Buffalo Bills Talk 2018 - The Offseason

[sabrebuild]

To the scared owners it was

Haha, I was always amused by the anecdote that the players being involved with the anthem was never a thing until ten years ago and then the govt wrote a huge check to advertise. So is it patriotic or capitalism? Is protesting unamerican? Or like the basic premise of why we exist as a country?

I mean you come protest at say a soldiers funeral, we have a real problem, like the baptist minister in Texas. Protest at a game? Yes, and???

 

[sabresfan129103]

yeah, mental issues have definitely caught up with the guy. I can't imagine any team picks him up after this.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

NFL's new anthem policy is not a compromise at all

By JONATHAN JONES May 23, 2018

ATLANTA — The NFL’s new policy regarding player protests during the national anthem is not a compromise whatsoever. It is a series of half measures dedicated to the attempt of satisfying all frustrated parties while completely ignoring the initial point of the peaceful protests. It is intended to hide its mostly black players who wish to speak up, through their actions, about inequality in criminal justice and police brutality against people of color. The policy treats those players as nuisances and attempts to hide them away in the locker room. It is meant to chill the speech of the players whose voices have grown louder than the players—and owners—imagined they could go.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Kim Pegula on new Bills stadium: 'I don't even know if we can get there'

ATLANTA — Kim Pegula sees the Buffalo Bills facing a difficult road toward a new stadium, because all entities involved will balk at contributing to a price tag likely to exceed the team’s purchase price of $1.4 billion.

“I don’t even know if we can get there,” the team’s co-owner told The Buffalo News while attending the NFL spring meeting. “I know fans in Buffalo don’t want higher ticket prices, they don’t want PSLs. The state doesn’t want to give you any money, the city doesn’t ... We don’t have a billion-and-a-half dollars sitting around. We used it to buy the team.”

Pegula said she and Pegula Sports & Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Bruce Popko have taken the lead on the Bills’ long-term stadium planning since Russ Brandon’s May 1 resignation as president of PSE and its sports franchises.

“It’s going to be hard, so that’s why we’re trying to get all the options,” Pegula said.

 

[brian_griffin]

Haha, I was always amused by the anecdote that the players being involved with the anthem was never a thing until ten years ago and then the govt wrote a huge check to advertise. So is it patriotic or capitalism? Is protesting unamerican? Or like the basic premise of why we exist as a country?

I mean you come protest at say a soldiers funeral, we have a real problem, like the baptist minister in Texas. Protest at a game? Yes, and???

??? Minnesota Viking coach Bud Grant had his players do practice drills on the national anthem decorum & discipline 50 years ago.

NFL's new anthem policy is not a compromise at all

By JONATHAN JONES May 23, 2018

ATLANTA — The NFL’s new policy regarding player protests during the national anthem is not a compromise whatsoever. It is a series of half measures dedicated to the attempt of satisfying all frustrated parties while completely ignoring the initial point of the peaceful protests. It is intended to hide its mostly black players who wish to speak up, through their actions, about inequality in criminal justice and police brutality against people of color. The policy treats those players as nuisances and attempts to hide them away in the locker room. It is meant to chill the speech of the players whose voices have grown louder than the players—and owners—imagined they could go.

Ignoring the range of truth in the underlying issue, and whether anthem protests or similar measures can have any tangible benefit on outcome, nothing is keeping the NFLPA (or factions within) from formally aligning with a national entity in a coordinated effort / program. If the NFLPA or factions within want to quell the controversy they could align, coordinate & organize similar to the NFL's October breast cancer awareness campaigns / pink uniform paraphernalia (and other such causes).

I work for a rather philanthropic company, and there are coordinated events / campaigns throughout the year. I know if I unilaterally organized a handful of colleagues to spread awareness / solicit funds / etc., for a cause / issue without upper management approval, I would be "reminded to get back to work for the job you're here to do". In that regard, it's not a freedom of speech issue.

