An Open Letter to Steeler Nations by Art Rooney

Very eloquently put Jim. A small question if I may because here is where the hypocrisy gets me. What about the people in attendance? Are they held to this standard? I understand the feeling that the teams should be standing and showing respect for the flag and anthem but I am also a people watcher and have been to several Vikes vs Steelers games both preseason and regular and I'm hear to tell you the beer doesn't stop flowing when that opening refrain starts, people are still in the concourse, they are still talking on their phones, they are still wrapped up in their own lives. If you are going to hold players up to this standard it begs the question why not the fans as well and if you do hold them as well that is a tall order on a game day. Just putting that out there in the universe.

 

As I searched for pics of AV, I started looking at what the other players were doing. Chickillo with hand on heart; Heyward with hands behind him and eyes closed.

Then I looked at the crowd. I'd estimate not even 25% had a hand on heart, and almost none had removed his/her lid. That surprised me.

 

Yep. Kind of falls in line with my take on the whole situation as well. Do I think the Kaepernick is disrespectful for not standing during the Anthem? Absolutely. But that's where it ends for me. I respect his right to take a knee and I respect his reason for doing it. I would NEVER disparage him, call him names, or disrespect him personally for it.

To me he is no different than what I witness every time I hear the Anthem played, which is exactly what you describe. A few weeks ago at a cross country meet in Schenley Park while the 1st race was on the starting line, they played the NA. As I was walking toward the team tent, I stopped, turned around, removed my hat, and waited patiently for them to finish. While doing so, I noticed several DOZEN parents and athletes continue doing what they were doing....walking, warming up, texting, Facebooking, talking, ect. I absolutely thought of how rude those people were....BUT that was it, it ended there. Even though I didn't not recognize any of the dozens, I harbored no ill will and if I had interacted later in the day with them would have done so as if nothing happened.

To me the whole thing is an emotional knee jerk reaction. If we all just stop, pause, and take a deep breath, we will probably change the way we feel once our emotions come in check.

 

Not to take anything away from them, but the Cowboys did have the added benefit of an extra days prep and seeing how the public reacted to Sundays games. And that's why Im going easy on the Steelers decision and other teams decision, all of this was flung onto them by The President two days before the game. Now in addition to prepping for the game, they have to worry about how to handle the Anthem.

 

Maybe "they wanted to just play football" but they certainly didn't do it very well. You lost to a likely 3-win team for the season. Pathetic.

 

And yet, the far less talented Bears, with a career bum at QB, managed to "handle it" enough to beat us.

 

I would be willing to bet most fans like most players do not know or understand the history of the national anthem and that is why the beer still flows and people are still talking on phones. I for one always have my hat off and a hand on my heart no matter where I am when the anthem is played at any event. When I see people not doing that at events I get just as mad at them as I do the players that are kneeling. I recommend everyone go to the WaterCooler forum and watch the video on the national anthem no matter which side of the issue you are on. Knowledge and understanding leads to healthy debate which is surely lacking in this country for the last few years.

 

I wonder if the players and coaching staff are working on fixing the problems on the playing field..... as much as they are damage controlling? Sheesh, I would have been much happier if Ben or Art came out with a statement that said "you know, that game sucked yesterday and I stayed up all night watching tape.... and I figured out the problems..... it won't happen again (a loss that is)".

 

The people in attendance that can’t be bothered, couldn’t care less, or are just plain oblivious bother me more than the players. At least the players are trying to start a dialog/affect change. The people in attendance can make no such claim. To me that’s far more disrespectful than a quiet protest.

 

And I may also add before 2009, NFL teams weren't required to come out of the tunnel for the anthem. Nobody made a big deal about that. The only reason people are angry now is because somebody in some form of media said "Hey, he's not standing!" and all of a sudden people are furious over something they weren't even paying attention to.

There are forces at work who gleefully feed on this stuff. Don't overreact.

 

Okay, I've read the open letter from Art Rooney and I've listened to and read what Mike Tomlin had to say about what happened Sunday. And after a couple of days of reflection and trying very hard not to allow my emotions to get the best of me (which is a hard thing for me to do at times), I've come to the conclusion, in my own mind, that the Steelers organization was not attempting to show disrespect to our flag, our military or our law enforcement. I think the decision to stay in the locker room was not a good decision and backfired with both the players and the fans. In other words, the pre-game plan was about as bad as the gameplan on Sunday! But...I don't think the Steelers sat it out to disrespect the Anthem. It certainly appeared that way at first glance but I'm going to take Tomlin at his word and Mr. Rooney at his word. I'm still fed up with everything that's going on in the NFL this year and I don't believe that taking a knee or a seat during the Anthem is the proper venue to allow players to protest social injustice and racial inequality. There are other forums for that but as an employee of the National Football League, you should adhere to the standards of your employer. We all have to do that. If I flagrantly violated a rule or policy of my employer I would be dismissed with cause and that same standard should apply to the employees of the NFL. Until the league gets a handle on the disrespect, my football viewership will be extremely limited.

I guess I can tell my wife not to burn the Terrible Towels now. She actually asked me on Sunday night if I was going to burn the Terrible Towels or did I just want her to put them in a drawer until I got over this? She does have a way of snapping me back into reality at times.

 

Those people didn't all get together and have a meeting and decided to skip it. They didn't conspire to purposely break protocol.

 

There is no protocol Glenn, just a lose interpretation of typical events that people are adhering to. It's like no cheerleaders of the logo on one side of the helmet. It's just what's been done nothing set in stone.

 

I've heard this 2009 argument a few times and it a pretty silly one.
It's irrelevant. It's a rule now.

 

Just what we need, some guy making sense.

 

I pretty sure it's been established that there is no rule. That the one being passed around is false

 

Then why the need to have a team meeting to decide to stay in the tunnel?
That's my issue.

 

Ok that's fine. Then what's the pre 2009 talk about?

 

No, it isn’t. This is one of the major problems with social media. People see a meme and just assume it’s true. Logic and critical thinking are thrown out the window and no attempt is made at verification. Then people just spew the madness and it spreads like wildfire.

 

That's because most people in attendance believe their "call for change" or whatever it is they are protesting on any given week is a bunch of bull**** and paid money to watch football, not witness a political statement. They're all piggybacking off of an authority hating piece of **** Colin Kaepernick, and treating him like some kind of martyr. When in fact, he's a loser jackass.

 

Sigh, he didn't say anything about beating the snot out of the Ravens. Hate those guys.

 

So it’s okay for those in attendance to disrepespect the flag because they paid to watch football.

 

My take on it and I am by no means an expert is that it is an agreement between the DoD and the league that the government pays x amount of dollars to use footage of the anthem and surrounding events for recruiting purposes as well as occasionally having the half time show and the league allows it but doesn't require teams to be out of the locker room for that. Now since most teams already are on the field these days and take part in it, the issue of what is required and isn't hasn't come up....until now.

 

Well there is some debate. Rule may not be the right word. But it seems like after 2009 there was a movement to get each team out there for the national anthem. Before then it was some would come out, some wouldn't. But the point is nobody mentioned it or paid attention. Why is now considered a more patriotic time than then?

 

Fair enough.