Freedom to protest as American as it gets

Colin Kaepernick. The name provokes all kinds of emotions from fervent support of his national anthem protests to loud condemnation. No matter what your opinion, there is little doubt that his kind of protest — kneeling during the anthem — is spreading.

A number of other players on the Cleveland Browns and on other teams are kneeling, and not simply African-American players. Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers offered unstinting support last week.

On the other side, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett loudly condemned the action, calling the anthem “sacred.”

Reality check: there is racial injustice in America. There had been tremendous progress, no question. But there is discrimination and it varies from place-to-place, from region-to-region, from town-to-city, but it’s there. Without going into a laundry list of evidence, there is no doubt there is a strong belief among many African-Americans that police are not always necessarily their friends.

Is it a lot of cops? Of course not. Like in every other profession, the overwhelming majority of police officers are dedicated public servants who keep us safe. In Middletown, especially, the police department under Chief Bill McKenna is as professional and dedicated as will be found anywhere.

I make it a point when visiting a sporting venue, to reach out to officers and thank them for what they do. You should try that. To the cops guarding 161st Street next to Yankee Stadium, to the state police officers at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, when I reach out to shake their hands they are invariably both astonished and grateful that someone would do that. Most of them put their lives on the line every day for us.

But as Michael Eric Dyson said in his powerful new book, “Tears We Cannot Stop,” that there are only a few bad cops is like saying most of the cells in your body are healthy; there are just a few can--

cerous ones.

Taken nationally, the statistics on arrests, tickets vs. warnings, traffic stops and so on tilt far more against citizens of color than whites. I don’t make those numbers up.

Many black parents take great pains to tell their children, particularly their sons, how to act when pulled over by the police, a lesson most white parents never think of teaching.

My son took a course in African-American studies at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and his professor said her husband, a lawyer, had been pulled over dozens of times. A black man driving a Lexus, she offered, attracted the attention of the police. Yeah, that was 15 years ago, but the disparities persist.

It’s anecdotal, I know. But real.

So there are protests, protests with an urgency from high-profile cases involving the deaths of black citizens. Some protests were violent, which all of us must condemn and I do.

But many protests, like Kaepernick’s it seems to me, arise out of patriotism. Folks believe that all should be treated equally in America. They believe in this country’s creed that says equal opportunity, equal treatment, equal justice. And they are protesting to move the country precisely in the direction of fulfilling those goals.

No question the arc of history — despite the views and actions of even some in government today — moves in the direction of righteousness. But some believe, as is their right, the movement is not fast enough.

Yeah, the protests make some uncomfortable. Yeah, they might be a tad disruptive. But has protest that was quiet and non-disruptive ever worked?

I would argue that the landmark civil rights legislation would not have happened when it did had Rev. Martin Luther King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Rep. John Lewis and others not crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in defiance of an order. The laws would not have happened had the nation not seen the fire hoses and police dogs unleashed by Bull Connor’s officers on protesters in Birmingham, Alabama.

They would not have happened had not folks of all colors ridden Freedom Buses into the South, sat at segregated lunch counters in South Carolina, or died trying to register voters of color.

If John Carlos and Tommie Smith had stood silently on the Olympic Medals platform in 1968 and not stood with fists raised, would that have accomplished anything? That protest reverberated around the world.

Do some in the Black Lives Matter movement go too far? Absolutely. Violence is unacceptable. But — in lower case, please note — black lives do matter, you know.

Seems to me that what Kaepernick and a growing number of others are doing is pretty tame stuff. Protest is American. The freedom to speak out, to work for a redress of grievances is as American as it gets.

Readers may remember I have railed in this space against those who show disrespect to our flag and country by making noise during the anthem, by not removing their caps or by being generally disruptive. I have even said the right thing to do is to place your hand over your heart during the anthem, which many do not do.

But if one wants to quietly, as a matter of principle, not stand, or kneel without disturbing others, well, that’s their right. See, the flag isn’t what’s sacred, it’s the values and principles for which it stands that are sacred. Values and principles guaranteed to all.

