Doesn't anyone know how to bootleg this stuff?

No. Tell me how you do it.

Trump wins. That's all.

And that upcoming "November Of NFL SJW Protests" they were planning? That's been cancelled within 5 minutes of this story breaking out.

No way the owners stick with the playas now.

I never expected the hammer to fall on the NFL like this.

As I read this going around the news, this is sourced to customer reps who have said some customers have been given refunds. The NY Daily News cited "full refunds."

AT&T would not confirm for ESPN. It appears that customer service reps may have opened the floodgates. AT&T/DTV and the NFL may have gotten a surprise.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20829346/directv-offering-refunds-fans-wishing-cancel-nfl-sunday-ticket-package

Source: Fans upset by protests can get Sunday Ticket refunds

Darren Rovell
ESPN Senior Writer
26 Sept 2017, 6:10 PM CT

[excerpt]

An AT&T spokesperson declined to confirm the cancellation policy and said the company would have no numbers to share.

The exemption was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Roughly 180 players chose not to stand for the national anthem in Week 3, while three teams -- the Tennessee Titans, Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks -- did not come to the sideline for the anthem. On Monday night, the Dallas Cowboys chose to kneel in unison before the anthem.

Players were emboldened after being challenged by President Donald Trump, who Friday night at a speech in Alabama, encouraged NFL owners to "fire" players who didn't stand for the national anthem.

The stance, which Trump continued to assert throughout the weekend, had the opposite effect. Almost all of the league's owners responded with statements affirming the players' right to protest, as players and executives went as far as to coordinate their actions.

Not everyone was happy.

At some stadiums, fans booed the players. Others took to Twitter to say they were canceling their Sunday Ticket subscriptions.

" AT&T's DirecTV Is Giving Refunds on NFL Packages Due to Protests "

The NFL, Players, and Kapperdick really pissed in the cheerios !

I wonder how proud they are of Kapperdick now ? Not very I would imagine. I would suspect when they have gatherings, he is as popular as a turd in a punch bowl !!

His bullshit, and their stupidity has cost each & all of them a loooooooot of money. They will all have to give up their trophy women, fancy cars, and big houses - and for What ???

I wonder how proud they are of Kapperdick now ? Not very I would imagine. I would suspect when they have gatherings, he is as popular as a turd in a punch bowl !!

Nah, they'll still consider him a martyr and a hero.

But they'll stand at attention for the anthem, I think. Trump could probably teach them to salute the flag for the anthem. They may like Kaep and SJW but they like fat wallets a lot more. They may hate Whitey but they want Whitey's money Real Bad.

It's all over except some Trump victory tweets IMO. LOL

AT&T would not confirm for ESPN. It appears that customer service reps may have opened the floodgates. AT&T/DTV and the NFL may have gotten a surprise.

We'll see. But having given any refunds to disgruntled customers, it will be very hard for AT&T/Directv to close those floodgates, no matter how you slice it. They have to consider Sunday Ticket sales in upcoming years as well if they further anger the current subscribers. So they give refunds now, hoping to lure them back next year and so on.

OTOH, the hardcores aren't going to cancel. The most hardcore NFL fans could care less if the playas mooned the flag while chanting their love for Castro.

So it may not be any huge amount they'll lose by giving refunds. It's still a bad position for them. They can't just say "No refunds" at this point and try to force people to accept that their Sunday Ticket is just a chance to watch these coddled playas disrespect the flag. And that is even before Trump decides to stick his nose into it if they should decide to cut off any refunds. Trump would be all over them on Twitter. Trump also has very deep leverage over AT&T which is an element of American national security, as much or more than most military contractors. You know about that very odd windowless skyscraper that AT&T has had for decades in NYC, I'm sure. They may as well put an NSA sign on that thing. It reeks of national security spying. As president, Trump can snap the AT&T leash in a way no one else can. That's before he issues a single tweet.

I would bet that AT&T/Directv has some clause in their contract with the NFL that the NFL will have to eat these losses, not AT&T.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-26/directv-will-allow-angry-customers-request-nfl-refunds

DirecTV Will Allow Angry Customers To Request NFL Refunds

by Tyler Durden
Sep 26, 2017 6:13 PM

[excerpt]

Aside from DirecTV, the NFL-owned channel RedZone, which provides live action and scoring from every game on Sundays, is also experiencing some cancellations due to the protests.

