Politics in the NFL

[SteelChip]

I was not aware of all these ramifications that have resulted from Goodell's actions. Seems a movement is underway.

(Here are some snipits from a WSJ article.)


Is Roger Goodell Deliberately Pushing the NFL Leftward?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-roger-goodell-deliberately-pushing-the-nfl-leftward-1509907363

The critics of National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell are only getting louder

Meanwhile, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, is trying to block an extension of Mr. Goodell’s contract. The commissioner’s current deal expires at the end of the 2018 season...............

Asked Friday about Mr. Schnatter’s rebuke of the commissioner, Mr. Jones hailed the pizza tycoon as a “great American.” Speaking on a radio show Tuesday, he was even more explicit about Mr. Goodell: “I know a lot of people, a lot of fans, don’t think we make him as accountable as we should,” Mr. Jones said. “But that’s not the case. It’s just timing. When you have to account is when you’re either getting hired or you’re getting extended or you’re getting a raise or are you getting a bonus.”

In other words, the time for action has arrived—and Mr. Goodell has a lot to account for. Concern over head injuries has eroded football’s public support. Mr. Goodell’s handling of player discipline, particularly the 2014 Ray Rice domestic-violence case and the 2015 New England Patriots “Deflategate” scandal, damaged the NFL’s image. Now unending national-anthem protests have frustrated the league’s conservative fans, made it a target for President Trump, and contributed to sliding TV ratings.

It makes sense to blame ineffective leadership. But what if the problem is effective leadership? Football is headed exactly where Mr. Goodell has steered it—to the left. The NFL has long been a combatant in America’s larger culture war. But Mr. Goodell—whose father, Charles, was a liberal antiwar Republican senator in the late 1960s—was always an odd choice to run it.

..........., a year ago Mr. Goodell hired a Democratic political strategist, Joe Lockhart, as the NFL’s executive vice president of communications. Mr. Lockhart, best known as President Clinton’s press secretary for two years, also worked for Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis and John Kerry. Last week the New York Times credited him with crafting the NFL’s message on the anthem controversy.

Mr. Lockhart is an aggressive media manipulator. The Times reported that several NFL owners were bothered by a snide comment Mr. Lockhart made about Mr. Trump: “Lockhart told reporters that talking about police brutality is ‘what real locker room talk is.’ ”

But Messrs. Goodell and Lockhart have made bigger gaffes. In mid-October, Mr. Goodell and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin wrote a letter to the Senate “to offer the National Football League’s full support for the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2017.” (1) Mr. Goodell is paid $44 million a year to represent the views of the NFL’s owners, not players or himself.


I know that the premise is that politics don't belong on the football forum and the mods may move this but the truth be told, politics has stuck it's nose under the NFL's tent flap and it is high time they deal with it once and for all.

(1) https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Sentencing, 10-04-17, SRCA 115 Summary.pdf

 

[slashsteel]

Uhuh

let me clear it all up.

**** Goodell
**** the Patriots
**** Politics
**** people who don't stand for the flag.

I think I covered it all..........

 

[Coach]

Ratings are down, the refs are not a having a good year, and joe average fan really doesn't want to see uniformed millionaires protesting. Now some sponsors are threatening to pull out.

I say empower Roger to put in some NBA like rules requiring players to stand for the anthem and put in more friendly NFL rules for action, such as moving kickoffs back 5 yards and allowing any play that is not whistled dead to be red flagged.

He'll either sink or swim. If he sinks, he's the fall guy. Get a new commissioner who has a clean slate with the owners, coaches, and players.

 

[slashsteel]

Ratings are down, the refs are not a having a good year, and joe average fan really doesn't want to see uniformed millionaires protesting. Now some sponsors are threatening to pull out.

I say empower Roger to put in some NBA like rules requiring players to stand for the anthem and put in more friendly NFL rules for action, such as moving kickoffs back 5 yards and allowing any play that is not whistled dead to be red flagged.

He'll either sink or swim. If he sinks, he's the fall guy. Get a new commissioner who has a clean slate with the owners, coaches, and players.

Replacing Goodell would be a fan dream come true.

Initially the owners loved the money he lined their pockets with.

Would be an interesting owners poll, if their opinions of him have changed.

 

[ZonaBurgh]

I thought it interesting that the fields yesterday were painted with salute our troops and coaches wearing military colored gear. Even commercials featuring players commentating on how much they appreciate the troops.

