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.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

The man-child-in-chief has some very strong, and stupid, opinions about people making peaceful protests at sporting events.

To be fair, there is a "long tradition" at NFL games to consider.

It's a tribute to the NFL's ability to drape itself in the flag that nobody even realizes that – prior to 2009 – players being on the field for the national anthem wasn't even standard practice.

...

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed this morning the practice began in 2009, adding, 'As you know, the NFL has a long tradition of patriotism. Players are encouraged but not required to stand for the anthem.' Add in the fact that the NFL received millions of taxpayer dollars from the Department of Defense and the National Guard for patriotic displays, and it puts the entire Kaepernick hullabaloo in a different light. "Fans should have confidence that their hometown heroes are being honored because of their honorable military service, not as a marketing ploy," Senator John McCain, the Vietnam War veteran and P.O.W., saidin a statement last year coinciding with "Tackling Paid Patriotism," a joint oversight report released by McCain and his fellow Arizona Republican Senator John Flake.

In fact, it's been overlooked that this "Paid Patriotism" scandal resulted in the NFL returning a small amount of that taxpayer money last year.

This is the perfect reply to those who think you should "keep politics out of sports", as if professional sports is somehow sacred. Eliminate taxpayer-funded F14 flyovers and military bands and then we'll talk about getting politics out of sports.

The Star-Spangled banner wasn't played at baseball games until the 1918 World Series, and it wasn't played at regular season games until WWII.



While the Star-Spangled banner was not designated by the president as the national anthem until 1916, and not by Congress until 1931, the anthem was long favored by the military.

Even after WWII things didn't always go in one direction.



In the 1950s, the Baltimore Orioles, of all teams, decided that playing "The Banner" before every game cheapened its impact. The general manager at the time decided that he was going to only play it during special occasions.

The Chicago Cubs owner felt the same way. And he did not play "The Banner" before every game until the '60s, during the Vietnam War. And even in the 1960s, the Chicago White Sox experimented with substituting "God Bless America."

While Colin Kaepernick's protest is known to all, the truth is that professional athletes protesting during the National Anthem is not a new thing.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Carlos Delgado have all made statements, and paid for them.

Then there is that sacred song itself. How many people actually know all the words?



"The Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 about the American victory at the Battle of Fort McHenry. We only sing the first verse, but Key penned three more. This is the third verse: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a Country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. The mere mention of "slave" is not entirely remarkable; slavery was alive and well in the United States in 1814. Key himself owned slaves, was an anti-abolitionist and once called his African brethren "a distinct and inferior race of people."

Some interpretations of these lyrics contend Key was, in fact, taking pleasure in the deaths of freed black slaves who had fought with the British against the United States.

So yeah. We should show respect for a song that celebrates killing slaves who fight for their freedom.