There has to be tolerance on both sides

Warren Taylor

October 4, 2017

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October 4, 2017

Gosh, I hate politics.

Like really – there is nothing more unattractive to me than anything that is considered part of the political realm.

I’m that guy who walks away from it all because if not, I know I’d live life angry all of the time. When I see people talking about the president at the water cooler, I turn and walk away. When I see people talking about taxes, health care and foreign policy, I nod and smile, but just hear “blah, blah, blah,” in my head.

Politics are why I am so into sports – because competitions are a release from the real world and a break from the constant reminder of how far we are from where we should be as a society.

OK, I’ve procrastinated long enough. Now, it’s time for me to get to the meat of the column.

Let’s talk about the national anthem and the protests athletes around the country have started which have everyone in an uproar.

Look, before I say anything, I want to say that I’m a patriotic dude.

My grandpa was a veteran. My great uncle was, too. I’m grateful to all of the brave men and women who have served our country and for everyone who’s doing so at present – even in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

I love being an American because I believe that we’re the greatest nation in the world – even for all our warts.

I, myself, stand and put my hand over my heart when the anthem is playing.

And nothing that happens in the coming days or weeks is ever going to change that because I just believe that that’s the right thing to do.

But I’m also a historian of our country and I understand that people here do, indeed, have freedom of expression.

If the NFL doesn’t have a rule in place banning players from kneeling during the playing of the national anthem, then it can and will go on.

They have a right to do it. People have a right to disagree with it and think it’s in bad taste.

That’s just how it works.

If anyone wants my two cents on it all, I believe that we, as a society, should probably stop frowning upon the behavior and should start asking questions about why they’re kneeling in the first place.

This isn’t an act of rebellion. This isn’t a core group of bad apples going rogue to make a scene.

These players are doing this because they have legitimate concerns about racial inequality in the country. If one does enough independent research, it can be concluded that their gripes are valid.

I also see the other side of it and wish the protests could be carried out a little differently. But I also admit that I don’t know how else to do it to keep such a big spotlight on the issue.

My personal feelings aside, the protests have put the NFL in a giant pickle and I, honestly, have no clue how the league gets out of this unscathed without a great financial loss.

A national poll was done this week and thousands of NFL fans around the country were surveyed. More than 40 percent of people said the anthem protests offended them. A little more than 30 percent said they weren’t offended and the rest said they didn’t have a strong vibe either way.

Also this week, DirecTV offered refunds to customers offended by the protests.

At press-time, the company said that thousands of fans asked to be paid back the $200-plus they paid before the season to get TV access to every NFL game.

To make it worse, Nielsen released a report last week that said that NFL TV ratings are down 11 percent from last year – a continued downward trend for a league that’s seen steady drops for two-plus years now.

That’s a problem.

The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business. Eleven percent of billions of dollars is a HUGE chunk of money – an amount no company would be well-served to lose.

So what’s the answer?

There is none, which is the problem.

On one hand, the businessman in me wants to say that the league should ban kneeling for the national anthem (like the NBA does) to throw water on the fire.

But guess what? If you do that, you make the angry masses happy, but you create another angry mass by offending those around the country who support this movement. Doing that, you’re also likely to lose some of their business.

If you stay status quo and hope it all blows over, you likely continue to see dips in ratings, which will affect the next TV deal, which will affect the salary cap and player salaries in the future.

Oh yeah – and we haven’t even talked about concussions in this column, which are wrecking youth football numbers around the country and present a whole slew of other challenges to the league and its future.