Mabey this is just because Veterans Day is coming up on Saturday, but I don't recall this happening to this extent in the past.

Damage control?

 

[slashsteel]

I thought it interesting that the fields yesterday were painted with salute our troops and coaches wearing military colored gear. Even commercials featuring players commentating on how much they appreciate the troops.

Mabey this is just because Veterans Day is coming up on Saturday, but I don't recall this happening to this extent in the past.

Damage control?

Oh yes damage control, and plenty of it.

Which in the end the almighty dollar will always

Trump

agenda.........

 

[Steeltime]

The real and growing issue with the NFL as an entertainment product is the explosion of penalties. The Sunday night game was unwatchable. Flag down, flag down, flag down. There needs to be more consistency with the calls.

 

[chipped ham]

I thought it interesting that the fields yesterday were painted with salute our troops and coaches wearing military colored gear. Even commercials featuring players commentating on how much they appreciate the troops.

Mabey this is just because Veterans Day is coming up on Saturday, but I don't recall this happening to this extent in the past.

Damage control?

It may be, but only to a certain extent. They've been doing this "Salute the Troops" thing in October for a few years now. It's always right after, or coincides with, Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the NFL. It's been at least a few years now.

 

[SteelChip]

There seems to be a concerted effort to discredit the players too. The "Nation Felons League" tag and references seem more prominent now than ever. I get e-mails like this all the time.

Isn't this a great country when we have such wonderful father figures and civic leaders and role models
getting paid $$$$$$$$$$$Millions of dollars and they even won't stand up for the pledge of Allegiance.
Is this country getting better or worse.......

NFL arrest record by team since 2000
Team # of Arrests Since 2000
Minnesota Vikings 42

Cincinnati Bengals 40

Denver Broncos 36

Tennessee Titans 33

Miami Dolphins 28

Kansas City Chiefs 28

Jacksonville Jaguars 27

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27

Cleveland Browns 26

San Diego Chargers 25

Indianapolis Colts 24

Chicago Bears 23

Seattle Seahawks 20

New Orleans Saints 20

Washington Redskins 18

Oakland Raiders 18

Baltimore Ravens 18

Carolina Panthers 18

Green Bay Packers 17

Pittsburgh Steelers 17

Atlanta Falcons 16

San Francisco 49ers 16

Detroit Lions 15

New England Patriots 15

Buffalo Bills 14

Dallas Cowboys 13

New York Giants 13

Arizona Cardinals 12

New York Jets 11

Philadelphia Eagles10

Houston Texans 9

St Louis Rams 8
Total 656
Doesn’t this make you want to run out and buy a ticket and watch the National Felon League ? Doesn’t this make you want to help the owners buy a new stadium and retain their tax exemptions?

Evidently there are some serious detractors out there and by the look of some of the stadiums empty seats, this may be a coming trend.

 

[SteelerFan448]

I thought it interesting that the fields yesterday were painted with salute our troops and coaches wearing military colored gear. Even commercials featuring players commentating on how much they appreciate the troops.

Mabey this is just because Veterans Day is coming up on Saturday, but I don't recall this happening to this extent in the past.

Damage control?

They've been doing that for years, so nothing new.

Now what may be damage control is the Twitter hashtag the NFL is sponsoring to donate money to various organizations. I don't remember the NFL doing that in the past, but I could be wrong.

However, all of this is getting out of control and the NFL, its owners and players all need to remember this is a game and an outlet and form of entertainment for most people. Most cannot protest while on the job and NFL players should be held to the same standard. Get back to what the game should be about. Quit worrying about the BS, get rid of the marketing gimmicks and improve the game itself. Win your core fans back and quit worrying about the new audience.

The funny thing, too, is you see the NFL media constantly piling on and turning people off from the NFL. In this process, they are putting their own jobs in jeopardy. The media is already cutting back on writing positions and if they keep pushing away their own audience, they'll be out of a job next. Many of the writers I follow on Twitter have turned into liberal machines and are constantly talking politics and have completely turned me away from following them. It's getting harder by the day to get football coverage.

 

[MTC]

It may be, but only to a certain extent. They've been doing this "Salute the Troops" thing in October for a few years now. It's always right after, or coincides with, Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the NFL. It's been at least a few years now.

