Please, I Can't Take It Anymore

[GimmeTheBall!]

AP's comment has simply cemented a long-standing issue I've had with professional sports in general, but the NFL in particular.

Maybe I'm all alone here - but I simply cannot stand to hear NFL players talk about themselves and the game in military terms.

I can understand your concern.
But, Mr. Warrior, the last time I checked, no one in the military or pentegon has trademarked or copywrited any terms or references.

Yes, athletes -- mostly big dumb and stupid and certainly not linguistically or mentally advanced -- sometimes talk in military terms. Deal with it, you are a big bad combat veteran.

By the way, hve you played professional athletics? If not, I am damned tired of people of your ilk using athletic terns since you do not understand the real blood sweat and tears aspect of professional sports.

From this day on, I don't want you using any sports terminology.

See how assinine that is?

Of all the things to be all atwitter about.
Get thee to the nearest Warriors and Heroes treatment center and ax for some seditives to take to help you cope with athletes using military terminology.

 

[ologan]

I can understand your concern.
But, Mr. Warrior, the last time I checked, no one in the military or pentegon has trademarked or copywrited any terms or references.

Yes, athletes -- mostly big dumb and stupid and certainly not linguistically or mentally advanced -- sometimes talk in military terms. Deal with it, you are a big bad combat veteran.

By the way, hve you played professional athletics? If not, I am damned tired of people of your ilk using athletic terns since you do not understand the real blood sweat and tears aspect of professional sports.

From this day on, I don't want you using any sports terminology.

See how assinine that is?

Of all the things to be all atwitter about.
Get thee to the nearest Warriors and Heroes treatment center and ax for some seditives to take to help you cope with athletes using military terminology.

"AX"?

 

[Frozen700]

Then these organizations need to start giving blocks of instruction on public speaking and media relations as part of the off-season program.

You're Adrian Peterson - you're the face of the franchise. Commercials, ads, the whole 9 yards. And then you go and tweet some garbage? Reflects poorly on yourself, the Minnesota Vikings, and the National Football League.

It's called being human

Man some of you need too relax, go too sleep....get off the computer, go outside, meet some chicks. The tv and computer is not your friend! Use it maybe 5-7 hours a day for entertainment.

Everybody says dumb things.....your a human. You can't tell me that if your going through a situation that is hard for you, that you wont sit up and maybe say stupid things out once or twice, in your life.

If you say so do and you can and never have....you speak blasphemy! Nobody is perfect, but ******.

Relax you old farts get worked up and emotional....i feel his comments are dumb, yes. I also am Pro owner, and would like too see the players get shown who is boss, but i won't jump over every little thing 1 man says.

Take a deep breathe the way some of you are talking over his comments, is like you want too cry, or very close too cardiac arrest.

 

[gmoney112]

It's called being human

Man some of you need too relax, go too sleep....get off the computer, go outside, meet some chicks. The tv and computer is not your friend! Use it maybe 5-7 hours a day for entertainment.

Everybody says dumb things.....your a human. You can't tell me that if your going through a situation that is hard for you, that you wont sit up and maybe say stupid things out once or twice, in your life.

If you say so do and you can and never have....you speak blasphemy! Nobody is perfect, but ******.

Relax you old farts get worked up and emotional....i feel his comments are dumb, yes. I also am Pro owner, and would like too see the players get shown who is boss, but i won't jump over every little thing 1 man says.

Take a deep breathe the way some of you are talking over his comments, is like you want too cry, or very close too cardiac arrest.

Being human is not synonymous with being an idiot.

 

[Frozen700]

Being human is not synonymous with being an idiot.

i agree his comments were dumb

But you never acted a fool in your life?

no huh? Then go back too your planet...cause your not human

 

[gmoney112]

i agree his comments were dumb

But you never acted a fool in your life?

no huh? Then go back too your planet...cause your not human

I tend to think before I speak in a medium where there's a lot of people listening to what I say. Maybe you should go back to school, your english hurts my eyes.

 

[Stautner]

I tend to think before I speak in a medium where there's a lot of people listening to what I say. Maybe you should go back to school, your english hurts my eyes.

So, you are an athlete or celebrity and frequently have media people putting mocrophones in your face? Or maybe you are the primary PR man for company - or maybe the president's press secretary.

What Peterson said was stupid, and that's undeniable, but lets not act as if the average person, educated or not, would always say the right thing in the right way if they were subject to being hounded for quotes and interviews at any moment.

 

[Beast_from_East]

AP's comment has simply cemented a long-standing issue I've had with professional sports in general, but the NFL in particular.