 

[brian_griffin]

Kim Pegula on new Bills stadium: 'I don't even know if we can get there'

ATLANTA — Kim Pegula sees the Buffalo Bills facing a difficult road toward a new stadium, because all entities involved will balk at contributing to a price tag likely to exceed the team’s purchase price of $1.4 billion.

“I don’t even know if we can get there,” the team’s co-owner told The Buffalo News while attending the NFL spring meeting. “I know fans in Buffalo don’t want higher ticket prices, they don’t want PSLs. The state doesn’t want to give you any money, the city doesn’t ... We don’t have a billion-and-a-half dollars sitting around. We used it to buy the team.”

Pegula said she and Pegula Sports & Entertainment Chief Operating Officer Bruce Popko have taken the lead on the Bills’ long-term stadium planning since Russ Brandon’s May 1 resignation as president of PSE and its sports franchises.

“It’s going to be hard, so that’s why we’re trying to get all the options,” Pegula said.

Note: NYS taxpayers paid (are paying) $1.8B of the $3.1B combined cost of Yankee Stadium and Citi Field (Mets).

 

[26CornerBlitz]

??? Minnesota Viking coach Bud Grant had his players do practice drills on the national anthem decorum & discipline 50 years ago.

Ignoring the range of truth in the underlying issue, and whether anthem protests or similar measures can have any tangible benefit on outcome, nothing is keeping the NFLPA (or factions within) from formally aligning with a national entity in a coordinated effort / program. If the NFLPA or factions within want to quell the controversy they could align, coordinate & organize similar to the NFL's October breast cancer awareness campaigns / pink uniform paraphernalia (and other such causes).

I work for a rather philanthropic company, and there are coordinated events / campaigns throughout the year. I know if I unilaterally organized a handful of colleagues to spread awareness / solicit funds / etc., for a cause / issue without upper management approval, I would be "reminded to get back to work for the job you're here to do". In that regard, it's not a freedom of speech issue.

Passive protest before NFL games begin has nothing to do with how players perform.

 

[truthbluth]

??? Minnesota Viking coach Bud Grant had his players do practice drills on the national anthem decorum & discipline 50 years ago.

Ignoring the range of truth in the underlying issue, and whether anthem protests or similar measures can have any tangible benefit on outcome, nothing is keeping the NFLPA (or factions within) from formally aligning with a national entity in a coordinated effort / program. If the NFLPA or factions within want to quell the controversy they could align, coordinate & organize similar to the NFL's October breast cancer awareness campaigns / pink uniform paraphernalia (and other such causes).

I work for a rather philanthropic company, and there are coordinated events / campaigns throughout the year. I know if I unilaterally organized a handful of colleagues to spread awareness / solicit funds / etc., for a cause / issue without upper management approval, I would be "reminded to get back to work for the job you're here to do". In that regard, it's not a freedom of speech issue.

You can’t be serious

 

[brian_griffin]

Passive protest before NFL games begin has nothing to do with how players perform.

Agreed, but that's not to what I'm referring. Teams have the authority to regulate player timeline & activities before actual clock game time. i.e., deadline to report to dress, pre-game prep timeline & activities, etc. When you are "at work" per their terms, they can regulate that stuff.

You can’t be serious

I meant that in the sense of ignoring the objective truths as against the range of opinions / beliefs people hold on both sides of the issue, often to equally wide extremes.

FYI, Rained like hell here this past weekend. I spent ~8 hours Saturday watching Redford's Sundance productions episodes of unjust death row convictions. You don't need to convince me there is injustice, whether incidental or systemic, in our legal/criminal justice/penal system.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[sabresfan129103]

Bills owner doubtful about replacing stadium

It seems like the Pegula's don't even want a new stadium. Most likely it's the NFL that wants it because then they can pull that ticket licensing bull crap.

 

[Buffaloed]

Jets chairman backs players’ right to protest
Christopher Johnson says his Jets players can take a knee or perform another type of protest without fear of repercussion from the team.

Nice to see they're all on the same page.

