The National Football League says allowing a team to honor fallen police officers would do nothing but open a Pandora’s box of problems — and the organization’s ruthless pursuit of cash over honoring fallen police officers has some cops fuming mad.
The Dallas Cowboys had paid tribute to their city’s police and the five officers killed by a crazed gunman with a ceremony before the start of training camp, when players walked arm-in-arm onto the practice field with city police Chief David Brown, Mayor Mike Rawlings, and members of four of the five families of officers who were killed in an ambush in downtown Dallas during a Black Lives Matter rally.
After taking the field in four waves, players and coaches formed a circle for a moment of silence with the Dallas contingent, which included children. Brown addressed the team and shouted “Dallas strong” as he wrapped up his remarks.
They had planned to extend that honor through every game of the 2016 regular season by wearing a decal on their helmet that read simply, “Arm In Arm.”
The NFL responded Wednesday: No way.
Cops say the league’s lack of respect is painful.
“The NFL had an opportunity to be leaders and advocates for change in law enforcement,” Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, president of the Dallas Fallen Officers foundation, said. “These are our friends and our loved ones … it hurts to not have the NFL fully support us.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defended the NFL executives, saying that he supports the league’s decision.
“There are so many wonderful, wonderful causes, the league has to be careful,” Jones said. “Once you open that Pandora’s box, how do you ever stop?”
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Folks who have a hard time feeding their kids worship these overgrown men playing a kids game. Sunday’s after Labor Day to early February are now NFL days instead of Church ones. Here in Boston folks worship a quarterback who is suspended for 4 games for cheating like a 12 year old. In the past 15 years Pat Tillman and a Patriots player are the only two NFL players that have served in our military. I sincerely like football. However, I know it’s a game and business run by greedy folks.
I could not agree with you more. I love football, but boys and men idolize someone like Tom Brady, who cheated and got caught, is totally amazing to me. But it does not amaze me that Jerry Jones and the NFL would not support the police officers, after all, they can’t make money from them.
Main Street—-Don’t support any game that has Dallas Cowboys in it and surly don’t support anything with JERRY JONES connected to it.
It’s not the team but the owner and the other POS’s higher up who come up with lame excuses as to ‘why not’.
Hey I’m a NY Giant fan, but what the Cowboys did, makes me a seven (7) in disliking the Cowboys. It used to be a ten (10).
Why are you taking it out on Jerry Jones? At least he did honor the police in a ceremony and attempted to have the players wear a sticker on their helmets. It was the league that said no.
Bobby: I think that it was the NFL who wouldn’t allow it, not the Cowboy’s management.
The NFL management knows that many of their players are supporting the Black Lives Matter protesters no matter the righteousness of their cause. These football players aren’t hired because they are intellectual scholars. They’re hired because they can run fast, catch a football, or knock the slobber out of the one carrying the football. So these players can be dumb as a box of rocks as long as they can do the earlier mentioned tasks. So the NFL owners aren’t going to tell these guys who earn them billions of dollars that they’re wrong. They want to keep the games going and the money flowing.
The National Felon League. Who are they going to support? Brave men and women in blue,or criminals?The Cowboys get my thumbs up for their effort. I’d say they say piss on the NFL and wear it anyway.
Guess everyone who appreciates an thinks Police
Officers should not support the NFL by not watching on tv or not go to a game for one season and see how much they make then! Also if they call the
Police for any reason I wonder how they would feel if they didn’t show up. Especially if their wives or children are met with knife or gun wielding thugs! Be hard for them to explain to their families why they cant call the cops. Feel sorry for these idiots that cant say good things about our Police or back them up too rich and too good for them….Everyone needs to learn the basics of respect and etiquette again…i am sure they were taught.
That’s the dumbest thing the NFL could ever do. What will they do if the police boycott the games? I have no respect for the “deciders” at the NFL. They should hang their head in shame!
you know what fans should boycott games no body show up. i’m a season ticket holder in Tn If my team did this I would not show up for games. But what do u respect from jerry jones? he’s an AH
Want to make an impact? Contact the sponsors and tell them you and your freinds and family will not buy or use their products until they pull their ads from the NFL games. It does work. It just takes people with guts and a way with words to get it started. 10,000 letters and emails will get it started.