Chuck Plavk, a veteran who resides in Wisconsin, canceled his subscription to the channel from Charter Communications’ Spectrum Cable. He said when he called, the customer service representative said, “everybody’s calling about that today.” Unlike Sunday Ticket, which is only available through DirecTV, RedZone is available through a number of cable providers and streaming outlets.

It's like Trump planned this or something. :-)

Aside from DirecTV, the NFL-owned channel RedZone, which provides live action and scoring from every game on Sundays, is also experiencing some cancellations due to the protests.

When it rains, it pours.     : )

It's all over social media too. They cannot now refuse refunds.

And the Trump base will speak of nothing but his great victory over those unAmerican foosball players.

Libmedia will want to talk about his loss with Strange in Alabama and the failure to get the 0bamaCare repeal passed but no one will be listening.

It's kinda ridiculous but Trump wins. I find this very amusing, in part because it's all pretty dumb to begin with.

They can't just say "No refunds" at this point and try to force people to accept that their Sunday Ticket is just a chance to watch these coddled playas disrespect the flag.

The genie is out of the bottle but they may get a lot more cancellations than they expected. DTV has been losing customers to cord cutters. Really angry customers may have said, "if you won't cancel my Sunday Ticket, cancel my DTV."

You know about that very odd windowless skyscraper that AT&T has had for decades in NYC, I'm sure. They may as well put an NSA sign on that thing. It reeks of national security spying.

Yeah, that building is sort of well known.

AT&T Data Center [Google Earth street view]

This one is about 5 blocks below Central Park on 10th Ave. around 54th Street.

I think they just don't like windows. Maybe it's a nest of vampires.

It's kinda ridiculous but Trump wins. I find this very amusing, in part because it's all pretty dumb to begin with.

Trump is very good at public relations. He has made NFL owners and managers look really dumb. I saw yesterday where the NFL had started a search for a crisis manager. Crisis management has not been their strong point. They bungled the Ray Rice case in every way imaginable.

I think they just don't like windows. Maybe it's a nest of vampires.

C'mon. In the words of Dan Akroyd, "It's Spook Central."

Major transcontinental cable hub, U.N., Wall Street, domestic internet backbone, etc. And a major cyberdefense hub.

Trump is very good at public relations. He has made NFL owners and managers look really dumb.

Maybe he'll declare victory and take the week off to go golfing. He has saved the anthem!

The country could use a break.

In the words of Dan Akroyd, "It's Spook Central."

Who ya gonna call?
Don't matter, they record it all.

https://apnews.com/bf595941ba9640e9ab32e474459f529c/Nielsen:-Football-ratings-off-11-percent-this-year

AP reports that Neilsen says NFL ratings through the first three weeks are down 11% this year compared to last year.

They have officially entered the world of butthurt.

Who ya gonna call? Don't matter, they record it all.

Witty.

AP reports that Neilsen says NFL ratings through the first three weeks are down 11% this year compared to last year.

It's only slightly worse a decline than last year. I'm just saying that it hasn't dropped off a cliff. Not yet. It's not a good number but it's not quite a disaster. Millenials come of age and aren't as interested in football as iPhones, older people cut back to smaller packages or cordcutting, etc. At least some of this decline was expected, maybe half of it.

It is a hemorrhage though. And once those viewers go elsewhere, it could be very hard to get them back. Especially if the viewers decide to do something more constructive than watching TV. They might not ever come back.

I think this is why AT&T will give the refunds. A lot of people are cutting that cord. We're hardly a young group here at LF and not like a forum of techies and even we are ahead of the national average in cordcutting.

AT&T is switching to their mobile IPTV platform. They don't want anyone walking away with negative memories about how AT&T wouldn't refund those Sunday Ticket subscriptions when the NFL went insane disrespecting the flag. Legally, they could have kept the loot. But they don't want to become the targets. Let the lightning hit the NFL as long as AT&T can stay out of the middle of it.

