Wrapping itself in the American flag, the NFL has put dissenting players back under its thumb.
League owners approved a new national anthem policy, voting Wednesday to force any player tempted to protest during “The Star-Spangled Banner” to make a difficult choice: Stand as the anthem is performed, with the threat of a team fine for any display of disrespect. Or refuse to join teammates on the field and remain behind in the locker room.
In the NFL, patriotism will now be measured by taking roll. What players are present for the anthem? And which malcontents are hiding in the stadium shadows?
But here’s the real guilt trip the league is laying on players. With Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall as proof, I know a strong-willed athlete will risk the wrath of fans to take a knee in protest of social injustice. No good teammate, however, wants to turn his back on his football brothers as they walk on the field to do battle in what Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe calls a “gladiator sport.”
Maybe I’m not smart enough to know the meaning of draconian, but forcing a player to choose between his moral convictions and team loyalty is messed up, for sure.
“I’m going to stand for the national anthem. I think I’ve made that clear,” Wolfe said. “Whatever anybody else wants to do, that’s their decision and they have a right to their opinion. They can do whatever they want, as long as they stay in the locker room, I guess.”
While commissioner Roger Goodell declared league personnel “owe” respect for the anthem, he insisted franchise owners “were also very sensitive to give players choices.”
But what impact can there be from a protest nobody can see or hear?
I would like to believe the league’s solution to a thorny problem is about the respect for red, white and blue. But it’s really all about the color of money. The new anthem policy is born not out of patriotism but the ardent defense of the bottom line.
Television ratings for NFL games fell 9.7 percent during the 2017 regular season, according to numbers registered by Nielsen. Polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports and UBS Securities suggested fan disapproval of the take-a-knee protests was a primary factor in decreased viewership.
The anthem debate is a political football, with so much tussling that nobody listens. I think players should stand during the anthem, which is why I’ve told Marshall in the past I support his cause but felt taking a knee was the wrong tactic. The Broncos linebacker patiently heard me out, then respectfully stuck to his convictions until he again felt comfortable standing during the anthem.
Marshall, however, is far more reasonable than fanatics on either side of this heated argument. They are convinced the only two sides of the story are right and wrong. It seems to me the hate loudly spewed in the anthem debate might be a greater threat to America than any silent protest.
A sport generating $14 billion in annual revenue is big business, so it only makes sense the NFL would put business before individual freedom in implementation of a new anthem policy. Cleveland Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor expressed disappointment players had no input. Does this move guarantee an end to protests that have offended loyal NFL customers? Not if you believe New York Jets CEO Christopher Johnson, who has insisted “trying to forcibly get the players to shut up is a fantastically bad idea” and won’t discourage his players from kneeling in the future.
But the league has put the players on notice: Respect the flag. Stand for the song.
It also might be the appropriate time to issue more-detailed guidelines to everyone quick to condemn players as ungrateful for all America has given them.
Now that the NFL has re-established the sanctity of the anthem, perhaps the league should deploy security throughout the stadium from the first notes of “Oh, say, can you see” right through “and the home of the brave,” in order to halt the sale of $9 beers, lock the doors to the press box bathroom and eject that knucklehead in Section 232 so busy texting on his cellphone he forgot to remove his “Broncos Country” cap during a song demanding the utmost respect from every truly patriotic American.