Why, why did we have to

[burnbaby]

mix politics with sports? I loved football season since H.S. I have few enjoyments these days. I love seeing my grandchildren, I love most sports and concerts. Why do we have bring in politics?

I don't agree with what trump said and I don't agree with kneeling at games.

I'm just an outcast because I don't believe in what trump said, so I can't join repubs, I don't believe anyone should kneel during football games so I get shunned from the democrats.

Is there a place to go where people don't hate so deeply, where all ideas are heard and conversations get created from these ideas.

We need another "love train"

[yardwork]

1. Why does it bother you if people kneel during football games?

I've also thought it was bizarre that the national anthem is sung before games, anyway. Seems like politics imposed itself into sports long ago.

[shanny]

2. I agree. And it's not just the anthem. Nt

[yardwork]

11. Yeah, prayer too.

The argument that people just want it to be about sports rings a little hollow when God and country are so enshrined in sports in the U.S.

[shanny]

34. also military honor guards presenting the flag,

flyovers, military "heroes" singing the anthem--all the paid-for Pentagon promotion crap. If we were actually facing an existential threat, in an actual war, I might feel differently but we are not...except from within. It is all about subverting our principles, imo.

[yardwork]

35. I agree.

[burnbaby]

4. Initally I saw nothing

wrong with it, but now it has become a political hate topic. I almost feel forced into taking sides and I just want to watch football.

You want to kneel then kneel, but don't try and make me kneel or anyone else. That doesn't make me privilege like one poster tried.

Let's play football!!!!!!!!!!!!!! period end of discussion.

[yardwork]

10. You seem upset.

As a white person, I recognize the constant double standards applied to people of color in the United States. Now Trump is attacking NFL players who choose to exercise their First Amendment rights in a peaceful, nonviolent, nondisruptive way. Yet they are being singled out and called "sons of bitches" by the president? Fuck that.

Every single person should be speaking out against the president's behavior.

[burnbaby]

18. yes they should be

I don't agree with the president's behavior, but some how I have others thinking I do. All I want to do today is watch football!

If you don't follow and agree 100 percent with people on this board then you are a racist white person. There doesn't seem to be much room to debate, talk, change minds or work together.

Where is that love train?

[Solomon]

32. The plain fact of the matter is if you have a problem

with black people kneeling during the anthem then you ARE racist. Look at you - whining on every thread about it because you want to justify your distaste. "Oh why do they have to mix politics with sport...." Who is doing that? It's always the protesters fault right? Right.

Oh why oh why did that lady not move to the back of the damned bus!? I just wanted to enjoy my bus ride.

[Adrahil]

20. Why do they playbthe anthem ar sports games?

What does that have to do with sports?

I'll tell you why: it's a political statement.

Playing the anthem at games brought politics into sports. Not kneeling during the anthem.

Oh,and football causes severe brain injury in its players.

[Wounded Bear]

23. Funny, but I have never heard of anyone being forced to kneel...

Nor is anyone truly forced to stand. That has been the convention, but to blindly follow the herd is kind of un-American, dontcha think?

Sorry, but politics was injected into sports when they started playing the anthem at every event.

Just because someone threw up a # doesn't mean you have to change your actions.

[Blue_Adept]

24. Who is trying to make you kneel?

Is there someone in your house standing over you telling you to do it?

Because nobody is making you kneel.

[MyNameGoesHere]

36. Who is making you kneel?

Did you receive some kind of mandate that you were supposed to kneel? Who is forcing other people to kneel? I missed all the latest orders forcing people to kneel I guess. Then again when something bothers or bores me I use the power of a finger and switch the content. I guess my little finger is way more powerful than some people entire bodies or their brains.

[demmiblue]

3. Because it is necessary. n/t

[burnbaby]

6. you feel it is neccessary

and I disagree. Last I heard it is ok to disagree

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

5. I'm a democrat that won't shun you...

I respect your belief on the kneeling, it is your right to believe that and I will defend you right to say it.

I'm on the other side though. Kneeling during the anthem is a passive and peaceful form of protest. It's protesting something that should be receiving much more attention by all individuals and by the MSM.

