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When it comes to racial shakedowns, few organizations succumb on a grander scale than the National Football League. This tendency was on full display on Tuesday when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and black rapper/business mogul Jay-Z announced a multiyear partnership “to enhance the NFL’s live game experiences and to amplify the league’s social justice efforts.” More plainly, the league is about to entangle itself further with political radicalism. Goodell and company may believe that the pact is good for public relations, but they could not be more wrong. The NFL for many years has been a prime target of black...

The National Football League is back on top of the ratings heap after both conference championship games were so competitive they spilled into overtime. Sunday's New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs game drew 53.9 million viewers to CBS -- a shocking 27 percent increase from last year and the most-watched NFL game outside of the Super Bowl in five years. This is in part because they used to call the Dallas Cowboys "America's Team," but the Patriots seem like "America's Most Hated Team." Earlier that day on Fox, the Los Angeles Rams' controversial referee-marred defeat of the New Orleans Saints had...

President Trump has unleashed his ire against the "13 angry Democrats" on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation on Twitter the past couple of days. For months prior, he has dismissed the probe as a biased "witch hunt." When will the 13 Angry Democrats (& those who worked for President O), reveal their disqualifying Conflicts of Interest? It’s been a long time now! Will they be indelibly written into the Report along with the fact that the only Collusion is with the Dems, Justice, FBI & Russia?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018 He sent them another message Sunday...

It’s not often you get to watch a major corporation publicly try to pull out of a self-inflicted nosedive, but that’s exactly what the National Football League attempted to do this week. The last two seasons have been a time of shrinking viewership for the league that “owns a day of the week,” as they saying goes, and that negatively impacts the bottom line. So the NFL came up with a solution to what they see as the problem.Starting this season, the NFL will fine teams with players who don’t stand for the national anthem. Whether or not those teams...

It took two years, boycotts by fans, declining TV ratings, growing alarm among advertisers, a drop in the sale of gear and especially a public shaming by President Trump, but the owners of NFL teams have finally decided their players will not be allowed to kneel or make other protests during the playing of the national anthem. The NFL Players Association claims the owners' decision violates the players' "free speech rights." No it doesn't. Players are perfectly free to protest anywhere, anytime they wish, just not at the start of games for which the owners pay them large amounts of...

Hundreds of people rallied outside of AT&T Stadium on Sunday night to "show solidarity with NFL players who are taking a knee for justice," according to the Texas Organizing Project's release. Attendees wearing all black took a knee to support the movement in the NFL of players such as Colin Kaepernick, who have protested by taking a knee during the national anthem.

The New Orleans Saints have a wonderful 50 year relationship with long suffering fans that have supported the team through mostly losing seasons. Unfortunately, the team is putting that relationship in jeopardy with their asinine position on the National Anthem controversy. For some unknown reason, the team’s management and coaching staff have decided to support the right of disgruntled players to protest alleged social injustice during the National Anthem. In week 3 of the season, ten players sat for the Star-Spangled Banner and since that time multiple players have been kneeling prior to the anthem being played. These stunts have...

No other brand name has been more synonymous with the NFL over the years, than Papa John’s. However, that bond might soon break, as the pizza giant let the NFL know that the league’s anthem protests are killing their business. According to a report in the Sports Business Journal, in-game pizza sales have fallen off dramatically since President Trump blasted NFL protesters in September. According to SBJ, “NFL spokesperson Joe Lockhart confirmed to Sports Business Journal that Papa John’s had expressed concerns with the league. Further, Lockhart said that other top sponsors have expressed similar concerns as the NFL’s TV...

Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. More NFL Anthem Protests. Less Sales. That was the message Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter sent on Wednesday. “The NFL has hurt us,” Schnatter said during a conference call, according to ESPN. “We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this.” The CEO, who famously stars in the company’s commercials alongside NFL legends like Peyton Manning, also said he thought the national anthem issues had been “nipped in the bud” last season

Executives from Papa John's, the official pizza company of the NFL, expressed disappointment on a conference call Wednesday about the league's ongoing player protests during the national anthem. "The NFL has hurt us," company founder and CEO John Schnatter said. "We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this." Executives said the company has pulled much of its NFL television advertising and that the NFL has responded by giving the company additional future spots. "Leadership starts at the top and this is an example of poor leadership," Schnatter said, noting he thought the issue had been "nipped...

