Posted on 09/26/2017 11:15:22 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ― Asked about the national anthem protests taking place in the NFL, Alabama coach Nick Saban said Monday he’s “just a football coach” who hasn’t been following what’s going on.
That doesn’t mean the former NFL coach doesn’t have an opinion.
“To me, some of the things that we do in our country ― when I grew up ― they were unifying events, and it’s a little painful to see that those things are not so right now,” Saban said. “But I also respect everyone’s rights not to be censored in terms of the way they express their beliefs. I’m just a coach.”
Saban said he understands the power of protest, having witnessed anti-Vietnam War demonstrations when he was a student at Kent State in Ohio in 1970, where four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard. Nine others were wounded.
“I don’t have the answers to all the questions,” he said. “I know that most good things come out of love and respect and compassion and unifying people. Most bad things come out of hate and dislike and deceit. Hopefully we can focus on the above and not the below.”
Alabama’s players are still in the locker room when the anthem is being played, just as most college football players throughout the country are. Players interviewed on Monday said the issues surrounding the protest do come up, but not in a way that would distract the team.
“I support what they’re doing because I understand and everything,” Alabama linebacker Anfernee Jennings said. “We’re not even out there when they’re doing the national anthem. But I support everything they’re doing and what they’re standing for.”
While the protests seem to be dividing the country in some aspects, locker rooms appear to be a safe haven for players and athletes.
Asked why he felt locker rooms were able to deal with social issues better than the rest of society, Saban mentioned two important factors
“Respect and trust are two things that make a team what it is,” Saban said. “People respect and trust the principles and values of an organization, but they also respect and trust each other. And I think that because everybody has sort of bought into the same things ― you have the same goals, you have the same spirit in terms of what you’re trying to accomplish and what you’re trying to do.
“I think it is a very unifying factor when everybody respects. And because you respect the people, you respect the individual differences as well. So I think that’s why they call it a team.”
Saban continued that it’s about about “togetherness.”
“Everybody is sort of trying to work toward the same standard,” Saban said. “Everybody is trying to support the other guy and help him be able to do that. So a lot of the things that make a good team are the very things that create a lot of togetherness, and I don’t think you have very good team unity and team spirit if you don’t have that kind of unifying force in the locker room.
“But I think it comes from respect and trust that gets developed because of everybody buying into the same goals and having the same aspirations for what they want to accomplish and what they want to do and how they support each other
Watch for this crap to infect college football this weekend.
Yep, I’m dreading it.
I agree most college locker rooms would support this foolishness. Saban best be careful with his comments. He is coaching at Alabama in a very Red state. I know Bama football is a religion in the state to many.
Mark Steyn had the best article on this.
Yes, we have the First Amendment, and so from a legal standpoint, you can “express your opinion” and get away with it. It does not require any sense of enlightenment to say, “Well, they have that right.”
The key thing is manners and social customs. Just because you “can” does not mean you “should”. These stupid NFL people are crass and rude and uncouth and they should be spat upon. But not arrested, of course, because they have that First Amendment thing going for them. Which is great.
[snip] Alabama’s players are still in the locker room when the anthem is being played, just as most college football players throughout the country are. [snip]
> I also respect everyone’s rights not to be censored in terms of the way they express their beliefs.
Anyone have his address? I wonder if he’d feel the same about a bunch of Auburn fans showing up at his house to shout uncensored beliefs about his mother. His comment doesn’t seem to be qualified with anything about government shutting down speech I assume he’d be fine with the Auburn fans expressing their beliefs on/near his property.
I have been an Alabama fan since around 1958.
No longer until Saban is gone.
Mike Leach is a big-time Trump supporter, I hope they whup USC.
so would he support team members protesting the NFL and coaches by being disrespectful towards them? or being disrespectful towards women? or minorities?
You know? Since he doesn’t believe in censorship and all
Saban defending the right to piss on the Military.
GTH, Saban.
Good point. I hope Auburn fans show up with some real free speech signs when they play Alabama.
Indeed.
It's not a question of what you're free to do, but of what is seemly to do. And a shared sense of what is seemly is vital to keeping any society functioning and, ultimately, free. To see it in terms of legal absolutism - one has the "right" to take a knee, just as one has the "right" to shout "F**k!" during your grandmother's funeral - is reductive, and diminishing.
So you encourage this in the face of your ticketholders, white players, Christian players, TV viewers, Bama veterans and families, et al, Nick?
Do you encourage we bring WHATEVER POLITICAL GRIEVANCE to your games?
Typically, a cowardly white guy who makes his bucks off black athletes. Why didn’t you just respond ‘no politics” belongs in football, pro or otherwise?
You just didn’t have the balls, did you, Nick? Like the 49ers you could have helped nip this BS in the bud, instead you ran for the Black Hills like your Kent State teammate Gary Pinkel at Mizzou
And we saw what happened to him. It was a NO WIN Nick, and you failed to choose the lesser of the evils
FU.
“Respect and trust are two things that make a team what it is,
A TWO WAY STREET, Nick.......I guess Kaep and his Muslim gf et al showed great “respect” for the rest of us, huh?
And now look what they started. But yeah, go ahead and kiss black ass. Your retirement is soon, so cement your “legacy’ with idiocy.
GFY
Meh.. the article is nice and all but it’s really just a simple explanation. There’s no freedom of speech in the NFL on the field while in uniform. You’re not on the corner after the game in your street clothes, you’re in uniform on the field on the job. Nobody has the right to say and do what they wanted their workplace.
Nick Saban on anthem protests: ‘I … respect everyone’s rights not to be censored’
OK, Saban...then declare homosexuals are perverts. See if your ‘rights’ are respected.
The way it is supposed to work is that the NFL players have the right to make their protest and we the fans, even the President, have the right to object.
But it is no longer about rights. It is about privileges. The elite class in this country view the Bill of Rights as their exclusive privileges. They can say, do, act however they want and their conduct is shielded by the Bill of Privileges. If anyone dares object with their agenda, the PC gestapo is called upon to silence those who are not deemed as to have any privileges.
Isn’t it cute, you either agree with them or agree with them. Your are not privileged to disagree.
There’s NO FIRST AMENDMENT For employment situations.
Try bringing this crap to the office or factory. Try politicizing your colleagues on company time.
Like C-Ville, the real issues always get lost in the left wing false narrative. C-Ville WAS about free speech and assembly
This is NOT about that. In both cases, it’s been made to be racial, and “free speech” but only where the left is concerned.
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