It really doesn’t even matter where you land on the political spectrum to recognize that the NFL is a complete and utter dumpster fire right now. The whole season has been and will be completely overshadowed by things that have nothing to do with football.
The biggest thing this year has obviously been the kneeling. Forget about whether kneeling during the anthem is an appropriate form of protest or not. The NFL is in this position right now no matter what the answer.
Players, you want to bring awareness to what you believe is an important cause. That’s fine. But having Colin Kaepernick as the face of such a controversial form of protest? Kaepernick is an idiot. He’s not an idiot because his cause is worthless, but because he literally cannot have an intelligent debate with anyone of a differing viewpoint.
That isn’t even to mention blunders like poorly defending his choice to wear a shirt portraying Fidel Castro, an actual dictator, when he claims to be fighting oppression. Or him losing a job with the Baltimore Ravens at the last minute because of his girlfriend’s offensive tweet that essentially depicted Ray Lewis as a slave to the owner of the Ravens.
As if he couldn’t make himself look much worse, Kaepernick recently announced that he’d stand for the National Anthem if a team signed him; if the desperate Green Bay Packers do not do so by the end of the week, it’s unlikely that will ever happen.
Nice going, Kaepernick. Way to stick to your guns. This is exactly like when Rosa Parks settled for the middle of the bus as long as the police let her continue to ride. Oh, wait. That’s not what happened at all.
It’s basically a slap in the face to everyone who is still taking a knee despite the recent backlash and drop in ratings. And now that Kaepernick is filing a grievance against the NFL citing supposed collusion between team owners for the reason he hasn’t been signed, he’s pretty much toast anyways.
Commissioner Roger Goodell also continues to be a complete wimp when it comes to pretty much anything. He’s never been liked, but he’s only made it worse for himself this season.
Goodell angered a lot of fans when he didn’t condemn players who kneeled during the anthem. People who disagreed with the protests saw it as him being just as disrespectful as they believed the players to be and basically as the entire NFL backing the movement.
Now, after sending a letter to team owners encouraging all their players to stand, it seems like he’s changing his tune solely for business reasons, only to anger the people who supported the protests in the first place.
So which is it, Goodell? I mean, it’s not really that difficult to see what a mess this has become, but only a few weeks ago you supported the players’ right to kneel, and now you want them to stand. You’re just as much of a coward as Kaepernick.
And if you weren’t turned off enough by the NFL, some punk nearly got away with brutally assaulting a senior at the Panthers game last week, and it was all caught on camera.
NFL games have never been the ideal place to bring your children, but the alcohol and violence incidents in the stands have gotten so bad that adults don’t even want to bother with it anymore. I guess that’s the cherry on top of the NFL’s crappy Sunday this year.

KYLE JOSEPH
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