In the late 1990s, when the Clinton White House was under siege amid revelations of the president’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and efforts by Congress to impeach him, it fell on Joe Lockhart, then the White House spokesman, day after day to defend his boss. But unlike many of his predecessors, he did not just take his marching orders. In countless meetings with the president and his advisers, Lockhart helped shape the message he would convey, and he aggressively pressed it to reporters. “He was out there, he was on point, he was wearing his cleats,” said Doug Sosnik, an...

Daily Beast columnist Jay Michaelson is unhappy with America's football fans. In a thoughtful column, he argues that "kneeling for the anthem is a sign of respect, not disrespect, for our country and the values it stands for." He adds that "To protest -- for whatever cause, left or right wing -- is to make real the best ideals of America: freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law. Protesting brings those ideals into reality." But as players kneel in protest, America's football fans have not been pleased. Ratings and attendance are down while public perceptions of the NFL have...

The debate over NFL player protests during the national anthem has become so big within the league that it has delayed the completion of commissioner Roger Goodell's contract extension, league sources told ESPN. Goodell's deal is still expected to be completed and has been papered, sources told ESPN, but the process has been slowed while the overwhelming majority of the NFL's attention has been diverted to handling the anthem issue, which has affected TV ratings, merchandise sales and the country's feelings about football. Had the issue not existed, Goodell's contract might have been completed at last week's owners meeting in...

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has gone to great lengths in recent weeks to ensure his voice was heard publicly about his displeasure over any NFL player not standing for the national anthem, and while he slipped out of last week's owner's meetings in New York without speaking to the media, league sources said he was quite vocal during Wednesday's session. Jones was the only owner to rail against the handful of players who are still regularly kneeling, standing or staying in the locker room during the playing of the anthem, the sources said, pronouncing his disagreement with how the NFL...

President Trump hammered Hillary Clinton on Monday for her defense of NFL players protesting the national anthem, saying that kind of “thinking” is why she lost the election. In a joint White House press conference with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Trump was asked about Clinton's latest comments on players who “take a knee.” “Well—that’s why she lost the election. I mean, honestly, it’s that thinking—that is the reason she lost the election,” Trump responded. He also repeated his early-morning call on Twitter for Clinton to run again. “Oh, I hope Hillary runs. Is she going to run? I...

Y.A. Tittle died last week. A Hall of Fame quarterback for the New York Giants, he is best known for the taking a knee on a football field. Actually, it was two knees. In September 1964, the Giants were facing the Pittsburgh Steelers at old Pitt Stadium. Tittle was 38 years old and at the tail end of a 17-year professional career. He had led his team to three straight NFL Championship Games, in ’61, ’62, and ’63, but did not win. In the game against the Steelers, he dropped back into his own end zone to throw a pass....

In a meeting with coaches, Dallas Cowboys players were told to bring their concerns about comments made by Jerry Jones regarding his stance on the national anthem to the owner and general manager, according to a source. NFL Network was the first to report the meeting. Since Sunday, Jones has been outspoken regarding his stance that players must "not disrespect the flag" and that they must stand for the anthem or they will be benched. Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday, Jones said the players could express themselves prior to the national anthem in a similar manner...

Mike Ditka may want to stick to football after his most recent interview. The legendary Bears coach, who was a guest of NBC’s Jim Gray during the Bears-Vikings game on “Monday Night Football,” was asked little about Chicago rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky but instead weighed in on anthem protests going in the NFL. Ditka isn’t a fan and doesn’t see a reason for them either. "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of,” Ditka said. “Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people. I think the opportunity is there for everybody...

The National Football League is a glass house that was cracking well before Donald Trump's criticism of players who refuse to stand during the national anthem. The NFL earned an estimated $14 billion last year. But 500-channel television, internet live streaming, video games and all sorts of other televised sports have combined to threaten the league's monopoly on weekend entertainment -- even before recent controversies. It has become a fad for many players not to stand for the anthem. But it is also becoming a trend for irate fans not to watch the NFL at all. Multimillionaire young players, mostly...

Every time NFL players take a knee during the national anthem they pierce the hearts of patriotic Americans and military families including mine. I absolutely love football and my Dallas Cowboys. No longer. I haven’t burned my Cowboys sweatshirt yet, but I am close, which would make my husband happy because he’s a Redskins fan. But, if mine goes, his goes too. I love my country and my military veteran husband more. So, I’ve decided to replace my football-watching time doing more important things like scooping up doggie-doo from the yard. I even made up a game of it in...