He stood in front of an oversized American flag.

He kept pointing his finger and waving his hands, soaking in the rising cheers.

"USA! USA! USA!"

Then the man standing behind a podium bearing the seal of the president of the United States drew the sharpest divide to date between those who stand and those who sit.

Supporters and protesters.

Backers and attackers.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired!' " President Donald Trump said Friday night, during a political rally in Huntsville, Ala.

Vicious, unflinching words for our heavily conflicted time. A tag line pulled straight from reality TV. "USA! USA! USA!" immediately ringing out in an adoring background.

"You know what's hurting the game more than that?" Trump said, after declaring the NFL was "ruining" the sport by emphasizing hard-contact penalties and enforcing player-safety rules. "When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they're playing our great national anthem.

"The only thing you can do better is if you see it, even if it's one player, leave the stadium. I guarantee things will stop. Things will stop. Just pick up and leave."

Stick to sports?

That's impossible after this.

And this is much, much bigger than hating or loving what Colin Kaepernick started a little more than a year ago.

A Rocket's red glare

The president of the United States - a country founded on the pursuit of freedom - randomly declared that athletes who don't stand during the national anthem should be "fired" on the spot.

"With everything that's going on in our country, why are YOU focused on who's kneeling and visiting the White House??? #StayInYoLane," Rockets guard Chris Paul tweeted.

Then James Harden's new teammate and the president of the National Basketball Players Association added: "I doubt he's man enough to call any of those players a son of a bitch to their face."

At 7:45 a.m. Saturday, Trump followed his condemnation of protesting NFL players by saying the NBA champion Golden State Warriors were no longer invited to the White House.

"Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team," Trump tweeted. "Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"

At 10:17 a.m., three-time NBA champion and four-time MVP LeBron James - one of the biggest sports names on the planet - fired back at the 45th president of the United States.

"U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite," James tweeted. "Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!"

Many NFL teams released statements during the day, backing players and expressing frustration with Trump's comments. The Texans did not issue one.

The sharp public replies and fierce rebuttals to America's president just kept coming.

Goodell, NFLPA weigh in

No fake news. Straight reality.

"The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a rare Saturday morning official statement bearing the NFL's shield. "There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we've experienced over the last month.

"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities."

DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, prefaced his statement with "We no longer can afford to stick to sports."

The voice of the union then echoed the face of the league - also a rarity - which said it all.

"This union … will never back down when it comes to protecting the constitutional rights of our players as citizens, as well as their safety as men who compete in a game that exposes them to great risks," Smith said.

No one said it better than Eric Winston.

The former Texans offensive lineman and current NFLPA president - who has pledged to donate his brain to science for concussion research - issued a statement at 12:17 p.m., lamenting America's "progress as a nation."

"I am extremely disappointed in the statements made by the President (Friday) night," Winston said. "The comments were a slap in the face to the civil rights heroes of the past and present, soldiers who have spilled blood in countless wars to uphold the values of this great nation, and American people of all races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations who seek civil progress as a means to make this country, and this world, a better place.

"Divisiveness breeds divisiveness, but NFL players have proven to unify people in our country's toughest moments and we will continue to do so now. We will not stop challenging others on how we can all come together to continue to make America the greatest country on earth."

You don't have to leave

I don't love the anthem protests. I respect the flag and all the countless sacrifices - daily, for hundreds of years - that have been made to allow us to live in a free, democratic country.

You can watch or change the channel or just turn it off.

You can vote for the right or the left or the middle - or you can abstain.

You can love it or hate it. And if you hate it, you don't have to leave it.

The president obviously is entitled to his personal opinion, just like Michael Bennett, Malcolm Jenkins, Kaepernick, Curry, Paul, James and every one of you.

Trump's words also were delivered in front of an American flag, behind a presidential podium, and are the loudest and most defining message our country sends to the world.

"Get that son of a bitch off the field right now."

"He's fired. He's fired!"

By 1:11 p.m., Trump was breathing fire again.

"If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem," the president tweeted. "If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!"

Still a free country

Tolerance?

Togetherness?

The promise and potential of freedom of speech in America in 2017? That only came from the side that was supposed to stick to sports.

"The peaceful demonstrations by some of our players have generated a wide array of responses," the NFLPA said. "Those opinions are protected speech and a freedom that has been paid for by the sacrifice of men and women throughout history. … The line that marks the balance between the rights of every citizen in our great country gets crossed when someone is told to just 'shut up and play.' "

When NFL Sunday returns, and our TVs light up and stadiums across America roar, the athletes we turn into heroes should stand, sit, kneel or raise a fist during the anthem - whatever they want to do.

This is still a free country. Even when your freedom is being threatened.

"USA! USA! USA!"