because of disrespectful players.
No good can come from being disrespectful. Players, while perhaps well intentioned, are wrong.
Freedom of expression is a right. It is also a right to express outrage by boycotting the NFL.
The season starts in earnest this week. I won’t be watching.
That’s where I stand. How about you?
#boycottNFL