Ratings Down for NFL in Wake of Constant Protests, Politicization; Many Fans Say "Goodbye"

In the wake of the Steelers deciding, except for one single brave man, to remain in their locker room during the National Anthem, former Steelers fans are burning their Steelers shirts and gear.

Fans have posted numerous videos on social media of themselves burning their Steelers gear.

"I'm a lifelong Steelers fan, not anymore. Not a fan of you, the NFL, any of it," says Jim Heaney on YouTube.

Heaney posted the video of himself setting all of his Steelers gear on fire following the team’s decision to decide to stay inside the locker room/tunnel during the national anthem.

"And I hope all your ignorance burns too," Heaney says as he throws his Steelers gear on the fire.

Before anyone says, "But it's their right to protest," okay, well then why was it also not Alejandro Villaneuva's right to not protest and come out to stand for the anthem? Why is he now the subject of public shaming by the organization?

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin appeared to take swipe at the Bronze Star recipient's decision in a post-game press conference. Tomlin told the media that, prior to kickoff Sunday, the Steelers held a team meeting and decided, though not unanimously, to not come out of the locker room for the national anthem.

"Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation, we were gonna be respectful of our football team," Tomlin said when asked about Villanueva ignoring the order and coming out for the anthem.

Social Justice Warriors whine about their own free speech rights while doing their utmost to deny the same rights to others. And I think we should therefore give their free speech the same respect and latitude they give to dissidents. Which is near-zero.

In total, 200 players -- 23% of the league -- chose to protest the flag.

NFL ratings continue to fall as their purge their nonconforming nonleftist audience.

In metered market numbers, the primetime matchup that saw the Washington Redskins beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10 snared an 11.6/20, the worst SNF has performed this season so far. It’s an 8% dip from the early numbers of last week’s game, Atlanta’s 34-23 win over Green Bay. Amid cheers and boos from fans at FedEx Field in Maryland last night, the third week of the SNF season declined 10% from early numbers of the comparable game of last year on September 25, 2016.

Sunday’s SNF peaked with a 12.r5/20 during the second quarter from 9-9:30 PM ET. Still, NFL ratings are down double-digits this season so far after taking a similar tackle-for-loss last year.

Trump, of course, has called for a boycott of the NFL. Rush Limbaugh, a dedicated NFL fan (particularly of the Steelers), didn't watch this weekend.

But if you’ll permit me first, I was personally saddened. I did not watch the National Football League yesterday, and it was the first time in 45 years that I made an active decision not to watch, including my team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was not a decision made in anger. It was genuine sadness. I realized that I can no longer look at this game and watch this game and study this game and pretend, you know, fantasize, everything a fan does. This whole thing has removed for me the ingredients that are in the recipe that make up a fan.

The mystique is gone. That actually started vanishing a while ago. The larger-than-life aspect of it is gone. The belief, the wish, the desire that the people in the game were the best and brightest and special, and that’s why they were there, that’s gone. And it’s been politicized. It has been politicized and corrupted, and it didn’t start this weekend. It started years ago. And if I wanted to, I could go back and get the transcripts from a few years ago on this program where I first sensed that this was happening and was going to happen.

Of course, years ago I couldn’t predict this specific event, but my sadness actually began years ago when all of the attention focused on the danger and the supposed attempt to hide all of that, not specifically just the concussions. The whole aura that that created. The sports media began to criticize that which they report on. It just became politicized. It simply just became politicized. And the people politicizing it, since we’re talking about politics, the people that politicized it are people on the left. And when that happens, things change. It’s just over.

As I've said, I stopped watching the NFL for reasons having nothing to do with politics about three years ago. I was just bored by the game and began realizing it was crazy to waste at least four hours a week (assuming I just watched one game) on something so passive and unrewarding. it was a good decision -- gaining at least 4 hours a week to do more rewarding things is a terrific thing.

Now that they're announcing they're the Entertainment and Soma Division of the DNC just confirms my decision.

People watch tv shows and sports for escapism. As the Democrat-Entertainment complex has decided to offer instead No-Escapism -- never a moment's respite from the propaganda of the hard left -- they are no longer providing the only thing people go to them for.

Click.

posted by Ace at 03:39 PM

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