Cleveland Browns just before the game
photo credit : The Telegraph
UPDATE at 7:04 (see next blog here).
There’s tons of commentary on the NFL’s growing disrespect for our National Anthem and flag, and by extension, the American people. The essay by Daniel John Sobieski at American Thinker struck me as one of the best. Here’s a short extract:
Those who take a knee were indeed given that
right by many who no longer have knees and are privileged to take a knee in a
sport paid for by millions of fans who may disagree with them and who paid to
see a game, not a protest. Players who take a knee think they are being
patriotic, when they are merely being self-indulgent and selfish. Go rent out a
stadium and invite people to pay just to see you take a knee and see if anybody
shows up.
Intoxicated with their own
sense of self-righteousness today’s athlete-protesters look more like rich
drunks spouting nonsense than responsible citizens seeking redress. And in
doing so they have popped the sports bubble and reminded us that we should stop
idolizing overprivileged millionaire Millennials who disrespect this country,
her people, and her history. Millions of Americans have recoiled at the
divisiveness brought into sports by people like Kaepernick and Curry. And for
this we can thank them.
The rest of Buskirk’s
essay is here.
It’s a sad day when Steelers player Alejandro Villanueva makes headlines for standing for our Anthem; then the coach deplores Villanuevo's decision (while
inadvertently exhibiting his support for lockstep groupthink); the rest of
the Steelers hide in the locker room; and the Browns lose again -- in more ways
than one.
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