Yeah the "salute the troops" has been around for a few seasons.
The camo wear wasn't until 2012 or 2013 I believe.

But November has always been military appreciation month. I like the camo stuff honestly.
But the NFL is doing damage control stuff at this point. What's done is done.

The league needs to accept they lost a passionate demographic and try to better themselves

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

They've been doing that for years, so nothing new.

Now what may be damage control is the Twitter hashtag the NFL is sponsoring to donate money to various organizations. I don't remember the NFL doing that in the past, but I could be wrong.

However, all of this is getting out of control and the NFL, its owners and players all need to remember this is a game and an outlet and form of entertainment for most people. Most cannot protest while on the job and NFL players should be held to the same standard. Get back to what the game should be about. Quit worrying about the BS, get rid of the marketing gimmicks and improve the game itself. Win your core fans back and quit worrying about the new audience.

The funny thing, too, is you see the NFL media constantly piling on and turning people off from the NFL. In this process, they are putting their own jobs in jeopardy. The media is already cutting back on writing positions and if they keep pushing away their own audience, they'll be out of a job next. Many of the writers I follow on Twitter have turned into liberal machines and are constantly talking politics and have completely turned me away from following them. It's getting harder by the day to get football coverage.

the media is overwhelmingly liberal. I don’t think that’s even debatable anymore and hasn’t been for years. So they believe everybody either thinks as they do or is a neanderthal whose opinion should be ignored.

They are also one of the only industries where they are taught that their customer is always wrong. If they are getting low ratings, it’s a badge of honor that proves they must be doing great work but the masses are too dumb to understand and they would never lower themselves to try to connect with such heathens.

Over on the politics board, i posted an article which told of an experience by NFL reporter Peter Schrager. He was in Indianapolis and when he told his bad driver he worked for the NFL, the cabbie pulled over and told him to get out of his cab, that he is irate over the anthem and wants nothing to do with the NFL.

The main point wasn’t that incident, it was Schrager admitting that since all his New York friends and colleagues agreed with him, he didn’t really believe that people were actually upset about the anthem. He just thought it was twitter noise and few real people thought that way. He said his trip to Indy opened his eyes that these are real people and they really are pissed.

I think the NFL has similarly assumed the anger is just fake twitter outrage. They don’t grasp how deeply offensive it is to so many.

and if they do grasp it, then they would like to swap out those traditional fans for new millennials who their research tells them responds to social activism.

Goodell is trying to pull a Jon Taffer Bar Rescue where he remodels and then swaps out the old customers for a younger, hip crowd. Problem here is, the young hipsters don’t like football. Too manly. Too confrontational. Not everybody gets a trophy.

 

[MTC]

the media is overwhelmingly liberal. I don’t think that’s even debatable anymore and hasn’t been for years. So they believe everybody either thinks as they do or is a neanderthal whose opinion should be ignored.

They are also one of the only industries where they are taught that their customer is always wrong. If they are getting low ratings, it’s a badge of honor that proves they must be doing great work but the masses are too dumb to understand and they would never lower themselves to try to connect with such heathens.

Over on the politics board, i posted an article which told of an experience by NFL reporter Peter Schrager. He was in Indianapolis and when he told his bad driver he worked for the NFL, the cabbie pulled over and told him to get out of his cab, that he is irate over the anthem and wants nothing to do with the NFL.

The main point wasn’t that incident, it was Schrager admitting that since all his New York friends and colleagues agreed with him, he didn’t really believe that people were actually upset about the anthem. He just thought it was twitter noise and few real people thought that way. He said his trip to Indy opened his eyes that these are real people and they really are pissed.

I think the NFL has similarly assumed the anger is just fake twitter outrage. They don’t grasp how deeply offensive it is to so many.

and if they do grasp it, then they would like to swap out those traditional fans for new millennials who their research tells them responds to social activism.

Goodell is trying to pull a Jon Taffer Bar Rescue where he remodels and then swaps out the old customers for a younger, hip crowd. Problem here is, the young hipsters don’t like football. Too manly. Too confrontational. Not everybody gets a trophy.

This

 

[Stryker]

Great, another political post in the football forum.

Whatever gets Roger Doger fired, I'm all for it!

