Pass despite making players stand for anthem for years
actually, what the NFL is doing.”
OK, now let’s see what would happen if Kerr and his socially conscious players took a knee during “The Star Spangled Banner” before Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.
They don’t have to. We know exactly what would happen. The NBA would fine the daylights out of them for violating the rule that mandates “Players, coaches and trainers are to stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line during the playing of the national anthem.”
You should know that’s not the NFL’s rule. That’s right out of the NBA rule book. And if you think the so-called most progressive pro sports league on the planet would be accepting of players testing the anthem rule, look no further than last September when NBA players were flat-out warned to remain upright during the song.
In a memo to teams, deputy NBA commissioner Mark Tatum reminded them, “The NBA has a rule that players, coaches and trainers stand respectfully for the anthem. The league office will determine how to deal with any possible instance in which a player, coach or trainer does not stand for the anthem. (Teams do not have the discretion to waive this rule).”
And if you’re curious what penalty NBA players would face if they do step out of line, look no further than Mahmoud AbdulRauf, the Muslim former Nugget who refused to stand because of his religious and personal beliefs in 1996. Abdul-Rauf called the flag a “symbol of oppression, of tyranny.”
“This country has a long history of that,” he said. “I don’t think you can argue the facts. You can’t be for God and for oppression. It’s clear in the Koran, Islam is the only way. I don’t criticize those who stand, so don’t criticize me for sitting. I won’t waver from my decision.”
The NBA suspended him one game and he had to give up $31,707 in salary as punishment. He agreed to stand and pray during the anthem going forward.
Kerr, who was playing for the Bulls at the time, must not remember that.
Like the NFL, the anthem rule was instituted without being collectively bargained with the players. The NBA and NFL rules are both unilateral, but NBA owners get none of the flack NFL team owners receive.
Still, the Abdul-Rauf suspension was not the first or last time the NBA stepped on the freedom of its players. Almost 10 years later, in 2005 and in direct response to the Malice at the Palace brawl, the NBA became the first major pro league to institute a dress code when it outlawed hip hop attire and banned players from wearing jerseys, jewelry, jeans and do-rags as a desperate reach to repair its image. NBA players are now subject to suspensions and fines if they don’t dress right. Talk about pandering. The NBA has gotten a free pass on these issues for decades, and it is not likely going to be criticized for banning anthem demonstrations with the vitriol reserved for the NFL. Maybe that’s because the NBA hasn’t gone there yet, and no players have mustered the courage to challenge the rule since Colin Kaepernick started the movement two years ago. Honestly, would Kerr and his super team be suspended if they took a knee in solidarity with the issues they purport to be so passionate about? Would socially conscious LeBron James get docked for taking a knee?
The NBA has obviously stifled protest, so we may never know. Instead, it’s been the women of OUTSPOKEN NBA coach Steve Kerr blasted the NFL’s national anthem policy as “idiotic” on Thursday.
The left-leaning Warriors coach, whose political rants typically make headlines, lit into the NFL for threatening to fine teams whose players do not stand for the national anthem. The NFL mandated that players who do not wish to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” should remain in the locker room.
“They’re basically trying to use the anthem as fake patriotism, nationalism, scaring people,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ shootaround going into Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets. “It’s idiotic, but that’s how the NFL has handled their business. I’m proud to be in a league that understands patriotism in America is about free speech, peacefully protesting.”
Kerr did not mention that the NBA also does not allow players to kneel during the national anthem. Unlike the NFL, the NBA’s policy was in place before Colin Kaepernick started taking a knee two years ago to protest police killing unarmed black men.
“I think our leadership in the NBA understands that the NFL players were kneeling to protest police brutality, to protest racial inequality. They weren’t disrespecting the flag or the military. But our President decided to make it about that and the NFL followed suit and pandered to their fan base,” Kerr, an outspoken critic of President Trump, said. “That created this hysteria.”
— Grossman the WNBA who have taken a knee and challenged the rules. And guess what? They won.
In 2016, the entire Indiana Fever team and two players from the Phoenix Mercury took a knee during the national anthem before a playoff game. Earlier that summer, the WNBA fined teams including the Liberty, Fever and Mercury $5,000 each and every player $500 who violated uniform rules and wore Black Lives Matter/Dallas 5 T-shirts during warmups. he fines were rescinded, but that should not detract from the fact that the NBA and its sister WNBA, which are thought to be the most progressive and socially conscious of all the pro sports leagues, are just as oppressive as the NFL.
But the NFL takes all the shots, while leagues like the NBA, which has been stifling free speech for decades, get a free pass.
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