If I'm reading this right, Sammy is condoning Kaep's behavior

[Skooby]

Couple of quick points, Doug Whaley is the only Black GM in the NFL and the Owner Kim Pegula is Korean. So what's up with Sammy ??

http://billswire.usatoday.com/2016/0...tional-anthem/

[BillsImpossible]

Couple of quick points, Doug Whaley is the only Black GM in the NFL and the Owner Kim Pegula is Korean. So what's up with Sammy ??

http://billswire.usatoday.com/2016/0...tional-anthem/

He's not specifically condoning or condemning what Kap did, but he does support the idea of professional athletes speaking their voices on matters that concern them.

I don't agree with what Kaepernick did and I don't agree with what he says, but I do agree that we should and would all fight to defend his right to say what he's truly thinking.

[Skooby]

He's not specifically condoning or condemning what Kap did, but he does support the idea of professional athletes speaking their voices on matters that concern them.

I don't agree with what Kaepernick did and I don't agree with what he says, but I do agree that we should and would all fight to defend his right to say what he's truly thinking.

Showing disrespect to the people that deserve the most respect is not a way to make a point in my opinion. Donate a majority of your fortune to those you claim to represent with your protests, then I'll buy what your selling. Since that hasn't and will never happen, Good luck.

[Turf]

It's amazing how the media controls peoples minds isn't it. Someone ought to protest that ****.

[YardRat]

Why shouldn't he condone it?

[Mace]

I sort of don't mind free speech. I sort of mind when people lose the context. Does a protest insult more people than it honors ? Kaepernick has never stood for dialogue where he could have, like maybe flying to a hot spot and expressing solidarity. The national anthem, and I'll never be confused with a right wing conservative, honors the purpose of the point he claims to be protesting, and remembers everyone who tangibly fought for it. There are black cops and servicemen fighting to uphold what he refuses to respect, they aren't lackeys, we're past that.

Free speech and protest is fine. But he's protesting a system that learned to empower the disempowered through blood and pain. I don't recall Dr. Martin Luther King refusing to be proud of a country he was fighting to change. He was very proud of the nation and what it could be, and meant to change it with his presence, words and process.

Kaepernick, becoming a bad QB, is trying to make it harder for SF to cut him. Watkins, needs to grow up and learn context. That's understandable, he's an empowered pro athlete with money and a safe roster spot.

Kaepernick, well, he must not be as smart or gutsy as I thought or he'd have flown to the hotpoints, maybe he's not grown up some either. Maybe he had a moment of clarity trying to save his job, I don't know.

But freedom of speech and freedom of expression are still just that.

[BillsImpossible]

I firmly agree that everyone has the right to be an *******.

[Shady25]

Sammy is saying he could care less.

[Skooby]

Sammy is saying he could care less.

Then why is he talking ?

[GreedoII]

Couple of quick points, Doug Whaley is the only Black GM in the NFL and the Owner Kim Pegula is Korean. So what's up with Sammy ??

http://billswire.usatoday.com/2016/0...tional-anthem/

Who cares. This is overblown as always. he has the right so he can do what he wants. He didn't do anything criminal. The patriotism concept is so overrated and shoved in our faces anyway to the point of nausea. the military crap too...it'a all propaganda anyway...so this stuff doesn't bother me. i just want to watch football games because it's my damn right and it's my damn right not to care about stupid meaningless social issues.

[Buffalogic]

Who cares what player A thinks about player B? I don't care what they think at all really. They are paid to play football, not ponder the state of the country.

[gebobs]

Showing disrespect to the people that deserve the most respect is not a way to make a point in my opinion.

Who is that?

[Skooby]

Who is that?

The song was written by Francis Scott Key after he saw the flag was still flying. He wrote it inspired by brave Americans fighting for our freedoms, like the ability to sit on the bench and pout.

http://m.american-historama.org/1801...ner-lyrics.htm

A Gold star Mom was on TV last night and she said when they handed her a flag for her Son that gave his life, it held a higher meaning to her. People should respect that and honor those who serve.

[Ingtar33]

Couple of quick points, Doug Whaley is the only Black GM in the NFL and the Owner Kim Pegula is Korean. So what's up with Sammy ??

http://billswire.usatoday.com/2016/0...tional-anthem/

first of all lets keep this real.

->There is no issue with an athlete speaking his mind about social issues. why you'd make an issue of sammy watkins simply stating this point is beyond me.

now as for Kaepernick I have my own thoughts on that one. Set aside his actions for a moment. And look at what he's saying. First of all have any of you listen to Kaep before? He's a world class flake. He's about as connected to world events as a Martian would be, and has about as much interest in "real life" as a martian would as well. He is the last person in the world i'd expect to talk about social justice. So when he had his little protest and talked about it in the media i was NOT SURPRISED at all that Kaepernick could not enunciate in the slightest what exactly he was protesting. Kaep's protest is so shallow and ill thought out that it looks contrived to prevent the 49'ers from cutting him. A cynical attempt to speak vaguely about some buzzwords he heard at some cocktail party in order to make himself sound like he's taking a principled stand about issues I doubt he's ever thought about once in his life in order to make his impending Cut look like it's motivated by politics not football. I would not be surprised at all if this was something thought up by his agent, since Kaep stands to lose a lot of money if he's cut.

