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Yesterday, the Seahawks decided to stay in the locker room during the playing of the National Anthem prior to their game in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans.
The reason?
They were reacting to comments made by President Trump on Friday.
The Seahawks released a statement just prior to game time yesterday that said this:
“As a team, we have decided we will not participate in the national anthem. We will not stand for the injustice that has plagued people of color in this country. Out of love for our country and in honor of the sacrifices made on our behalf, we unite to oppose those that would deny our most basic freedoms. We remain committed in continuing to work towards equality and justice for all. Respectfully, the players of the Seattle Seahawks.”
The Times reports, "In an interview on CBS yesterday, Coach Pete Carroll said, 'This is not about the president, I think the players and the owners have stepped to the front and they've showed you what they think of those comments. This is about something different...this is about a time marking its a new day right now. This is a time to change. Our players are ready to activate. They're ready to be the messengers of the change that is necessary...They're the ones who can reach the young people...This is so crucial that we take this opportunity and make the most of it'."
I am a Seahawks fan. I have never met Pete Carroll, but I have liked him as a public figure and coach. I love to watch football. I'm glad so many professional athletes, including Seahawks, claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Christians.
However...
I am among the growing millions who are becoming disgusted with the presumption of the football players who feel it is their mission and purpose to chastise the American public by publicly refusing to acknowledge our National Anthem and flag.
And I believe Coach Carroll is wrong. It "is" about the president...and our nation.
When Colin Kapernick began kneeling or turning his back toward the flag during the anthem, Barack Obama was president---it certainly was not about the president then. Kapernick, who played for the San Francisco Forty Niners (is now unsigned and not playing in the NFL), apparently had a different agenda.
Even the Left to far Left Seattle Times, Washington Post, New York Times and others are running headlines to this story that clearly indicate yesterday "was" about the president. And America.
And they love it.
Last Friday at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama, President Trump expressed his own personal feelings about professional football players who refuse to acknowledge the flag and our National Anthem.
The president said those players are disrespecting the flag and deserve to lose their jobs.
He said, "That's a total disrespect of our heritage. That's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for," while he encouraged the owners of the teams to take action.
The action he recommended was to fire those players.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say get that [expletive] off the field right now. Out! He's fired," Trump told the crowd in Huntsville who were chanting "USA, USA."
While the Seahawk statement spoke to "injustices toward people of color," the comments of other coaches and spokespeople yesterday spoke in much broader terms---about injustices in general.
If it's discrimination against blacks, perhaps it would be helpful to remember that America fought a war, even pitting family members against one another in some cases, to right the wrongs of slavery.
A president was assassinated because he believed no man can own another man. And hundreds of thousands agreed, laying their own life on the line to abolish slavery.
The Civil War alone claimed 620,000 American lives, nearly half of the 1,264,000 Americans lives lost in all our wars.
And we have continued to pass anti-discrimination laws to insure equal opportunity under our law. In 2008, America elected her first black president.
America is the only country in history to fight a national, civil war over a moral principle.
Why bash our country for "inequities" when they could be grateful and contribute to the healing?
It's difficult to see athletes, many of whom are black, who are paid tens of millions---some hundreds of millions of dollars for their contract to play football, stand against our country and our president, dismissing the interests of the fans who in fact pay their salaries.
And it's also difficult to see them essentially standing on a flag that so many gave their lives for. And that so many of us love, and are proud of.
It is about the president. And it is about disrespect for our country.
In fact, in the game yesterday between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens in London, American players kneeled during the American anthem, then stood during "God Save The Queen, Britain's national anthem.
How would McDonalds respond if the kid working at the drive through window, after taking your money, announced he was going to lecture you about his social beliefs and concerns before he would give you your burger?
If the football players are calling for acceptance of the homosexual agenda---and some are, after taking the money of tens of millions of biblical Christians, they are asking us to disavow biblical teachings on the matter, including the teachings of Jesus Christ Himself.
The same would apply to abortion.
If the players are truly advocating for women's rights, they could encourage the millions who watch them play to become a Christian. Christianity has done more to elevate the value of women than any other belief system in the history of the world.
Whatever these "causes" may be, yesterday the NFL team owners and the NFL itself said, "Thanks for your money---now shut up and listen."
Not all football team owners agree.
Fox Business published an article yesterday in which Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboy's owner, weighed in with a different perspective than his colleagues.
He said, "I do not think this is the place to express yourself in society as we recognize the American flag. So that's not the place to do anything other than honor the flag and everybody that's given up a little bit for it."
KING 5 TV in Seattle was asking people on Facebook Live during half time of the Seahawk's game yesterday how they felt about the game.
King 5 says they were shocked when people began telling them they were not watching the game because they had turned it off after the "statement" the team made during the anthem.
Carmen Behnke told KING 5, "Leaving the Seahawks behind."
Beth Fehr told 5, "Turned TV off when they stayed in the locker room for the national anthem, bye, bye Seahawks. Final insult."
Tiffanie Rind said, "People gave their lives to protect and honor this flag...now we have silly football players thinking they can disrespect it???? Some nerve!"
Curtis Martin told KING 5, "BYE, BYE hawks, burning the 12 flag tonight. You don't respect my flag."
Chris Egan, who was hosting the Facebook Live session for KING 5, said there were some fans that didn't mind the protest but said, "I've never seen anything like this from Seahawk fans in all my 17 years covering the team."
Abraham Lincoln once said, " My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."
It is, Mr. Lincoln. Many of us recognize this. And it is because of people like you and others of like mind who have given their all for their country.
Were he with us today, Lincoln might add his hope is that these overpaid, under informed athletes grow up and get a clue.
Professional football viewership has been in decline since Kapernick began his protest against the anthem last year.
This weekend may be a tipping point that the NFL and television did not anticipate.
No viewers--no money.
Be Informed. Be Thankful for our country.