Friday night Donald Trump held a campaign rally for an election that he already won 10 months ago. At the rally he called Colin Kaepernick, and other NFL players who don’t stand for the national anthem, “sons of bitches.”
Therefore he also called mothers of NFL players “bitches” in the process. Naturally and deservedly, he’s getting a ton of blowback for such hateful and divisive commentary. Chicago Bears Team Captain Akiem Hicks called Trump out on Saturday.
Sunday brings the weekly political and NFL talking heads shows, and with it plenty of strong opinions. Here is just a small smattering of opinions.
The NFL Today talks with John Dickerson, Seattle HC Pete Carroll, and Amy Trask about player protests. pic.twitter.com/AM7ife84bs
— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) September 24, 2017
Pete Carroll said that now “is a time for change,” and that “players are ready to activate” while Charles Barkley called to action the athletes residing in the 1% of earners in America on The NFL Today.
Mark Cuban made an allusion to Trump’s well documented thin-skinnedness on “Meet the Press.”
Pete Carroll:
“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, James. This is about a time marking it’s a new day right now. This is a time for change. Our players are ready to activate.
“They’re ready to be the messengers of the change that is necessary for us.”
“This is so crucial that we take this opportunity and make the most of it. Inequality, treating people unfairly, treating people uniquely because of their background and where they come from is no longer okay. With that thought, I think you’ll see that activation. Our players are the messengers. They’re the ones that can reach the young people. They’re the ones that can spread the word that will no longer allow these things that have lasted for so long to stay the same.”
“I can’t tell you how excited we are about that, James. Because this is an extraordinary opportunity, and we can’t miss this chance. They are the ones that will have the message that they can carry to the young people, James. They are the ones that we have to recognize them. We don’t want to see them as anything but that.
“They aren’t perfect. They’re going to make mistakes. But they are the ones that know. They have lived the life. They know of the inequalities…
Not a single player from the team led by Pete Carroll, nor their opponents, the Tennessee Titans, participated in the national anthem. Have a look:
Not a single player from the Titans or the Seahawks participated in the National Anthem just now. pic.twitter.com/yskxkpFYL0
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) September 24, 2017
“We as players have to figure out what to do next. We’ve got to stop worrying about who is kneeling. We’ve got to not worry about who is not kneeling. We’ve got to figure out how we can go back in our communities and make a difference. We can’t be saying negative things on Twitter.”
“That only escalates to the stupidity. But we’ve got these guys, myself included, we make more money than 99.9% of the people in the world.”
“We’ve got to find a way to go back in our communities and raise up our communities. Let’s not worry about who is kneeling.”
Mark Cuban via “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd:
“If the president’s going to say something condemning a person, an industry, a sport, then he’s got to be able to take the blowback that’s going to come back. So LeBron and Steph and any athlete, any owner, it’s an open door now, and so they have every right for the same reasons to be able to say whatever’s on their mind.
“Now we’ll be able to see if he can take it.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.