Let the games begin

The fall high school season begins this weekend. In football, Xavier opens up with Norwich Free Academy at Larry McHugh Field at Xavier. The Falcons, who have only four home games this year, will play just two at Palmer Field, its home for 50+ years.

The game marks the beginning of the Andy Guyon Era as the rookie coach makes his debut under the lights at 7 p.m. Xavier will be home at Palmer Field with Newtown next week, then will play six of its remaining eight games on the road.

Keep an eye on quarterback Will Levis. He’s a good one. The Falcons ought to be Class LL playoff contenders.

Middletown opens at Wethersfield Friday, a place where it hasn’t had much luck lately. The Blue Dragons open at home Friday the 15th with Bristol Eastern. MHS has a lot of returning players, but replacing quarterback Tyshaun James with all he brought will be interesting. Middletown should be in the hunt for a Class L playoff spot.

Vinal Tech/East Hampton /Goodwin Tech opens Friday night at Palmer with Prince Tech at 6:30 p.m. Look for the Bellhawks to be improved.

All the other sports get underway either this weekend or early next week.

National high school football

Take a look at the top 25 high school teams published in USA Today. National football is a far different kind of animal than high school football in Connecticut. In this state we — happily — have all kinds of rules about recruiting. Capital Prep was roundly condemned for admitting athletes outside of its lottery process, Berlin forfeited its season a couple years ago for illegal players and several years ago, St. Paul was punished for recruiting players.

At the national level? Please.

The No. 1 ranked team in the country is Mater Die of Santa Ana, Calif., the largest Catholic high school in the state according to its website. This week it played a high school in Las Vegas. The No. 2 team is IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla. Its website makes no bones about it being an athletic factory. It calls itself on its website a “sports training destination.”

IMG’s first win was over Chandler, Arizona, and its second game was with Centennial High in San Diego. Frequent Flyer miles anyone?

Want some more? De La Salle High School, another Catholic school, of Concord, Calif., ranked No. 7, took a little road trip to St. John’s High in Washington, D.C. — hope they packed lunches — and St. Joseph’s High of Philadelphia, took a little trip down the road to play Jesuit High of Tampa, Florida.

No. 20 St. Joseph High of Montvale, N.J., played at Deerfield Beach, Fla., High School and No. 25 American Heritage High of Plantation, Fla. — next door to Fort Lauderdale — opened up with Bishop Sullivan of Virginia Beach and followed that up by playing Liberty High of Henderson, Nevada.

Uhh, think these “schools” are taking a yellow school bus to the games? Think they recruit? No and yes. I’ll take how Connecticut does it.

UConn not very good

I took in the UConn vs. Holy Cross game Thursday night. It was an interesting game, one that UConn rallied from 20-7 down to win, but take no solace from that. UConn has a long way to go to be decent. Maybe Randy Edsall will get them there, but like all sports at every level, if you don’t have enough good players, you won’t win.

UConn doesn’t have enough.

It seems to me that it will be very hard to build the program. The league is a tough sell. All of Commissioner Mike Aresco’s propaganda aside, Tulsa, East Carolina, Temple and the rest are hard sells. They are hard sells to fans and hard sells to prospective players.

I enjoy going to the games at Rentschler — although no one has come close to figuring out to how to get cars in and out of the place — and if you get a seat with a chairback, it’s a comfortable place to watch a game.

The attendance on opening night was 24,435. That would be smaller than any crowd at Yankee Stadium since the place opened in 2009. It would be smaller than any crowd at Fenway Park since forever. But it was about right.

There is this notion some hold that the fans should show up, support the team, and watch it get better (maybe!). Nonsense. We will come if they win. Win first. That’s how it works here in the Northeast. Gotta win. The Yankees and Red Sox draw because they win. If the Sox or Yanks were to post a couple of 70-92 seasons, you could have your choice of seats.

Maybe at Alabama or Penn State every seat is filled all the time. This ain’t Alabama.

And. There has to be a better way of getting cars in and out of The Rent. It took me 15 minutes to get to the venue from Middletown. It then took me 20 more minutes as I followed the Yellow Brick Road to where I was allowed to park. See, I’m a peasant. I don’t have season tickets and I don’t make donations to UConn athletics, so I was sentenced to the Red Lot, which is located on Mars.

