Yesterday watching the post game press conferences for Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethilsberger, I couldn’t help but notice comment after comment about how long time Steelers fans were ‘fed up’ with the way the team handled the pregame National Anthem and in a lot of fans minds ‘disgraced’ the flag.
The team, as most of you know, stayed in the tunnel for the National Anthem to protest the words of President Trump on Friday when he stated that he would ‘fire’ a player if he owned a team and that player didn’t stand for the National Anthem.
In Tomlin’s post game presser, the first two questions were about the end of the half and the crazy play that nearly cost the Steelers a touchdown, and after that it was all about the National Anthem and the team’s decision to not take part.
What’s odd is the only Steelers player, Alejandro Villanueva, who came out and did stand for the National Anthem and put his hand over his heart, in the last 24 hours has the highest selling merchandise for ANY player in the NFL.
It’s insane to think that politics have flat out effected the fandom of a team this much, but obviously it’s a very touchy subject and one that is very near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts.
So what say you on the matter? Do you still support Steeler Nation following yesterday – and NOT for what happened during the overtime 23-17 loss, but for what the team did in the pregame for the anthem?
Do you just disregard the matter, or are you one of the many who commented yesterday that said they are ‘done’ with the NFL and more so Steelers football after the actions of the team.
Leave a comment and we will follow up with a post with the feelings of the fans following Sunday’s pregame actions.
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Barbie cannady
September 25, 2017 at 5:39 pm
I have always been a steelers fan, win or loose they were my team. I am however no longer gonna be watching NFL period unless perhaps it’s the Cowboys whom I never really liked. My family fought in wars this truly upset and disgusted me.
B
September 25, 2017 at 5:52 pm
The players have a first amendment right to protest as they see fit. However, as a diehard fan that used to go to games and purchase merchandise, I will be exercising my freedoms to not support the NFL. For the first time in my life a lowered my Steelers flag, removed my jersey and turned the channel. I am sickened by the teams decision to allow the employees to disrespect not the flag itself, but the men that died so they could earn millions of dollars entertaining me on Sundays. I’m no longer entertained. I’m not permitted to bring politics or religion up at work, if it was discovered that I was, I’d be looking for a new job. F Roger Goodell, the NFL, the NFLPA, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, F the Rooney’s too. Where’s the stand against violence in the cities and the beating of women? I will give them one week to correct this error against the Ravens, I won’t be watching, but the internet will let me know.
God Bless the men and women of our military, God Bless Alejandro Villanueva for doing what he knew was right, and God Bless the USA. Steelers Fan 11/1974-9/2017
NFL No fans left
September 26, 2017 at 10:07 pm
Well written right on the mark!
Shirley Amato
September 25, 2017 at 5:57 pm
I think that Tomlin and Art Rooney needs to apologize to the fans for a ridulous stunt they pulled. Did Tomlin ever say to the players this might come back to bite you in the ass? Did they think about how the fans were going to react? No, they were snowflakes. All Trump said was whoever does not stand for the flag deserves to be fired. And yes he referred to the kneeler as s o b’s. He did not call out anybody in particular. Everybody took offense to it. Trump hurt their feelings. Boo hoo. They put politics on the field. The same as everybody else. Personally I think it is just for attention. If the press did not cover them kneeling or throwing their fist then they would stop it. The media makes things worse. Did you ever go to a politic event and have a football game break out? No so why go to a football game and put politics there? If they did not want to get in the middle of things then the players should have come out stand on the side and respected the flag. That is the way they always did it. Nothing should have changed.
The one
September 25, 2017 at 6:06 pm
All you bums sitting at home watching the games…are you sitting or standing during the anthem? Y’all all need to shut up and stop crying over players taking a knee for a just cause. They aren’t disrespecting the nation they live in…
Why do players take a knee when people get seriously hurt while playing sports…?
A bunch of ignorant hypocritical people running their mouths isn’t going to stop freedom.
Jim
September 25, 2017 at 6:11 pm
I’ve been A Steelers fan since 1972. Always thought I bled black and gold, yesterday they made me realize I bleed red white and blue. Time now to spend my Sundays with my family rather than watching football, Steelers, and any other NFL team. My Sundays will now be family fun days!
Mark Agnor
September 25, 2017 at 6:12 pm
The flag is not where you protest. I want to almost cry when thinking about possibly not watching Steelers games. But there horrible decision this past weekend may lead me to it. I never thought I’d see the day when I would be impressed (this is hard to write) by the cowboys and jerry Jones over the Steelers but that sad day has arrived.
