32 Broncos refuse to stick to sports, defying Trump
Let’s get this straight from the jump: The Broncos won’t fire nearly three dozen players who took a knee in protest during the national anthem, no matter how much President Donald Trump stomps his feet and whines like a petulant child.
Stick to sports? It was impossible Sunday, when a bigger story than Denver’s 26-16 loss to Buffalo was how 32 Broncos — including Von Miller, Demaryius Thomas and Brandon Marshall — defied the president with a powerful display of unity during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“What did you expect?” Broncos president Joe Ellis said. “A lot of people go to NFL games to get away from politics and the discourse, but when it gets inflamed the way it did (by the president), I understand why it happened.”
Trump picked a fight with NFL players, and it only steeled the Broncos’ resolve to protest. “Times 32,” Ellis said. In the minutes immediately after a disheartening loss that knocked Denver
from the ranks of the undefeated, Ellis stood outside the visitors’ locker room, his back forced against a wall as an ambulance dismissed from emergency duty rolled slowly up the tunnel. Ellis had a flight to catch. But he stopped to talk with me about how the U.S. president had offended the Broncos with a profane tirade.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say: ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,’ ” Trump declared Friday night, during a speech in Huntsville, Ala.
I don’t know about you. But I find opening a conversation by calling somebody an SOB generally fails to establish common ground for problem solving.
“It was disappointing. … It was divisive,” said Ellis, who issued a formal statement of support for the Broncos on Saturday. “I felt like we had to stick up for our players. I’m really proud of our players and everything they do. They’re a great bunch of guys. They’re not dividers, they’re uniters.”
Had Ellis chosen to side with Trump and fired players on the spot, the Broncos would not have been able to field a competitive team at Buffalo and probably would have been forced to forfeit the game. This is the NFL, Mr. President, not some half-baked reality television show.
Trump exhorted fans to walk out of NFL stadiums in response to anthem protests. As Broncos and Bills alike knelt, if any spectators headed for the exits of New Era Field, I didn’t see them. But Barbara Marshall, the mother of Denver’s inside linebacker, posted two photos on social media of her son and teammates protesting and saluted their courage.
She is a proud mother who raised her son to follow his heart and act. That’s America. Barbara Marshall’s son conducts himself with dignity and treats dissenting views with respect. Doesn’t everybody who loves the United States wish we could say the same about Mr. Trump?
“Wow. He would say somebody should be fired for exercising their First Amendment rights that’s part of the Constitution. Why should somebody be fired or taken off the field because of it? It’s utterly ridiculous,” Marshall said.
In a team meeting on game’s eve, the Broncos were deeply disturbed that Trump described disobedient NFL players in harsher terms than neoNazis who recently instigated a tragic riot in Virginia.
“I felt like we all took it personally,” Marshall said. “Even the guys that haven’t kneeled before, and didn’t even really think about kneeling before, took it personal. And they wanted to demonstrate as well.”
What qualifies as acting presidential in 2017? Ellis should know. He’s proudly related to two former U.S. presidents, as a nephew of George H.W. Bush and a cousin of George W. Bush.
“I think there’s a certain dignity and integrity that people should have in that office,” Ellis said. “And I’ll leave it at that.”
Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe stood proudly at attention for the anthem. And I respect him for the strength to show his love of country when the majority of teammates took a knee. I understand the social issues that caused Marshall to be among the first NFL players to protest a year ago. I also totally get how many military veterans and upstanding citizens take great offense at what’s perceived as disrespect for the flag. But isn’t a democracy based on civil debate?
On an afternoon when Miller was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct at a critical juncture of the fourth quarter for extending a hand to fallen Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor only to pull it away, the one person the Broncos seriously clowned was the president of the United States.
Trump tried to bully NFL players into standing.
It backfired. If America watches football to escape politics, why did Trump find it necessary to turn sports into another way to splinter an already angry, divided country?
When the president sticks his nose into sports, it guarantees athletes won’t stick to sports.