NFL DISHONORS THE FLAG
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Colin Kaepernick originally tooka kneeduring the playing of the nationalanthem before NationalFootball League games to make a statement about social injustice in this country, and did thatwithout sayinga word.In hisownway, Kaepernick was trying to effect social change, or at least have a conversation about it in his sport. Nowhe has, just not in away he everintended. He getsa billion-dollar industry, thebiggest and most powerful sports industry we have in our country at thistime, to take a knee— mostly in front of President Donald J. Trump—with this new league stance on the anthem.
Somehow this was treated on Wednesday like some sort of noble and historic compromise, allowing players who don’t want to stand during theanthem to stay in the locker room until thesinging of the song is over, while giving the leaguethe right tofine teams withplayers who would continueto take a knee.
Butinthe current culture oftheNFL, whyin theworld would anybody take aknee next season, knowing that the cost of asymbolic gesture like thatcould cost them their football careers, the way it has cost Kaepernick his?
Understand,once and for all, that none of this has anything at all todo with politics or justice or patriotism or even morality. This is about businessfor NFLowners. Thisis aboutmoney, forowners already richbeyond avarice. These men and women did not just buy into the cockeyed narrativethat this is actually about patriotism, or a lack thereof. That is only a sidebar here.
Theysimply decided that football players, even a handful of them, kneeling during the playing oftheanthemwas extremely bad forbusiness. Andwe simply can’t have that, or, as thegreat Red Smithused to say,before long these ownerswill be riding bicycles towork.
Theyallowed themselvesto get shamed intothis,even as they have triedto makethis areferendum aboutrespect. In addition, they get goodand rolledhere by this Presidentthe way Republicans in Congress getrolled by him all the time.
Theleague’s newpolicy on the nationalanthem says that a“a club will be fined by the league if its personnelare on the field and do notstandand show respectfor the flagand the anthem.” But goodfor Christopher Johnson, who is currently running the Jets, to stand uphimselfon Wednesday and tells Newsdaythere wouldbenofines orrepercussions forplayers who do chooseto kneel, if there are any onthe Jets or anywhere, and he will accept any fine if they do.
NFLowners will never say this, becausethey hardly eversay what they actually mean on this issue, but they did not want to be attacked any further by the President. Some of the most prominent andpowerful businesspeople in this country choose to buck and scrape, while trying to act as if they are theones standing tall and proud for everything American that is virtuous, in a league that in thepast took moneyfromthe United States government with bothhandsfor someofthose red-white-and-blue tributes to the militarythat you occasionally saw atNFL games.
As always, Roger Good el land theowners whoarehisbosses wantit both ways. Goodell says thathe wantsto disavow anyone andeveryone that the players who weretaking a kneelast season werebeing unpatriotic.But atthe same time, he says that they aren’t respecting the flag if they choose to take a knee or raise a fist — if they have chosen to come out on the field for the anthem at all.
As always, we’re told thatthis compromiseis asmall price for playersto pay. We were told all last t fall, as the debate about this issue ragedon —rage beingthe operative e wordsometimes, especially from this President — that professional football is their business, too, and if f kneeling duringthe anthem hurt the business it hurt them, too.
But what about the priceKae per - - nickhas paid,as they havebeen treated like threats to everything good and decent. Always remember thatKae per nick and former teammateEric Reid— another talentedyoung player who can’t findworknow—wereamong thosecalled “SOBs” by the Presidentat arally in Alabama, where thecrowdlooked almost aswhite asan SECfootballcrowd inthe 1950s.Trumpsaid theyshould be fired. No wK ae per nick and Reid havebeen.
Ofcourse,all the bravemen and women who own teams have revealed themselves since then, by notoneofthem givingKaepernick thechance to earn aliving any longerasan NFL quarterback.
Youtell mewhat’s worsetoday, andmore dangerous to ourvalues: A youngfootball playertaking a knee on a football field, or a player who is good enough to quarterback his team to within one pass of winningaSuper Bowlbeing blackballedin America in 2018for his political beliefs?
Somebody explain how a policy like that respects the flag. Run a policy like that up the flagpole and see who salutes.