Drew Kerekes

No matter what, I was unable to escape a discussion about the NFL players’ protest during our country’s national anthem in the past week. 

Whether it was a text message from a co-worker or a conversation at a family lunch this past Monday, everyone seemed to have an opinion — and seemed to insist on sharing that opinion.

It’s still a hot-button issue and was easily the biggest story in sports before news came of the FBI’s involvement in an investigation of alleged bribes and fraud in college basketball. A week later, even with the college basketball investigation dominating the headlines, it’s still being discussed quite a bit. As such, I’ve decided to break down several thoughts I have about the issue:

•Colin Kaepernick has created a firestorm

Unless you haven’t been following this story at all, you know by know the idea of kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner” began in 2016 with then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick chose not to stand to protest what he called oppression to fellow black Americans by law enforcement and the country’s criminal justice system.

Depending on your political persuasion, you either immediately began to praise Kaepernick for his actions, or deride and scapegoat him. His kneeling during the anthem seems to have come at a personal cost: Kaepernick remains unsigned as an NFL free agent, and there is speculation of collusion between the league’s teams not to sign him. Others, though, feel Kaepernick simply isn’t a good enough player to warrant the extra attention that would come with signing him, a la Tim Tebow.

I’ve written previously I had no problem with Kaepernick not kneeling during the national anthem (http://bit.ly/2ywui2X), since he’s doing it out of genuine conviction and it doesn’t prevent me from standing at attention with my hand over my heart when I hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” playing. Others feel it’s disrespectful not just to the American flag, but to those who have fought and died defending America. 

The fact is, though, whether it’s Kaepernick or anyone else, the people who don’t like these athletes kneeling during the anthem would have a problem with any form of protest at all, whether it was right before a football game or in front of a police station. It’s the message that’s their real gripe, not the form of protest.

•First Amendment?

Sorry to any left-leaning folks reading this column, but no, neither Kaepernick nor anyone else has a “First Amendment right” to do what they’re doing.

Yes, our constitution’s first amendment protects free speech. In other words, when I was attending public school, I had the right not to stand during the pledge of allegiance if I so desired. When I was attending the University of Alabama, an open-air preacher went to the school’s free-speech zone outside of the Ferguson Center and proceeded to call everyone all kinds of horrible names in hopes of winning them to Jesus. (Go to YouTube and search “Brother Micah” if you want some context. Be warned — the topics are incredibly vulgar.)

The NFL is a different matter entirely. Because the NFL teams are private businesses, the players’ employers could demand their employees stand during the anthem, and they would have to obey or risk consequences. Similarly, I could walk down the street wearing a shirt with a vulgar phrase on it because of my right to free speech, but I could not wear that same shirt to work without my employers demanding it be removed. 

While the NFL owners do have the right to tell their players to stand, it may not be in their best interest to do so. It is likely a great many of the league’s athletes sympathize with Kaepernick’s stance on some level. Let’s say Team A wants to sign a free agent that was the missing piece to being a Super Bowl contender. Team A also demanded its players stand during the anthem, but the player in question wants to kneel. What if Team A’s stance prevents it from signing the aforementioned player?

•The president should have kept his mouth shut

No matter our political persuasion, I think most of us can agree someone needs to take away President Trump’s Twitter account, if for no other reason than to focus more on pressing issues. I’m no fan of Trump — anyone who follows me on Twitter likely knows this by now — so take my opinion for what it’s worth: He shouldn’t have said anything.

At a campaign event in Huntsville, Ala., recently, Trump said the following: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now, out, he’s fired’?”

This, predictably, caused an enormous backlash amongst NFL players and owners. Suddenly, the kneeling became far more widespread, with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones even bending the knee. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Trump’s comments “demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL.” 

Trump took to Twitter for several days following the comments to continue demanding the players stand during the anthem. If the plan was to pressure NFL owners into compliance, though, it seems to have had the opposite effect. Instead of putting out the fire, he threw gasoline all over it. 

•Ratings are down

According to a USA Today story (http://bit.ly/2xSfMD8), NFL ratings were down to 15.8 million viewers during the first three weeks of the season compared to 17.6 million during the first three weeks of 2016.

Is there a correlation between the protests and people tuning away? There is no doubt a number of outspoken NFL fans can’t stand the protests. When Jerry Jones knelt with his players during the anthem, Cowboy fans booed loudly. Still, it’s difficult to say how much the ratings decline is actually affected by the protests.

The aforementioned USA Today article notes the following: “One problem with making a direct, causal link between NFL ratings and protests: The firestorm of controversy in the past few days doesn’t explain the down drift of ratings during the season’s first two weeks, when any kneeling protest drew little attention.” I think it’s likely the ratings are dipping regardless, as TV ratings are down across the board thanks to cord-cutting. 

That’s not to deny the protests could be reinforcing peoples’ decisions that have already chosen to tune out. I’ve long suspected a similar situation with cord-cutting and ESPN, as that network continues to lose viewers and receives backlash for its personalities’ sharing of political viewpoints. I’m just not convinced the protests by themselves are the driving force in the ratings declining. 

Drew Kerekes is the sports editor at The Meridian Star. He can be reached at dkerekes@themeridianstar.com.