I don't really think there will be all that many people cancelling their Sunday Ticket. It was always meant for football addicts. Not that many will go cold turkey IMO.

Especially if the viewers decide to do something more constructive than watching TV. They might not ever come back.

This.

I agree.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/directtv?lang=en

https://twitter.com/hashtag/sundayticket?lang=en

https://twitter.com/hashtag/nflsundayticket?lang=en

https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUNDAYTICKETCANCELLED?src=hash

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/912879664682631173

https://twitter.com/hashtag/SUNDAYTICKETCANCELLED?src=hash

I looked at it, saw someone claiming a customer rep told them that 100,000 people had cancelled. Sounds vastly vastly inflated. But at $280 per unit, that would still be only $28 million. But I'm not sure it's even about the money they'll lose.

I still think even the news of these refunds has a serious dampening effect on the teams and owners, on ESPN and the networks and all the cable companies. Football isn't just big, it's YUUUUUUGE in a cultural and social sense. But it's gonna be smaller after this is over, even if only somewhat.

How do you really measure how much cool your brand has lost when you are such a major cultural flagship, so big that you can hardly talk about the culture without your brand? I bet the NFL is trying to find a way to slap a tourniquet on this deep wound, try to stop the bleeding.

And how about Thanksgiving and Christmas? When Grampa or Uncle Joe just get angry if someone mentions NFL football and some SJW liberal daughter-in-law starts lecturing that Trump is completely to blame and they blow up and tell her how their father fought at Iwo Jima and how Grampa's uncle lost a leg in Korea or a cousin was tortured in a North Vietnamese prison camp? There is no happy ending for that scene. And Grandma ends up crying in the kitchen, can't imagine how they'll get through the rest of the holiday.

We can't talk religion. We can't talk politics. And now we can't talk football either. How the hell will people get through these holidays and family gatherings?

And if they cancel seeing the family, then is some toss-off remark by Trump to blame or is the huge NFL protest more to blame? I don't see how Trump gets the blame in the vast majority of families.

Take another example. Same kind of thing applies at senior centers or the VFW/Legion or at the KoC hall. Where they could at least talk about the Sunday game when having lunch or playing cards, suddenly some of them are angry and don't want to hear any football talk at all. Ever again.

Football was always a topic like the weather where everyone could have an opinion. And it will be very hard for libs to blame Trump when he made another of his usual bloviating 20-second remarks and then the NFL blew up and made fools of themselves disrespecting the flag and anthem, including overseas where they disrespected our flag and anthem led by their Muslim owner and then stood for the God Save The Freakin' Queen.

Maybe the libmedia writers can help out. Recall all those articles they wrote in past years about "How to talk to your family about 0bamaCare", "How to talk to your drunk Uncle Joe about gay marriage", "How to talk to your SUV-driving in-laws about climate change". I think we have reached a breaking point and if the libs try to "Talk to your family about social justice and the NFL", they're finally going to get told to just to shut the hell up.

Hear that sound? That's the ripping sound of the social fabric being torn apart. And it is far more about the NFL's conduct than Trump's. After all, we have zero expectations of Trump to start with.

This social dimension to the NFL SJW meltdown is the far greater threat to the NFL than merely losing some 10,000 or 100,000 Sunday Ticket subscribers. Because now we can't even talk about football without it being political.

You could write a very long article about family gatherings this fall with a title like "How The NFL Ruined Our Family Thanksgiving" and "After The NFL Ruined Our Thanksgiving, We Cancelled Getting Together For Christmas".

[...rrrrrip...]

I noticed that she was very careful not to mention Trump at all. I bet she already has had her head ripped off trying to pin all the blame on Trump.

What a dumb bitch.

More than that. Around here, she would qualify as a genuine swinging twat.

Then everyone would be standing.

Mission accomplished.

"It won't hurt the NFL, it won't hurt Nike, but it will hurt meeeeeee...."

Well that's certainly true. I thought she made her case well. She's not at fault.

That said, she should have taken the opportunity to rebuke the Steelers players, the coach, the owner, the league and the commissioner for her flagging sales. She seemed to be blaming her customers.

