ifwt_williamson_cleats

While many people are out there worrying about whether Colin Kaepernick is going to stand for the national anthem, the NFL itself has been up to some very shady things. So many people have accused Kap of disrespecting our military and vets but I bet most of you have no clue the NFL actually CHARGED the government more than $6 million dollars last season to honor vets during games. As if that isn’t bad enough, they are also threatening to fine any player who pays tribute to 9-11 victims this weekend if they use any part of their uniform for the tribute. Luckily for players, they have a major supporter who is willing to step up and pay fines for any player who feels the wrath of the NFL.

@IamJoeSports

Giants players, Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr, plan on wearing special custom cleats this Sunday for their game against the Cowboys, to pay respect and tribute to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The cleats are fire but if the NFL has it’s way, neither player will be wearing them. You also may not know that Tennessee Titans linebacker, Avery Williams, also had custom cleats made to pay tribute but once the NFL heard about it, they called him and tried to shut it down. Rather than fuss with the morons in the league front offices, Williamson just let it be and decided to auction the cleats off for charity.

“I don’t want to draw negative attention, so I’m just going to focus on playing the game,” Williamson told The Tennessean on Friday. “Once I heard from them, I didn’t even try to argue anything. I just left it alone. I didn’t want to press the issue.”

However, this may not be over for Williamson, who has multiple family members in the armed forces and wanted the money to go to “Operation Warriors Wishes”. The Port Authority police union of New York/New Jersey has offered to step up and pay any fine that Williamson receives if he decides to just wear the cleats.

“The PAPD is the police department that has always patrolled the World Trade Center complex. On September 11, 2001, the PAPD lost 37 police officers at the World Trade Center, the largest, single loss ever suffered by a police department in the history of American law enforcement,” the union said in a statement. “We read, with understandable interest, your piece on Avery Williamson and the NFL’s stance on Avery honoring the September 11th victims. We, along with the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association, are offering to pay any reasonable fine levied by the NFL if Avery chooses to wear his 9/11 cleats.”

That is pretty damn dope on the part of the police union. It should be interesting to see if the NFL dares to follow through on their threats to fine players who use any part of their uniform to pay tribute. Fining any player for doing do would be a PR nightmare and would also make anyone who is still criticizing guys like Kaepernick look foolish. How could you actually fine any player who is showing their respect for the victims of the worst attack terrorist attack our country has ever experienced?

I really hope all players who wanted to pay tribute follow through with their intent and don’t let the league stop them.

H/T BSO