Not only would national anthem policy for NFL be harmful, it would be hollow
ATLANTA — Memo to NFL owners: Forcing players to stand for the national anthem would be a huge mistake.
Sure, football players undoubtedly love their country and respect the armed forces. Yet with the league's owners set to begin two days of meetings Tuesday — the agenda includes discussion of possibly revising the anthem policy to effectively adopt an anti-kneeling clause — it is a great time for the league to prove just how much it gets it by … doing nothing to bully players over this issue.
Besides, an anti-kneeling policy would seem rather hollow with Colin Kaepernick and his former San Francisco 49ers teammate, safety Eric Reid, out of work as they pursue collusion cases against the NFL. That Kaepernick, a quarterback in his prime, can’t land a job in a league with a fair share of sorry passers, is about as un-American as it gets. Reid’s only legitimate sniff on the free agent market abruptly ended when he wouldn’t promise Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown that he wouldn’t kneel to further protest police brutality and other social injustices victimizing African-Americans.
The NFL is fashioned as a meritocracy, open for the best players to claim jobs based on competition. Yet in the case of Kaepernick and now Reid, we know better. Whether they can prove collusion or not, this is what being blackballed looks like.
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