I could readily be a football addict. My watching time had to be severely limited for me to be able to accomplish anything else during football season. Listening, however, was a different matter. Some activities could be scheduled so that I could still accomplish something constructive while listening. Listening while driving is a form of multitasking that I could handle, so I have listened avidly whenever having that chance. This last Thursday I had about 40 minutes of time driving to a meeting at my brother’s office. I turned on the radio to discover that it was time for Thursday night football. I turned the radio off! Here’s why.
Wearing our country’s uniform was a responsibility and privilege that I took seriously. Respecting our national anthem and a country that has made immense strides in so many areas is part of the big picture. We have poverty, but our poorest are rich compared to most of the rest of the world. Equality? Not yet to standards of perfection with which I am comfortable, but being not yet perfect does not mean we are dismal failures nor that we have any reason to stop trying. Above all, we have opportunity even though that opportunity is not yet equally accessible to everyone, including many in poverty. Yes, as a country, even a great country, we still have problems. People problems. Problems that we need to address. In spite of those problems, I am proud to have worn the uniform and believe strongly in our country and in our constitution. To me, first amendment rights are inviolable. I was willing to fight for them. That means I support free speech even when I find it personally egregious. As long as it is nonviolent. That means a swastika carrying Nazi, a KKK member, a member of the Westboro baptist church, an antefa adherent all have an absolute right to NONVIOLENT speech in this incredible country. No masks, however, and no property damage. Incidentally, shouting down someone with whom you disagree indicates a profound lack of understanding of the meaning of free speech as do safe zones in college campuses.
The football players and owners who have decided to kneel rather that stand and honor our flag and national anthem are clearly not in the same category as most of the aforementioned. I don’t consider them despicable. Neither are they my heroes. I definitely believe that our constitution guarantees them the right to their actions; how incredible that we live in a country where you can dishonor, even burn, the flag and have an absolute right to do so. I do not particularly care whether anyone else considers their protests a dishonor to the flag. I do. To me it is sad that these pampered exorbitantly paid athletes, most of them college graduates, cannot figure out a more creative way to advance their cause. Black lives do matter—and here for those big city liberals who somehow can ignore the massive number of black youths who are killing each other in the inner cities—-their lives matter too! I believe in racial equality. Racial profiling by the police is unacceptable. I support better training and higher pay for police as well as believe that body cameras are essential and that police who cover up for their fellow officers misdeeds need to be fired or tried as co-conspirators. It would be hard to find a position supported by the athletes with which I disagree other than for their failure to stand for and pay tribute to the flag when the national anthem is played.
My sympathies and support go to the soldier carrying 80 pounds of equipment in scorching weather, risking his or her life for $40,000 per year. My sympathies do not belong to someone receiving a million dollar contract for playing a game. Don’t football layers risk life-altering concussions? Yes. That seems hardly in the same league as risking a bullet between the eyes. They may risk breaking an arm or leg, but have little risk of being maimed for life by having an arm or leg blown of by an IED. Nor do they have any significant risk of losing their life on the field. Whatever the reasons for kneeling when the national anthem is played (heaven forbid it be to pray, for which they would be duly censured), as individuals regardless of color they have managed to completely alienate me by their action. “As for me, give me liberty or give me death” seems to have been replaced with “Pay me enough money and I feel entitled to publicly demonstrate in a way that is incredibly divisive and alienates a large part of the population”. Kneeling in unison prior to or after the national anthem would have been completely acceptable and could have tweaked media curiosity such that the players would have later been able to have an audience to whom they could intelligently voice grievances and concerns. They did not chose that option. Barring some remarkable change, I have simply listened to my last football game. I recognize that not everyone will feel as I do about our country or about the national anthem. That is their absolute right. But for me professional football and everything associated with it can take a hike.
*** Gary A. Howie MSc, PhD *** is business owner/rancher and a Life & Liberty News contributor
