*(Via Yahoo Sports) – It is our solemn duty to report that the President of the United States is once again tweeting about the NFL.
You now have two options. You can tap out now and read about the actual games (Andrew Luck came back! Baker Mayfield looked good! Saquon Barkley is the truth!) or you can continue to read about the intersection of sports and politics. The choice is yours, but should you continue, you have voided all rights to complain that no one “sticks to sports” anymore.
Still with us? Cool. Let’s dig in.
The NFL preseason has begun, and so have the protests
Thursday night marked the official start of the NFL season, and with it the return of protests during the national anthem. Players from the Dolphins, Eagles, and Jaguars all offered up some form of protest, despite the fact that the NFL had threatened fines or worse for players who protested.
Roughly half of all Americans are against the protests in some form, according to multiple surveys, but it’s worth noting that the protesters aren’t a horde of unpatriotic malcontents looking to stir up trouble. The players are fully aware of the potential consequences of protesting, and do so anyway. The players understand that they are risking their entire careers, and they protest anyway. To carry this a bit further: it’s almost as if they believe in something more than just making money and playing football.
“As a man I gotta stand for something,” Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith said after staying in the locker room during the anthem. “I love my team, I’m dedicated to my teammates and that’s what we’re talking about. I did what I did. It was love. I hope people see and respect it. I respect different views. I love the military. I wore my Salute to Service cleats today. It’s love.”
And then the president weighed in.
Find out what the orange a-hole in the White House had to say at Yahoo Sports.
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