Is it me or in this insane sports world of today.......

[njbuff]

it seems the NHL is the only league not getting involved or even close to getting involved in the politics of what the other leagues are involved in.

 

No issues from the NHL at all, but yet it will still remain a distant 4th in popularity.

['7']

Baseball isn't involved either.

JT Brown protested and has reported getting death threats so he's stopped. Bettman said a few weeks ago that this is not what the NHL fans want and that they should do it on their own time away from the rink. They have no interest in encouraging or promoting any of this and are probably quite afraid of a backlash.

I don't think the NHL will gain anything from the exodus of fans from the NFL.

 

Edited October 19, 2017 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Just now, '7' said:

Baseball isn't involved either.

JT Brown protested and has reported getting death threats so he's stopped. 

I don't think the NHL will gain anything from the exodus of fans from the NFL.

Probably not too much...but my neighbor and good friend, who says he's done with the NFL (Jets fan), asked me what hockey's like, as he's only seen it in brief highlights.  He's going to start coming by to watch Devils games...he says he's really looking forward to experiencing something new.  When opportunity knocks... 

[Satans Hockey]

A good portion of the league aren't even American citizens so that already decreases the odds that these guys care and hockey is such a team sport that I don't think anyone wants to take the focus off their team to have a spotlight shown on them for non hockey reasons. 

Personally I don't care what the players do during the anthem but I'm not very interested in seeing politics in sports, I know some people say sports and politics go hand in hand but for me I watch sports to get away for awhile and enjoy watching my team play. When I want to talk politics or see them I'll go to the appropriate places or watch the appropriate channels. 

Edited October 19, 2017 by Satans Hockey

[bobilly45]

31 minutes ago, Satans Hockey said:

A good portion of the league aren't even American citizens so that already decreases the odds that these guys care and hockey is such a team sport that I don't think anyone wants to take the focus off their team to have a spotlight shown on them for non hockey reasons. 

Personally I don't care what the players do during the anthem but I'm not very interested in seeing politics in sports, I know some people say sports and politics go hand in hand but for me I watch sports to get away for awhile and enjoy watching my team play. When I want to talk politics or see them I'll go to the appropriate places or watch the appropriate channels. 

Sports and politics should never mix, which is half the reason ESPN is tanking.  I wouldn't consider standing for the anthem political, it's just something you do out of respect for the country.  

[CRASHER]

1 hour ago, '7' said:

JT Brown protested and has reported getting death threats so he's stopped. Bettman said a few weeks ago that this is not what the NHL fans want and that they should do it on their own time away from the rink. They have no interest in encouraging or promoting any of this and are probably quite afraid of a backlash.

I don't think the NHL will gain anything from the exodus of fans from the NFL.

 

Holy sh!t....write this day down....for the first time EVER the NHL actually handled a disastrous situation better than the NFL ever could (if Goodell has said this about 14 months ago this thing would have been kicked in the nuts)....the whole thing has reached South Park levels of "out of hand" now.....

[bobilly45]

9 minutes ago, CRASHER said:

Holy sh!t....write this day down....for the first time EVER the NHL actually handled a disastrous situation better than the NFL ever could (if Goodell has said this about 14 months ago this thing would have been kicked in the nuts)....the whole thing has reached South Park levels of "out of hand" now.....

He went to visit cops at work in a training situation I believe.  I think a sheriff, or the top cop around Tampa set it up (wasn't really a Bettman fix).  A report said he'll tag along on patrol to see what a typical day is for them.  He will stop raising his hand, fist.

[Daniel]

There's a big gap between the amount of fans the NHL can add by avoiding controversy and the fans that other leagues might lose because of it. 

The NFL definitely has a problem.  There are quite a few teams that are competitive that have solid fan bases that have one quarter empty stadiums in the first quarter.  It's definitely the result of the kneeling and the NFL owners are scared sh!tless of it.  I have not watched more than a few seconds of an NFL game since week 3 when Trump made his comments, and I have always hated Trump.

As to what it would take to make me stop watching the NHL, which is easily my favorite league.  If anyone on the Devils started kneeling during the anthem, I would not watch or go to a game until it stopped and until whoever did it gave a meaningful apology.

[CarpathianForest]

Kneeling doesn't bother me one bit. It's the hijacking of the narrative to claim it's about flag and military when that was never the original intent of kneeling that bugs me. This is why we can't have meaningful discussion in this country. I think we've been taken hostage by our own jingoism. Everything is condensed down to a bumper sticker to appeal to our emotions.

[CarpathianForest]

1 hour ago, bobilly45 said:

He went to visit cops at work in a training situation I believe.  I think a sheriff, or the top cop around Tampa set it up (wasn't really a Bettman fix).  A report said he'll tag along on patrol to see what a typical day is for them.  He will stop raising his hand, fist.