Maybe I'm all alone here - but I simply cannot stand to hear NFL players talk about themselves and the game in military terms.

I know there are others here who, like me, actually served. I don't know if everyone shares my combat experience, but I do know we are all brothers-in-arms and, IMHO, the only ones qualified to refer to our endeavors as combat/war/battle and/or ourselves as warriors.

Some may not agree, I understand. But when I hear some athlete - in any sport - speak of themselves as warriors, the game or match as battle/combat/war or invoke any other term which holds what I consider a very narrow and special meaning, it just really gets to me.

None of these guys - save any who served and then came back into the sport - have any notion whatsoever about what it takes to be a warrior and certainly are completely ignorant of combat, battles and war. And for this I'm grateful.

I just think they use terms likes this in an effort to enhance their public persona and/or because they are completely clueless as to what they are talking about - and it rubs me the wrong way (if you couldn't tell).

And yes, I'm aware of the the War on Drugs, Poverty and any number of policy positions invoking the word, but for me, in sports, its different. And there are some here who may point to the condition of the neighborhoods where some of these players grew up and as harsh as some of them may be, they are not battle, combat, or war zones - by any stretch - including Compton, S.Central, The Greens, Oak Cliff, or any other less desirable neighborhood in this country.

If I'm alone or off-base here, I understand. Just my position. Do I expect it to stop? Unfortuantely, no. Do I beg, hope and pray it does? Indeed.

I can't truly speak to the "slavery" comment - outside the obvious idiocy - since I'm not black, but I can imagine its about the same.

 

[casmith07]

I tend to think before I speak in a medium where there's a lot of people listening to what I say. Maybe you should go back to school, your english hurts my eyes.

Seriously...is it like some sort of "rite of passage" around here that you have to be an idiot when you're young?

Is it that hard to believe that most of the risks I've taken have been academic/work-related, and not done with my mouth?

 

[trueblue1687]

agreed

 

[WV Cowboy]

My respect for military is immense.
My admiration for what they do is too.
I can't say how proud I am of our military men and women. The best in the world.
Their sacrifice is something that I would not want to have to do.

My opinion is so high of our military that I am kind of surprised that they are affected at all by someone using a military metaphor to talk about football.

I picture them being stronger and above letting that even bother them.

It certainly does not take anything away from what they do for our country.

 

[preacher238]

Gotta agree with the OP......Well said, and I do share your exp in combat.

CASmith07, well said about the indirect fire!!! They would pee all over themselves, while running in circles screaming like little girls! Put them in an MRAP or HMMMV and send them outside the wire, and watch them load up their drawers!!! :laugh2:

Now, back on point....I hated KW 2 when he said his stupid comments about "Ima Souljer!!" No, you are not!!! And neither are the rest of the overpaid whiners comparing themselves to those who HAVE FAITHFULLY SERVED!!!!

For those of you who don't understand why that upsets us, maybe if you HAD served, you WOULD understand........

 

[Gadfly22]

Gotta agree with the OP......Well said, and I do share your exp in combat.

CASmith07, well said about the indirect fire!!! They would pee all over themselves, while running in circles screaming like little girls! Put them in an MRAP or HMMMV and send them outside the wire, and watch them load up their drawers!!! :laugh2:

Now, back on point....I hated KW 2 when he said his stupid comments about "Ima Souljer!!" No, you are not!!! And neither are the rest of the overpaid whiners comparing themselves to those who HAVE FAITHFULLY SERVED!!!!

For those of you who don't understand why that upsets us, maybe if you HAD served, you WOULD understand........

Look, we all get it -- those who served and those who haven't. Men and women who served in the armed forces have experiences that others have not, and there's a whole "Band of Brothers (and Sisters)" thing that goes on. That service is appreciated and (I hope) appropriately honored -- though the news is full of stories of veterans NOT getting appropriate care when needed.

That said, no one -- regardless of service, position, wealth or influence -- gets any word, idea or metaphor as their personal province. If you object to the metaphor, please tell the widows and widowers of law enforcement officers killed enforcing drug laws that they have no right to say that their spouse died in the "drug war". Feel free to tell the "Foot Soldiers" who marched for civil rights in Selma that they never really enlisted anywhere and need to correct that appellation. And one of my favorite action movies -- well, I guess it would become "Road Person".

I think everyone agrees that the metaphors that some football players may use to describe themselves can be stupid and inappropriate, like Winslow's "soldier" and Peterson's "modern-day slavery". But if a coach says after a hard-fought loss that his team is going to "soldier on" in spite of hardships, I understand the metaphor and its connotations.