B JOhnson
September 25, 2017 at 6:18 pm
No, I do not support them or the NFL, though I do think Alejandro Villanueva’s stance was heroic. . but then too, he’s a real warrior, not some brain punched idiot that makes a lot of money playing football and thinks that makes him a role model.
What a slap in the face to the country, even though flawed, that allows those idiots to make millions of dollars. They and the media are the ones who are dividing the country. Them and the idiot actors and actresses who think because they are experts at lying for a living, their opinions matter.
Bill bosko
September 25, 2017 at 6:37 pm
40 years of steelers garb in the trash I hope you kneel after you loose 20 games in a row good by
James
September 25, 2017 at 7:30 pm
As a possesser of two Honorable discharges, one from the USMC (Semper Fi), and one from the US Army (Hoowah), I am extremely disappointed at all of the NFL players that did not stand for our National Anthem. As for ou beloved Steelers I would rather they do what they did and not come on the field so some of them could kneel and others not and I am so proud of #78 and thank him and his family for his service. All of us and I mean all of us have some connection to our military whether it is a direct connection or not we all know someone who served and may have even fought in one of the many conflicts throughout the course of our country’s history, and kneeling is not the appropriate way or response to protest. Neither are the nasty tweets and remarks from the likes of LeBron James and several others. President Trump is our President like it or not and the previous administration had countless opportunities to make vast improvements regarding race relations, religious relations, social relations, and in many other ways improve and advance our country in these categories but instead we have been backed up to the 60’s and before and that is a damn shame! God help us all if we don’t get this straightened out and begin to unite, not by kneeling but by standing and showing solidarity with last member of a team including coaches, players, and even ball boys to stand, remove your caps, hats, helmets, or whatever you have covering your head and put your hand over your heart and be thankful for being in this the greatest country and the #1 free country on the face of the earth! God Bless America and God Belss our service members past and present and future too!
Ana Maria
September 25, 2017 at 8:14 pm
I am so sad that the NFL feels that they had to express there feelings before any sporting event. This is where the fans come to watch the sports they love there is no room for Politics. As for the Steeler’s I will not kid you I was socked at there choice but I would rather them stand is silence in the tunnel than disrespect the flag and the country that stand proudly for it in the sunshine on there knee’s. God Bless American we are proud to Stand in your honor
Dan Allen
September 25, 2017 at 8:55 pm
Gonna be an uphill battle but I want to love them again
Troy Lange
September 25, 2017 at 9:11 pm
I have been a Steeler fan since I was a in grade school I love the steelers.But I love my Flag and My country more!I am done with the NFL Period!!I have Two uncles that fought in the korean war And my uncle Jim was in WW2..so this is near and Very dear to my heart..I NEVER thought I would ever swear off the Steelers even my friends are shocked. I am done taking all my Steeler stuff down..
Armanuel Works
September 25, 2017 at 9:38 pm
STEELERS FOREVER NOMATTER WHAT
Robert Gibson
September 25, 2017 at 9:52 pm
75 years old and I have not missed watching a Steeler game since1967. If they show up in Baltimore, stand at attention, during the National Anthem and everyone respects our flag, I’ll stay a fan. If one person is kneeling I’m done with that organization forever.
Mary
September 25, 2017 at 10:31 pm
Yes, I support them. 100%. The protest isn’t, was never about the flag or anthem. Know the context people. Steelers all the way.
Mary Paul
September 25, 2017 at 10:33 pm
No way. After 35 years I’m done with this team. Tomlin is average and his racist “politics” are finally coming to light. If he didn’t want to be political, then why make the comments re Trump? He should have stayed neutral and had no opinion. He’s embarrassed that he’s not getting the reaction he thought he would — and Steeler nation is smaller today because of him and the average coaching we’ve had to bear since Cowher left. Thank God we have the Penguins and a first class organization. The Steelers are not first class and not the team we had in the 70’s, that’s for sure. Character, courage and discipline were part of Noll…not this team. So glad the Pens season starts in a couple of weeks. I’ll even take the losing Pirates over what the Steelers have to offer.
NiCole Filipovich
September 25, 2017 at 10:44 pm
Nope. Keep your politics out of sports.
