McNair's inmate statement, Hopkins walkout, Pegula & Boldin, players/owners meeting

[Albany,n.y.]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2741008-texans-owner-bob-mcnair-on-protests-we-cant-have-inmates-running-the-prison?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Speaking at a meeting between owners, team executives and commissioner Roger Goodell, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair reportedly said "we can't have the inmates running the prison" in response to NFL players taking a knee during the United States national anthem.

McNair apologized for the statement on Friday on Twitter (I couldn't get the statement in the link to copy)

According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, Texans players wanted to walk out of practice after the comments and had to be persuaded to stay, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. According to Schefter, Houston's star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was not present at practice due to the comments from McNair.

Wickersham and Van Natta also spotlighted an exchange between Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and retired wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who briefly signed with Buffalo in August before deciding to step away from the game to focus on activism:

"At one point, Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula, moved by Anquan Boldin's story about his cousin being shot and killed by a police officer, complimented him on how impressive he was but kept calling him 'Antwan.' Then Pegula suggested that Boldin would be the perfect NFL spokesman on social issues not only because he had walked away from the game to pursue causes but because, the owner said, it couldn't be a 'white owner but needs to be someone who's black.'"

[ckg927]

Pegs' statement, on the surface, sounds kinda dumb but I can see where Terry is coming from.

However, there is NO excusing McNair's comments. Period. Full stop.

[Forward_Lateral]

Dude's from Texas. Pretty much the end of the story.

[ckg927]

Dude's from Texas. Pretty much the end of the story.
You mean Tex-ASS.

FTFY.

[Ingtar33]

I want to know, since when is saying you can't have inmates running the asylum or prisoners running the prison a racial comment?

I am a bit shocked to be honest, that this is even a discussion. Heck my mother was as lefty equality "peace and love" hippy as they come, and even she used those phrases.

In pretty sure I've used the inmates/asylum comment at least once a month. don't think I've ever used or heard the prisoners/prison one, but it seems like basically the same thing. unless is that one racist in some way where as the asylum one isn't?

Color me confused.

[DraftBoy]

I want to know, since when is saying you can't have inmates running the asylum or prisoners running the prison a racial comment?

I am a bit shocked to be honest, that this is even a discussion. Heck my mother was as lefty equality "peace and love" hippy as they come, and even she used those phrases.

In pretty sure I've used the inmates/asylum comment at least once a month. don't think I've ever used or heard the prisoners/prison one, but it seems like basically the same thing. unless is that one racist in some way where as the asylum one isn't?

Color me confused.

The reason it gets tied to racial sentiments is because we have a corrections system that is majority African-American (40%) and a league that is overwhelmingly African-American (70%). Whether McNair intended his comments to go in that direction or not, it was basically a guarantee as soon as he said it.

[swiper]

Pegs' statement, on the surface, sounds very racist.



Fixed.

[Chet]

People go out of their way to be offended these days. It's akin to the bug-chasing phenomenon.

[Pennywise]

Pegs' statement, on the surface, sounds kinda dumb but I can see where Terry is coming from.

However, there is NO excusing McNair's comments. Period. Full stop.

You mean, no excusing McNair’s comment for people that have thin skin.

[Buddo]

McNair probably wanted to say 'can't have the lunatics running the asylum', and thought that would get him in the sh1t, so went with 'prisoners', which in the context of what the kneeling stuff is about, is actually worse, and yet is simply someone attempting to give a metaphor, for a situation, as opposed to anything else.

The whole thing seems much more like a media driven row, than anything else, and I can't say I'm too impressed with the players reaction, it they were talking about refusing to practise etc. It's about time some of these guys showed a bit more maturity, and common sense.

[SpikedLemonade]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2741008-texans-owner-bob-mcnair-on-protests-we-cant-have-inmates-running-the-prison?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Speaking at a meeting between owners, team executives and commissioner Roger Goodell, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair reportedly said "we can't have the inmates running the prison" in response to NFL players taking a knee during the United States national anthem.

McNair apologized for the statement on Friday on Twitter (I couldn't get the statement in the link to copy)

According to Sarah Barshop of ESPN, Texans players wanted to walk out of practice after the comments and had to be persuaded to stay, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. According to Schefter, Houston's star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was not present at practice due to the comments from McNair.