 

[sabrebuild]

??? Minnesota Viking coach Bud Grant had his players do practice drills on the national anthem decorum & discipline 50 years ago.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nfl-sideline-anthem/

I figure snopes is pretty decent at checking stuff. Short version of the article, players in prime time games before 2009 were frequently not on the sidelines during the anthem. No rules either way, and with the timing of tv a lot of guys stayed in the lockerroom getting ready. Games not in prime time generally had players on the sidelines because games would start right after the anthem and tv generally cuts to a local game right before kick off.

After 2009 it gets hazy and deceitful. Basically we have some money showing up from government contracts with a variety of pro sports. They claim initially to not have these deals in place, get exposed by the current republican senators of Arizona, and it turns out the department of defense does pay the nfl to promote the military thru a variety of ways. DoD claims that forcing players to be on the field during the anthem is not a part of the contract. That they previously misled people about, allegedly.

After 2009, nfl players are required, unofficially officially, to be on the field during the anthem for “marketing”, allegedly.

No doubt it has always been and will be a militaristic sport. But it seems that this particular detail is new as a league wide requirement.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Jets chairman backs players’ right to protest
Christopher Johnson says his Jets players can take a knee or perform another type of protest without fear of repercussion from the team.

Nice to see they're all on the same page.

I understand why the NFL made the choice they did. They were losing a ton of money. It's also a business, so they have the right to hinder freedom of speech of they please. That being said, I'm glad there will be owners like the Jets who will allow the players to take a stand for equality, or in this case a kneel.

 

[ZZamboni]

Hey, protest your cute little heart out to whatever cause you want to champion. I’m not saying any cause is or isn’t important. The level of what’s important to you isn’t at the same level as everyone who watches the sport you play. Get over yourself. Do it on Facebook. Do it on instagram. Do it on Snapchat. Do it on Twitter. Do it on any number of XYZ websites. Hell, do it on your front lawn for all I care. You’ll have a massive massive audience at those places so your 15 mins of fame can last and last and last and ...

But is it too much to ask when I sit down and relax, or pay money to see a live sporting event I want to escape politics and social issues and just veg out and enjoy competition between my favorite team and an opponent? Must I be bombarded 24/7 everywhere I turn with that kind of crap?
Worst comes to worst, I’ll put the game on just as the actual game clock starts to tick.
Don’t agree? I couldn’t care less. I just couldn’t.

 

[Baccus]

I understand why the NFL made the choice they did. They were losing a ton of money. It's also a business, so they have the right to hinder freedom of speech of they please. That being said, I'm glad there will be owners like the Jets who will allow the players to take a stand for equality, or in this case a kneel.

The NFL is not losing money, they made a BILLION dollars more this year then last. While TV ratings as a whole (as in all TV ratings) were down, the NFL's ratings were up in comparison to most other things.

As usually, don't believe the hype.

 

[missingmika]

Hey, protest your cute little heart out to whatever cause you want to champion. I’m not saying any cause is or isn’t important. The level of what’s important to you isn’t at the same level as everyone who watches the sport you play. Get over yourself. Do it on Facebook. Do it on instagram. Do it on Snapchat. Do it on Twitter. Do it on any number of XYZ websites. Hell, do it on your front lawn for all I care. You’ll have a massive massive audience at those places so your 15 mins of fame can last and last and last and ...

But is it too much to ask when I sit down and relax, or pay money to see a live sporting event I want to escape politics and social issues and just veg out and enjoy competition between my favorite team and an opponent? Must I be bombarded 24/7 everywhere I turn with that kind of crap?
Worst comes to worst, I’ll put the game on just as the actual game clock starts to tick.
Don’t agree? I couldn’t care less. I just couldn’t.

Isn't that kind of the point of the protest? To get people who wouldn't normally have an idea about the issue be forced to confront an issue that is probably uncomfortable to them? Plus provide a ntional spotlight on the issue?

If Kaep just does it in front of his house, then a ton of people can just ignore it. You can't ignore it if it's on the TV.

