Sports and the National Anthem … Oh Say Can We Stop? Please?
Follow
By DERON SNYDER (as published on Medium)
Here we go again. Prepare for another round of NFL players taking a knee, Donald Trump giving them the finger, owners grimacing in their suites, and commissioner Roger Goodell serving as a punching bag.
Suddenly, the 2020 season is poised to resemble the 2016 season, when Colin Kaepernick and his “Perilous Fight” landed on the cover of Time magazine and Trump later hammered the league, offering advice to owners when players kneel during the national anthem: “Say ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired.”
Kaepernick and other players were peacefully protesting police brutality, but critics said it disrespected the flag and the country. The national anthem became a national obsession. Before then, it was such a big deal that networks neglected to air it; they ran commercials instead, making a point of making a profit.
