Politics has ruined the NFL Part 1

The National Anthem Protest Has Ruined Football

Part 1 - Kaepernick's selfishness

Let me begin by saying that I have never been a die-hard football fan.  There are some teams I’ve liked and cheered for over the years but I have never bought a jersey and never been very passionate about “my team.”  In all honesty, there are times when the only team I cheer for is the one playing against the Eagles or Cowboys.  I find the fans of both of those teams to be particularly irksome and I derive perverse pleasure in giving them crap.  Because I don’t have a team to which I am wedded, it is often easy to dish out a lot of grief to those teams’ fans. 

In spite of being a milquetoast fan, I have always enjoyed watching the games.  I enjoy the strategy, the emotion, the physicality and the talent that is displayed every Sunday.   Watching the games is sometimes just a way to “veg out” on a Sunday afternoon.  I’ve enjoyed keeping up with the league in the past.

But not this year.  This year, the players decided to force me to understand their politics.  Strangely, I’m pretty sure most of these guys don’t even really know what it is they are protesting and the reason seems to change from week to week.  Colin Kaepernick said he would not “stand up to show pride in a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”  He went on to take a jab at police by saying “There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”  Those are his words.  That is what the protest is about.  He expressly said he will not show pride in his country because of how he believes black people are treated by law enforcement.

So because Kaepernick doesn’t have pride in his country and has a dim view of law enforcement, he chose to use the occasion of the National Anthem to express those views.  This is where I have a problem.  Having those views is one thing.  Using the National Anthem to get those points across is where I take issue. 

 Kaepernick and those with a similar point of view have a monopoly on political expression during football games.  How is that fair?  How would a player express any other political position?  If a player felt strongly that the State of California was criminally trampling his 2^nd Amendment rights, how could he show that during a game?  If a player was passionately opposed to our immigration laws, is there a way to get that point across?  If another player felt the minimum wage was too low, how could he use his time during the game to promote that idea? 

See the problem?  Kaepernick chose the one part of the game that involves something beyond football and made it about his agenda.  Now that he’s out of the league, many other players have taken up his cause but Kaepernick is the one who defined the protest.  Kneeling during the Anthem is a protest about race relations and police brutality.  To kneel is to express solidarity with that point of view.  He stole that moment for his politics. 

To me, the kneeling protest is disgusting.  It is selfish because it precludes any other political points of view.  It stifles debate.  It is divisive.  One has only to look at the other players and realize that each of them must decide if they agree with the Kaepernick political position.  Even if they agree with him, they have to decide to what degree they agree.  They have to decide what kneeling or standing represents.  Does it represent a belief that our nation is so fundamentally flawed that no respect is needed or do they think that in spite of its flaws, it is still worthy of respect.  Do they see that the freedoms we have were paid for by the blood of patriots and that work still needs done to live up to our stated ideals? 

Instead of focusing on football, every single player has to confront these questions in the moments before the game.  They have no choice.  They have to decide every single week because Kaepernick put them in this position.