That said, she should have taken the opportunity to rebuke the Steelers players, the coach, the owner, the league and the commissioner for her flagging sales. She seemed to be blaming her customers.

She should be blaming the coach the most. He was the one who told the team that they would vote and if they weren't 100%, then no one would go out to the field.

That is giving the SJW's the power to keep the rest off the field and is what happened, regardless of whether Villaneuva was accidentally cut off or whether they've all just concocted this story to limit the damage they did to themselves.

All they had to do was come out and stand for the anthem. That's all. But that coach created this entire situation by giving the SJW's a veto over the rest. Then he tried to blame Villaneuva somewhat and (I think) forced him to issue a phony apology. I've wondered if this was a move by the SJW Steelers to "let's hang back and make this hero Ranger the villain in a controversy". Sort of a "Let's Tebow him and get him off the team". It is entirely possible. These playas aren't the sharpest pencils to begin with and the steroid dosing and accumulating brain damage doesn't help.

Then everyone would be standing.

I saw some wag on Twitter say the same yesterday, laughing about how Trump is now the puppeteer of the NFL.

It's kinda true.

She seemed to be blaming her customers.

Don't you know what a successful business model that has always been?

The genie is out of the bottle but they may get a lot more cancellations than they expected. DTV has been losing customers to cord cutters. Really angry customers may have said, "if you won't cancel my Sunday Ticket, cancel my DTV."

On a similar vein, I know several co-workers who 'cut DTV' because they don't offer internet and phone where the cable companies do. So quite a few had to settle for the local companies for phone (not so much as most use cell now) and internet. The internet options and quality were not ideal for what they want so ended up just going back to the cable company.

With Smart TVs and everyone with a smart phone, I don't see the value or utility of the Bundle packages. I think that is why most are 'cutting the cable.' And quite a few are probably saying "hey I have Spectrum or DTW just for NFL...screw it I'm done with the deal all together."

Buddy at work lives in a rural area and put up two antennas to get terrestrial signals. He gets probably 80% (his estimate) of the basic channels offered by the cable company. He gets more of the local channels given his location and the money he put into his equipment.

But even those, like myself, who know the reason don't believe it. Unarmed black teens aren't being executed by white cops all over the country. If that were true, I'd be kneeling.

It's a false narrative based on fake news. The one I hear most often is the unarmed "child" in Cleveland gunned down in a park. Police were called to the scene because of a "man with a gun". (Tamir Rice, although 12 years old was 5 feet 7 inches and weighed 195 pounds). He drew his pellet gun from which the orange safety tip had been removed -- it looked real. He was shot.

I, and millions of others, believe he would have been shot had he been white, Hispanic, Asian, or an Indian in a headdress.

I remember in the 70's when players were paid maybe 30,000 dollars per year, and owning an NFL team was just a tax write off or a private indulgence. Very few teams were profitable.

Now despite players making 2 million dollars a year, the NFL has become a license to print money. That is. at least until lately.

But even those, like myself, who know the reason don't believe it.

Are you sure you know the reason? I'm not. You could pick from this list.

1. They're mad at cops killing blacks.
2. They're mad that Kaep #TookAKnee and now doesn't have a contract.
3. They're mad that Trump criticized them.
4. They're mad that Trump called their mamas bitches.
5. They're mad that Trump thinks they should have no right to disrespect the anthem on national TV as a political statement while they are working as club employees.
6. They're mad that 0bama is no longer pres'dent.
7. They're mad that Felonia Von Pantsuit lost to Orange Hitler.

It's one or more (or all) of those. Apparently. Despite several hundred of them "protesting", did any of them actually tell us exactly what they are protesting? I don't think so. And I looked for an explanation from them.

Maybe you can parse it out and explain to me.

To me it's all like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Not for the players. They get paid no matter what. I don't understand the owners letting them get away with it. They're going to look like fools when they eventually reverse course.

This is a protest that involves what, 10% of all players? Why should we take them seriously? I say suspend them or fire them.

I think I read it was about 25% total. But is that linking arms and kneeling? Or just kneeling? Or just linking arms.

It was a total haphazard mess, IMO. Dragging the owners into it only made it much worse, no doubt the idea of that idiot Goodell.

