Trump Tweets
By Samantha Flavell,
Oswego County Today intern
OSWEGO – Are you ready for some football? A lot of fans are. However, they’re tired of the distractions.
There is a shared respect for people’s right to protest. Peaceful protest is an innate American right. But some sports fans want to get back to the basics.
“Now it just seems everyone is focused on the anthem,” Oswego State Senior hockey player Mitchell Herlihey said. “You turn on Sports Center and all you see is highlights of who is kneeling, who is standing and you don’t see what happened in the game.”
The First Amendment protects the right for Americans to share their opinions and the right to stand up, or in this case kneel, for what one believes in.
This right also encompasses the President who has been making full use of the First Amendment with Twitter as his platform of choice to voice his opinions on the subject.
Citizens have been commenting all across the nation regarding his reaction to many NFL players’ choice to kneel for the National Anthem.
There have been arguments on both sides regarding whether or not this is the best way to go about protesting.
“I disagree with him (Trump) on that. As long as you’re not (peeing) on the flag I guess, honestly you can straight up disrespect the flag if you want,” Oswego State senior Louis Spagnola said. “Every law is an infringement on freedom. You want to be free. The goal is to be as free as you can be while keeping everybody safe.”
Students, such as Spagnola, stand by the idea of freedom of speech, always.
Spagnola, who describes himself as a Trump supporter, does disagree with the president’s disapproval of the protests.
Others argue that while freedom of speech is important, as well as the expression of one’s beliefs, the NFL is taking away from the sport itself.
“I feel like they’ve made their point and now they need to get back to football,” Herlihey said. “I feel like they’re going to lose a lot of fans. Whether it is the right thing or not I feel like it’s going to happen and that’s not good for the league.”
In general, no one is questioning the NFL players’ rights to protest.
However, many sports fans believe that it is time to get back to the sport.
There is a balance between the great opportunity that sports stars have to make an impact and speak out for a cause.
But fans like Herlihey also argue that while they have a responsibility to stand up for what they believe in, they also have a responsibility to their fans to play the game and bring the focus back to sports.
Discover more from Oswego County Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Nice Millennial aged propaganda liberal slanted spin piece. I no longer watch football as I don’t support owners & players who don’t Respect America’s National Anthem, America’s Flag, & most importantly America’s Servicemen & Service Woman especially America’s Veterans living & Deceased. Nov. 12 Veteran’s Day is boycott the NFL day. Patriotic Americans are sending & will be continuing to send the NFL & other sports venues including their Advertising sponsors that Patriotic American’s will not stand for this blatant Disrespect.
as a U.S.MARINE,i sit here and almost cry,really,i think if you can not respect my flag and all the men and woman in harms way,than i think its time for you to go to a third world country,with a rifle in your arms,and if you are lucky enough to make it home,then thats great,but if you dont,i think the should bury your un-american ASS,in another country,if i go to an event and one person takes a knee,well i can bet on this,they will get to meet a marine,who will gladly help them to there feet,or they will get introduced to my feet,been there ,done that,most of these guys cant even speak proper english anyway,and if not for our service folks,they wouldnt be playin pro.sports and making millions,so before you kneel,look out behind you because there are alot of people that are prepared to stand you up,,,you are all a bunch of punks
I would like to see all these players protest the music they listen to that promotes the killing of police and enemy gang members. Thug music that we have seen many rich athletes promote to young kids. Kids that grow and infringe on all our rights. They steal, kill, push drugs and disrespect all of US citizens. But instead they look at the one thing that represents thier safety. Yes there is still bigotry. I have seen bigotry go both ways. Instead kneeling, stand up to thugs, Stop them and we will see equality on our streets.
As an intern, you surely are being molded into that Liberal tyranny with this “Story” (more of an Op Ed piece in reality.) instead of being like everyone else at this liberal site, how about instituting some REAL journalism and get facts from both sides rather than your dogmatic left view? If not, I’m sure with writing stories like this you’ll do very well at CNN.