I think NFLPA will organize and get everyone to stay in the locker rooms or Week 1, the organize to get everyone in the league to kneel again.

Plus now, players will just kneel in the locker room. It's not like film or pictures of that won't get out either. You'll still have the same lists from ESPN of everyone that protested that week.

 

[Ace]

I don’t even have a problem with the new policy I just hate the optics of it. Pence tweeting #winning at the report which featured a picture of black men excercising their right is exactly the problem. This is being touted as a win for rich white men over black men’s rights.

When I was growing up they didn’t even do the anthem when the players were out there. They did it before. But then the nfl started getting paid to make a spectacle out of the whole thing. That’s the “patriotism” they claim they’re defending now. It’s a joke. That people still say these men were protesting the flag or the anthem or the troops is disgusting. It literally goes against everything the flag and the anthem stand for and everything that those troops fought for.

but that’s not what America stands for anymore. It stands for exactly the reason they now do the anthem with teams lined up instead of how they used to.

Money.

That said the owners can do what they want. On a surface level I can even see how they thought this was a compromise.

The stupidity was doing anything about it.

 

[truthbluth]

Isn't that kind of the point of the protest? To get people who wouldn't normally have an idea about the issue be forced to confront an issue that is probably uncomfortable to them? Plus provide a ntional spotlight on the issue?

If Kaep just does it in front of his house, then a ton of people can just ignore it. You can't ignore it if it's on the TV.

I think NFLPA will organize and get everyone to stay in the locker rooms or Week 1, the organize to get everyone in the league to kneel again.

Plus now, players will just kneel in the locker room. It's not like film or pictures of that won't get out either. You'll still have the same lists from ESPN of everyone that protested that week.

Times 1000.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Buffalo Bills: 5 players who must improve
5. Charles Clay
4. Adolphus Washington
3. Jordan Mills
2. Kelvin Benjamin
1. Shaq Lawson

 

[enthusiast]

Pegulas are just posturing for money. They're building a new stadium one way or the other

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Pegulas are just posturing for money. They're building a new stadium one way or the other

That's my take. I know people don't like PSLs, but that's probably the least of the evils in terms of financing. Public money on a stadium is almost always a bad deal for the taxpayers, owners typically don't want to spend their own money if they can squeeze other people for it...this is a PR statement more than anything else.

 

[Ace]

Yeah I’m not buying it either. That said getting a new stadium went from something I cared about to something that is now more of having a passing interest in ever since they bought the team...because now I know they aren’t going anywhere.

I couldn’t care less what the league thinks about it.

 

[sabrebuild]

Hey, protest your cute little heart out to whatever cause you want to champion. I’m not saying any cause is or isn’t important. The level of what’s important to you isn’t at the same level as everyone who watches the sport you play. Get over yourself. Do it on Facebook. Do it on instagram. Do it on Snapchat. Do it on Twitter. Do it on any number of XYZ websites. Hell, do it on your front lawn for all I care. You’ll have a massive massive audience at those places so your 15 mins of fame can last and last and last and ...

But is it too much to ask when I sit down and relax, or pay money to see a live sporting event I want to escape politics and social issues and just veg out and enjoy competition between my favorite team and an opponent? Must I be bombarded 24/7 everywhere I turn with that kind of crap?
Worst comes to worst, I’ll put the game on just as the actual game clock starts to tick.
Don’t agree? I couldn’t care less. I just couldn’t.

I mean the hypocrisy here is pretty tough in paragraph two. Your tv viewing is so sacred, that 75 seconds of a few men quietly kneeling in protest, over a mathematical certainty that the majority of the “team” your watching is more likely to be killed in a police interaction than the majority of citizens that are fans watching, is just too much for you to take?

In the words of a normally reasonable poster, time to “get over yourself” #zamboni

 

[Sabreality]

and people realize that the majority of regular season telecasts don't even broadcast the anthem right? thats commercial break money pre-kickoff.