The first amendment of the Constitution declares, essentially, that no individual, institution, or any laws made by individuals or institutions may abridge a citizen's right to free speech. This applies even in the NFL - where kneeling for the national anthem is a way for certain players to express their feelings and opinions towards social injustices. This expression of opinion hasn’t been taken well by all, for example, ex-49er Colin Kaepernick, who knelt for the anthem originally in August of 2016, has yet to find another quarterback job. Despite several teams needs at QB, owners reportedly feel like he is a liability due to the controversial press he brings himself and his respective team. Kaepernick has since been joined in protest by many athletes, including Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans, and kneeling for the anthem has become a hot topic of discussion around the league. Buccaneers head coach Dirk Koetter addressed this issue …show more content…
He lets you be you. And he opened for discussion, ‘Hey, if anybody has an opinion, let’s talk about it.’ And that’s the problem with society now. Everybody wants to get mad and fight. Immediately, everybody wants to fight. Nobody wants to talk about the situation no more because you don’t even know why a person thinks the way they think or feels the way they feel and they know how you feel. We just don’t have conversations and talk anymore as a society and that’s the problem, man.” Both Koetter and McCoy show that they care about freedom of expression of opinion over the content of the opinion, which is a very noble stance. After all, this country was founded to be a place where all opinions could be expressed regardless of topic, and hopefully, the rest of the league starts to feel the same way in order to come together and become stronger as a
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.
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
One key to the first amendment of the United states constitution is the right to free speech. Freedom of speech is what separates America than other countries around the world that forbid freedom of speech rights. Freedom of speech has been in our constitution since the year 1791. When James Madison “the father of the constitution” wrote the bill of rights he saw potential and that it would make the country more freedom filled than other countries. The land of the free is what the United States is nicknamed and it 's because of our rights to express ourselves as freely as we desire.
Wyche’s article, concerning the football player’s movement, grabs the attention of several different audiences. The article was published onto the official NFL website in August when Kaepernick’s action began. Sports’ fans and readers of the site are
These players and their families have an obsession for football that is pretty obvious and damaging to the well-being of their future. Not only are the players affected but the school and other institutions as well. When football is at the forefront of everything you can miss key contributions to what would amount to having a successful life after football. The fans of the Permian Panthers love their football team and to them that is all that is important in the world.
This protest began on August 26, 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, first took a seat on the sideline bench at a preseason game during the National Anthem. Later he transitioned to kneeling alongside his standing teammates. The reason behind Kaepernick’s protest was to draw attention to racial injustice and police brutality in the United States against African Americans. After the public noticed Kaepernick’s revolt, a national discussion sparked. Many people think that kneeling during the National Anthem was not the most respectful approach Kaepernick could’ve taken. The certain group of people that
The first amendment is the cornerstone of our American society founded years ago by our forefathers. Without the first amendment many ideas, beliefs, and groups could not exist today. The first amendment guaranteed the people of the United States the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom of petition. Although the first amendment guarantees us, Americans the freedom of speech, we cannot use it to cause others harm. This amendment has helped shaped Americans into what we are today, because of our right to assemble, speak freely, and worship as we please.
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
This argument has reached its peak of debate when Northwestern University football players planned to form a union in order to receive some form of representation. Northwestern quarterback, Kain Colter, started this movement when he reached out to the President of the National College Players Association, Ramogi Huma. He said, “This is about finally giving college athletes a seat at the table. Athletes deserve an equal voice when it comes to their physical, academic, and financial protections” ( Farrey). Huma filed a petition to the office of the National Labor Relations board on behalf of the players of Northwestern. Besides this being the first move towards a labor union in college sports what’s important is that the athletes of Northwestern are not seeking unionization due to mistreatment by Northwestern. According to Colter, “The school is just playing by the rules of their governing body, the NCAA.” Also, this isn’t about just helping players at Northwestern. Colter expressed how he wan...
players around the NFL. The number of athletes that protested would increase from a couple on each team to nearly all of them. With the only exception being, the Dallas Cowboys. Who as a team took a knee prior to the anthem, but would all stand during it. This was due to the owner Jerry Jones why has said that no player will sit or take a knee on his team or he would cut them, but more on that later. Then there was one other person that would not join his team in protest. That person was Pittsburgh Steelers player Alejandro Villanueva. Who is a former United States Army Ranger.
Taking A Knee is a protest against racial injustice and discrimination of color. The movement began in August of 2016, when NFL star quarterback remained seated during the national anthem at a preseason game. When later questioned, he said that he would not stand for a country that allowed this horrifying discrimination against black and biracial people to continue. “I’m not going to stand under a flag or show pride in a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” (Colin Kaepernick) Eventually, he began kneeling instead of sitting, so that he could express his humble respect for the flag, but still continue his protestations. Soon after, his teammate Eric Reid joined him in
It all started last year whenever a 49ers player decided he was going to kneel for the National Anthem. Colin Kaepernick felt that because of his race and what he believed in he shouldn’t have to stand for the National Anthem. At first it wasn’t a big deal until other players in the NFL decided to follow him. On September 24, 2017 is the day that everyone went crazy. The steelers team on Sunday decided to not come out of the locker room, because of a tweet the President made. Except for Alejandro Villanueva, a Veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan. Helped by the news, all over the U.S. people were either agreeing or disagreeing with what the Pittsburgh Steelers team decided to do. I believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers should have stood no matter what.
He’s been the subject of many harsh words on social media even going as far as death threats. Many celebrities have also expressed their opinion on this movement but not every single one has been positive, including former NFL coach Mike Ditka. Ditka called out Kaepernick when he was asked to weigh in on the Kaepernick situation, and he said “Don't like our country? Get the Hell out!” But in recent weeks we have seen Kaepernick receive support. Numerous American athletes have shown support for Kaepernick's cause by kneeling during the National Anthem. Kaepernick's teammate Eric Reid has knelt by his side many times while Rams players Kenny Britt and Robert Quinn raised their fists during the Star Spangled Banner as the NFL season began. Since then, US women's soccer player Megan Rapinoe has joined in on the protest and many other athletes also took to the movement raising their fists and kneeling down as the anthem
Topic: The NFL injury report was initially made to make information about player’s injuries available to the public. This was meant to discourage gamblers from getting close to players for the sole purpose of gaining inside information. This decision ultimately protected the players from getting involved in gambling but also added new issues. There are many inaccuracies found in the NFL injury report. By letting the public know which players are hurt and where they are hurt, opposing teams are using this to their advantage. As predicted, coaches are going to try to obscure their player’s health to mess with their opponents game plan, while at the same time still following the guidelines of the NFL injury report regulat...
As a result of the recent controversy over social injustices, specifically racial, 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, took a knee during the national anthem. This was because Kaepernick felt as though he should not stand for an anthem that does not fully represent people of color. To add, the country is somewhat divided between the Black Lives Matter and the Blue Lives Matter movements. To illustrate, Kaepernick’s actions created a sort of domino effect, causing other professional athletes who support Black Lives Matter to do the same thing. Although, it must be remembered that in America, citizens have the right to kneel during the anthem, whereas in other countries, such an act would not be acceptable at all.