Now despite players making 2 million dollars a year, the NFL has become a license to print money. That is. at least until lately.

Top players are making tens of millions a year. Tom Brady's new contract was $41 million over two years, with a massive $28 million signing bonus. That's $34.5M for 2017 and another $20.5M for 2018. Of course, his wife the retired model is even richer.

Maybe you can parse it out and explain to me.

Purportedly #1, though it could very well be any of the other 6. They don't know. It's whatever you think it is.

Ironically, there's nothing we can do about black teens being killed. The reason being that if white teens behaved the same way, they'd be killed also. If the press told the truth about these incidents, the protests would wither.

One last thing. Cities are settling these wrongful death civil lawsuits because it's less expensive than going to court. When they settle, it's interpreted as admitting guilt. Change our tort laws to loser pays. Disbar lawyers who bring frivolous suits. Cap compensatory damages. Distribute punitive damages to charity, not the plaintiffs.

One last thing. Cities are settling these wrongful death civil lawsuits because it's less expensive than going to court.

They've settled some, not all of them. Maybe not even a majority.

Trayvon's parents didn't get a judgment on Zimmerman that I know of. Did the Gentle Giant thug's parents get anything? I never heard about it.

Just sayin'.

Not for the players. They get paid no matter what. I don't understand the owners letting them get away with it.

Of course it's the owners. Most of the players are not bright enough to understand the implications.

Hell, I don't know of one who didn't get millions. Keep in mind, in ALL these cases the cops were NOT charged. All the shootings were justified.

The parents of the Cleveland "child" with the fake gun got $6 million. The "Gentle Giant's" parents got $1.5 million. Trayvon's parents got $1 million from the only deep pockets available -- the homeowner's association. The teen with a knife shot in Chicago 16 times? His parents got $5 million. Philando Castile, high on marijuana and reaching for his gun? His parents got $3 million.

Sounds like getting your kid shot is the next best thing to them getting a slot in the NBA or NFL. And it takes no talent at all.

Profit!

Sounds like getting your kid shot is the next best thing to them getting a slot in the NBA or NFL. And it takes no talent at all.

It's the ghetto way of "providing for your family". The parents get millions, sympathy from those around them, and they get to eulogize their son as someone who, had he been given the chance, was destined for great things.

(No, not the leader of the local drug gang.)

It's the ghetto way of "providing for your family".

Are you sure? Maybe they are setting up charities or scholarships with all that money.

Surely you aren't suggesting they just took the money and retired with it, as though they had won the lottery.

...and they get to eulogize their son as someone who, had he been given the chance, was destined for great things.

I read that Trayvon now has a B.A. in aeronautics because he once said he wanted to be a pilot. No reporting on what it costs to put a dead kid through college though. Hopefully they got a discount on tuition.

I looked at it, saw someone claiming a customer rep told them that 100,000 people had cancelled. Sounds vastly vastly inflated.

That could well be. Twitter claims are definitely not gospel. What I saw was a few of the older ones said that they were denied a refund and canceled their DTV service. And it is just a social media storm that the NFL does not want.

On a similar vein, I know several co-workers who 'cut DTV' because they don't offer internet and phone where the cable companies do.

DirecTV offers internet even where cable is unavail. However, it is slower and more expensive.

What percentage of Americans know why these players are kneeling?

If you asked 100 of the players involved, how many could give the same answer? (That is assuming they are able to answer.)

How many could give a rational answer of why they are kneeling during the national anthem and display of the national flag, rather than say, coming out two minutes before the end of halftime and having an organized midfield circle jerk?

How many could explain why they focus their protest at national symbols, when no national (federal) entity or employee is has been identified as the cause of the alleged oppression or whatever? If an alleged oppressor is the Chicago P.D., why aim a protest at the national symbols?

I say suspend them or fire them.

The coach, on his own, could bench them.

DirecTV offers internet even where cable is unavail. However, it is slower and more expensive

Yes you are correct. Where I live they contract the local yokels.

Where I live they contract the local yokels.

I know one user who is so far off the road, that is the only internet alternative. That is about the only situation in which I could see anybody going for it.