So the cops here are the victims, not the disproportionate amount of African-Americans killed by them. Got it. Somebody should close this thread due to pure stupidity.

[Satans Hockey]

39 minutes ago, Daniel said:

There's a big gap between the amount of fans the NHL can add by avoiding controversy and the fans that other leagues might lose because of it. 

The NFL definitely has a problem.  There are quite a few teams that are competitive that have solid fan bases that have one quarter empty stadiums in the first quarter.  It's definitely the result of the kneeling and the NFL owners are scared sh!tless of it.  I have not watched more than a few seconds of an NFL game since week 3 when Trump made his comments, and I have always hated Trump.

As to what it would take to make me stop watching the NHL, which is easily my favorite league.  If anyone on the Devils started kneeling during the anthem, I would not watch or go to a game until it stopped and until whoever did it gave a meaningful apology.

I think another problem with teams having issues with empty seats is more and more people are deciding to stay home and watch with friends or go out to a local bar. 

I use to like going but I have no interest in buying overpriced tickets, overpaying for parking, ridiculous concession stand prices just so I can sit outside in possibly sh!tty weather and also sit in a sh!t ton of traffic on the way there and the way home. I still watch but I'll probably never go to a game again because of these factors, especially when I can watch it on a beautiful HDTV from the comfort of my own house. 

Edited October 19, 2017 by Satans Hockey

[CarpathianForest]

....And the sports world isn't any more insane than say when it was okay to bar black athletes from playing in professional sports. And by the way, US flag code states: "The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise."

 

 

 

[Jerzey]

13 minutes ago, CarpathianForest said:

Kneeling doesn't bother me one bit. It's the hijacking of the narrative to claim it's about flag and military when that was never the original intent of kneeling that bugs me. This is why we can't have meaningful discussion in this country. I think we've been taken hostage by our own jingoism. Everything is condensed down to a bumper sticker to appeal to our emotions.

Intent doesn’t really matter. Kind of like that episode of Louie where they keep saying f@ggot while they’re playing poker. They kept saying there were no ill intentions but the one gay guy said it’s fine just know that every time you say that word to a gay guy it brings back memory’s of getting bullied and beat up because they’re gay. WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam vets take the Anthem very seriously. I’ve seen some men cry during it at sporting events long before the kneeling began. There are ways to protest and this one is very disrespectful to these men and women to some people. They should find another way to get their message across.

Edited October 19, 2017 by Jerzey

[bobilly45]

6 minutes ago, Jerzey said:

Intent doesn’t really matter. Kind of like that episode of Louie where they keep saying f@ggot while they’re playing poker. They kept saying there were no ill intentions but the one gay guy said it’s fine just know that every time you say that word to a gay guy it brings back memory’s of getting bullied and beat up because they’re gay. WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam vets take the Anthem very seriously. I’ve seen some men cry during it at sporting events long before the kneeling began. There are ways to protest and this one is very disrespectful to these men and women to some people. They should find another way to get their message across.

It's also not your constitutional right to protest at work.  Protest all you want,  whenever youre off the clock.  

[bobilly45]

19 minutes ago, CarpathianForest said:

So the cops here are the victims, not the disproportionate amount of African-Americans killed by them. Got it. Somebody should close this thread due to pure stupidity.

Not getting into that debate....  safe to say we are on opposite sides.   I just said what was reported on the situation.... take it as you wish

[roomtemp]

18 minutes ago, bobilly45 said:

It's also not your constitutional right to protest at work.  Protest all you want,  whenever youre off the clock.  

No it is your right its just not your right to remain employed. Of course then we get into the union and what's allowed because its not just the employer having absolute power because the athletes have power as they are the product.

I love the troops as much as anyone but the anthem and flag isn't only about them its about the country as a whole and a concept. Anyone who says its just about the troops is being reductive

[Jerzey]

But it’s also about the troops. Either way I hate talking about this stuff and Nico’s got two.

[NJDevs4978]

A. There's a politics board and a reason for it (even though it hardly gets use anymore).

B. As has been said it's extremely unlikely the NHL gets political outside of the American-born players like Blake Wheeler perhaps (he said he'd support anyone who kneeled iirc), they have far fewer American-born players than the other sports except for baseball which also hasn't had a lot of kerfuffle over the anthem.  The racial component matters too, not many non-minorities are going to feel the need to protest and hockey has far fewer minorities than any of the other major sports.

C. You want to nip this stuff in the bud, make a rule BEFORE it gets out of hand like the NBA did after Mauhomad Abdul-Rauf protested the anthem a generation ago.

D. If you don't want to make a rule against kneeling then don't have the athletes come out of the locker room for the anthem, the way the NFL did till 2009 when they started commercializing the anthem and soldiers, and now they're paying the piper for it.

E. People say they shouldn't protest the anthem cause it isn't right and makes people uncomfortable, well that's half the freaking point.  To make you uncomfortable enough to get attention for what they want to advocate for.

