2020 NFL Off-Season Thread

[VerbalPuke]

3 hours ago, damsher hatfield said:

"But the TROOOOPPSSS!!" - People who have never been in the military

We don't give a fuck.- Somebody that was in the military (some do, but even the ones that do are less outraged then Bob and Nancy that run the HOA).

[gunnar hendershow]

13 minutes ago, VerbalPuke said:

We don't give a fuck.- Somebody that was in the military (some do, but even the ones that do are less outraged then Bob and Nancy that run the HOA).

I think people who have been in the military have more right than anyone to dictate some terms of patriotic displays honoring them. And even then when it came to Kaepernick, Nate Boyer actually reached out and helped identify a way for him to protest because Boyer was bothered by him sitting out the anthem.

That sure didn't matter to Bob and Nancy though.

[livid]

That's because a lot of this country doesn't give a shit about the military, they just use them as props for their jingoistic desires. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Vic Fangio had an incredibly tone-deaf "I don't see racism in the NFL" quote yesterday. While bad be released a statement today that shows a somewhat positive reaction.

I'm always iffy on the "no color in the locker rooms" line but I think that's a sentiment a lot of players in the league also champion. It's a commonly-held value in team sports with rare exceptions.

[Lint]

YOU DONE GOOD A.A.RON!

[VerbalPuke]

3 hours ago, damsher hatfield said:

I think people who have been in the military have more right than anyone to dictate some terms of patriotic displays honoring them. And even then when it came to Kaepernick, Nate Boyer actually reached out and helped identify a way for him to protest because Boyer was bothered by him sitting out the anthem.

That sure didn't matter to Bob and Nancy though.

To some degree yes, but also don't let some prick that served decide his opinion of freedom means more than yours. 

You know, speaking of the NFL and military (and this off subject so I apologize) did you know Pat Tillman was a leftist? Before he was killed I believe he was corresponding with Noam Chomsky and really wasn't liking what he saw overseas.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, there's a lot surrounding his death. I'm not a conspiracy theory, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that someone highly ranked knew he was going to talk when he got home and friendly fire was their out. 

[Lineker]

 

It's also worth reading Martellus Bennett's very long thread.

[TCO]

There's a video of protesters chanting "Fuck Drew Brees" in New Orelans. This is not going away for Brees, the Saints or the NFL. Great!

[Szumi]

The ironic thing I've found with the military/flag thing is that the majority of the military men I know who think kneeling disrespects the flag are almost ALL people who spent the minimum 4 years in the military, never were in war, most never even out of the country, and essentially didn't do jack shit to "serve" while they were in. It's the most entitled ones who can hardly be called military veterans who think kneeling is disrespecting the flag.

Yet I've encountered numerous men who were actually in Iraq and Afghanistan who don't think there's any correlation at all. Go figure that

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, It's Pronounced Zoom-E said:

The ironic thing I've found with the military/flag thing is that the majority of the military men I know who think kneeling disrespects the flag are almost ALL people who spent the minimum 4 years in the military, never were in war, most never even out of the country, and essentially didn't do jack shit to "serve" while they were in. It's the most entitled ones who can hardly be called military veterans who think kneeling is disrespecting the flag.

Yet I've encountered numerous men who were actually in Iraq and Afghanistan who don't think there's any correlation at all. Go figure that

Yeah there are definitely kids from well-off families who join the military just because "it's badass" and never sniff combat who come back and love bragging about how they were in the military. 

Active-duty and veterans aren't a monolith but overall the people I've seen most vocally opposed to protest aren't the ones who people are loudly screaming are "being disrespected". I can't speak from a perspective of knowing everyone and I'm from a middle class background so the people I do know who did enlist genuinely fall under that "it's badass" grouping and like hell I've kept in touch with them at all.

My overall point is that if anyone from the military told me this or that was being disrespectful or bothered them I'd at the very least let them explain why. But if some random suburbanite who spends their weekend yelling at people whose dogs get too close to their lawn tries to lecture me they'll at the very best have me tune out immediately. And depending on my mood I might bother explaining why I don't care and why they're wrong. And I sure as hell am not giving a single fuck what Drew Brees has to say.