Sondra Hogan
September 25, 2017 at 11:03 pm
I absolutely support the Steelers. Why does anyone think that a quiet, nonviolent protest is not allowed if the persons protesting happen to be rich or famous? I’m neither, but if I ever get rich, I do’t think I should be called names by the President and lose my right to protest. The President takes an oath to uphold the CONSTITUTION—not icons such as the flag and national anthem. That same CONSTITUTION gives every American the right to free speech and to protest inequities. ‘Nuff said.
Joanne
September 25, 2017 at 11:38 pm
NFL players have the right to freedom of expression through the first amendment just like any other American citizen!! This is not Nazi Germany!! and I’m a white female but if it wasn’t for the black males in football there wouldn’t be no f****** football!! I stay strike now and
see the American people cry about no escape from their working class hero mondane life without their football!!
Barbara Bergman
September 26, 2017 at 5:56 am
I have always been a Steelers fan however. I thought what I say was disgraceful on Sunday. I’m going to stop watching the Steelers and the NFL for awhile. The Flag and anthem has nothing to do with Donald Trump, and the football field is not their own personal platform. When a player put on his uniform, they no longer represent themselves, they represent the CITY they play for. Protest all you want on your time…not the football field.
Chet
September 26, 2017 at 7:29 am
As a retired service member, and lifetime Steelet fanatic I was extremely disappointed on Sunday. I will see what happens on Sunday before I make my decision on the Steelers. We all make bad decisions at times giving into pressure and hopefully have the chance to right ourselves.
To Joanne, you are not a fan as you talk about football and our working class mundane lives as an outsider and elitist hater! Go to your job (if you have one) and protest on company time and see if you retain your job.
Joanne Early
September 26, 2017 at 7:58 am
To Chet, I am the Working Poor in Pennsylvania. How dare you assume I may not have a job! I am for intellect…Elite or not! You should be more careful you’re prejudice intellect is showing!
BB
September 26, 2017 at 11:04 am
LETS CHANGE THE NATIONAL ANTHEM TO GOD BLESS AMERICA…AND THEN EVERYONE KNEEL DOWN
Chet
September 26, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Joanne, I dared due to your statement “see the American people cry about no escape from their working class hero mondane life without their football!!” Where you separate yourself from working people, Americans and our football. So why are you on a fan website?
james a mcanulty
September 26, 2017 at 3:39 pm
i support peaceful protest, i love the flag and our anthem, but the constitution is more sacred to me
Jay
September 26, 2017 at 4:23 pm
It’s NOT ABOUT CONSTITUTIONALITY!!!! When ben Roethlisberger got into his motor cycle accident there was MASS consensus that, “When you’re an NFL quarterback and the face of a franchise, you LOSE the privilege to do things like that (i.e., ride a motorcycle recklessly without a helmet even though PA laws permit helmetless riding)…I AGREE WITH THAT! It further went on (it being the MASS CONSENSUS) to analogize that some scrub working at McDonald’s or something retains that right because no one cares if he or she gets into an accident! There aren’t countless fans and millions of dollars invested in said person. I AGREE WITH THAST AS WELL! Now, i am OBVIOUSLY not being literal here…anyone has the RIGHT to do anything within the CONSTITUTIONALITY of their said privileges…I’m speaking practically and on what is right. Ben Roethlisberger pretty much “lost” his “right” to ride around like a maniac on a motorcycle when he signed his steelers contract…Said “average Joe Schmo” “retains” his/her “right” to do whatever f*** he or she pleases! This kneeling during the anthem is a “Right” lost by the players WHILE they are at WORK. I could care less if ANY of them went on THEIR OWN TIME and did their protesting. Trump, although seemingly unpresidential and perceptibly maniacal in his Tweeting, is not the divisive one here. The owners SHOULD make their players STAND during the anthem and TELL them that they can go and do their personal politicizing on their own time and not on COMPANY time. the libs love to play the constitution card when it serves them and then play an ignorant ear when it doesn’t…if memory serves me well, our last leader pretty much decided how he wanted to either adhere to or neglect the constitution with total indiscretion. SO let’s leave politics out of this (this being the NFL) and the players SHOULD also leave politics out of it and just stand like everybody else does during the anthem. The norm is standing. The exception is kneeling…since when is the respect and adherence to doing the “norm” and traditional/larger percentage action the divisive one? the smaller percentage, less traditional, abnormal actions are, by definition, more divisive.
