John Hopkins-Hill
Wide Write
The leader of the free world took time from his busy schedule to weigh in on protests during the national anthem at NFL games.
While I have to admit, it was a nice distraction from the seemingly inevitable war with North Korea, hurricanes, NAFTA, Brexit and the fact the Buffalo Sabres won’t make the playoffs this year, it definitely reminded me how insane it is that Colin Kaepernick can’t find work in the NFL.
With 32 NFL teams, there are close to 100 quarterbacks signed to rosters.
I’m supposed to believe that Kaepernick isn’t among the top 100 quarterbacks in the world?
In a league where you can beat your kids, drink and drive, assault people, use drugs and be charged with domestic violence, protesting the mistreatment of minorities is a bridge too far.
Protesting during the Star Spangled Banner is too much for some to bear, forgetting that free speech is free all the time and that protests that don’t create controversy or inconvenience are largely ineffective.
The more the discussion shifts to the protest, the more the original message is being lost. That is the truly unfortunate part.
Although less common than in years past, there are still those who demand athletes remove themselves from politics and “just play the game.”
Worst of all, some try to discredit the views of athletes as if their jobs in retail or industry somehow better qualify them to have opinions on things. Hilariously, these are also often the same people who discredit experts and despise career politicians.
Let’s just face facts.
Kaepernick’s protest was working, right up until those who disagree reframed the entire dis- cussion as a question of respect for the flag and the troops.
It’s great to see so many people actively engaging in discussion about a topic that would otherwise be ignored, and maybe all this rhetoric will result in real change.
If sports weren’t meant to be political, perhaps they shouldn’t start every major sporting event with a flyover from some type of military aircraft.
There truly are no winners in this debate, but until we begin to try to understand how the world is for others, we’re going to be stuck in the spin cycle.
You may not like it, but that’s football and that’s life.