Mango

Huh? Not even a little. I’m not demanding anything of DB. There was a much better way to talk about the issue and voice his opinion. He didn’t do that, and hence the jury is in session. And rightfully so.

I didn’t mean that the owners themselves were racist (the odds say that some are though). I said they have a toxic work environment and do a bad job of representing their workforce. Which is true. 60%+ of their workforce is people of color. They continue to try and quite them down about speaking about racism. Although there are no official rules. Meanwhile, they’re trying to sweep actual racists under the rug. It’s a toxic work environment, that is only put up with because it’s the only game in town for a life changing amount of money.

He could have easily said: “listen, I have a long history with my famipy in the military and will always stand for the anthem. But my friends and teammates have a different experience in this country. We have to stop persecuting black people. Institutional racism is a real problem. I understand why they feel differently about it” But he didn’t do or say that, so here we are.

The hard pill to swallow is that we do have racist bones in our body. And we get to control and change our behavior based on what’s important to us. I’ve said racist ***** in my life. Wish I hadn’t, but it has to be owned and behavior adjusted. It can’t be, I’ve said racist stuff but I am not racist. In regards to Fromm. It’s not that hard. People do it everyday. They think, and will even outwardly say in front of POC that black people are bad, just not the black people they know. It’s no different than saying “I can’t be racist, I have black friends”

Or maybe it’s more nuanced than that? Or maybe the NFL is a relatively toxic organization when you think about their executive team (Owners, HC, GM, and league officials) and don’t actually do a good job of representing their work force. If I kept protesting racism at my employers, and they fired me but kept the racists. All the while telling people to be quieter about mentioning racism. Sure they’re within their rights, but that doesn’t make them right or just.

Which is why I am largely speaking regionally and those numbers aren't specific to a neighborhood. People are just reshuffling, the overall situation is not getting better. It is trendier now than ever to live "in the city" so those can afford to do so, are doing it. But things are not better for the people who were originally there. They are exactly the same, they just live in a different neighorhood now. That isn't progress. This time I am really out. ha!

Not trying to hijack the thread, so I will just make a comment and back out of it regarding this. The city is not turning around, there is almost no data to suggest otherwise. It is a myth and local propaganda. Most of the county remains under employed, the city itself has wages barely keeping up with inflation. A disturbing number of children are living below the poverty line and that number keeps growing yearly. The same people that made money in Buffalo are still making it now. Savarino, Macaluso, Montente, Paladino, Sinatra, etc. (notice a pattern there?)Hell, the Jacobs family had no intention of moving Delaware North to a new building, the city made them and fit the bill to line the pockets of Uniland (Montante). But hey, the same developers keep developing, plus a new coat of paint, and everybody goes wild! Buffalo is actually in for a rough spot if the economy continues to shudder because as of late, Buffalo has one of the highest cost of living increases in the nation, despite all the data on jobs, income, employement, and poverty.

via social media it seems it will not speak well to the locker room.

I was referring to regionally. Only about a 1/4 of the region lives in the city limits. Even then, if you lived in Amherst and went to Denver, you would say you were from Buffalo. Drawing municipal lines is irrelevant. WNY as a region is more conservative (and segregated) than anybody really wants to admit.

You should already be disappointed. https://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a49658/kaepernick-death-threat-shirt/

I am interested in how the fan base reacts to Tre this year. I think TW is setting himself up to be pretty vocal about this cause (and justly so). It is interesting McD held a presser the day after Tre publicly said he is keeping an eye on coaches that are silent publicly. Buffalo is a low key conservative place, I thought while McD's comments were valid, I wouldn't call them thorough. He chose his words carefully, as he does, and strayed away from discussing racism in particular. I am not sure that that will be good enough for a guy like Tre who is so outspoken. He is a fan favorite, it will be interesting to see how Buffalo reacts if he starts speaking out regularly about social and racial justice. I would have to imagine a black player, in a very black league would like coaches to stand up in a way the Popa does: Or owner Mark Cuban: I think we are on the same page on this one.

His apology probably would have been different and would have given the context that he was actually mocking old white men and the government. But it didn't. He apologized for insinuating that HE was an elitist white man. But did NOT apologize for insinuating that elite white men should only have access to suppressors. ""I am extremely sorry that I chose to use the words 'elite white person' in a text message conversation," Fromm said in a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday afternoon. "Although I never meant to imply that I am an 'elite white person,' as later stated in the conversation, there's no excuse for that word choice and sentiment."

