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Pastimes : Football Forum (NFL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (40938)	12/24/2017 3:27:55 AM
From: golfer72	3 Recommendations Recommended By Bill FJB Ms. Baby Boomer Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45639

All players that kneel should be disciplined. Freedom of speech stops at the workplace when you damage your employers business. Goodell let this get out if hand and the NFL is damaged. And now he wants more money?

To: LindyBill who wrote (40938)	12/25/2017 1:48:24 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45639

In re: The Letter From Ravens President Dick Cass to Ravens Supporters (Posted Dec 22, 2017) Although it contains an emended link to Cass's letter to Ravens' supporters there is a glaring and grievous error in the 'Hot Air' article You posted: "The Ravens sold out every single home game since arriving in Baltimore in 1996. But by last month they were scrambling to (re)sell, or in some cases, give away as many of the returned tickets as possible. You can’t blame it on poor performance by the team." That last (underlined) sentence is pure, unadulterated malarkey. Anyone that actually follows the Ravens knows that for the most part they have been abysmal to watch this season and they were especially abysmal to watch in London following the league-wide Donald Trump induced anthem protests and pushbacks by players and owners across the NFL that immediately followed his September 22, 2017 campaign style rally for Republican Senate candidate Luther Strange in Huntsville, Ala., when he called for NFL owners across the league to "fire" any son of a bitch" who knelt during Our national anthem. It should be noted that that the silent 'unity protest' in Lodon which was joined by "Ravens Legend Ray Lewis" which the Ravens lost 44-7 to the Jacksonville Jaguars was fully supportted by Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti ... "We recognize our players' influence. We respect their demonstration and support them 100 percent. All voices need to be heard. That's democracy in its highest form." - Steve Bisciotti - I bleed midnight green but I'm also a Ravens fan and have been a Joe Flacco fan ever since he played the last 2 seasons of his college career in the UD Stadium 3 miles from my residence. I was in that stadium for almost all of his home games and several of his away games. I've also attended a dozen or so Ravens games as a guest in M&T Bank stadium 60 miles south of here over the last decade since he started quarterbacking them. It's a great stadium to watch football in, which is one of the reasons Ravens season tickets have been sold out annually since it was built in 1996. Unfortunately the Ravens have been decimated by injuries, particularly on the offensive side of the ball this season. Joe Flacco, a 2012 season Super Bowl MVP who enjoyed his finest NFL year in 2014 has been a shadow of his former athletic self since his ACL and MCL injury in 2015 and he has been plagued since before this season started with a back injury that has severely hampered his throwing ability. Despite this, the Ravens have fought back well due to a strong effort under the tutelage of Coach John Harbaugh and a strong defense and will clinch a playoff spot with a home win over the Bengals next week. Anybody who watched their ugly 23-16 win over the struggling Indianapolis Colts on Saturday knows just how painful watching them can be but they did move into the No. 5 spot in the AFC heading into Week 17, taking a half-game lead over the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo. After their poor season start in which they were 0-4 against teams with winning records the Ravens are 5-1 since their bye week but in that stretch Baltimore only won a single game against an opponent with an above .500 record, beating the 8-6 Detroit Lions 44-20 in Week 13. The full text of Cass's letter to supporters is below and it should be read in its entirety and in context rather than with excerpts from it as they have appeared in numerous articles in recent days. baltimoreravens.com Dear Ravens Supporter, I am writing to thank you for your continued support of the Baltimore Ravens. You are an important part of who we are and what we have become. Created over 22 seasons, our bonds with you are strong and deep. Our Ravens family is built on memories of great games, plays and people. That foundation includes you and Ravens players named Jonathan, Ray, Ed, Sizzle, Joe, Todd, Bart, Goose, Mac, Edwin and many others. Our cement is a pair of Super Bowls, the “Mile High Miracle,” the single-season best defense ever, and playoff wins in New England, Oakland and Pittsburgh, as well as memorable regular season victories at M&T Bank Stadium over Jacksonville, the Steelers and Seattle and the snow game against Minnesota. All along, our organization and our players have volunteered to make our community better. That work continues almost daily and, certainly, weekly. We are especially proud of our current players’ commitment to make Baltimore a better place to live and work. We are once again in a serious battle to make the playoffs. If we achieve that goal, it will be the seventh time in the last 10 years. But we know it has been an unusual season. A glut of injuries, especially on offense, had us struggling early to find both consistency and our identity. We had the poor showing in London, complicated by the kneeling of a dozen players during the National Anthem. That became an emotional and divisive issue. We know that hurt some of you. Others saw it differently and welcomed the dialogue that followed. Others bluntly told us to keep statements and protests out of the game. There are some of you who have stayed away from our games. We have had significant numbers of no-shows in the past when our play on the field has not met the high standard we and you have set for the Ravens. But this year has been different. The numbers are higher, and it is noticeable. There are a number of reasons for the no-shows, but surely the one-time protest in London has been a factor. We have responded to your concerns about the protest by re-doubling the efforts of both the organization and our players to make the Baltimore area a better community. We have also reached out to a number of you who wrote or called about the protest. I personally made a number of phone calls and met with some of you. Some of my Ravens colleagues have also made a number of calls. While we have not been able to reach all of you, we have learned a lot from these interactions. We want the Ravens to continue to be a strong, unifying force and source of pride in our community. When the Ravens win, we can bring families and the community together. We’ve done that before, and we can do it again. In light of recent events, we are also reminded that winning alone is not always enough to make the Ravens the unifying force we want to be. We don’t take your support for granted, and we know that we must continue to earn your respect and investment in us. We are committed to putting the best possible team on the field and providing an outstanding gameday experience for you. That commitment requires us to continue to make significant investments in our facilities. This summer we will finish our $45 million renovation and expansion of our Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills. By the beginning of the 2019 season, we will complete our ongoing $120 million renovation of M&T Bank Stadium. (By the way, our first set of escalators to the upper bowl will be completed in 2018.) We hope you and your loved ones are having a wonderful holiday season. Let’s add to the celebration with a Ravens run to the postseason. Thank you for reading this. Sincerely, Dick Cass << - Eric L. -