[The Buscher]

Responses are mixed as is usually the case with public apologies of celebrities.  Some of his teammates have seemingly accepted his apology.  Other people in the comment section saying it's too little too late to walk back the original comments and any attempt to do so is a PR play to save his own ass.

[gunnar hendershow]

I mean it's probably a PR play but even in spite of all that's going on I try to not be cynical and hope that people are learning and growing through this. After all, if you're not trying to be a better person today than you were yesterday what are you even doing here?

[MalaCloudy Black]

"I am sick about the way my comments were perceived yesterday"? Perceived? How were they supposed to be perceived?

[Lineker]

He's just lucky that this is probably his last year anyway and it's going to be mostly played behind closed doors.

[Adam]

The thing is, when Drew Brees (or anyone) makes comments like he did yesterday...what do you want to happen in response? Is it for Drew Brees to listen, learn and understand why what he's said is wrong, and why his words and beliefs help to foster the cultural prevalence of racism in America and elsewhere? Or is it just to "cancel" someone for saying/doing wrong?

For me it is the former, so this apology is a step in the right direction. Obviously Brees is not going to change his philosophy or beliefs overnight but if he shows an immediate willingness to look at where he has gone wrong and actually does learn, then that's good and the desired outcome for this and any other incident of this nature. Malcolm Jenkins pointed out that Brees has a platform where he could really stand up for his "brotherhood" and help to improve attitudes so that is what he should do.

If we don't have conversations when things like this occur then we won't get very far at all, so I too hope this is a sign of willingness on Drew Brees' part to look at where he is going wrong.

[TCO]

I would prefer the former but Brees is a documented piece of shit. He's said these views before and worse, it's just people took notice this time. He's a massive Republican, loves Trump, promotes MLM firms and Christian groups that are heavily anti-LGBT. One stock photo and half hearted apology means nothing. His views are never going to change.

[Adam]

I didn't know those things about Brees to be fair, so the sentiment of my previous post probably won't apply in this case. But in the wider context and debate over how people respond to these sorts of things, I feel it's worth saying.

[The Buscher]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

I didn't know those things about Brees to be fair, so the sentiment of my previous post probably won't apply in this case. But in the wider context and debate over how people respond to these sorts of things, I feel it's worth saying.

I agree with this.

Like, I don't know if Jimmy Fallon has had any other controversies besides this but just as an example...is it acceptable that he wore blackface?  Of course not.  Should he apologize for doing it?  Absolutely.  But it aired live on NBC.  It's been on Hulu for years.  Should he be cancelled forever now that somebody was bored enough in quarantine to watch a random 20-year old SNL episode and happened to stumble upon it and bring it to light?

In this particular case he probably should’ve acknowledged his wrongdoing ages ago.  Especially as other prominent people had blackface incidents come to light.  Just come out and own up to it "I've done blackface in my career before too, it was not right and I've learned since then" instead of waiting for someone to find the clip.  But the overall point remains that if you're a celebrity of any stature, everything you've ever written, filmed, or recorded in your entire career is going to be gone over with a fine tooth comb and held up to today's standards.  We absolutely should expect people to apologize and learn from their transgressions and the more they've done wrong, the harder it is to imagine they've actually learned anything.  But I think if we're just going to cancel everyone for slipping up at any point in their life it's going to be nearly impossible to get anything accomplished long-term.

[gunnar hendershow]

My general rule with going after someone is if there's a pattern or if they double-down. I had a manager at work slip up and say something pretty offensive one day. I'll spare you the details on why I figured it was a momentary lapse of judgment, but what I found really significant was that the very same day he called me into a meeting where he sincerely apologized. I can't really hold it against someone if they fuck up and own it the very same day let alone a few days after the fact.

But, yes, someone like Drew Brees is all too likely trying to save face without any sincere improvements. Mainly because there was a pattern before this.