Admittedly, I’m conflicted over the National Football League/Star Spangled Banner controversy.
There are people who, long ago, earned my respect yet have an opinion 180 degrees opposite mine, and that includes my wife.
What I do know is that the NFL got it 100 percent wrong by adopting its current posture.
Clearly, the league’s owners felt bullied by the president who, early on, realized that criticizing protesting pro football players resonated loudly with his base. But, in fairness, there are also myriad fans who are not Trump supporters yet are in total agreement with his opposition.
Well, probably not the telling NFL players “you’re fired” or “maybe you shouldn’t be in the country” part.
Still, it’s clear the protests started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last preseason haven’t been universally accepted by the ticket-buying public.
Indeed, I have friends who have quit on the NFL, at least temporarily, and others who have given up pro football entirely. Their theory is simple: who are these wealthy, pampered, out-of-touch athletes to be lecturing, via body language, about persecuted minorities with whom seemingly few can identify?
And, it’s had an effect.
Ticket sales to NFL games, supposedly, have remained relatively stable, but TV ratings have fallen enough to get network executives’ attention.
When Kaepernick first sat during the national anthem as a protest, my reaction was profound aggravation and annoyance, though I didn’t question his sincerity.
Then he talked to former Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, once an NFL long-snapper, who told him sitting was disrespectful, but that kneeling would demonstrate his protest while also respecting the anthem.
To me, that was good advice.
As a Vietnam-era veteran and a proud American, in my mind that seemed a good solution to a potentially incendiary problem.
It turns out, after only a few weeks, the number of kneeling players quickly dwindled to a point where, by season’s end, only about 20 were still engaging in the protest. To me, that was predictable as, it could be argued, for at least some of the early kneelers, it was more about calling attention to themselves, than the Black Lives Matter movement.
But the president, at rallies in front of his base, kept the issue alive … and hijacked the attention of NFL owners.
Perceiving a problem that needn’t have been, the billionaire’s club, at its annual meeting, came up with a perfectly ridiculous alternative.
Players could protest the anthem, but they had to stay in the locker room to do it.
Of course, blacks comprise 70 percent of NFL rosters and the percentage of those who knelt was closer to 95.
The owners’ solution smacked of blatant racism … if you want to protest, go to a place where the fans and TV cameras can’t see you. It’s sort of the 2018 version of “please move to the rear of the bus.”
And at the risk of my being seen as part of the “liberal media,” it’s hard to deny there are some obvious constitutional concerns at work with this issue, starting with the First Amendment.
But it took a white NBA coach, Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors, to sum up the folly.
“It’s just typical of the NFL,” he said of the banished-to-the-locker-room protests. “They’re just playing to their fan base. They’re basically trying to use the anthem as fake patriotism, nationalism … scaring people.
“It’s idiotic, but that’s how the NFL is handling its business. I’m proud to be in a league (80 percent of the NBA is black) that understands patriotism in America is about free speech.”
Could somebody please tell that to Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL owners?
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
