Comments on: Minnesota governor apologizes for comparing NFL players to soldiers

By: oldcracker

oldcracker — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:01:29 +0000

I’m retired Army with tours in Vietnam, Panama, and Honduras. I didn’t take offense to his statements either. They were clumsy but not malicious.

By: rcali

rcali — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:30:36 +0000

On Sundays in the NFL, it’s a war out there! Okay, now everybody lose their mind.

By: barbeaux

barbeaux — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:28:41 +0000

Espn often does trump athletes up as heroes and the such. They always try to hint that watching a sport fulfills people’s lives. In reality it’s just a temporary distraction.

By: mediasloppy

mediasloppy — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:14:29 +0000

dryzzt23 says:
Jul 19, 2012 4:13 PM

Dayton is a liberal so of course he has no problem denouncing soldiers.
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You are an idiot!

By: txbossman

txbossman — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:06:29 +0000

I didn’t take offense to it, and I was a member of the US Army. He was trying, awkwardly, to come up with a parallel, and the military isn’t that far off from football. I’ve been involved in both, and there is a great deal of the same culture and mindset in both.

I don’t think his remark is all that far off. The biggest factor, that he missed is the sense of entitlement that the best in football at every level have, and have been taught to have. I have been associated, from time to time with the best the Army had to offer in terms of “Top of The Game”, and they were nearly exclusively quiet, confident men that were more than happy to help and motivate those subordinate to them.

That’s the divergence point I think

By: larryjames836

larryjames836 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:05:09 +0000

The NFL is changing so much that players don’t have nowhere to let off stream they can’t do it in practice anymore. So they let it out somewhere else but we looks at the players as if they are criminal sometimes they fun be taken away from them. A good hard hitting work out have them so burn out they will not have time for anything else put it on the NFL they the one giving the players free time. Taking away the hand on drilling running a few game plays and go home.

By: Great Caesar's Ghost

Great Caesar's Ghost — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:57:50 +0000

tdk24 says: Jul 19, 2012 6:08 PM

Since when can’t we make comparisons?

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No kidding. Get over it, people.

By: rokusaburo

rokusaburo — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 00:31:43 +0000

dryzzt23 says:
Jul 19, 2012 4:13 PM
Dayton is a liberal so of course he has no problem denouncing soldiers.

There is no football player that is worthy of the respect and reverence that should be reserved for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and Coast Guardsmen.
_______________________________

You know, I signed up for an account just so I could reply to your childish, idiotic nonsense.

Yeah I guess we’re not patriotic because we don’t want to send thousands of our fellow countrymen to die and see tens of thousands more come home injured and traumatized for wars based on lies, or because we don’t want to spend more on our military than the next 26 countries combined and still end up fighting people who live in caves for 11 straight years to prop up an Afghani government that hates us.

Yeah, you’re a real patriot.

Shame on you.

By: yajas

yajas — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:26:48 +0000

Comparing 2 things is just finding a simliar trait between two objects, even though each object may exhibit that trait in different ways and magnitudes. It’s not saying the two objects are identical or deserve to be valued the same. The idea that people get ticked off any time someone compares something to war or being a soldier just blows my mind. It’s not disrespecting soldiers in any way.

Maybe you disagree with the comparison and the apparent justification of some football players’ actions, which is fine. But to be offended by it is just ridiculous.

By: tdk24

tdk24 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:08:44 +0000

Since when can’t we make comparisons?

By: bennyblanco99

bennyblanco99 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:33:37 +0000

Someone should ask Pat Tillman’s mother if being a NFL player is comparable to being a soldier…

By: mancave001

mancave001 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:24:29 +0000

jeagan1999 says:
Jul 19, 2012 4:03 PM
He should apologize! We all love football, but comparing the GAME these men play for millions of dollars a year vs. the real life duty of putting their lives on the line to defend our country and it’s citizens, for about the same salary that the beer concession guy at the stadium earns, is hardly a valid comparisson! Open mouth, insert foot, Governor!
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Yours is a strawman argument. He wasn’t comparing football to the military. He was trying to offer an *explanation for bad behavior.* While his comments were clumsy and somewhat ill-advised, they weren’t totally off-base. Football is sport that involves much aggression, physical prowess, etc… just as many jobs in the military involve do. He was making the statement that many of these young men…having been trained to be “warriors” of sorts…have trouble “turning it off” when presented with idle time. It’s not totally accurate, but not inaccurate either.

By: pappavike

pappavike — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:20:10 +0000

The one thing said that I agree with is NFL players do have too much time doing nothing, That and a boatload of money thats a bad combo!

By: dryzzt23

dryzzt23 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:13:02 +0000

Dayton is a liberal so of course he has no problem denouncing soldiers.

There is no football player that is worthy of the respect and reverence that should be reserved for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and Coast Guardsmen.

By: jeagan1999

jeagan1999 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:03:24 +0000

He should apologize! We all love football, but comparing the GAME these men play for millions of dollars a year vs. the real life duty of putting their lives on the line to defend our country and it’s citizens, for about the same salary that the beer concession guy at the stadium earns, is hardly a valid comparisson! Open mouth, insert foot, Governor!

By: thegreatgabbert

thegreatgabbert — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:49:02 +0000

There are soldiers, then there are common foot soldiers, then there are the lowly football soldiers.

By: ironhawk

ironhawk — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:27:17 +0000

It’s true though. They do come home and spend their off time causing violence because they can’t shut it off. He shouldn’t apologize for the truth.