Why Did Kneeling Become So Controversial?

Kneeling in the NFL became controversial since 2016 because instead of being associated with prayer (like Tebowing), it became associated with the protest of oppression. Image of Tim Tebow by Ed Clemente Photography (CC BY-SA 3.0), from Wikimedia Commons. Image of Eric Reid and Colin Kaepernick taken via screenshot (video).

We are still talking about kneeling. The last time I wrote about the topic of National Football League protests, it was September, but much has happened since and culture warriors have done all they could to keep the topic of kneeling in the NFL relevant. In this post, I want to talk about a new rule the NFL has approved regarding anthem protests, how the anthem protests began in the first place*, and what I think about it all.

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What Contributed to That Wild Finish on Thursday Night Football?

These guys figured in too many games this season.

On October 19, the Kansas City Chiefs visited the Oakland Raiders for a Thursday Night Football game.¹ The Raiders were essentially handed a one-point victory after numerous calls at the goal line (although I wonder why a touchdown by their tight end was taken away in the first place). The result left many people scratching their heads and questioning how the officiating could be this bad.

This past week (October 15-21) saw some of the worst officiating I have ever seen for NFL games. And Last Sunday, the most-talked about game was the Patriots vs. the Jets — for all the wrong reasons.

In that game, There were two very bad calls and at least on non-call that went the Patriots’ way. The first bad call and non-call helped to get the Patriots in the game. They were previously down 14-0 early on. Then last questionable call took a touchdown away from the Jets when they could have pulled within three points of the Patriots.

The final score was Patriots, 24-17. The Jets might have been able to take that game to overtime at the very least without those questionable calls.

That Sunday game left many people questioning if the fix was in. That might have also led to them to website about sports scandals and speculation of the same name run by the author of the book of the same name.²

What do I think about the accusations of vote-rigging? Well, since I have been hearing this for a while, I wanted to put down my thoughts on the subject. I’m not particularly bothered by the accusations (yet), but I am by the debate itself.