Michael Ramirez for September 20, 2017

Free Speech violation. 15 yards and loss of civil rights.

There is a time and place for protests. The rich athletes make their choice to protest our flag and what it represents. I make my choice not to watch the NFL.

Better viewers than rights.

The NFL is a business. When the business tells its customers to eff off, they leave. ….for good.

Have you ever read all the words to the national anthem,?? Which the music is based on an Old English Drinking Song? Just asking? There is that verse that has to do with slavery?

If Westboro Baptist Church protesting gay military funerals makes you proud, but NFL players kneeling during the national anthem upsets you, then you have no idea how the first amendment works.

OH NO! People aren’t watching millionaires tossing a hand egg to each other! Here is a real national crisis. The NFL has high fixed costs, and people are using their TV sets less than they used to. The public’s attention has been diverted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Before that, the nastiest presidential campaign in recent memory fixated viewers away from the gridiron. Regressives point to the controversy around one player driving everyone away, but like the rest of their non-science, there are many factors that have been driving people away from the game, including injuries to stars such a Odell Beckham Jr. And the retirement of fan favorites such a Peyton Manning. The quality of the league’s product has been slipping, look at the season’s week one opener, with games that weren’t even a close match-up.

This is not all because of one man standing up for his first amendment rights by taking a knee. Weren’t you just whining about the first amendment?

I personally don’t pay attention to the NFL much any more. My interest started to fade when the sports page started to look more like a police blotter.

I’m not sure there is a one to one correlation there. Televised games turned in to “how many ads can we squeeze into a commercial break and how many commercial breaks can we squeeze into a game”. Oversaturation may be an issue too. Sunday, Sunday night, Monday and Thursday all have games now. Then Goodell wants to add two games to the schedule on top of that despite all the concussions and other injuries. The league has become a money grab.

Has Ramirez tried to answer a complex question with an over-simplified answer?

Wow, one blackballed quarterback can bring down the NFL using only a silent, non-violent protest?

Who knew?

I vaguely recall reading a Miss Manners column about National Anthem etiquette. The Rule, as I recall, is this: When the National Anthem of another country is played, one stands out of respect for the citizens of that country; when the National Anthem of one’s own country is played, one stands and sings along.

I saw where some high school kids were doing this now. Some kind of new meaningless fashion I guess.

^^Truthless, Freedom Of Speech does not go out of fashion.

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Maybe for Trump Disciples.

Football is becoming less popular because of all the concussions and brain damage. Some schools have cancelled their football programs because they are not getting enough children to sign up (thank goodness!)