 

[Dodger]

Now, back on point....I hated KW 2 when he said his stupid comments about "Ima Souljer!!" No, you are not!!! And neither are the rest of the overpaid whiners comparing themselves to those who HAVE FAITHFULLY SERVED!!!!

For those of you who don't understand why that upsets us, maybe if you HAD served, you WOULD understand........

I'm probably going to regret getting into the middle of this, but I've seen enough to compel me to respond.

I think some of you need to understand that the English language is a living thing in the sense that it is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the words that are used and their definitions.

When someone outside of the military uses these types of metaphors, I think it's pretty clear that they are NOT saying they are soldiers in the sense of serving in the military. Nor do I think they are trying to compare themselves to military personnel. Like it or not, the definition of soldier has changed over the years. Just take a quick look at any online dictionary for an example.


sol·dier
[sohl-jer]

–noun
1. a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.
2. an enlisted man or woman, as distinguished from a commissioned officer: the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.
3. a person of military skill or experience: George Washington was a great soldier.
4. a person who contends or serves in any cause: a soldier of the Lord.
5. Also called button man. Slang . a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.
6. Entomology . a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.
7. a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out. Compare rowlock ( def. 2 ) .
8. Informal . a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.

–verb (used without object)
9. to act or serve as a soldier.
10. Informal . to loaf while pretending to work; malinger: He was soldiering on the job.

—Verb phrase
11. soldier on, to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere: to soldier on until the work is done.

 

[LarryCanadian]

I agree with original poster. I have never served in the military, but I feel to compare the two is so disrespectful.

Professional sports are highly physically brutal and long-term taxing, but consider this:

Most of us play sports for the love of the game(s) and for the social/fitness aspects of them. I get injured all the time and I'm 41. Yet it is worthwhile for me. I have torn 2 ACL's, had a rotator cuff tear, had concussions, and now tore an external oblique doing sports/fitness. I love playing sports and have never been paid a dime. I'm no warrior and I'm not a "slave". I'll keep playing sports until I can't anymore.

NFL players get paid, anywhere from, what, 10 times to 200+ times as much per year than a US military person. To compare their earnings and work environment to that to "slavery" is so disrespectful to any working person that earns an average paying honest living. To compare their sacrifices to that of a military person is also disrespectful.

It is disrespectful to any culture that had "slavery" in it's past, especially AP's black peers/ancestrors/etc. Perhaps he should take a course in history to see how "slaves" were actually treated. And adding the word "modern" doesn't change anything, as "slavery" still exists today, and is not "better" than it was before.

Professional sports athletes are treated as Gods, celebrities, heroes. They are paid amazing compensation. AP set back his peers' cause a great deal in the public eye by uttering such a stupid statement.

My 2 cents. Thanks for putting your life on the line for Democracy to anyone that serves/served in the military.

LarryCanadian

 

[JD_KaPow]

Military metaphors have been used for centuries to describe non-military endeavors. I know people in the military who use them constantly. Of all the things to get worked up about, this is way way down on my list. Just my opinion on the matter.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Throw the bomb
He has a cannon for an arm
It's a war out there
Aerial assault
Ground attack
He submarined him
He is a great field general
We will go to war for each other
I would want to be in a foxhole with him

Just simple phrases used to describe football things, .. no disrespect intended towards our military.

I bet some of it started because veterans like Bud Grant, Vince Lombardi, Landry, etc. used those terms.

 

[superpunk]

Throw the bomb
He has a cannon for an arm
It's a war out there
Aerial assault
Ground attack
He submarined him
He is a great field general
We will go to war for each other
I would want to be in a foxhole with him

Just simple phrases used to describe football things, .. no disrespect intended towards our military.

I bet some of it started because veterans like Bud Grant, Vince Lombardi, Landry, etc. used those terms.

Anytime I hear any of those terms I raaaaaaaaaage at the absolute lack of respect people are showing for the military.

 

[Frozen700]

I tend to think before I speak in a medium where there's a lot of people listening to what I say. Maybe you should go back to school, your english hurts my eyes.

no thanks "gmoney" lmao

you aint no G on the net, fake english teacher

 

[Frozen700]

Seriously...is it like some sort of "rite of passage" around here that you have to be an idiot when you're young?

Is it that hard to believe that most of the risks I've taken have been academic/work-related, and not done with my mouth?

your right...he should just kill himself over his comments

i mean get over it, why are you moaning about his comments? What you want him too do? Build a time machine?

It happened, you don't like it....say your 2 cents and shut up....or cry about it, because it won't change. Not in this life time, so get use too it, or just off ya self