You are right that sponsors have major impact. I remember when the Peterson child abuse case caused Target to withdraw their sponsorship from Vikings games and Busch to threaten to do so. The next game Peterson was on the sidelines and suspended from playing. Sponsors have the power in the NFL. Get to the sponsors (start with the beer giant Busch). Try to get their attention.
unfortunately it no longer a game.It is big business. it generates hundreds of millions of dollars. No longer a game.
I’m not a sports guy, but do watch the super bowl and a few other games. I agree that it is about big money and the players are paid way too much, but there is no way anyone should push church over football or anything else. I think religion is a disease and in no way does it have any place in society except to cause more deaths in history and now with all the Islam and Christian fighting. I would rather go to a boring game than any church.
I will pray for you and your attitude.
As a retired Cleveland Policeman this just flat pisses me off. God bless the Cowboys and God damn the NFL. Be a real shame if the players got sick on opening day.
BTW, Like all us Browns fans have been saying for 30 years now “just wait ’till you see us NEXT year”. (O BOY, next year is here, We can only hope)
In any case, everybody say a prayer for the coppers that are not working will not be with their families on opening day. Even though the NFL could care less.
I despise the Patriots. Honestly, there are few things that put a bigger smile on my face than a Patriots loss. That said, Tom Brady is absolutely, positively 100% INNOCENT of cheating with respect to Deflategate. Anyone who thinks otherwise either hasn’t fully examined the issue, or is simply dumber than a sack of hammers. Roger Goodell is a complete and utter disgrace as a Commissioner, and has turned the NFL head office into a cesspool of political correctness and libtard lunacy. I sincerely hope that Tom Brady files and wins a defamation suit for a couple hundred million dollars against Goodell and everyone else involved in the sham known as Deflategate.
Roger Godell is a cop hater!!!! Next time you need security Roger…call Ray Rice.
Jerry Jones is a Smuck!! He is in the same slizzy category that Bill and Hillary and O’bams are. Slime!!!! Pure Slime!!!!
Keep Politics out of Sports.
So you really don’t want the police at our sport stadiums to keep you safe? You are part of the problem that we having in respecting our police and good job they do.
Multi millionaires playing a kids game that is run by billionaires.
AMEN
HOW IS SUPPORTING POLICE POLICITICAL, IF YOU NEED HELP, IN TIME OF DANGER CRIMINAL ACTIVITY IN YOUR NABORHOOD, ARE YOU GOING TO CALL JERRY JONES OR YOU GOING TO CALL YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ? YOUR POLICE DEPARTMENT IS 24/7, SPORTS ARE ONLY ON, WEEKENDS, HOLIDAYS AT JUST CERTAIN TIMES OF DAYS AND NIGHTS. PS: IF YOUR CHOOSE OF TEAMS SUPPORTED YOUR (LOCAL) LAW ENFORCEMENT WE APPRECATE THEM AND THEIR OWNER A LOT MORE.
I support the police. Most cops are good people and do the right thing. The problem blacks have with cops is that some bad cops are protected by the rest – that is a bad thing all around. In general, beating up the NFL because they didn’t kiss your asss is annoying and trying to force the NFL to do what you want them to is just as bad as the black lives matter group of criminals trying to force the police to do what they want them to. The NFL supports the police, but they don’t “have to” wear a sticker to prove it or to satisfy you. Just like religions, you are trying to force your beliefs on others. Knock it off!
I support the police. Most cops are good people and do the right thing. The problem blacks have with cops is that some bad cops are protected by the rest – that is a bad thing all around. In general, beating up the NFL because they didn’t kiss your a ss is annoying and trying to force the NFL to do what you want them to is just as bad as the bl ack lives matter group of criminals trying to force the police to do what they want them to. The NFL supports the police, but they don’t “have to” wear a sticker to prove it or to satisfy you. Just like religions, you are trying to force your beliefs on others. Knock it off!
How is honoring our police being policitical?
If supporting Police is political then what do you call St.Louis Ram players coming out with their hands up to honor a thug that was killed after a Policeman ordered him to stop his attack for the policeman’s weapon. His hands were never up but facts don’t matter to BLM! No NFL reprimand no action!!!
