I have been an avid NFL (and Kansas City Chiefs) fan for 3 decades now. I have 4 binders full of trading cards (yes, I still collect, not like I used to...spend money on adulting things) and am fiercely passionate about the Chiefs (being my hometown, they have been a big part of my life since I was 10 years old).
Ever since has-been QB Colin Kaepernick decided to begin protesting the National Anthem last year to talk about "racial inequality" (and please, I don't need a lecturing from a 29-year-old biracial person who was adopted and raised by a middle class white family who makes $20 million a year to ride the bench) He knows NOTHING about oppression..
The beginning of this season, seeing how this whole protesting has become the spotlight, I said I'm only going to watch the Chiefs this year, I am tired of the protesting. I watch football and other sports to take my mind off the cares of daily life, and it sucks that politics and sports are now intertwining.
I attended a sports bar in Richardson Sunday to watch the Chiefs, and all week I read on Twitter how many players were thinking about "taking a knee" (And #TakeAKnee became a trending hashtag on twitter) I said if ANY Chiefs players kneel I will temporarily take a break from them. And sure enough 2 prominent (one white, one black) Chiefs took a knee, one on the bench, both had their hand over their hearts, but it seemed to me to be a half-hearted effort.
All across the league players demonstrated their disrespect for our flag. Entire teams knelt, some teams stayed in the locker room. Players locked arms as a sign of unity while some knelt while locked in arms. The entire Steelers team was in the tunnel except for one offensive lineman who played at Army and served and received a bronze heart while serving. If ANY player deserves the right to stand attentive to our anthem, it's Villanueva. Later, though, the Steelers head coach had the nerve to chastise him. I lost ALL respect for Mike Tomlin right then.
This whole anthem protesting and racial inequalities is based on half-truths and full lies from the media. And the media isn't helping. They are fanning the flames. They are the ones who show which players are protesting. Quit giving those players the spotlight. Don't focus on them being disrespectful.
I understand they have the first amendment right to peacefully protest, but on the sidelines while the National Anthem is playing, is NOT the time. They are on their company time, being payed (millions) by their employer, to play a child's game. I understand they are using this stage and their occupation to take a stand (or knee) but I look at it from my perspective, and us "regular" folks who work and grind and trying to make a living. I show up at work to work. I try and leave my politics out of it. I may pull a coworker aside and have a one-on-one conversation about something happening in the world, but I understand my job is more important than my political views, while I am on company time. I don't think my boss would appreciate me protesting supposed inequalities while I'm on the clock.
Something else I'm passionate about, and am becoming even moreso, is auto racing. I think everyone knows how big of a racing fan I am. I have been literally my entire life. Going to races in person, be it at the professional NASCAR level all the way to the local dirt track, is some of the most fun you will ever have! The site of 40 cars roaring by you at 200 MPH, to dirt cars sliding through the corners, the smell of the racing fuel, the way the drivers interact with the fans, there's nothing like it. And there is no more patriotic fan base than racing fans. During the anthem, every driver, crew member, and fan is saluting the flag and anthem as it is supposed to be. Saturday night at my local dirt track, before the anthem played, the track announcer said we ALL stand for the anthem. I was at the concession stand and tried to hurry back to salute the flag and honor those who had fallen defending it. Made it back just in time. Hat over my heart, singing word for word, and reflecting. What the flag means to me. As an American. As a Christian. Freedom. Freedom that I live in America. Freedom I have as a Christian and a Child of God. Thinking of those who sacrificed their all for our country and that flag.
I hate to see our anthem at the center of our controversy. If this trend continues, I don't even want to know what lengths those who oppose it will do until it's probably completely removed, because freedom offends them.
I'm glad I live in what is still the greatest country in the world. "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died and gave that right to me, and I'll gladly STAND UP and defend her still today, cause there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA"
"If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, I will hear them from heaven and heal their land" 2 Chronicles 7:14
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