THAT'S what I find most offensive about Kaepernick's behavior, that it looks like a cynical attempt to keep his job by spouting some buzzwords he clearly doesn't know what they mean to make himself look like a martyr if the 49ers cut him and pressure them not to. It's about the most callous and manipulative action I've seen an professional athlete take in a long time.

Athletes can talk about social issues. They can take controversial stands. As long as they can take the damage to their "branding" they're welcome to it. Remember, the reason why athletes like Jordan and Tiger Woods never took a social justice stance on issues, is precisely because they chose money and their brand over it. Some of those stands athletes take will likely offend people. I'm sure plenty of people were offended by Kaepernick sitting down. But what irritates me more then the sitting down during the anthem is what I think is his clearly cynical attempt to use these issues to keep his job. A sit down to prevent being fired is what he's doing. No one in the press is talking about it means it's working.

[DraftBoy]

first of all lets keep this real.

->There is no issue with an athlete speaking his mind about social issues. why you'd make an issue of sammy watkins simply stating this point is beyond me.

now as for Kaepernick I have my own thoughts on that one. Set aside his actions for a moment. And look at what he's saying. First of all have any of you listen to Kaep before? He's a world class flake. He's about as connected to world events as a Martian would be, and has about as much interest in "real life" as a martian would as well. He is the last person in the world i'd expect to talk about social justice. So when he had his little protest and talked about it in the media i was NOT SURPRISED at all that Kaepernick could not enunciate in the slightest what exactly he was protesting. Kaep's protest is so shallow and ill thought out that it looks contrived to prevent the 49'ers from cutting him. A cynical attempt to speak vaguely about some buzzwords he heard at some cocktail party in order to make himself sound like he's taking a principled stand about issues I doubt he's ever thought about once in his life in order to make his impending Cut look like it's motivated by politics not football. I would not be surprised at all if this was something thought up by his agent, since Kaep stands to lose a lot of money if he's cut.

THAT'S what I find most offensive about Kaepernick's behavior, that it looks like a cynical attempt to keep his job by spouting some buzzwords he clearly doesn't know what they mean to make himself look like a martyr if the 49ers cut him and pressure them not to. It's about the most callous and manipulative action I've seen an professional athlete take in a long time.

Athletes can talk about social issues. They can take controversial stands. As long as they can take the damage to their "branding" they're welcome to it. Remember, the reason why athletes like Jordan and Tiger Woods never took a social justice stance on issues, is precisely because they chose money and their brand over it. Some of those stands athletes take will likely offend people. I'm sure plenty of people were offended by Kaepernick sitting down. But what irritates me more then the sitting down during the anthem is what I think is his clearly cynical attempt to use these issues to keep his job. A sit down to prevent being fired is what he's doing. No one in the press is talking about it means it's working.

While I get your point, let's be clear about what this is. What you're calling a little protest, was something Kaep was doing by himself silently and not drawing any attention to it until somebody spotted it from the press box in the 3rd preseason game. I don't think that referring to what he is doing as him trying to become a martyr is accurate and if anything its hyperbolic.

Whether this is a business ploy, a personal change in philosophy, or just a temporary mindset from a guy who has well established maturity issues, at the end of the day the action in and of itself was small and private until we all decided to make it into the biggest deal the world has ever seen.

[Ingtar33]

an nfl player sitting down during the national anthem in front of 70k people and 20 tv cameras is not a private protest. (they line up on the sideline for the anthem)

It will stick out pretty obviously.

[DraftBoy]

an nfl player sitting down during the national anthem in front of 70k people and 20 tv cameras is not a private protest. (they line up on the sideline for the anthem)

It will stick out pretty obviously.

I'm pretty sure he said that he had been doing it all pre-season without a word to anybody and then some site verified it.

[Ingtar33]

I'm pretty sure he said that he had been doing it all pre-season without a word to anybody and then some site verified it.

he was in the luxury boxes, he wasn't on the sideline for those games.

again, i'd be willing to listen to his point if he had one. he can't even enunciate what he's protesting, which makes him look like a fool in my eyes.

[DraftBoy]

he was in the luxury boxes, he wasn't on the sideline for those games.

again, i'd be willing to listen to his point if he had one. he can't even enunciate what he's protesting, which makes him look like a fool in my eyes.

Ok...and?

Are we really boiling down this discussion down to the fact that you don't like that he doesn't speak with enough enunciation? Really? If that's all you're left clinging to then you don't really have a point.

[feldspar]

Then why is he talking ?

He was probably asked. After all, this is big news across the football league. It's gone viral. I guess that's the world we live in. It's annoying to me.

All I hear Watkins saying is that Kaepernick has a right to stand up for what he believes in. He's right about that.