Racism and police violence brought about by racism is a moral injustice. Those beliefs I cannot and will not defend.

I'm a veteran and served this country willingly and faithfully. I would love nothing more than to see my grandkids grow and prosper in a country where all beliefs are respected.

[burnbaby]

7. Thanks for your post

I don't feel so alone now

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

12. You are very welcome...

And welcome to DU. This is a great place with awesome people give it a chance. DU is like a breath of sanity in th online environment.

When I joined years ago, I don't post much, it was recommended to me to get into the lounge to get the feeling of the place and get to know a few people. That still holds true today. GD is not a place to jump into to get your feet wet. It can be a little brutal at times. We're like a family a little crazy, sometimes argumentative but if you need help everyone rallies.

Enjoy

[burnbaby]

19. thanks

maybe I should join the lounge for a bit

[blogslut]

8. Sports has always been about politics.

Contests of physical prowess have been used as a means to determine the superiority of communities, kingdoms and nations since before recorded history.

[ananda]

9. So basically,

you can't both watch a person kneel quietly in protest
against police brutality against blacks (something I
admire greatly by the way) ..

and

.. then watch a football game because somehow that
knee on the ground made it impossible for you to
enjoy the sport. (a sport I consider stupid but if
I did enjoy it, that knee wouldn't make one
iota of difference except to make me feel better because
someone is making a statement about a horrific trend
that needs to be stopped).


Interesting.

[burnbaby]

13. so basically

you haven't read my posts, you are assuming a knee down bothers me.

interesting

[mcar]

15. You've written an entire OP about it so it obviously bothers you

[uponit7771]

14. The oppressors will never agree with the protest of the oppressed

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Did you see American Gangster?

Remember when Russell Crowe's character says of the first Ali-Frazier fight this isn't sports, it's politics.


Yep.

[uponit7771]

37. So true

[Pope George Ringo II]

17. I'm seeing both sides

I can understand somebody who says, "I have had enough of this politics crap scaring the heck out of me all week and I just want an escape where I can avoid the whole thing, but here it is invading my one refuge." Then again, the demographics of the league mean you've got a lot of guys who have had enough of their friends, families, and themselves walking around with targets on their backs and they're trying to do something quite reasonable about it.

That said, I'm not watching any football at this point, but that's mostly because I don't like teams holding cities hostage or having my entertainment come from watching human bodies be destroyed.

[StrictlyRockers]

21. Jackie Robinson's sentiments in 1972

A picture from the 1968 Olympics.
Tommie Smith and John Carlos

[burnbaby]

22. That was lovely

thanks for sharing. I am NOT being sarcastic, it is coming form my heart

[StrictlyRockers]

29. I guess my point is that American sports has a long tradition of political protest.

It makes me happy to see it happening again now.

[burnbaby]

31. maybe you are right

and I have been a bit selfish

[mercuryblues]

25. for the same reason

politics have been inserted into woman's choice. Stupid ass republicans don't agree with freedom and needs to control how we use it. Women and minorities are not free as long as those white republican men can decide how you can exercise that freedom.

[Mr. Ected]

26. Why do we connect major league sports and patriotism?

Play the anthem when it's our country competing for the prize, like in the Olympics.

The overt nationalism that's on display in many corners of our existence, including sporting events, is creepy to me.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

27. You keep talking about "hate." Where is the "hate" in taking a knee at a football game?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

28. Also, what kind of protest DO you approve of?

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

30. Your right to watch football vs. the right to protest?

You may pine for the days (that haven't been around for quite some time) when sports and politics wasn't mixed. That hasn't been the case as long as I can remember. When it comes right down to it, I would prefer to just watch the game too. However, I'm much more interested in knowing that people have the right to stand up for what they believe in and I can tolerate a little distraction when somebody wants to make a statement on behalf of people who otherwise wouldn't have the kind of voice that the attention we give professional athletes provides. Its inconvenient or uncomfortable to acknowledge, but there's a problem in this country. Professional athletes have the ability to address it in a way that few of us can. Maybe you should be telling your grandchildren that that's what being an American is all about.