Still a fan
September 26, 2017 at 8:43 pm
I find it disturbing that the players in general, would get in a twist over some political rhetoric from the POTUS. It’s not like their jobs or their money were ever in jeopardy.
The loss to the Bears was a bad karma loss. The players can and should work hard to improve their communities, but not on game day when they’re in uniform. The U.S. Is the best country on the planet. Many things can be improved. Taking a knee or hiding in the tunnel improves nothing. The players have a true patriot in the locker room with them. Why would they be so short sighted and put him in a horrible situation.
brainwise
September 26, 2017 at 9:02 pm
I do have issues with the NFL as an institution/organization, but they came long before the this past Sunday, or even before Kaep took a knee.
And, yes, I still support the Steelers.
Protest reality check –> http://gag.fm/uploads/posts/t/l-17693.jpg
Mark
September 27, 2017 at 12:10 am
I’m finished. Cannot support this team under the current conditions and regime. Maybe, in time, I’LL be back. It will be a long time though, I imagine because of Steeler tradition of stubbornness and ego driven unwillingness to change or apologize
Johnnie Jones
September 27, 2017 at 10:36 am
Steeler fan of 60 plus years. C. Kap. started all this in protest for disapproval of treatment of certain black Americans by certain members of the police community. President Trump took things to another level when he referred to grown men’s mothers as bitches. Sure I respect the flag, but how many of you refer to your mother as a person who is submissive or subservient to someone in a humiliating way or a female dog? I respect God and my mother before the the flag because without either one of them I wouldn’t be here to enjoy this wonderful country that our military has fought for. With the NFL its truly about money because a large majority of the players are black. Not only did my father serve in the Army during World War II, but he also had the distinct pleasure to dig the grave of one of our U.S. presidents. Word for thought: Instead of singing the national anthem before games, let’s try saying the Lord’s Prayer in place of that. When our military comes home after completing their service, let’s give them the economical, medical, and mental support they so rightly deserve that we have truly been lacking to establish through out our history. Peace & God bless America. Steeler fan until I die.
Joe
September 27, 2017 at 11:59 am
I agree everyone is free to express their opinions and beliefs. But do it on your own time. The NFL was always an escape for us all from the everyday political crap we see and hear. Now the line has been blurred…by both the president(who I voted for) and the NFL. I have no use for the NFL any longer. Good riddance. I will occupy my time with another sport I still love and respect…HOCKEY! And one last thing I am truly sickened that Villenueva was guilted into apologizing.
Debora Rodriguez
September 27, 2017 at 7:54 pm
I stand by the steelers and all the other NFL teams during this protest. They are not disgracing the flag or our nation. They are simply following their civil rights. We abide to the Constitution not the flag or anthem. I stand and put my hand over my heart but if a stand needs to be made during the pregame is the best way to show the world where you stand on certain things..I’ve seen plenty of time where our so called president is standing but his hand isn’t across his heart but no one speaks of that. He is constantly talking crap on everyone but yet I’ve never heard him talk crap on ghe violent nazi protesters the NFL is standing together as a family and aren’t discriminating against those who chose to stand and pledge. It’s their right as it is your rights to disagree with it but don’t knock them down for taking a stand on what they believe it has nothing to do with the flag the anthem or the soldiers who fight and those who died fighting. That isn’t what this was about respect the decisions of those who chose to kneel and be proud that they are doing this for a cause not to just make headlines… Go Steelers and all the other teams who stand by what they believe….
Pam
October 1, 2017 at 10:44 pm
Oh Lord help us, I don’t know why people let 1 person get into our heads, it don’t matter what Trump says or does anyways OK cuz to me he has a big mouth and don’t know how to shut it OK, now what he said about all that stuff with the player and anthem and the flag was garbage OK, it shouldn’t matter what he says or what anyone says OK, we know right from wrong cuz we all are grown, by stopping what we have been doing for many many years now all cuz of what 1 man said cuz what Trump said should not make us disrespect the flag and our anthem and most importantly our military, I can go years back when I was a little girl and the anthem would play, I learned then about respect, I learned to get respect we have to give respect, please NFL to all teams or anyone else don’t let what 1 man said make have disrespect cuz it really is not right ok, there is so much evil in the world now that we don’t need to add anymore ok, please just search your hearts and do what is right and we need to pray for one other and our country and for the whole earth, I hope and pray that everyone does what is right cuz we don’t need no more hatred, thank you and God Bless you all, oxoxox Pam