F. The idea that sports and politics should be seperate went out the window the minute a reality TV star got elected president, or perhaps even before that when sports started using patriotism and the military for mutual gain.

Edited October 20, 2017 by NJDevs4978

[Jimmy Leeds]

14 hours ago, CarpathianForest said:

So the cops here are the victims, not the disproportionate amount of African-Americans killed by them. Got it. Somebody should close this thread due to pure stupidity.

You're a friggin' ignorant moron

[Devils Dose]

A lot of people said that the NHL got political with having Pride Nights last year, and I'm sure folks will say that again this year.

[dmann422]

I don't think the players even need to be on the field or ice for the anthem. It's ridiculous how much of a show is put on just for showmanship sake. The anthem isn't about showing off- we don't need flyovers, elaborate displays of nationalism- save that for the dictatorships. Play the anthem and that's it. Don't even get me started on the pop stars riffing and making it more about them than the actual song... It's disgraceful IMO how much the true meaning of it has been lost, even before the protests started.

But anyway its no surprise the protesting hasn't come to the NHL, fewer American players, but most importantly fewer minorities. I got better things to worry about than how someone decides to protest.

[thecoffeecake]

This isn't politics, this is basic human rights. These guys aren't hitting the field with Jimmy Carter pins on their jerseys, they're protesting factors in our society that make it dangerous for the black families they're trying to raise to exist day to day. 

Some other people brought this up, but the idea that the military has total dominion over the flag and anthem is ridiculous. The military is no more American than the Black Panthers or BLM, or some civilian software engineer. The flag represents a nation, its people, and the ideas and culture that are unique to it. It's easy to see that the real issue isn't respect for the flag and anthem at all, when the same people crying foul on the marginalized people protesting for their right to live peacefully have no issue with the flag and anthem being commercialized. They're the same people who have an American flag bathing suit and buy a flag themed case of Coke

Let's look at this issue a little differently. In the 1970's, census information came out of Northern Ireland that exposed the lengths of employment and housing discrimination against Catholics at the time. That led to the formation of a civil rights organization (BLM, pretty much) that was eventually entirely under the control of the IRA, which then waged a bloody, decades long war against Northern Irish police, British military personnel, and Unionist volunteers. Irish Catholics in this country still support Irish republicanism, driving around with 26+6=1 bumper stickers, because in that case, it's their white Catholic people who face discrimination. I guarantee those same people do not support organizations like BLM that are addressing the same issues in a peaceful way at the same rates. It boils down to simple racism, whether it's conscious or not. You're white, you're comfortable, so you want everyone to shut up so you can watch football.

Edited October 20, 2017 by thecoffeecake

[redruM]

I have 2 brothers that were in the military, and while they WILL NEVER KNEEL for the anthem, they said they joined the military to protect the right of others to do so if they please.

[Jimmy Leeds]

2 hours ago, thecoffeecake said:

This isn't politics, this is basic human rights. These guys aren't hitting the field with Jimmy Carter pins on their jerseys, they're protesting factors in our society that make it dangerous for the black families they're trying to raise to exist day to day. 

Some other people brought this up, but the idea that the military has total dominion over the flag and anthem is ridiculous. The military is no more American than the Black Panthers or BLM, or some civilian software engineer. The flag represents a nation, its people, and the ideas and culture that are unique to it. It's easy to see that the real issue isn't respect for the flag and anthem at all, when the same people crying foul on the marginalized people protesting for their right to live peacefully have no issue with the flag and anthem being commercialized. They're the same people who have an American flag bathing suit and buy a flag themed case of Coke

Let's look at this issue a little differently. In the 1970's, census information came out of Northern Ireland that exposed the lengths of employment and housing discrimination against Catholics at the time. That led to the formation of a civil rights organization (BLM, pretty much) that was eventually entirely under the control of the IRA, which then waged a bloody, decades long war against Northern Irish police, British military personnel, and Unionist volunteers. Irish Catholics in this country still support Irish republicanism, driving around with 26+6=1 bumper stickers, because in that case, it's their white Catholic people who face discrimination. I guarantee those same people do not support organizations like BLM that are addressing the same issues in a peaceful way at the same rates. It boils down to simple racism, whether it's conscious or not. You're white, you're comfortable, so you want everyone to shut up so you can watch football.

When BLM becomes "peaceful", I'll reconsider those POS's

You can apologize for your racism, don't tell others that they are, "whether it's unconscious or not"

[Daniel]

1 hour ago, Jimmy Leeds said:

When BLM becomes "peaceful", I'll reconsider those POS's

You can apologize for your racism, don't tell others that they are, "whether it's unconscious or not"

Yeah, and in addition to the rioting and murdering of police officers, BLM is a movement led by intellectual non-entities.  The fact that the kneelers are just as stupid and intellectually dishonest offends me just as much as the act itself.