Fine by me actually. 60% of the locker room is black. He said some racist stuff in the last 400 days or so. I wouldn't fault an employer for not wanting that in the room. And I wouldn't fault players for not wanting him there.

The "if it ain't white, it ain't right" didn't sit well with me. The rest seemed to just be song lyrics from Allen. Not defending it, but you are right, it is different. Fromm on the other hand, went out of his way to say that black people should not own guns. And to everybody saying it is a personal text. Yeah it is, and I could 100% lose my job if any of them got out. It isn't anybody's fault for reporting them. It is my fault for sending them. Like if I were to text a friend that "Jesus, my boss Jim is bat-***** crazy, POS and is making my life hell. Hope he gets hit by a car on the way home". If my boss Jim got a hold of that I could lose my job. That is nobody's fault but my own.

No Jake is ruining his own career. It’s an important distinction. Hold him accountable for his words, not the one who made them public.

My guess is he "liked it" as a, "Hey, I see this" moment and a warning before coming to camp. He also liked the below. Fromm sounds like he is as good as gone if all are true. https://twitter.com/ashleymp20/status/1268586650403307522/photo/1

But players are political at work (the NFL), and the NFL is not banishing or forbidding them (other than Kaep possibly). So I guess you don't have a problem with it, since their employer is allowing it?

A simple "That is not a real conversation and was not Jake Fromm" could have gone a long way. But sure, hanging up works to.

It also does not really matter, the "on the job stuff" if it were a real sentiment would be directed more towards the league itself (and the owners) and not the players. Players aren't getting suspended for kneeling during the anthem. The league didn't think enough of it, or could not collectively bargain a resolution. So as of right now, players are allowed kneel on the job with minimal to no employer repercussions. It is just noise and a distraction to their real complaints. That they either don't understand, don't want to understand, or they think the cause is not important.

It could be fake or real do 100 reasons. But I don't think spelling somebody's name wrong in your contacts is a sign. I have all sorts of misspellings in my contacts. Ashley vs. Ashleigh. Jeff's, my friend Pat is actually accidentally in as Pam. As far as his picture. He is a kid fresh out of college, not a dude who is yet to be ingrained in the NFL. Looks relatively standard to me. Hopefully this is fake though.

I would tend to agree with you here, even though I am fine with the kneeling, except that most NFL stadiums are owned and/or have taken huge portions of government funding. Public schools cannot require students or faculty to stand for the pledge. If the NFL is going to take such huge amounts of public subsidy they shouldn't be able to enforce rules other public entities cannot. I would guess that that is part of the reason the owners have not "mandated" it. It would be a legal nightmare.

It was incredibly generic. They’re toeing the line of neutral and trying to appease both sides. The owners as a whole set a low bar and I guess they surpassed it, but didn’t say much of anything with substance.

I guess I’m turning this into a PPP post real quick, but fine by me. I assume you’re talking about the below. Theres nothing “diva” about his Twitter. You disagree with his stance as a black man in America. So why don’t you just call it that instead of calling him names? If I were black and in a league where a huge majority of my talent was black, I would think the same way. Shame on you and shame on the Pegulas and FO for not taking a firmer stance on the issue. https://twitter.com/TakeAwayTre_/status/1267862098375311360?s=20

It is a tough year for a rookie QB coming off of injury with what is looking like a shortened off season/camp. In their first 6 weeks they play a bunch of really good defenses. NE, Buffalo, Denver, and SF. That's a tough go of it. Seattle and Jacksonville are no slouches on that side of the ball either. If they could get through at 3-3, that would be a miracle.

I actually work with FB on their distribution for the enterprise product. It wasn't officially open to distribution until late March/early April. I have a "demo" unit that they gave me. It is a blast for sure, and super wild with how realistic it can be. I don't use it a ton now. You can watch NBA games court side which is super cool. I don't have any other experience with the other brands. IMO the consumer products are a bit of a novelty at the moment, and the product is not quite there yet. Probably a few years away. Commercially though, they are becoming more and more common place. The data on it is incredible for stuff like med school, where retention in watching a surgery is super low, I want to say single digits, but using VR med students are able to perform surgeries without assistance at something like 85% retention rate and no cadaver needed.