Friday, January 23, 2009

NFL Not Letting Color Guard Stay - UPDATE, UPDATE AGAIN

What the heck, NFL? According to The Thunder Run, the NFL plans to escort the color guard off the field and out of the stadium before the game begins:

What has become a common yet gracious act of allowing a military color guard to stay and watch the game from the side lines, in honor of their service to our country, this time has them being treated as if they are the unwelcome guests, common servants to be whisked away as soon as their task is completed.

I will be sending an inquiry to the NFL (along with many others, I am sure) to find out what the heck happened in the decision making process. If the answer is not sufficient, meaning they don't say "oopsie, our bad. Of course those fine Marines can stay", I will begin counter measures. The Marine Moms are clearly upset. When you add an Army Wife to that mix, it can get down right brutal. Let that be a warning to ye, NFL decision makers.

UPDATE -
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com has responded to this indicating "this is how it's always been done". Maybe so, but it doesn't make it acceptable. I find the response snotty at best, most especially when he says obviously Bruce Springsteen will get to stay to see the game, and surely the Marines can't seem to think they are as important as Bruce, now could they? Hey Mike! Last I checked it wasn't Bruce who protected your right to be such a buffoon. Mike feels that if the Marine's don't like it, there are plenty more that would trade places. Classy, that one.

Let's hope the NFL does the right thing. we are talking 12 people on the sidelines, here. This isn't rocket surgery.

Thunder Run has an excellent response and round up of who is following this debacle. Go read the whole thing.

UPDATE 2:
There are mixed feelings on this. The military shouldn't "expect" free anything. I understand this, and hope it wasn't set into motion by people who want to capitalize on their service. That would be disgraceful, most especially if you use the people who support you the most as tools. It looks selfish, and would certainly be in my eyes at least, conduct unbecoming. My opinion still stands, however, that the NFL should WANT to offer these Marines a chance to view the Super Bowl as they would not be able to afford tickets, and are more deserving than Bruce Springsteen who COULD buy tickets if he so chose. The NFL should not be strong armed into it, however.