Forty four years. I've been a Minnesota Vikings fan for forty four long years, through the good and the bad. Through three lost Super Bowls, the Darrin Nelson drop on the goal line against the Redskins in the '87 NFC championship game, Gary Anderson's wide left miss in the '98 NFC championship game, the blowout against the Giants in 2000, and more.
Of those 44 years, I've been an NFL Sunday Ticket or NFL Gamepass subscriber for the last twenty years. As I write this, I'm struggling with the decision as to whether or not I will subscribe again this season. It's not that I am no longer a fan of the Vikings, or that I no longer enjoy watching football. The issue that is behind my indecision, is that I don't feel that I can continue to support an organization that doesn't seem to care what it's patrons think. NFL ratings were down last year. If the actions of a few players so far this preseason is any indication, the ratings will drop even more. Why, you might ask? NFL fans, in my opinion, are by and large hardworking, everyday people. When we sit down to watch our favorite team on Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday, another issue), we don't want to hear about some player sitting, kneeling or holding a fist in the air during the National Anthem. As a prior service Marine, I still stand in my living room as it plays before a game. I don't care about a players political beliefs, nor do I want to see my country and fellow Americans disrespected by a spoiled millionaire. There is a time and place for espousing your political points of view, in most cases it is not your place of employment. The field is their place of employment, and I consider myself a paying customer. Much in the same way that I don't want to go to a restaurant and have the waiter or waitress share their political view with me before taking my order, or have a car salesman give me a long rant about his before he sells me a car, I don't want to hear or see about a players views on the field. Especially during the National Anthem. If players want to espouse their views, they can do it on their own time. Those that agree with them can then choose to do so and join their political movement. Or even better, retire from the NFL, take your millions and really do something for your cause full time.