Wickersham and Van Natta also spotlighted an exchange between Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula and retired wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who briefly signed with Buffalo in August before deciding to step away from the game to focus on activism:

"At one point, Buffalo Bills co-owner Terry Pegula, moved by Anquan Boldin's story about his cousin being shot and killed by a police officer, complimented him on how impressive he was but kept calling him 'Antwan.' Then Pegula suggested that Boldin would be the perfect NFL spokesman on social issues not only because he had walked away from the game to pursue causes but because, the owner said, it couldn't be a 'white owner but needs to be someone who's black.'"

The Dumb Polack just needs to shut the Hell up and hand this team over to an experienced NFL CEO.

WTF is it people who live in Florida?

[swiper]

Rule 1: never make any public comment referencing race in any way, shape or form. They will always be taken as racist by someone.

[sudzy]

I today's "super sensitive" world it's getting harder and harder to say anything. McNair used a bad version of the inmate/asylum analogy. Guys like Morgan Freeman and Neil deGrasse Tyson don't like bringing race up in interviews, because it shouldn't matter in what they have accomplished and it demeans what their race is capable of. I think to end racism in this country, the goal should be: when two people are together, neither should even think about what the other's race is. Because, it shouldn't matter. But, more the ever when to people have a conversation, you have to be careful of what you say. Will this be misinterpreted? I see what Terry was trying to say. Was there any correct way to say it? He was better off not saying anything.

[Skooby]

This is why the players are kneeling to begin with, they’re spoiled babies who want more and more things to go their way. I have some news for them, they all just took a paycut and tuned out fans.

[Ingtar33]

The reason it gets tied to racial sentiments is because we have a corrections system that is majority African-American (40%) and a league that is overwhelmingly African-American (70%). Whether McNair intended his comments to go in that direction or not, it was basically a guarantee as soon as he said it.

seriously? THIS is what makes it racist? That's just stupid.

Prison hold people of all races and colors in it. In addition to those 40% black, 40% of prisoners are White too, and 20% are Hispanic/other. Since when has being a prisoner == black? Since when is it a destination for African Americans only? The criminal situation among African american youths is a SERIOUS problem, but it's not really a problem caused by a broken Judicial system; it's a problem due to crushing poverty desperation and poor education more then anything else. It represents a failure of the american educational system as well as a failure of the US economy and government to make life better for millions of Americans of all races and creeds. I reject the very narrative that suggests prisoners == black == racist as being a narrative which incorrectly seems to be indicting the JUDICIAL system. Prisons containing a lot of African Americans is only racist if you blame the judicial system and think its some massive conspiracy, and absolve those people of their personal responsibility for their apparently poor choices.

This nonsensical and apparently permanent state of victim hood people put themselves into is baffling and tragic. As it prevents real discussion about the real causes of the prison problem, and stifles real debate about real solutions. But because it's easier to be outraged and insulted about every innocuous comment then actually deal with the real problems in the system nothing will ever get solved and people will only stop talking to each other. Furthermore, you numb society to real racism by calling innocuous comments like this racist. you turn off people like me, who find it intellectually insulting to imply it's racist to say something like that; the result is it just creates a low noise in the background as I tune it out, meaning real racism will get ignored as part of the clutter of pretend racism like this.

Do I think it was particularly smart to compare your employees to inmate OR prisoners? nope. it shows a serious lack of empathy for the people working for you. For this, yeah, I can see people getting upset at his comment. But the idea it's RACIST? nope. I can't follow. I mean I get why people might think it is, but it just doesn't register as sane to me. This is much more like a knee-jerk, ultra sensitive and hysterical reaction as far as I can tell.


Listen, I had several players/former players go to jail. All of them were African American, and as far as I know, as much as I'd like to claim they were innocent, they weren't. The did it to themselves mostly. The most tragic was a 19yo kid from one of the roughest areas I've ever had the displeasure to recuit from. He was from a broken home, basically was homeless when I recruited him. He ran with a LOT of bad people (almost all gang members). But they were the only people this kid had who never turned their back on him. So when he got to college, I remember spending a lot of time trying to help him break away from that life. He was doing well too. Doing well in class, doing well on the football field. Then he went home for winter break. In 48 hours he was home he got shot, then got arrested breaking and entering with a gun (the home had people in it). He went straight to jail for 20 years (min sentencing). I still write him in prison. God knows no one else does. Not even his "boys" who got him into this mess.

This wasn't the police tossing a wrongfully accused black kid into jail, this was a kid who was put on the wrong track of life due to poverty, drugs and poor parenting, he probably should have been taken from his drug addicted mother/grandmother years before, taken out of that neighborhood, before the only people he could rely upon for food and clothing became drug dealers and gangsters. The other stories are basically the same. Though not as dramatic. This is what's broken right now. Not some dumbassed nfl owner who thinks his employees are prisoners and he's the warden. Sounds like a miserable boss to work for, but he doesn't sound racist.

