The Collateral Damage of a Petty N.F.L.

I am an American living over seas and a Vietnam era Vet but I stand to defend your right to kneel. and our professional football players kneel to defend my right to stand under the First Amendment.

Keep off your knees and respect our flag and nation. Then you might get bucks for somewhere else. However, that's the problem that must be solved by the people THERE! Most of these 'funds' get taken by middlemen and politicos. Remember Michael Jackson and 'we are the world' funds?

Great cause.....but sorry, this reads like a plea for funds, not an op-ed. Tugging on heartstrings with images of kids in need only serves to distort the narrative. The donors may not have been right to withdraw support, and kneeling for the anthem may not have been wrong. But pursuing actions that risk alienating those who you rely upon for financial support is not a recipe for success. You don't need a Stanford MBA to know that.

Thanks to its retrograde politics, and the facts of traumatic brain injury as a consequence of playing the game, NFL is a loser organization and pro football is in decline.

Just read a great suggestion. People who believe in the right to free speech and are in the stands during a football game should take the knee. Voices other than those of the conservative NFL need to be heard and seen.

Why is the NFL a non profit organization when it makes huge profits and political decisions that private corporations have the right to make? It's time, although it will never happen with this administration, to look at non profits who actually are for profit organizations. Do the fans that fill the stadiums and watch on television realize that their tax burden is greater because these hugely profitable sports teams don't pay their fair share?

Wait, actions have consequences? Good for those who stand up for their beliefs. Just expect a certain number of those to be shot in the head when they do.

This is the link to donate: https://www.gofundme.com/blessedhopeproject

hit up his fellow bench warmers for about 10 g each a few times a year........ problem solved

We had no idea..." Exactly. Understand the national zeitgeist instead of railing against it and you'll be better able help kids in Kenya.

This old Jewish “white” man applauds your protest and would proudly kneel with you in your cause for justice. Stay brave! I could also send a couple of bucks to fulfill your promise to those kids in Africa. Where to? You will not be alone.

You should and could have the told the folks on the board to go rot. There is nothing charitable about quid pro quo. As members of a charity they were not entitled to be uncharitable as such.

It is difficult to find something worthwhile that the present vicious, no-holds-barred and no-vile-thought unspoken political climate has not damaged and demeaned. As the creator of a small, rural Montana non-profit, it is heartening to know that compassionate people are responding to Michael Hobbs's compelling account. Education, whether in a Nairobi slum or in so many of our American schools, is deemed by many to be unimportant, perhaps because more than "a little learning" is also dangerous, as are truth, ethics, morality. By publishing this essay, the Times may have come to the rescue of a noble U.S.-Nairobi project. In a nation awash in money, how many more important programs are deliberately neglected? In this Age of Rampant Hypocrisy, what does it really mean to propose we 'Make America Great Again"? Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana

The owners did not go far enough and potentially endanger their credibility. Do they or the President want to see someone with a hot dog over their heart and a drink in their hand during the playing of the anthem? Of course NOT!!! So all stadium concessions should be NOT BE OPENED until the anthem is concluded. While there is a constitutional right to free speech, there is no constitutional right to a hamburger!

You picked the wrong board members. Unfortunately, That happens often in new organizations. Get new board members and don't look back. I'd be happy to be a board member.

why don't the players strike? no players, no NFL. I kneel with them because it is they who defend us. they are true patriots.

I know the NFL is a lucrative gig for lots of african american young men and so it is difficult to pass on the opportunity. Given the physical risks and the utter disdain both the league and the fan base have for them, one wonders if it isn't time for young folks to skip this sport.

Yes, it is a very petty NFL indeed. I hope the players union start organizing a national strike for the next season against the owners and their Trumpism! I know I would not miss it.

You want to recruit better board members.

This is what building a charitable foundation has come to: the careful cultivation of wealthy conservatives who are happy enough to be linked with a football star as long as he toes the right (pun most definitely intended) political line. Welcome to the American way of 'giving'

Michael - How can one donate to this project?

Mr. Hobbs, you have learned a valuable lesson: Non-profit organizations have become nothing more than an opportunity for the wealthy and corporations to avoid paying taxes and to exploit their PR positions. True stakeholders get involved and provide financial support to programs such as yours based on honest values that support the mission of the organization. How is it that your board members saw a connection between what Vaccaro did and the good work that your foundation is doing? Oh, he didn't respect the "American" flag, so I won't sit on the board of a program for "African children." What twisted logic leads a presumably intelligent board member to make such a decision? And the truly sad thing is: the faux patriotism surround this whole situation is absurd. What do sporting events have to do with national anthems and pledging allegiance to pieces of cloth? I sincerely hope you find board members worthy of your cause and that you recover from this unfortunate situation.

How do I donate? I don’t have a lot to spare, however, I would be happy to make a contribution, as I’m sure will many people I know. I’m pretty sure that if you let people know how they can contribute, you’ll have your school and more in time for your goal.

I find it quite ironic that corporate America decries athletes kneeling before the flag, which is after all, merely a symbol. Meanwhile, corporate America plasters the flag everywhere - on flip-flops, on t-shirts, on bikini bottoms. Is walking on a replica of a symbol more respectful than kneeling in front of it? Is having a replica of a symbol plastered across one's derriere more respectful than using one's first amendment rights to protest? Not only hypocritical, the reactions Mr. Hobbs reports are needlessly petty. For shame.

Mr. Hobbs, It would be helpful if you put contact information (donations and not just through PayPal) for the foundation in your article. The website for the foundation does not have that information and does not seem to be up to date. I am sorry that these people revoked their support but in the end, you don’t need hypocrites on your team to do good in this world. Thank you.