Politics is everywhere because politics is the “jungle” of human behavior. If it was possible to keep politics out of something I would suggest out of govt. Politics is also stronger than war. Most wars end with a political agreement rather then the crushing defeat of the enemy in WWII. And the so called hold war, jihad, is actually a political war and not a military. Terrorism is political violence. We have the premier political system in the world, maybe even in history, and our govt exists because of it but they brag about our military instead of our form of govt.
Hey pal, Standing with dead policeman’s families and showing you support the police is NOT politics.
Hope you tell the next policeman you see that his life and family are just a bunch of political bullshit.
Kick God & Patriotism out of everything and we become a 3rd world country where people hate instead of caring for one another.
Sad that not much was done to the Ram players that came on the field with their hands up. Now when the players want to show their support to the police for keeping them safe they are put down for it. Jerry Jones should ashamed of himself when it is the police that keep his players and the fans safe.
I can’t believe that Jerry front have the balls to stand with the DOD. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED .
This is another weird stance taken by the nfl and Roger Goodell. He seems to be trying to ruin the reputation of the nfl. Give me a break! The pressure in a football, not noticed by the professional referees should be a non issue. Especially since the footballs are given to the teams before a game for conditioning. It should be the responsibility of the league to make sure nothing has been done to the balls during that time. Now the league says the teams cannot honor the police? How nasty is that to spit in the collective eyes of police everywhere!! You now have one less fan, which I’m sure mr. Godell will just dismiss as a deranged fan to be happily rid of. Bye Bye
AS LONG AS I PRAY TO GOD ALL MIGHTY, AND WE AMERICAN’S SING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM, I WILL CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT LOVE WILL BRING THIS COUNTRY BACK TOGETHER AGAIN………..GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER HERO’S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The obvious thing that should happen is that fans quit going to NFL football games or watching them on TV. This will hit them in their pocketbooks and will have them begging their fans to come back. I suggest that every person simply turn of NFL football and not go their games. They will be crying before the season is over. It will be good medicine for them.
Our racial problems are deliberate and intentional and can be laid at the feet of Barrack Hussein Obama.
He said, in his first term, he was going to do this. And he did, go figure.
the only way to show your displeasure is to boycott games. If the fans decide to stay home for even one game in the year, it will have an impact on the TV. Fewer fans in the stands on national TV will be obvious. If the players vent their displeasure by not supporting the police, maybe we should vent our displeasure with the players by not buying tickets and sports paraphernalia!! The sports franchises have the right to decide anything they want to support, but the fans also have the right to decide how
to spend their money!!!
Apparently it wasn’t the players. It was the owners and the commissioner. I never had much respect for football and have even less now. That greedy bunch of money grubbers are lower than a snakes’ toes.
It would suit me if sport personalities and teams were prevented from making political statements. Most of their scholastic records un-qualifies them from making a statement anyway.
Same with all celebrities, if we stop paying for their “product” be it a sporting event or movie and hold them accountable for what they say. For example Matt Damon wants the 2b Ammendment done away with but his movies are full of gun violence. Also, Samantha Bee eho cut down or political system if she doesn’t like it she should go bsck home to liberal Canada. The police are a very important part of our communities, and if they are not supported by the communities they might just not do those extra jobs such as security inside the stadiums. The cost of providing security would increase. The owners do pay for the police as a lot of the police are on days off and over time.
I’ll get off my soap box now. Lets support those who risk their lives to protect us, law enforcement and military.
Saving our beloved country is better than any football game.
We need to be praying & coming together instead of
fighting and dividing.
this is the same org [nfl] that was happy to sell pink sweatshirts with susan b komen logo as long as nfl kept 80% what a bunch of thugs how can you sport nuts support these people duh
I do not support the Susan B Komen Foundation because it has a reputation for the money into salaries and perks instead of research. So, if the NFL kept 80% and the Komen foundation kept the rest, what was left for breast cancer?
The officers and relatives of the five slain police officers should ignore the obvious liberal NFL and continue with there honoring of the fallen. I for one back them a thousand percent.
