Dave Hyde: League’s anthem answer solves nothing.

What if a player pulls a Tommie Smith and John Carlos? What if a fist is raised in the air? What if while standing for the national anthem, as new, flawed NFL protocol stipulates, some player simply protests social injustice in a new manner? What then? You know what. More noise. More threats. More Donald Trump tweets. More hand-wringing from the league that wrapped itself in the flag as a marketing tool and now finds itself bound by that idea.

And no solution by the league, much less resolution of the debate.

How can so many billionaires be so short-sighted? How could these team owners not come up with a better solution? How can they not even involve the players union in this discussion, considering they need the players’ help?

The NFL’s new policy forbids players from sitting or taking a knee on the field during the anthem, but allows them to stay in the locker room. Any violations of the new rules will result in fines against teams.

So the NFL did the improbable. It inflamed the anthem issue while angering both sides and not resolving anything beyond giving President Trump legitimate claim to defeating the league in a rout. Which is true.

“#Winning,” Vice President Mike Pence posted on Twitter by news of the league’s new policy. There’s no denying that. The league went running, and the presidential regime got political gain from protests that had all but died out when Trump started complaining about them last season.

That’s what should have been allowed to die out, too. The players seemed willing to do so. Later, they seemed willing to con-

cede their original idea to bring attention to police brutality on blacks had been politically hijacked into a referendum on patriotism.

But lots of people don’t want this issue to die now.

“You have to stand proudly for the national anthem,’’ Trump said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” “Or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.”

No matter these players and teams followed through in helping communities. Look at the Dolphins. They held forums between law officials and community leaders. Players met with police and youths.

Time was invested and ideas were exchanged, not just hot-take reactions for political gain. This isn’t to defend the league. Not at all. The NFL brought this upon itself. It marketed patriotism after Sept. 11 and kept increasing the concept when they saw fans enjoyed it.

In 2009, players were ordered to the field and told they “should” stand for the playing of the anthem. The fallout of that order keeps falling today, as now they say players can stay in the locker room.

There’s even now a frivolous idea spouted by some teams that concessions will stop selling jumbo beers and fish tacos during the anthem to show how patriotic they are. George Washington would be proud, right?

Teams really want to sweep the whole issue under the 100-yard flag they bring onto the field for the anthem. They just don’t know how. They can’t even understand that sitting down with the union, and getting it to partner on a solution, would be a simple starting point.

“I plan to sit in the very near term with Coach [Todd] Bowles and our players to discuss today’s decision regarding the national anthem,” Jets Chairman and CEO Christopher Johnson said in a statement.

Oh. After the fact, they plan to sit down.

Johnson has said that the team will cover any fines incurred by the Jets for violating the policy.

Dolphins owner Steve Ross was the first owner to support players’ right to protest. He’s spent millions on the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. He also has adjusted his opinion to the point players have the right to protest but the protest is ineffectual. Which it is at this point.

Meanwhile, as this frivolous idea played out, Milwaukee police released video of Sterling Brown, a black man who was confronted by police for a parking violation and tased. He’s also an NBA player.

This is the kind of incident kneeling players protested. Maybe they’ll stand for the anthem and put up a fist next season. Then what? We know what. More noise. More namecalling.

Wouldn’t we be a better country if everyone ignored such protests and the president tweeted of the officers who roughed up Brown, “Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country?”