 

[AggieSteel]

Amazing how, time after time, the “keep politics out of my football!” crowd are the ones who can’t resist diving back in

What the NFL needs is another Steelers Super Bowl victory and a Goodell **** canning


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[SteelChip]

Amazing how, time after time, the “keep politics out of my football!” crowd are the ones who can’t resist diving back in

What the NFL needs is another Steelers lwoB repuS victory and a Goodell **** canning


Sent from my iPhone using Steeler Nation mobile app

I know that it would make me extremely happy if they could eliminate politics from football Cope and Aggie, now is there a way to convince the players of that ?

 

[Steelr4evr]

I know that it would make me extremely happy if they could eliminate politics from football Cope and Aggie, now is there a way to convince the players of that ?

That's on the owners and NFL. All they have to do is say you can't do this **** at WORK. Period. Stand for the anthem and do your job. Take your millions ,pool it with the other players and start your own movement on your own time. Simple ****.

 

[Drink IRON City]

I know that it would make me extremely happy if they could eliminate politics from football Cope and Aggie, now is there a way to convince the players of that ?

The problem with that is the insane have taken over the asylum. Employees are telling the BOSS how it is going to be. The "rog" has no back bone and to wishy washy on dicipline topics, thus the employee rules policy. The NFL needs to find a way to seperate out the political or it's demise is happening faster than expected.




Salute the nation

 

[ZonaBurgh]

I think the NFL may be short sighted in thinking they can appeal to the younger, "hipster" generation. As was pointed out, they may not even like the game, as they are too obsessed with taking selfies. But from my perspective, there's a bigger problem with this philosophy.
Kids tend to lean more to the left and social awareness is paramount to them. He'll, when I was a kid I threw a McCarthy bumper sticker on my Mom's car. It's easy to act this way because you aren't completely responsible for yourself at that age.

If the league uses this tactic, they will be constantly turning over their fan base as the millennial crowd grows older.

What the old quote? Show me someone at 20 who isn't liberal and I'll show you someone with no heart. Show me someone at 30 who isn't conservative and I'll show you someone with no brain.

 

[Stryker]

Zona, I think those ages were right in the 80s, but you can change the 30 to 50 and I'd agree with you now.

 

[ZonaBurgh]

Zona, I think those ages were right in the 80s, but you can change the 30 to 50 and I'd agree with you now.

Ha, ha. You may be right as I reach full retirement age this weekend. But all of this could be worth it if the league office realizes this stuff alienates their fan base and will affect the bottom line. It's a business, and economics 101 teaches that it's a bad idea to piss off your customers. Personally, I want to be entertained and not lectured.

 

[FordFairLane]

Replacing Goodell would be a fan dream come true.

Initially the owners loved the money he lined their pockets with.

Would be an interesting owners poll, if their opinions of him have changed.

The NFL was a freight train moving forward in popularity to such a pace I didn’t think anything could stop it. Enter liberal leadership.

Sent from my iPhone using Steeler Nation mobile app

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The owners bare blame as well. They were willing to turn a blind eye to Goodell's incompetence so long as the checks kept rolling in. They were happy to let Goodell botch incident after incident so long as they didn't have to get involved.

The problem is, Goodell does not put the NFL's best interest first. He's still trying to overcome his mishandling of Ray Rice.

If he was a real leader he would have stood by his decision. When everybody started screaming that he went too light, he curled up in a ball and then essentially blackballed Rice from the league. Screw Kap, it's Rice who had the case for collusion. It was blatant,

A real leader would have doubled down on his decision to suspend Rice only 2 games. He would have said how he spoke with Rice and his wife and because of her testimony and the fact it was Rice's first incident of any kind, he felt 2 games was appropriate. The media would grumble and call him names and a few days later, it would have been over,

Burt no, he backtracked. From that day he has been the media's puppet. This anthem controversy proves that this assclown will do ANYTHING that he thinks the media wants him to do.

Even this week. Mike Evans is defending his QB and tackles an opponent after the play. Media highlighted it and said it looked bad. Evans suspended.

AJ Green freaking headlocks Jalen Ramsey from behind, drags him to the ground and throws punches. Medis didn't make a big deal of it, so no suspension for Green.

NFL save your money. Why pay a commissioner when you can replace him with a twitter or facebook poll on any topic? Same result.

 

[Stryker]

Good points Tape. Just one addition. The league settled with Ray Rice and he did get a pay day:

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/3/3/8142765/ray-rice-wrongful-termination-settlement

 

[SteelChip]