Someone in Dallas should contact businesses and find someone willing to make buttons or decals or patches bearing the slogan that the Cowboy players wanted to use. Hand them out outside the stadium to everyone who will take one and agree to wear it. Accept donations, but don’t ask for any. The fans can do what the players are not being allowed to do. Jerry Jones may own the Cowboys, but he doesn’t own Dallas.
I really like this idea!
I boycotted ALL NFL games at the same time the Oscar awards were boycotted, and for the same reason: lack of diversity. (OUCH)
If the overprivleged can whine and snivel, why can’t I.
Yeah but you know what? THIS is EXACTLY WHY we ARE losing and will CONTINUE to lose control of this “Once-Great-Country”! EVERY God-Fearing, Law-Abiding, Family-Loving, Patriotic, AMERICAN should BOYCOTT the NFL. AND BOYCOTT the NBA while we’re at it, and ANYONE ELSE that steps out of line against us, for stepping OUT of their realm of SPORTS ENTERTAINERS or WHATEVER and into OUR FACES by SIDING with those who would DESTROY this Country and OUR Way-of-Life!!! But THAT will NEVER happen because a BIGGER BUNCH OF LAZY, SPOILED PUSSIES who would NEVER give up Football OR Basketball and a Beer or suffer ANY inconveinience, are nowhere to be found on the Planet except for right HERE in America. Wanna know WHY Trump is GONNA lose even though he’s in a SLAM DUNK RUN against satan himself and WE OUTNUMBER his MINIONS 10,000 to 1? Because not enough Good people give enough of a shit to get off their LAZY A$$e$ and VOTE! Read it and WEEP and take THAT to the INTERNATIONAL Bank!!!
Consider it DONE! And I’ll find out who the sponsors are, too. They’ll be boycotted, along with the PC NFL Owners Association’s Football Games. POS!
Maybe the boycott would giver them a message. Excuse me, but honoring the police is not a cause like others. The police are a group of individuals who protect us and we rely upon! It is isn’t even in the same category as so many causes.
AS A GOOD OLD HILLBILLY WOULD SAY THAT A REAL GOOD ”I D” AS SILENT HAMMER SAYS COYCOTT, EVER THING THAT HAS TO DO WITH SPORTS . MY WIFE & I HAVE A NIECE, NEPHEW, SON A (K9) OFFICER, AND A SON KILLED WHILE ON DUTY PROTECTING PUBLIC,IN 2009 AD.
Heartfelt SORROW for your loss.
The best way to attack a company is to go after its sponsors. Contact them. Tell them that you will not be buying their products as long as they support the NFL and TELL THEM WHY! I guarantee you will get their attention. A few years ago, one of the TV networks tried to air a program called “The Book of Daniel.” There was such an outcry to the sponsors that, by the third episode, only one sponsor remained–Burlington Coat Factory. It The third episode never aired and the show was cancelled. When I was in nursing school, a network aired a program about nursing students that made us look like a bunch of drug-addicted nymphos. Student Nurse Associations across the country went after the show’s advertisers. Not only was the show cancelled, but Suzanne Pleshette, the star, made a public apology to nurses and nursing students. Money talks. The NFL won’t listen as long as they have companies buying advertising. That is the place to direct your ire. It will work if enough people participate. Take to your social media with a list of advertisers. Tell people where to find the addresses for corporate offices. You will be surprised how well it works.
Amen Mike I agree with you totally Thanks for saying it like it should be said
Thank you Dale. Just feels like it’s “Preaching to the Choir”. Unfortunately, those SAME people are TOO lazy to even be READING about what they should be doing! Sheepdogs work is NEVER done!
I am so sick of Political Correctness BS. Now we have the NFL afraid to support/honor the police as it might cause the Black Lives Matter Group to protest the NFL thus cost them a few dollars. Doing what they are doing is going to cost them more. I would rather watch the NBA anyway.
I don’t watch football or any other ball games or Medicare either. I don’t spend my money for any of their stuff either. I have better places to put it like keeping my family eating and those around me. I have never let anyone around me go hungry if I knew it if. I don’t know then I. Can’t do nothing about it.The only requirement is they have to try to help themselves or be so disabled they can’t.
Shame on these cowardly billionaires that once again prove that all they care about is the dollars that they make. The players should continue there effort to back up the people in law inforcement that work so hard for so little to protect all of us. They and are great milatary are all the real heroes and God Bless them all.
