A Former Steeler Has A Solution To Protests

[BFritz21]

I hate the Steelers more than I hate trees, but this former Steeler has some good thoughts on a solution to the protests.

Rocky Bleier is 71 and a former fullback that played for the Steelers, and he also lost part of his right foot fighting in Vietnam.

He says that it's not a First Amendment thing, but rather a workplace thing where you wouldn't be able to do anything like that in your workplace and protest about what's going on in your life, or even in the outside world:

Quote:“It’s very simply this: This is a workplace, you are at the stadium, you are working that day, this is not a platform for protest,” Bleier told Yahoo Sports. “The American people, they can’t go to their workplace and start to protest about whatever may be happening in their life. That wouldn’t be allowed and that shouldn’t be allowed in the NFL.

“It’s not a violation of the First Amendment at all. You have off days, you can do it outside of the stadium or on other platforms, but not the gameday platform. It’s a very simple question and people are making it more complex than it really is.”

He does have a very good point there, because playing in the NFL is a job, and not like you could defy your job in any other profession, by say refusing to wear a uniform because the shirts are made of cotton.

Actually, that example would be a better reason to protest because at least they're related, whereas the NFL and police not being charged for violence have no correlation.

Then, he blames the owners for not growing a pair and nipping this in the bud before it ever grew legs:

Quote:“The was a lack of leadership there on the owners’ side as well as the Players Association long before to nip whatever was coming down the road after the Colin Kaepernick situation a year ago, in the bud,” Bleier said. “It should never have gotten to this point, nobody has stepped up to say ‘No, this is not what we do on gameday.’”

He does have a point because, even if the owners said "you're not allowed to sit or kneel, but we'll invest money into this, either in making the public aware or for investigations into police brutality," they would have lost a hell of a lot less money. There's really been no leadership.

Quote:“It was a year ago that Kaepernick took a knee, so if you’re the commissioner or an owner, you have to be proactive in saying this: ‘If it never happens again, fine, but if it does, what is our position?’” Bleier said. “Somewhere along the line I have not seen the leadership maybe I expected from the commissioner and the owners in this situation.”

Talk has begun between owners and players about social injustices, but I feel like they're doing it just to please the public and no one has really taken a leadership role.

Anyways, this is one thing I like from a former Steelers player.

Thoughts?