Houston Texans owner Bob McNair came under a great deal of heat after it was discovered he said, with regard to the NFL players protests, "We can't have inmates running the prison."
This resulted in Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins missing practice and most of the Texans' team kneeling in protest before their contest with the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.
College basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb and sportswriter Clay Travis criticized the Texans players for this move, as the former said, "DeAndre Hopkins obviously - I'm just gonna be blunt - he's not smart enough to understand the nuance of what he's (Bob McNair) saying." and the latter ironically wrote, "Houston Texans Protest Proves Team Is Full Of Idiots."
Both media personalities resorted to the fact that "you can't have inmates running the asylum" is a fairly common idiom which is used to declare that it's wrong to conclude employees are better able to run a company than their employers. To that point, they're correct, and while it wasn't the wisest of idioms to use in such a heated, ongoing debate, the backlash surrounding the idiom itself was likely greater than it should have been. What Gottlieb, Travis, and others like them fail to see, however, is that these protests go far beyond an exaggerated response to an idiom. It started with Colin Kaepernick protesting the oppression of black Americans in this country, especially when it came to police brutality. A handful of players followed suit until President Donald Trump blew the issue up by calling NFL player protesters "sons of b*tches." Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones then spoke out against the protests, stating that any of his players whom partook in such a protest wouldn't be playing for his team come Sunday. When Bob McNair made his you-can't-have-inmates-running-the-prison comment, the players' reactions were about more than the idiom itself. They were about standing up for free speech, the right to protest, the Constitution. With McNair's comment, he was basically equating NFL players utilizing their First Amendment rights to prisoners taking control of a prison. How is that comparable, let alone equitable? NFL player protesters aren't taking over the league and its rules by making use of their constitutional rights pregame in order to protest the oppression of minorities in this country. While Gottlieb and Travis seem to want to believe these protests have become about the owners versus political correctness, it's really become about the owners versus the Constitution. If taking a knee to stand up for the Constitution makes one an idiot, sign me up - I'm an idiot too.
https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/houston-texans-protest-proves-team-full-idiots/
http://thebiglead.com/2017/10/27/doug-gottlieb-deandre-hopkins-isnt-smart-enough-to-get-nuance-of-bob-mcnair-quote-audio/
This resulted in Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins missing practice and most of the Texans' team kneeling in protest before their contest with the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday.
College basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb and sportswriter Clay Travis criticized the Texans players for this move, as the former said, "DeAndre Hopkins obviously - I'm just gonna be blunt - he's not smart enough to understand the nuance of what he's (Bob McNair) saying." and the latter ironically wrote, "Houston Texans Protest Proves Team Is Full Of Idiots."
Both media personalities resorted to the fact that "you can't have inmates running the asylum" is a fairly common idiom which is used to declare that it's wrong to conclude employees are better able to run a company than their employers. To that point, they're correct, and while it wasn't the wisest of idioms to use in such a heated, ongoing debate, the backlash surrounding the idiom itself was likely greater than it should have been. What Gottlieb, Travis, and others like them fail to see, however, is that these protests go far beyond an exaggerated response to an idiom. It started with Colin Kaepernick protesting the oppression of black Americans in this country, especially when it came to police brutality. A handful of players followed suit until President Donald Trump blew the issue up by calling NFL player protesters "sons of b*tches." Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones then spoke out against the protests, stating that any of his players whom partook in such a protest wouldn't be playing for his team come Sunday. When Bob McNair made his you-can't-have-inmates-running-the-prison comment, the players' reactions were about more than the idiom itself. They were about standing up for free speech, the right to protest, the Constitution. With McNair's comment, he was basically equating NFL players utilizing their First Amendment rights to prisoners taking control of a prison. How is that comparable, let alone equitable? NFL player protesters aren't taking over the league and its rules by making use of their constitutional rights pregame in order to protest the oppression of minorities in this country. While Gottlieb and Travis seem to want to believe these protests have become about the owners versus political correctness, it's really become about the owners versus the Constitution. If taking a knee to stand up for the Constitution makes one an idiot, sign me up - I'm an idiot too.
https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/houston-texans-protest-proves-team-full-idiots/
http://thebiglead.com/2017/10/27/doug-gottlieb-deandre-hopkins-isnt-smart-enough-to-get-nuance-of-bob-mcnair-quote-audio/
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