›› Sports world roiled by Trump spat over anthem protests.
Dallas Cowboys players and team owner Jerry Jones linked arms and knelt briefly before the national anthem at Monday night’s NFL game against the Cardinals in Glendale, Ariz.
Players from both teams then stood for the anthem in the latest chapter in a busy day in the fallout from President Donald Trump’s weekend tweets about players who protest during the national anthem. The day’s highlights: • Trump suggested that fans not watch games on TV in protest of the league’s laissez-faire attitude toward players kneeling during the national anthem. The early ratings are mixed. CBS said audiences in the 56 major markets for its Sunday doubleheaders were up 4 percent from last year’s Week 3 coverage. Fox’s singleheader was down 15.6, and NBC’s Raiders-Washington game was down 10.1 percent from a Bears-Cowboys game in 2016. Trump’s comments had a significant impact on pregame shows. “The NFL Today” on CBS had its best rating since 2010, and Fox’s two pregame shows also were up by 30 percent for the early “Fox NFL Kickoff” show and by 9 percent for “Fox NFL Sunday.”
• Pittsburgh tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a West Point graduate and U.S. Army Ranger who was deployed in Afghanistan, said he never intended to stand alone during the national anthem at Chicago and apologized to his teammates for what he called “a very embarrassing” butchering of the team’s pregame plan of remaining in the locker room for the anthem. “Every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself, I feel embarrassed,” Villanueva said.
• Among some of the NFL’s major sponsors, Ford Motor Co., Armour Inc. and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA issued statements that affirmed players’ rights to kneel during the national anthem while also sounding patriotic notes and affirming their support of the flag. Two sponsors, starting with Nike, made more definitive statements. Nike said it “supports athletes and their right to freedom of expression on issues that are of great importance to our society.” Hyundai Motor Co. also took a more direct stance: “We stand for and respect individuals’ freedoms to express their First Amendment rights in any peaceful manner in which they choose.”
• New England quarterback Tom Brady, who has a long friendship with Trump, would not talk politics Sunday after the Patriots’ victory over the Texans, but he expanded a bit on his local radio show in Boston. “Yeah, I certainly disagree with what (Trump) said. I thought it was just divisive. I believe in bringing people together and respect and love and trust. Those are the values that my parents instilled in me.”
• Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, who caused a stir by tweeting “U Bum” at Trump after the president withdrew an invitation for the NBA champion Golden State Warriors to visit the White House, did not back down. “I’m not going to let — while I have this platform — to let one individual, no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have or she should have, ever use sports as a platform to divide us. I will lend my voice, I will lend passion, I will lend my money, I will lend my resources to my youth and my inner city and outside my inner city to let these kids know that there is hope, there is greater walks of life, and not one individual, no matter if it’s the president of the United States or if it’s someone in your household, can stop your dreams from becoming a reality.”
• Trump tweeted that he was proud of NASCAR because no drivers, crew or other team members protested during the national anthem before Sunday’s race at Loudon, N.H. Several team owners had said they wouldn’t want anyone in their organizations to protest. Richard Childress, who was Dale Earnhardt’s longtime team owner, was more direct and said of protesting: “It’ll get you a ride on a Greyhound bus.” Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver who will retire at the end of the season, tweeted Monday in support of peaceful protest. “All Americans R granted rights 2 peaceful protests. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable-JFK.”