Fans boo Colts, Texans show of solidarity

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 12, 2010, 3:09 PM EDT

On Thursday night, Saints and Vikings players held a finger to the sky as a showing of solidarity in the face of a potential lockout in 2010.  Some fans interpreted the collection of index fingers as a collective middle finger.

And so in Houston, where Colts and Texans players mimicked the Thursday night gesture, the fans booed the move, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

Barry Wilner of the Associated Press reports that the players’ gesture was repeated in a total of four stadiums during the early games:  Houston, Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Tampa.  In five of the stadiums where the early games are being conducted, the players did not duplicate the Thursday night gesture:  Pittsburgh, Chicago, Foxborough, New York (OK, New Jersey), and Nashville.

Permalink 49 Comments Feed for comments Back to top

49 responses to “Fans boo Colts, Texans show of solidarity”

  1. Man, I don’t get this… while I think public employee unions are sucking this country dry, what’s the big deal about holding up a non-middle finger?
    It’s a pretty damn benign way of sending a message, and as long as they play the game hard, what’s the harm?

  5. Here’s the message: We don’t care whose right. We aren’t siding with the players. We aren’t siding with the owners either. We would boo them just as loud if they did the same thing. We just want football. Leave us out of it. Get the deal done. Or risk losing us. I hope a lot of players and owners read the comments on your stories Florio, because that is as simple and direct as this can be said.

  6. And this is why I never visit texas. I think it’s cool that players are doing this. Don’t get suckered in to the whole “players are just greedy” argument, their is so much more to collective bargaining than the contracts of players at the top. I hate the rookie wage scale for the top 5picks, but that is only one aspect of a complex situation.

  7. Who cares? 15-20% of all football players won’t even be in the league next year and the rest will sign a deal before any time is missed.

  8. I am glad to see. If I would not have been so drunk and still crying from the banner and what not Thursday night in the Dome I would have booed those assholes as well.

  9. good, nice to see the fans show solidarity against a bunch of rich spoiled athletes, who want to make more money at the expense of the fans.

  13. “while I think public employee unions are sucking this country dry”
    Lol yes, the working man is ruining the world- not the billionaires getting tax cut after tax cut

  15. The fans do not sympathize with players making millions arguing over their millions.
    The fans will turn on the players AND owners if they screw things up. There’s no need for this “solidarity” move. Just PLAY FOOTBALL. You are paid to play a GAME. Knock off the posturing.
    Several media members said this is exactly what would happen. The players are attempting to get the fans on their side, well guess what, it’s not going to happen.
    You can’t ask people who are working pay check to pay check to sympathize with over paid athletes.

  16. Screw the booing fans and screw the Steelers and Giants for not going forward with the display in what should be two of the most union-friendly stadiums in the country.

  18. “There’s a few owners smiling today”
    If the owners did a show of solidarity, they’d get booed too. Just shut up and get a deal done. That’s all fans care about.

  19. Its a collective middle finger to the fans given by players and management. I am a pro union guy but at some point these two sides need to come together and not bite the hands that are feeding.

  20. I’m watching the Denver-Jacksonville game. They did their “show of solidarity” before the game and let’s just say that Orton heard a BOO…as did the other 105 players on the field.

  21. The big deal is these A-holes make millions of dollars and they are whining that they don’t make enough. The big deal is pretty cut and dry to the fans. enough said

  24. In the end, I think the owners and players needs to realize one thing. Fans aren’t just fans. They are customers. Customers don’t care how the money they pay for something is divided up. They only care that they can afford to buy whatever it is they want to buy. When you buy a car, you don’t care how much goes to each factory worker, how much is spent with advertising firms, how much goes to the shipping company, and how much ends up in the pockets of the executives. You only care that you feel you are getting your money’s worth. If you can’t afford the car you want, you look at something less expensive…like the UFL, AFL, CFL, MLB, etc. Get it done. Don’t try to win over the customers. We just want football. We pay enough for it already. Figure out who gets what and stop whining about how many hundreds of thousands (for the least expensive players), millions (for the expensive players) and tens/hundreds of millions the owners get.

  26. there’s a HUGE possibility that there won’t be any football next year, and it won’t be because of “greedy a-hole players”.

  28. Daddy Jones, Uncle Snyder, Master Mara … and the other thirty “owners” won’t let their property become uppity with them.
    “Gotta show ’em who’s boss.”
    Texans have always sympathized with the confederacy.

  30. “And so in Houston, where Colts and Texans players mimicked the Thursday night gesture, the fans booed the move”
    What else would you expect from the scab labor capital of the universe? Home to Kellogg, Brown & Root & Halliburton. Nothing much comes out of Texas but unqualified, puppets-of-management scabs.

