Tag: protest

Sean McVay says he would support players’ on-field protests

Sean McVay wants his players to express themselves freely, even if that means protesting on the field.

Sean McVay scrapped the Rams’ regularly scheduled meetings on Monday and instead opened the floor for his players to discuss the current issues taking place in America, namely the senseless death of George Floyd while in police custody. He allowed players to voice their concerns and opinions on the matter, their views of the protests taking place across the country and experiences with racism and oppression that they’ve had in the past.

During a conference call with media members on Tuesday, McVay explained why he felt it was important to hear from players and let them grieve during this trying time rather than talking about football as they previously planned to.

He also said he’d be supportive of players who decide to kneel during the national anthem or show other displays of protest when the season begins, which is a shift in his previous stance on the matter.

“Absolutely. I think it would be extremely silly of me if I’m sitting here saying that I’m going to listen to learn and try to have empathy and understanding to not allow guys the platform if they feel like it’s the right way to represent the healing and some of those solutions that we’re looking to,” McVay said. “I absolutely would be open and wanting to listen, and yes, be open to that.”

When anthem protests became more widespread a few years ago, McVay didn’t say players couldn’t use join the movement by kneeling during the national anthem. However, he did say that he wanted to maintain the same approach that Jeff Fisher established previously, which had players lined up along the sideline with one hand over the heart and the other holding their helmet.

McVay says his stance on anthem protests hasn’t necessarily changed, but he does want to allow players to express themselves freely.

“I don’t know that anything’s changed, but I think it just reiterates having an empathy and understanding and allowing people to be able to handle the situations and what they see best fit,” he said. “That’s the thing that I would say. It’s understanding – OK, what is it that you’re trying to get done? And being able to understand that and I think you can just listen as much as anything.”

In the past, Robert Quinn was a player for the Rams who demonstrated one form of protest, raising his fist during the anthem. Johnny Hekker also put his arm around Quinn in support of his movement.

There are still three months until the start of the regular season, but given the current landscape of the country, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to see at least a few Rams players protesting in one form or another.

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Notre Dame: Niele Ivey Shares Powerful Thoughts on George Floyd

New women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey issued a strong statement on George Floyd and police brutality in the United States. Worth reading.

Since George Floyd’s tragic passing early last week we’ve seen the nation do things my generation (34 years old) has never seen before, at least not in this amount or for this amount of time.

Coaches have come out and said they want to have communications with their players and students.  As nice as that is there is plenty more to do and many more ways to help start these needed conversations on a grander scale.

That’s where new Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey comes in.  Although only being on the job for a short time, Ivey offered very strong thoughts on the situation and where we stand as a nation in a Twitter post Sunday morning:

“As I stepped into this role as head coach of Notre Dame, I would’ve never imagined it being in the middle of a pandemic and now in the midst of complete civil unrest. There is no playbook for me in these times. There aren’t enough words to fully express how I feel or words to heal the pain of a nation that is emotionally and physically on fire. The events of last week and the murder of George Floyd has been infuriating, painful, and senseless. Another target, another hashtag, and a continued system of oppression that has plagued our country for hundreds of years. Blatant racism, police brutality and murder targeting black and brown people. I am not ok. My heart is heavy. I am not only a coach and a leader but I am a mother. A mother of a young black man. It is a constant fear of mine to have a son that the world views as a threat. I wake up asking God to protect him. When he leaves the house, I am not fully at peace until he is back safe at home. This is no way to live, but this is our reality. I grieve for the mothers and families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland and the list goes on and on. I weep thinking about how their children’s lives were taken away. We shouldn’t have to live in fear! Their lives mattered and I am tired. Tired of seeing so much injustice and tired of the same things happening over and over again. I pray that I can use my platform to evoke change. Stop killing innocent, unarmed black people. Stop judging people based on the color of their skin and treating them less than human. We need change and change can only happen if we continue to voice these atrocities, demand justice, call in, petition, and use our power to vote. We need to change the laws and unite together to stand up for what’s right. I am not okay and you shouldn’t be either.” – Niele Ivey

By now we’ve all the seen the video and if you’re at all like myself, each time you see even a still image from that moment you become a bit uneasy.  I appreciate that compared to so many other coaches and businesses statements that have been made, this one came packing a lot more of a punch.

What are the reasons for the protests?

So many of these coaches and business that have issued statements that don’t acknowledge the issue at hand that led to such protests.  Ivey attacks that straight on and doesn’t mince words.

It’s a scary time, a strange time but also a time that hopefully ends with a positive result.  The life of George Floyd unfortunately won’t come back, nor will far too many before him.

Hopefully though we use this opportunity as a nation to listen to our brothers and sisters that might not have grown up around us, don’t look like us or don’t share many of the same beliefs of us.  I hope we can ultimately come out of this awful time better as a nation.

With people like Niele Ivey setting an example like she chose to do Sunday morning, my hope for that only grows, but now it’s our duty to listen to what she and countless others have to say so we don’t find ourselves here again in short order.

You can follow Niele Ivey on Twitter @IrishCoachIvey.

Harvard and Yale players warm up through an climate change protest

The student protest on climate change delayed Saturday’s rivalry game.

Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time and we’re not making light of it.

With that being said, this video of students protesting climate change on the field in the middle of warm-ups during the Harvard-Yale game is absolutely the wildest thing I’ve seen all day.

Out of nowhere a horde of students come into the camera and begin sitting in on the field. As that happens, the players on the field just continue their warm up like it’s absolutely nothing.

Harvard’s kickers who are warming up just…move their footballs up a bit further. The Yale players stretching just continue to stretch like it’s business as usual. The protestors held a banner that read “Nobody wins. Yale & Harvard are complicit in climate injustice.”

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Report: Seahawks will have representative at Colin Kaepernick’s workout

Per a report, the Seattle Seahawks are among the many teams who will send a representative to Colin Kaepernick’s NFL workout on Saturday.

The Seattle Seahawks have made it very clear they are willing to look into every possible situation that could make their team better.

They supposedly had an interest in bringing in Antonio Brown this year, they were the only team to claim Josh Gordon on waivers, and they explored potential trades for Jalen Ramsey as well.

So, it should come as no surprise that the team is planning to send a representative to free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s workout, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

It’s also not a surprise because the league has made it clear they are pushing for each team to have someone present at the workout, even though scheduling it on a Saturday with short notice made it unlikely that top tier officials (like head coaches and general managers) will be in attendance.

Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016, when first he sat, then he kneeled, during the national anthem to protest police brutality and other social justice issues as they related to race in America.

The Seahawks were the last team to even host him on a workout, which happened back in 2017. At the time, coach Pete Carroll said they felt Kaepernick deserved a chance to start in the NFL, and since that wouldn’t happen in Seattle they decided not to bring him in.

Seattle is certainly not among the most quarterback-needy teams in the league, with Russell Wilson’s health among the best in the league and quality backup Geno Smith on call if needed.

However, the team’s connection to Kaepernick in the past makes it at least noteworthy that they’ll be in attendance, even if a partnership between the two sides seems unlikely, barring some kind of injury to Wilson or Smith.

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