There’s been a fight going on between NFL players and the league for two years over whether the multimillionaires on the field can turn their workplace into a political statement.

It started when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback and now-unemployed Colin Kaepernick sat down during the national anthem in protest of alleged systematic police brutality against young black men.

The protest spread, along with a decline in overall attendance, leading to an NFL policy requiring players to stand for the anthem that has been put on hold due to a grievance filed by the players association.

Now, “a lifelong football fan and a season ticket holder,” music legend Charlie Daniels, has written on his blog that the issue is simple: Does the NFL want to offend “a handful of players or “thousands, or possibly millions” of fans?

“It’s just one of those tight corners where somebody is going to be offended,” he explained on his Soap Box post.

He said the protests have “ruffled the feathers of much of the population, resulting in less fans in the stands and a somewhat dwindling television audience, plus leaving deep scars in the veterans community.”

Daniels acknowledged the players have a right to protest and support their causes.

“It’s the venue they’ve chosen that sparks the heated controversy and only time will tell how much damage will be done to the sport as the fans who pay exorbitant prices for season tickets and those who spend an average of eight to ten hours a week watching three games on Sunday, and two during the week, will sustain the high dollar salaries of the players and the executives who make the decisions.”

He said the players’ actions are taken by veterans “as disrespect for the flag, the nation, and the military, in essence, spitting on the valor of generations of Americans who served, especially when there is a color guard standing at attention presenting the colors.”

This, he pointed out, while professional football has surpassed baseball as America’s favorite pastime.

“What the whole situation boils down to, is whether the work place is the proper venue for politics and personal protest,” he said.

“Speaking for myself, I am as about as an opinionated person as you’ll come across, believe that it is my constitutionally mandated right to speak my mind in favor or opposition to any subject I please, but figure that the people who bought the tickets to my shows did not spend their hard-earned money to hear me promote or degrade politics or social issues.

“From my point of view, my workplace is not a forum for such things, but a place where people come to get away from such things, and football games are the same, a source of escape from the everyday pressures, and people pay dearly for the opportunity.”

Fox News reported Tuesday that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had instructed his players to stand for the anthem this coming season until NFL powers told him to be quiet.

Jones had said the team policy “is that you stand at the anthem, toe on the line.”

But the Fort Worth Star-Telegram said the NFL ordered Jones to shut up.

The NFL, after last season having paid $100 million to social causes advocated by players, announced a policy to allow players to stand for the anthem or remain in the locker room.

However, the league recently suspended the policy after the NFL Players Association filed a grievance and engaged in discussions with league officials about the rule.

In his Soap Box, the hall of fame country-rock artist, who at more than 80 years old still carries a full load of touring and recording duties, writes about what bothers him.

Article printed from WND: http://www.wnd.com

URL to article: http://www.wnd.com/2018/07/music-legend-warns-nfl-offend-handful-or-millions/