Taking The Knee, Unmasked...The Real Issues

The issue d’jour for the past week or so has revolved around NFL players refusing to stand for the national anthem and both the fans and President Trump’s disgust with what they see as disrespect to flag and country.   It’s time to get past the political garbage verbiage and look at the real issues here.

The players involved are mostly black and essentially are supporting a #blacklivesmatter meme, that America is rotten with racism and that police treat black Americans with inequality. As expressed by now unemployed former 49er’s quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick and a number of NFL copycats who followed his example had an effect of both game attendance and TV ratings for the NFL that year, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and most of the team owners backed the protests with fairly craven press releases along the lines of free speech and ‘isn’t it great in America we can disagree?’ and most laughable, how sports and politics should mix!

This year, the protests accelerated, starting with a move to get Kaepenick employed by an NFL team simply because of his race and his politics rather than his actual stats. It almost worked, too, with the Ravens prepared to sign him until his wife, #blacklivesmatter activist and Muslima Nessa Diab tweeted comparing Steve Briscioti, Baltimore Ravens owner to the master in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.”

Meanwhile, the protests continued and again, attendance and TV ratings continued to drop drastically.

What really set things on fire was President Trump exercising his own right to free speech on the matter at a political rally in Alabama. He said  that the NFL team owners should require their players to stand during the anthem. And he expressed his disgust with NFL players disrespecting America and its flag and said to the cheering crowd, “wouldn’t you like to see one of the owners respond by saying ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field. He’s fired! And he’d be the most popular man in America for a week.’

As we all know, the Left’s idea of free speech goes something like this:

These days, the ‘or else’ includes rioting and assaults by the likes of antiFa or #blacklivesmatter thugs. In this case, it amounted to media insanity and wholesale protests by NFL players. And this wonderful statement by NFL commissioner Roger Goodel:

The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture. There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we’ve experienced over the last month. Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.

Now you want to know the real joke here? Trump is 100% right, and NFL league rules actually require players to come to the field, remove their helmets and stand at attention for the national anthem!

Per the Washington Post of all places:

Under the league rule, the failure to be on the field for the anthem may result in discipline such as a fine, suspension or loss of a draft pick. But a league official said the key phrase is “may” result, adding he won’t speculate on whether the Steelers would be disciplined.

The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league’s game operations manual, according to a league source.

And Goodell can’t say he isn’t aware of this. Here are just a few examples of how he’s treated other players who violated rules in  the operations manual:

Last year the NFL barred the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal on their helmet honoring the five police officers murdered by a terrorist attack.

 The NFL also banned the Tennessee Titan’s linebacker, Avery Williamson, from honoring 9/11 victims by wearing cleats that read “9-11/01″ and “Never Forget” on the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

 The NFL fined Robert Griffin III $10,000 for wearing a t-shirt during a press conference that said “Operation Patience.” (The shirt was created by Reebok and players are required to only wear clothing sold by Nike.)

 The Steelers’ William Gay was fined for wearing purple cleats, which he did to raise awareness for domestic violence.

Tim Tebow was fined and mocked by his fellow players for taking the knee…in prayer, not in disrespect for America. 

Rest assured the players involved in dishonoring the flag and our national anthem  won’t be disciplined, because you know, ra-aaa-aacism. Better the teams should alienate most of their fan base than to be politically incorrect. By the way,  the Pittsburgh Steelers, mentioned in the quote above refers to last Sundays game, when every player of the team stayed in the locker room instead of honoring our flag and our country…except one guy….

This is offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva. He alone had the courage to follow his conscience and stand for the national anthem to honor flag and country. You see, before he was a pro football player he was a captain in the Army Rangers who did 3 tours in Afghanistan and won a Bronze Star for heroism there. Unlike a number of the others, he understands what our flag really stands for, having risked his life for it and having seen some of his comrades bleed for it.

So what are the real issues here? Let’s first look at what this isn’t about:

So here’s what this is really about.

First off, the NFL is almost 70% composed of black players. Many of them at one time or another have bashed Donald Trump and almost certainly voted – if they voted at all – for Hillary Clinton.

Having enjoyed the period of racialist politics under Barack Obama, this is their part in the ‘resistance.’ What’s different is that this time they’re getting blowback…which they didn’t expect and see as of course, ra-aaa-aacism. Not all the players are political, but they feel compelled to go along. If you’re say, a quarterback and your left guard is political, you are naturally going to feel compelled to join in for team amity and because you don’t want him to accidentally miss a block in a game and have some 300 pound defensive tackle hit you head on. That’s understandable, if not particularly admirable.

For those players who are serious about this, I can only say that if I felt that America was a racist country filled with white police officers out to kill me or members of my family simply because they wanted to, I’d leave and find another country to live in. And I don’t buy the bogus nonsense that you ‘love America’ and that’s why you’re doing this. Sell that to the gullible talking heads at MSNBC or CNN.  You don’t show love by blatant disrespect.

President Trump, meanwhile is getting a lot of mileage out of this. He knows that many Americans feel exactly the way he does and are sick and tired of this behavior. And they are reacting forcefully to it. It’s become yet another rallying cry to pushback against the Left.

And the NFL? Let’s just say they’ve made their bed and will have to sleep in it. Choices have consequences.