  32. youngtorice says: September 12, 2010 3:50 PM
    “The big deal is these A-holes make millions of dollars and they are whining that they don’t make enough. ”
    So you’re OK with owners who are building billion dollar shrines to themselves while crying THEY don’t make enough?
    Wise up.

  33. First, the gesture is wimpy. If they’re going to make a labor gesture, it should be a fist in the air not wagging a finger. And it should be done at every stadium, so why wasn’t it?
    But …
    We’re in the middle of a recession with near double-digit unemployment. I see billionaire owners and old-time retirees who need support–although I don’t know that the NFLPA is working toward that. But most people just see multi-million-dollar athletes wanting more bling. You can’t expect Joe and Jane Citizen to be real sympathetic to that in this economy. Perhaps the stadium isn’t the best place to take their stand.

  34. What A-holes? The owners, which make closer to billions, or the players who make millions. They are both being greedy

  35. CaptainObvious- Halliburton is not relevant to anything. “The scan capital of the world,” as if unions do anything good.
    The fans seem to recognize the deception the finger gesture from players is – the players want to believe they’re at war with owners, but they’re not – it’s economic reality versus an unsustainable percentage in the CBA, and one way or another that percentage is going to change. Players will still get paid and paid their genuine market value because that’s how competitive economics works.
    So forget about “solidarity” and get to work WORKING with the owners to fix the problem and keep the game going in 2011.

  36. They are booing the message and specifically trying to send a political message on game day when fans are there to watch the game. I would have booed too.

  37. Guess Houston is full of mangirl and meatball fans. But seriously, what did the players hope to gain by this? If their not already on the same page, no number 1 symbol of togetherness is going to help, especially when viewed as a smypathy pull by people who won’t make as much in their lifetime as a player does in 1 year. I think the five stadiums were right, and the four stadiums were wrong. Not sure I would have booed, though.

  38. @ Zach says: Lol yes, the working man is ruining the world- not the billionaires getting tax cut after tax cut
    Way to prove you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about Zach… either that or you’re IN a public employees union, ensuring that I as a non-public employee working man can’t afford a pension and benefits so you can retire at age 55 and live off my taxes.

  40. Well i think fans should understand whats going on here.. As the palyers try to take a stand against this we shoud support them. They should never be asked to play without health insurance, when they get hurt it not just a check up its an entensive procedure. i understand that some of these players make up wards of 3 million+ a year, but that is not every player,, that is a small portion that make that. But a 18% pay cut is unreasonable. I mean who is more than willing to take a 18% pay cut.. For one yeah Tom Brady would make out alright, but what about the the rookie who only makes the lowest paid salary?? So if we want football we should understand what they are going through. showing us that tough times dont just hit the less fortunate. If there is a lockout many players wont be able to afford to play, which means many of them will be unemployed and do we really need to raise the unemployment rate.. so i say.. NFL PLAYERS TAKE A STAND..

  41. Can all you NFL fans say, “College football” where the players play for nothing and the schools rank in all the dough.

  42. I’m applauding the fans. We should boo the players and the owners alike. The NFL is starting to get too big headed for their own good.

  44. Funny listening to all the anti-union sentiment here, from the clueless morons who are too ignorant to realize their health benefits, OT pay and 401K’s are all direct results of union bargaining efforts, just like the 40-hour work week standard.
    These idiots probably think their employers just -gave- them these things because they’re such nice guys.
    LOL

  45. I was at the game. They shouldn’t have advertised in advance that they were gonna do this… bad idea! Fans booed because we are the customers and not pawns of either side.

  47. It was not done at the Giants game becuase prior to kick off the Giants honored the Men and Women of the NYC PD and FD
    Real heros not a bunch of spoiled football players
    To the rest of the country it was the first week of Football but here in the NY and NJ area it was the 9-11 the Giants coaches and players were honoring the fallen heros.
    And as far as this area being pro union the halls are full of out of work union men and women so for a bunch of over paid brats playing a game childs game to cry over millions not a lot of support

  48. The Players are going to screw this up and the NFL in whole is going to suffer. The NFLPA is being run like the city of Detroit is being run.

  49. I don’t understand why everyone is getting so upset with the players. They’re not the one’s threatening to strike, the owners are threatening a lockout. The players aren’t striking for more money, the owner’s are locking them out if they’re not willing to take a paycut. Be upset with the owners! And as far as using the public as pawns, I didn’t get the sense that that was why they were doing this. This is a public arena where the players can demonstrate to the owners that they are all unified. I didn’t see this as a way to get fan support.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.