Former NFL safety Burgess Owens, who played 10 years in the NFL and is now running for Congress in Utah, expressed his disgust with the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell after Goodell recently started pushing for the league to make a place for former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, snapping to Sports Illustrated, “If Goodell allows Kaepernick to come back, if they allow players to kneel during the national anthem, I’m willing to not watch the game.”
Owens, who is black, supports President Trump’s opposition to players kneeling for the national anthem.
Owens stated of Kaepernick, “If it was a meritocracy he would be out there anyway; he would work hard; he would prove himself. He wouldn’t be taking someone else’s position. We’re looking at Affirmative Action for a Marxist. We’re approving their ideology.”
“If we’re going that route, we should also ask Tim Tebow to come back,” he continued, adding, “It doesn’t matter how long he’s been out of the game. It doesn’t matter his talent. He was a Christian who kneeled in prayer and was a positive on his team. The reason why Tim Tebow, as talented as he was with the Denver Broncos — the NFL didn’t like his essence. They thought he was too distracting … too distracting to his team and the organization.”
Owens blasted, “Meanwhile we’re willing to have the distraction of a Marxist, a Castro, brother-loving Marxist to come back and play that many Americans don’t want to see him play. I just find it very disappointing. The NFL lost 15 percent of their audience last time, maybe a little bit more. The goal has been to increase their base, their revenue by going overseas to places like China, Mexico and England. They don’t care enough about their fans who love this country.”
Owens targeted those who take a knee for the national anthem, asserting:
We have too many Americans now accepting the notion that the flag should be a place where people should be ashamed of or take a knee, that’s what it comes down to. I am disappointed that so many people are acquiescingtoday. They don’t understand the American way; they don’t understand the price paid. They need to understand that we can’t be bullied and [also] that we’re not an evil country. There is no other country in the world with the mixing of races and tolerance. We have to change the current narrative.
On his website, Owens provides a series of statements about what he believes including:
I believe that a country is no better than its people and its people are no better than their dreams—tthat the ability to dream, to hope and to envision the possibilities is among the greatest and most precious gifts. Living in the freest country in the world we owe it to our Creator to “Dream Big.” It’s a free gift from God to bless all His children.
I believe that success is a matter of choice not chance. As we chose to control our attitude, we begin to control our actions. As we chose to control our actions, we begin to form habits. As we chose to control our habits, we begin to define our character. As we chose to define our character, we begin to choose our destiny and our happiness. Success is a matter of choice not chance. It’s your choice.
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