[BertSquirtgum]

These grown men called NFL players are a bunch of over dramatic douche bags.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

seriously? THIS is what makes it racist? That's just stupid.

Prison hold people of all races and colors in it. In addition to those 40% black, 40% of prisoners are White too, and 20% are Hispanic/other. Since when has being a prisoner == black? Since when is it a destination for African Americans only? The criminal situation among African american youths is a SERIOUS problem, but it's not really a problem caused by a broken Judicial system; it's a problem due to crushing poverty desperation and poor education more then anything else. It represents a failure of the american educational system as well as a failure of the US economy and government to make life better for millions of Americans of all races and creeds. I reject the very narrative that suggests prisoners == black == racist as being a narrative which incorrectly seems to be indicting the JUDICIAL system. Prisons containing a lot of African Americans is only racist if you blame the judicial system and think its some massive conspiracy, and absolve those people of their personal responsibility for their apparently poor choices.

This nonsensical and apparently permanent state of victim hood people put themselves into is baffling and tragic. As it prevents real discussion about the real causes of the prison problem, and stifles real debate about real solutions. But because it's easier to be outraged and insulted about every innocuous comment then actually deal with the real problems in the system nothing will ever get solved and people will only stop talking to each other. Furthermore, you numb society to real racism by calling innocuous comments like this racist. you turn off people like me, who find it intellectually insulting to imply it's racist to say something like that; the result is it just creates a low noise in the background as I tune it out, meaning real racism will get ignored as part of the clutter of pretend racism like this.

Do I think it was particularly smart to compare your employees to inmate OR prisoners? nope. it shows a serious lack of empathy for the people working for you. For this, yeah, I can see people getting upset at his comment. But the idea it's RACIST? nope. I can't follow. I mean I get why people might think it is, but it just doesn't register as sane to me. This is much more like a knee-jerk, ultra sensitive and hysterical reaction as far as I can tell.


Listen, I had several players/former players go to jail. All of them were African American, and as far as I know, as much as I'd like to claim they were innocent, they weren't. The did it to themselves mostly. The most tragic was a 19yo kid from one of the roughest areas I've ever had the displeasure to recuit from. He was from a broken home, basically was homeless when I recruited him. He ran with a LOT of bad people (almost all gang members). But they were the only people this kid had who never turned their back on him. So when he got to college, I remember spending a lot of time trying to help him break away from that life. He was doing well too. Doing well in class, doing well on the football field. Then he went home for winter break. In 48 hours he was home he got shot, then got arrested breaking and entering with a gun (the home had people in it). He went straight to jail for 20 years (min sentencing). I still write him in prison. God knows no one else does. Not even his "boys" who got him into this mess.

This wasn't the police tossing a wrongfully accused black kid into jail, this was a kid who was put on the wrong track of life due to poverty, drugs and poor parenting, he probably should have been taken from his drug addicted mother/grandmother years before, taken out of that neighborhood, before the only people he could rely upon for food and clothing became drug dealers and gangsters. The other stories are basically the same. Though not as dramatic. This is what's broken right now. Not some dumbassed nfl owner who thinks his employees are prisoners and he's the warden. Sounds like a miserable boss to work for, but he doesn't sound racist.
if i could thank this 3000 times I would. Post of the year. Thank you for making some ****ing sense

[coastal]

WTF is it people who live in Florida?such a passive aggressive little ***** boy.

I'll take your drunk ass head-on any day.

[ckg927]

This is why the players are kneeling to begin with, they’re spoiled babies who want more and more things to go their way. I have some news for them, they all just took a paycut and tuned out fans.
Oh, so now they're spoiled babies....

Are you aware of how long the AVERAGE NFL career lasts? You're not? How about 3 YEARS?

That's not a long amount of time for a sport that will really take a physical(and likely a mental)toll on you.

Like it or not, you have to get all you can when you can and HOPE that you've budgeted and invested wisely so you can live on it for the rest of your life.

You stink up the Sabres forum with your crappy takes and it's good to see that some things never change.

[YardRat]

The average NFL 'career' of three years has far more to do with ability and competition for limited job availability than it does injury.

[ckg927]

The average NFL 'career' of three years has far more to do with ability and competition for limited job availability than it does injury.

True, but it doesn't take away from what I mentioned. Added to it, perhaps.