Editorial

It Sounds Like A Large Percentage Of Black NFL Players Will Kneel During The National Anthem This Season

OPINION
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David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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It sounds like a massive amount of black NFL players will kneel during the national anthem this upcoming season.

Kneeling during the national anthem is front and center again after New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ comments and President Donald Trump’s reaction. Now, it sounds like the 2020 season will resemble what we all saw a few years ago when kneeling overtook the league. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

ESPN’s Jason Reid tweeted early Monday morning in part, “Spoken/texted with many NFL officials, coaches, players and former players over the weekend. All saying the question, at least at this moment, isn’t whether black players will kneel. Question is, how many won’t?”

Bang up job, everyone! Just excellent work from all parties involved! After Colin Kaepernick’s protest took the NFL by storm a few years ago, the NFL had finally put an end to it.

Fans were happy, TV ratings were booming and were back to enjoying sports without politics. Now, it sounds like we’re going to be thrust right back into that chaos.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused. In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character. This is where I stand: I stand with the black community in the fight against systemic racial injustice and police brutality and support the creation of real policy change that will make a difference. I condemn the years of oppression that have taken place throughout our black communities and still exists today. I acknowledge that we as Americans, including myself, have not done enough to fight for that equality or to truly understand the struggles and plight of the black community. I recognize that I am part of the solution and can be a leader for the black community in this movement. I will never know what it’s like to be a black man or raise black children in America but I will work every day to put myself in those shoes and fight for what is right. I have ALWAYS been an ally, never an enemy. I am sick about the way my comments were perceived yesterday, but I take full responsibility and accountability. I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening…and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen. For that, I am very sorry and I ask your forgiveness.

A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees) on

The sad part is that Drew Brees had no reason at all to apologize. Believing you should stand during the anthem and not doing so is disrespectful isn’t a fringe opinion.

It’s an opinion held by millions and millions of people.

Buckle up, folks. The 2020 NFL season sounds like it’s going to be absolute chaos and it’s going to be full of politics.

As a guy who loves football, I hate seeing stuff like this unfold. Whether you support the protests or not, we shouldn’t ruin football by letting it become a partisan political debate.

Let’s hope this doesn’t derail the season, but I fear it will.