Police Officers are the stability factor of our American way of life and for Jerry Jones to eliminate the honor of Dallas’s fallen officers speaks volumes. There are many worthy causes in our lives and he’s right in that respect, but honoring assassinated officers is not a “cause”. It is a tragedy like 911!
Mr. Jones needs to reavaluate this decision!
Jerry jones is a skunk.
I have never liked the cowboys, some of the players yes, but not the organization.
Keep doing what you are doing, players. You should be able to Gomorrah the police, they are your and your fan protectors.
THE NFL is the one along with Mr. jones is saying no….. (that means all teams are being spoken for here
I think the owners of the NFL should not be allowed to play the games and everyone should boycott the games. What is happening to these owners that they cannot say a prayer for the very people who protect them. Stop the games and you will see their attitudes change. This is not American. I do not follow football but feel strongly about their patriotic stance for our finest our police people everywhere. The owners must be on Obama’s and clintons payroll too. This is disgraceful. The NFL players should do what they feel best in their hearts and not worry about the outcome. Right is Right. Respect is Respect. Have we lost all our morals that we learned throughout our lives. Their owners are greedy and totally wrong. Hurt their pockets. Stop the games.
Mr. jones says “Once you open that Pandora’s box, how do you ever stop?” Maybe Mr. jones you might want to look into your pandora box and see just how many in that box serve not just the people but you when they are sworn in to serve and protect…Get off of your elite high horse long enough to understand that America’s police officers as a whole are not just a good cause but are the men and women who can elect to support or not to support your nfl team and the entire nfl league. You do not yet understand that WE THE PEOPLE are standing up in America because WE THE PEOPLE are tired of the elite and the establishment. I am not going to go down the political road now to dishonor the men and women who serve in the ranks of law enforcement but that is what has raised the awareness of WE THE PEOPLE. This is just another sad day that you and your elitest friends my just feel the pain. SHAME ON YOU AND YOUR BUNCH…………………….
So . . . what’s an NFL ? ? ?
the nfl is going away soon with all the concussion suits yeah
wounded warriers project was a scam too
never give a dime to politians or national so called charitys charity begins at home mine
This rebuke by the NFL is absolutely DISGUSTING and, of course, Jerry Jones supports it. SHOCKING…..NOT!!! This decision reeks of political and racial considerations. BLM was mentioned in a few comments but it is much, MUCH deeper than that. Our once great country is truly divided as it never was before and everything we do must not offend anyone. We are so PC conscience that we cannot do ANYTHING without concern of PC “retribution”. Our country has lost all drive and ambition because of our new need to cater to the PC concerns.
honoring the police IS political because of barack hussein obama and hillary clinton, AND, black lives matter. that recipe is directly responsible for the war against police who are put in an impossible situation. they’re supposed to be the protectors while entering a situation that pumps adrenaline out of fear, have made some mistakes because of this, and now have targets on their backs. for those that hate cops, how about calling 911 and having NO ONE show up? there’s a solution.
the NFL is just an extension of the aforementioned and get paid millions of dollars to throw a ball back and forth but can’t spell
C A T. follow the money … as usual. remember just ONE word in all of this: G R E E D
The NFL is a disgrace to America! I’m not a Cowboys fan but what they did to honor the fallen police is commendable.. Nothing was said about the players that came on the field with their hands op in support of BLM and a lie. Michael Brown never put his hands up and that is a proven fact. If the NFL won’t let the Cowboys honor the fallen police then the police should not respond when they call for help. Boycott the NFL!!!!!
I hate to say this, but the commissioner is right. Where are you going to draw the line? Every city has their heroes. If every team homered each other’s cause, the helmets would soon look like the Ohio Buckeys, wit every decal different.
The police are such cry babies. Their job is still safer than a construction workers or a mom and pop store operator or clerk. But construction workers don’t quit on the job for a funeral parade down main street. At taxpayers expense. And they don’t shoot taxpayers dead ‘accidentally’. Time for the overpaid crybabies to shut up and just do their damn job with out all the drama.
Every year The Super Bowl halftime opens a Pandora’s box.