First I had to drive up Main St., past Pratt and Whitney, then loop around to the — apparently — one legal entrance. Then I had to drive past Privileged Persons’ lots, past the stadium, then more than another third of a mile past the stadium — and more half-filled lots — before I was allowed to park.

How about first-come, first-served parking? I mean, at Yankee Stadium that’s the way it is. Why not at The Rent? And there were only 24,000 folks there. What happens if — minor miracle — 40,000 show up. Heck, it’s easier to drive to and park at Fenway.

Best teams

Outside of football, look for the following teams to be really good. Middletown’s boys and girls crosscountry teams and Xavier’s cross-country team should be very good. Mercy’s runners ought to be right there, too.

Coginchaug’s runners, both boys and girls, look to be solid again. The MHS girls swim team, Portland’s girls soccer team, H-K’s boys soccer team and the MHS girls soccer team all appear poised to have big seasons. Look for Middletown’s and Xavier’s boys soccer teams to be better. There will be some surprises along the way, so stay tuned.

Here and there

WCNXRadio.com, the local Internet station owned by Judy and John Clark, will carry the Xavier vs. NFA game Friday ... it will carry the Bristol Eastern at Middletown game on Sept. 15 ... the station is slated to carry 15 games, five Middletown, four Xavier, five South Windsor and one Cromwell/Portland game ... this winter, it will televise high school basketball games along with the traditional Internet radio broadcasts.

Detroit second baseman Ian Kinsler was fined $10,000 for criticizing umpire Angel Hernandez ... umpires protested that Kinsler wasn’t suspended by wearing arm bands for a day .... only problem is, Kinsler was right ... Hernandez is widely regarded as one of MLB’s worst umpires.

Eduardo Nunez has hurt the Yankees as a member of the Red Sox ... come to think of it, he has hurt the Yankees throughout his MLB career ... I bought a ticket at the gate for the UConn game .... I asked for a ticket with a chairback on the press box side ... she sold me a ticket with a chairback, but on the opposite side ... sigh ... I will pay for the chairback ... the vast majority of seats at The Rent are aluminum slabs and my back doesn’t like that.

How much practice do Division I athletes put in? ... I visited with my young friend MHS alum and sophomore Jack Doherty at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., last week .... we went to dinner on Aug. 28 ... that was his first day of swim practice .... the season ends in late March and after the season ends, they practice until school lets out in May .... yikes.

By the way, Colonial Williamsburg is magnificent .... the whole area ... the historic area, the restaurants, the college ... all are stunningly beautiful ... and not expensive, at least in midto late August .... I stayed at the Governor’s Inn, a Colonial Williamsburg property, for $65 a night ... nice pool, free breakfast ... admission to the exhibits in Colonial Williamsburg was a discounted $31 and the restaurants, both modern and colonial, are reasonably priced ... you can take Amtrak from Berlin, change in New Haven, and the choochoo will take you straight to Williamsburg and drop you off at the train station, just 300 yards from Governor’s Inn ... just being a travel guide.

This is written before the Sunday night Yankee vs. Sox game ... if the Yanks won, they’re in the race for the division title ... if not, it’s wild card race time ... when a guy like Justin Verlander can be traded on Aug. 31, a move that totally impacts the postseason, something is wrong with the system.

I was skeptical about the location of Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford ... but so far, I was wrong as the park and the Yard Goats have been wildly popular, drawing nearly 400,000 fans ... but let’s be careful ... the New Britain Rock Cats drew a similar number in 2011, averaging 5,867 fans. actually a better average than the Yard Goats’ average of 5,812 this year, as Susan Bigelow pointed out in her column of Sept. 2 in The Press.

The Rock Cats attendance began to drop in 2012 — when current Yard Goats owner Josh Solomon bought the team — and fell to 4,051 in 2015 ... so forgive me for not jumping on this-stadium-is-the-bestthing-since-sliced-bread bandwagon ... let’s give it a few years after the newness wears off ... but I will say this: it’s a great stadium, far easier to get to than I thought it would be, and so far, so good.

Let’s get rid of all the preliminaries ... Giants vs. Pats in the Super Bowl.