Ret. Marine Col. Jeffery Powers wrote to the NFL commissioners the following:
Commissioners,
I’ve been a season pass holder at Yankee Stadium, Yale Bowl and the Giants Stadium.
I missed the ’90-’91 season because I was with a battalion of Marines in Desert Storm. 14 of my wonderful Marines returned home with the American Flag draped across their lifeless bodies. My last conversation with one of them, Sgt. Garrett Mongrella, was about how our Giants were going to the Super Bowl. He never got to see it.
Many friends, Marines, and Special Forces Soldiers who worked with or for me through the years returned home with the American Flag draped over their coffins.
Now I watch multi-millionaire athletes who never did anything in their lives but play a game, disrespect what brave Americans fought and died for. They are essentially spitting in the faces and on the graves of real men, men who have actually done something for this country beside playing with a ball and believing they’re something special! They’re not! My Marines and Soldiers were!
You are complicit in this! You’ll fine players for large and small infractions but you lack the moral courage and respect for our nation and the fallen to put an immediate stop to this. Yes, I know, it’s their 1st Amendment right to behave in such a despicable manner.
What would happen if they came out and disrespected you or the refs publicly?
I observed a player getting a personal foul for twerking in the end zone after scoring I guess that’s much worse than disrespecting the flag and our National Anthem. Hmmmmm, isn’t it his 1st Amendment right to express himself like an idiot in the end zone?
Why is taunting not allowed yet taunting America is OK? You fine players for wearing 9-11 commemorative shoes yet you allow scum on the sidelines to sit, kneel or pump their pathetic fist in the air They are so deprived with their multi-million dollar contracts for playing a freaking game!
You condone it all by your refusal to act. You’re just as bad and disgusting as they are. I hope Americans boycott any sponsor who supports that rabble you call the NFL. I hope they turn off the TV when any team that allowed this disrespect to occur, without consequence, on the sidelines. I applaud those who have not.
Legends and heroes do NOT wear shoulder pads. They wear body armor and carry rifles.
They make minimum wage and spend months and years away from their families. They don’t do it for an hour on Sunday. They do it 24/7 often with lead, not footballs, coming in their direction. They watch their brothers carted off in pieces not on a gurney to get their knee iced. They don’t even have ice! Many don’t have legs or arms.
Some wear blue and risk their lives daily on the streets of America. They wear fire helmets and go upstairs into the fire rather than down to safety. On 9-11, hundreds vanished. They are the heroes.
I hope that your high paid protesting pretty boys and you look in that mirror when you shave tomorrow and see what you really are, legends in your own minds. You need to hit the road and take those worms with you!
Time to change the channel.
Well said, Sir!
ReplyDeleteThis submarine sailor will NEVER watch the NFL again, no matter how much they mock us in their phoney "We love veterans." commercials they are now airing. I only watch High School and College football.
I'm never surprised when a lifer preaches out of both sides of his mouth. First, none of those who served with you are "your marines" or "your soldiers", they are soldiers in the Army of the United States. When I served during the Vietnam War there were no caps on marine or seal. I have no doubt that when you were the superior rank you didn't allow your orders to be challenged. The First Amendment is the foundation of the Constitution and as such cannot be subject to what you deem acceptable. The practice of it doesn't warrant your scorn or derision. The end zone celebration is usually penalized when it's nonorganic. The rules apply within the game and chalklines. To rant as you have merely shows your lack of understanding of the pledge you made when sworn in. Semper fidelis is more than a catchphrase and implicitly demands adherence to the things you don't like a well as that which serves your likes and whims.
ReplyDeleteWow. Those people who are disrespectful to our flag are allowed to have their Freedom of Speech and you are allowed to express your's, but someone that disagrees with you is not allowed to express theirs. Seems a bit hypocritical. These players have picked the wrong way to protest. Just because you are doing something good doesn't mean there aren't right and wrong ways to do it. Not one person i've heard who was against the way they choose to protest, said anything about the cause not being a good cause, just they were against their methods. These protests are disrespectful to the flag and those that are and have served and especially those who came home injured or even more those that came home in a casket. A casket with the American flag draped over it. Only having to see one young person brought home in a casket shows how disrespectful these people are. I can't understand why you would pick to disrespect the symbol of freedom and equality they are calling for. There is no way that can be justified. Also, why would you continue a practice that is making things worse than better. The majority of people are against the way they have chosen to support their cause. The only support they are getting is people who already agreed with them no matter even if they picked the wrong way to do it. Which is a very small number. They are pushing the people on the fence or against the way they are doing it away. Even many people who have been supporting that cause are disgusted with the way they have chosen to do it. And are furious how they are actually turning people away. Many of them have gone as far as boycotting watching sports. Not against the cause but against supporting it. Why would you pick a protest that is at best doing nothing. Again that can't be justified. Why because they are more concerned about drawing attention to themselves than their cause. That is obvious. They have to realize there are so many people disgusted, with their methods. So why would you continue when you know it is not working. If you were truly concerned about your cause you would find a way that worked, but again they are proofing where their real priorities. I know they have the right to express themselves (shouldn't be the wrong way) and you have the right to express your's. I served to protect those rights. But shouldn't the author, those that are against the way they are protest, and I be allowed to express ours.
DeleteOr don't you agree.
It is time for them to admit they picked the wrong way to protest, and find away that actually helps their cause. No one can argue that if it is not working and you truly wanted to better your cause you would change it. By not truly trying to make it better shows your own interests are more important than your cause.
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