So not the greatest argument for why they don’t want to do this.
Let’s assume it has to do with not wanting a sticker garden cropping up on helmets.
The next logical step would be to form groups to ask for a meeting to discuss what alternative things could be done, acceptably, to honor the loss of law enforcement lives on this infamous day that The Big D went through so recently.
Put the Odis back on them. And keep making appointments and having meetings to ask what else we could do.
Remember, our performer ( not naming) was ok’d to dance paying homage to a well known 60’s group ( still organized today) that was militant and anti-law at a difficult time in our history. So if they repeat that they don’t want to open a can of worms, please remind them that they already did that…so the argument against just acknowledging support For Dallas, and all their citizenry and officers went through, is not an acceptable argument.
NFL- they dont mind,when players beat their wives and kids. But, honoring civil servants. NO WAY! And, as far as Church and football sundays. How long do you people,think church is. Im home and the wings picked up. before kickoff.
I hope the next time they call the police the cops spit in their face and don’t show up !
When the NFL has Beyonce’ performing a highly prejudicial and incendiary half-time show supporting the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Black Panthers movement in 2016, the NFL had certainly best support the Police Fully. Failure to provide equity to the Police will be cause for legal action against the NFL for clear violation of ethics based in a clear demonstration of prejudicial bias. The NFL opened the door with their failure to reign-in Beyonce’s poor and incendiary performance and now the NFL needs to stand providing a platform of support-ability based in equal provision and treatment to other parties such as the Veterans and US Military, Police, and even the KKK. In opening the door to Beyonce’ w/her performance re: BLM and Black Panthers who murder Police while also instructing the take-over of State’s by killing White people, the NFL chose to side with racism, prejudice, cop-killers, social violence outside of the law, and is now standing opposing the full support Police. This seems good assurance that those in this household made the right choice years ago, and will continue withholding complete support of anything having to do with the NFL. Continuing to regret the day the NFL ever formed.
I never have liked Dallas but this is an all time low that goes directly to the League Office. If I was a Dallas cop or deputy I would make a point out of stopping by Dunkin Doughnuts for coffee and a couple of slow eating doughnuts before I responded.
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Poor americans you are so slow aren’t you. The DHS would love to take control of the NFL games. Do you think the Federal Gov wouldn’t love to federalize such a money making corp. secretly they don’t care about the Police not when it creates more jobs for them. AS usual taxpayers would foot the bill.
Why is this so surprising??? The National Felons League is not only run largely by misfits and idiots but football is played by a large number of thugs and criminals!! No surprise that they react the way they did to the deaths of police officers! The NFL is a worthless, useless organization all the way around!! Wouldn’t waste my Sundays watching ANYTHING the NFL has to offer!
THE NFL SHOULD STOP THIS TYPE OF CRUEL DECISIONS. THE PLAYERS HAVE A CARING HEART. THE NFL SHOULD BE CRUSHED ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. GOOD LUCK TO THE DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT AND OTHERS NATIONWIDE. BE SAFE.
Doesn’t the NFL receive Hugh federal tax breaks from the federal cartel? I seem to recall some pressure being applied a couple/several yrs. Back.to abolish these Hugh tax breaks for the national feline league owners. Seems like the tax change talk went away as soon as they brought in there current commissioner r.(for radical) nogoodell to do the money first owners bidding! To dishonor the fallen police this way is to much . See how long the games would last if the police weren’t at the stadiums. I will not renew my direct NFL Sunday ticket so good bye NFL.
As far as the stupid and baseless charges were put out about one if not the best players in the. History of the game I decided that the Washington/Chicago cartel has
Succeeded in destroying another great time tested all American symbol that we as a people were proud of and that our children could aspire to be part of someday . Tom brady is a hero by any standard and never should have been unjustly charged with this nonsense. The people that should have been charged were the on field officials that handled the ball after each and every play! Brady made millions for Pat’s. Owner Bob Kraft and he threw brady and the police that protect all of us under the liberal/progressive bus. Where is a statement from the NFL players association stating their stance on this truly anti-police matter? Go Tom brady and all of our police offiçers- your the best!
Jerry Jones and Roger Godell are suck buddy’s. I wonder who’s on top?