There is little doubt the NFL has some very serious PR issues these days.
The League is trying to clean up its domestic violence image after several players have been charged with crimes, there are ongoing concussion problems, murders by players, DUI’s, etc.
Sometimes it seems as if there are so many controversial issues affecting the League that from a PR perspective it would be like nailing Jello to a tree trying to keep them all at bay.
And now the NFL has a new serious problem as a handful of players from the St. Louis Rams came out on the field gesturing with a “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” gesture prior to their game Sunday.
The group was showing their support for Michael Brown, who was shot by a policeman he was attacking. There was absolutely no testimony that Brown ever held his hands up to surrender to the policeman. In fact, video shows Brown had just robbed a store before the confrontation.
A Grand Jury ruled the shooting was justified and the policeman was exonerated by the legal system.
The League should have stepped in and fined the players heavily and possibly suspended them to show their actions were inappropriate.
However, the NFL has announced it will take no action against the players (LINK). It seems as if political correctness has overruled sound judgment.
It is a big mistake by the league. How does it stop others from showing their support for potential controversial issues in the future? Will other players show their support for police? Political candidates? Supreme Court rulings?
Some people might use the “Free Speech” defense, but the players are employed by the NFL and they have major restrictions on what they can and cannot do. In the past players have been fined for gestures after scoring touchdowns, for giving the finger to fans, for throat slashing gestures, uniform violations, hard hits, etc. Players are routinely fined for NOT talking to the news media after games.
The League will even fine them for wearing unapproved electronic headphones (non-Bose). The NFL forces news photographers to wear approved bibs during games.
The players may have felt their actions were appropriate, but just as many other fans were offended by their actions.
The St. Louis Police Officers Association issued a lengthy response condemning the players’ actions. The group noted how the team had asked police to work overtime to make sure the game was safe for fans in light of nearby rioting. The SLPOA consider the actions by the players a slap in the face.
“The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda (SLPOA business manager Jeff Roorda) said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization’s displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be.
Roorda warned, “I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”
The NFL’s refusal to take a strong stand against the St. Louis players on Sunday sends a strong message that it will permit similar gestures in the future.
The floodgates may have been opened for future controversies, including the masturbating gesture by the KC Chiefs’ player Sunday night (LINK). Just free speech?
SIDES WITH PLAYERS ON ISSUE
Sorry to say, but you couldn’t be more wrong on this. Equating a nonviolent symbol of solidarity with domestic abuse and other violent illegal acts is ludicrous.
The PR blunder here was from the St. Louis Police Officers Association. The situation in Ferguson goes far beyond a single incident involving an officer shooting a young black man. It was simply the match that set aflame feelings of many who feel they have been violated over the years simply because of the color of their skin.
The SLPOA needs to be building a bridge to the community and improving their own image. A great statement to make would have been to say, “We disagree with the message these players sent, but as police officers we’re here to protect the freedoms of our citizens and respect their right to speak their opinions.”
The SLPOA has essentially said that had they known some players would have done this, they wouldn’t have provided security for the Rams game. If that’s the case, they need to resign immediately. Countless times in my life working I have had to represent or work with people I disagree with, and I can’t do my job any differently because of it or I will be fired.
These was a one-day story that would have been over by this afternoon. Now the SLPOA has ensured that this will be plastered everywhere on sports and talk news, and the response will be overwhelmingly against them. You’re the first person I’ve seen take their side.
The “hands up, don’t shoot” symbol is extraordinary. It’s a nonviolent protest gesture that comes across once in a generation. It’s not a “throat slash” gesture or a silly dance designed to show up your opponent. If the NFL has to deal with a series of these displays in the future, our nation will have much bigger problems than NFL players making a gesture of protest.
Yes, the NFL has rules about players speaking to the media and protecting their sponsors. The NFL pays their players a lot of money and has rules in place to make sure they can make money to continuing honoring those contracts. Wearing Beats headphones and making a nonviolent protest gesture are not on the same planet. One is trivial, and one is a reflection of our society.
If the NFL is smart, they will take no action. If they do take action, those five players will likely be closer 1,000 next week. Talk to any African-American NFL player and they will be able to tell you plenty of stories about how they have been racially profiled by being pulled over for driving too nice of a car in the upscale neighborhood where they live. Plenty of their fans feel the same way.
If fans were offended by the gesture, that’s their right. It’s America. I’m offended by plenty of things that go on at NFL games. I once had season tickets to the Chiefs, but I dropped them. I was embarrassed by the boorish behavior of drunk fans spilling their beer on me and my 12-year-old cousin and using profane language. Does the NFL take action against those fans for offending me? I doubt anyone will drop their season tickets or stop watching the NFL because of what the Rams did Sunday.
I think you made some great points, but where does it stop? What will happen if players come out next week holding signs supporting the police? This non-action opens the floodgates for a host of future incidents the NFL will now be forced to deal with.
SAME AS OLYMPIC GESTURE
I think the best comparison for this is the salute made by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. Had Avery Brundage not taken action and threatened the entire U.S. track and field to expel them from the Olympics, no one would remember it today. Only by punishing Smith and Carlos did this become the moment in history we still remember.
I think you have to measure response to the circumstance. What has happened in Ferguson the last few months has only one or two parallels in America in the last 70 years. I don’t think the NFL needs to worry about policing this because the “market” will take care of it for them. If players take excessive or unpopular political views, they will be punished with bad press, loss of endorsements or the loss of their job.
Can I assume the masturbation gesture on Sunday night is okay or does it go against your political views? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugs1uy-_hKA
ROCK THE SNARK
Wow, Way to rock the snark. But so not you.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS KEY
The NFL wasn’t just being politically correct, it was trying to avoid a player backlash similar to the one suffered by the NBA during the Donald Sterling debacle.
But you’re right. If five players came out of the intro in some sort of protest meaning, “I support Wilson”, it’s likely the NFL would levy a heavy fine.
Heaven help a player who joins an organization that protests homosexuality or gay marriage. The NFL doesn’t want the headache.
The NFL doesn’t care if the name, “Redskins” is racist or not, as long as public opinion says it’s ok, and it doesn’t affect the bottom line, the name will stay.
NOT FREE SPEECH ISSUE
This is not an issue of free speech. The distinction comes when this behavior is done at work or in a way it implies an employer’s endorsement. Displays of this type are inappropriate in the work place. It’s one thing to make a statement or take a stand on an issue outside of work; but to do this on the job would get most people in a lot of trouble. The NFL displayed, yet another of their many flaws, in their leadership.
Well put.
BROWN WAS A THUG
Well written article. I can’t agree more. What the Rams players did was bush league. I’m glad they did it so I know who not to be a fan of. Thanks for that. Mike Brown was a thug. It’s that simple.
CRACKERS GETTING UPPITY
So some players came out with their hands up. BFD!
Oh, I get it. Whitey’s worried that a bunch a Black Hulk’s are gonna kill them and rape their women while taking bullet after bullet and not stopping.
Who gives a crap. You can file this in your “Redskins” folder. Yea, those guys. The same football team that was the last team in the NFL to sign a black player to their roster after the NFL forced them to do it.
You crackers are getting a little uppity. Chickenshit would be the correct word for you and your ilk.