Colin Kaepernick, who started it all, is now a hero and is being compared to Muhammad Ali
12 Cleveland Browns player sat on their overpaid sorry asses during the playing of the National Anthem. On Wednesday, several hundred protesters stood in front of the NFL headquarters and demanded that Colin Kaepernick be picked up by one of the NFL teams.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is to blame for all the disrespect shown our National Anthem and our flag by NFL players who choose to sit on their no good asses instead of standing to honor our flag.
It all started a year ago when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand when our anthem was played. At the time Kaeppernick explained:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
It seems obvious that Kaepernick is talking about the police getting away with murder. At the time there was the big brouhaha about white cops killing black men and not being charged for their deaths.
Instead of fining the son-of-a-bitch and dropping him from the team, 49ers coach Chip Kelly said his quarterback had the right as a citizen to protest by not standing during the playing of the national anthem and he did not intend to take any action against Kaepernick.
Worst of all, instead of suspending Kaepernick, Commissioner Goodell released this statement:
"Well my personal thoughts are... I support our players when they want to see change in society, and we don't live in a perfect society. We live in an imperfect society. On the other hand, we believe very strongly in patriotism in the NFL. I personally believe very strongly in that. I think it's important to have respect for our country, for our flag, for the people who make our country better; for law enforcement, and for our military who are out fighting for our freedoms and our ideals.
What a load of double talk. First Goodell supports Kaepernick’s defiant disrespect for our flag and then he said it was “important to have respect for our country, for our flag.” Sorry Comish, you cannot have it both ways.
Had Goodell taken strong disciplinary action against Kaepernick, we would not be in this sorry mess where more and more NFL players refuse to stand for the anthem, including 12 Browns players.
A year ago it was a protest against the ‘murder’ of black men by white cops. Today it’s a protest against Charlottesville and President Trump saying there were ‘very fine people’ on both sides. In either case, these displays of anti-Americanism are being used as a black power push by Black Lives Matter.
Last Tuesday, several hundred fist-saluting protesters stood in front of the NFL headquarters. Did they protest against the players that are disrespecting our flag? No, not at all. They were there to demand that Kaepernick, who was dropped by the 49ers and not picked up by another team, be picked up by one of the NFL teams. One of the few white faces in the crowd was that of uber-left actress Susan Sarandon who shows up at a lot of anti-American rallies.
One of the speakers went so far as to compare Kaepernick to Muhammad Ali, an absurd comparison already made by Spike Lee and other lefty luminaries. Someone needs to wise up these knuckleheads that Colin Kaepernick is no Muhammad Ali!
Standing during the playing of our National Anthem shows that we respect our country and the flag under which countless of soldiers have died to protect the rights we enjoy under the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. How many of the players refusing to stand for the anthem have ever served in the military? I’ll bet none of them have.
We are not the only ones that stand for the National Anthem. The British, the French, the Germans, the Canadians, etc. all stand when their national anthem is played.
The National Hockey League has teams in Canadian and U.S. cities. The teams are composed of Canadian, Russian, Swedish, Czech, American and players from several other countries. All NHL players stand when the Canadian or American anthems are played, regardless of what country they are citizens of. I am sure the NHL would not tolerate any player sitting down while the Canadian or American anthem was being played. Hockey coach John Tortorella says, “If any of my players sit on the bench for the national anthem, they will sit there the rest of the game.”
If Roger Goodell had acted against Kaepernicick in a way that it cost him a shitload of money, we wouldn’t be having any players sitting on their sorry asses. Money talks, bullshit walks!
And if Goodell is unhappy that his headquarters were confronted by a large crowd of rabble rousers, he has only himself to blame. Had he kicked Kaerpernick out of the league, none of the other players would have disrespected the flag and there probably wouldn’t be any demonstration in front of his office.
Now Kaepernick had every right to exercise his free speech, but the form he exercised it in should have had immediate consequences. The 499ers may have dropped Kaepernick because he sat down when he should have stood up and his inability thus far to land on another team may be for the same reason. But the 49ers waited a year too long and probably dropped him only because he was an ineffective quarterback.
A note to Roger Goodell: Don’t give us that shit about how patriotic you are when in fact you are very unpatriotic for letting NFL players defiantly disrespect our flag.
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