NFL owners are cowards, not patriots

The owners of the NFL were not being patriots when they created a policy meant to prevent players from protesting during the national anthem. They were being cowards. They’re terrified of a tweet by President Donald Trump and what that might mean for their bottom line.

So the 32 team owners – 30 of whom are Caucasian – got together and agreed to tell players, nearly 70 percent of whom are African-American, to shut up. Even though the players who chose to take a knee during the anthem did so silently.

The owners unanimously approved a policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the national anthem, or they can choose to remain in the locker room. Teams will be fined if a player or any other team personnel violate the policy.

Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said after the meeting, “Looking forward to getting the focus back to football.” Beginning with the opening kickoff the focus always has been on football. Not once did players disrupt a game. They knelt, or raised a fisted arm, during the the national anthem.

They’re not dummies. They see through the owners’ hypocrisy.

Eagles lineman Chris Long (who donated his entire $1 million base salary last season to charity) has supported teammates who have protested. He said of the owners’ latest move: “This is fear of a diminished bottom line. It’s also fear of a president turning his base against a corporation. This is not patriotism. Don’t get it confused.” He’s right.

Nor do Trump’s rants against protesting players have anything to do with patriotism.

Late last week Trump actually said, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem – or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.” Have to? Or you shouldn’t be in the country?

So there is only one form of free speech now? The kind that doesn’t offend Donald Trump?

What’s more offensive, a player kneeling during the anthem or a bunch of tiki-torch-carrying white supremacists giving Nazi salutes, carrying Nazi symbols while also toting American flags? Trump didn’t go out of his way to condemn those guys.

Is burning the flag more offensive? After Justice Antonin Scalia died Trump said the justice’s career “was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms.”

Scalia said of flag burning, “If I were king, I would not allow people to go around burning the American flag. However, we have a First Amendment, which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged and it is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government. That was the main kind of speech that tyrants would seek to suppress.”

Tyrant-wannabes also, like Trump. And cowards. Like NFL owners.