Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of you earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.
How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.
If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 22nd) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.
This was originally published on May 22, 2018. Do you remember the big brouhaha when San Francisco Giants’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the playing of the national anthem at an NFL game to protest inequitable treatment of backs by police? Oh, for the good old days when something like this what the biggest news of the day.
Changing the Rules
NFL owners met in Atlanta to discuss how to handle the national anthem protests going forward. The owners are reportedly contemplating hitting teams with a 15-yard penalty if any of their players or coaches kneel during the playing of the anthem.
It is also considering allowing the home team to decide whether players and coaches come out for the national anthem or stay in the locker room. But if the team decides to have players and coaches come on the field for the opening ceremonies, and a coach or player decides to kneel, the team would be penalized 15 yards. This penalty would be assessed against the team in violation of this new rule on the first play of the game.
If the NFL owners ultimately decide to change the rules and to impose such a 15-yard penalty for players (and/or coaches) who kneel during the anthem, I will never go to or watch on TV another NFL game until such a rule, if enacted, is rescinded.
Seems pointless. By going down on one knee, players have already decided that politics trumps sport, which is exactly how it should be, and which sounds like how it is for you too. So why would they care about a penalty?
My prediction for this proposed rule is that if one player from one team goes down, at least one player from the other team will go down too. Then who gets the penalty? And a true sportsman wants to win because they are the best, not because somebody tilted the rules in their favour.
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I must admit I didn’t watch NFL for years, but what actually happened?
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Kaepernick got down on one knee to protest excessive police brutality against blacks and, of course, Trump, the great divider, latched onto it and used it as a way to sow discontent, putting blacks against the anthem, against the military, against whites, etc. He created a mountain out of a molehill. But the controversy ultimates just faded away.
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Yeah, even we got Kaepernick but the story fizzled out here too, Did the NFL do anything? I can imagine that all those owners are exactly the people who think the flag is sacrosanct. You saw my post on ikt, the sad thing is that nothing has changed.
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Mostly, I’m thinking they stopped showing (on television) the time when the anthem was played or the whole time…. or they didn’t show the players (if the anthem was shared with the broadcast audience). I don’t remember exactly the details but remember that I no longer made sure (or tried) to watch before the kickoff. I’m guessing, too, some of the teams decided, together, to stay inside the locker room. I agree with you that it would’ve been weird if a team ever got a fifteen-yard penalty for anything like that. One day, I went downstairs (to where we often watch football) and asked if I had missed the anthem and what the teams had done and got the response from one of my sons that it’s not a thing anymore.
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Yeah I guess the closest we have is soccer. No anthems there. Maybe there are at some of the big games, but not week to week. Teams have their own “signature tunes” though, and they are almost a religious experience for the fans!
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Does it ever change?
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The Kaepernick story became—for me and many others—a touchstone for the outlandish manifestations if racism. He paid dearly for that symbolic act, while the violence against people of color continues to be hidden for months until justice seems to struggle out.
My story is about a very inspirational woman— particularly appropriate today as her advanced age would have made her expendable “for the good of the economy” in some people’s sick view of the pandemic
https://annieasksyou.com/2019/05/20/i-thought-of-her-as-leonardo-da-vincis-descendant/
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I don’t know the ins & outs but it feels reminiscent of the ’68 Olympics where Tommie Smith and John Carlos each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of the US national anthem. Or am I way off here…
https://studiotionghan.com/2020/05/22/fandangos-friday-flashback-22-may/
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The act was similar, but Trump wasn’t President to blow it way out of proportion.
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I think it’s very fitting to remember these times during our current times, when certain people act like there’s some alarming infringement on their rights [their rights] due to health concerns.
https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/A-s-Bruce-Maxwell-first-MLB-player-to-kneel-for-12223798.php
A’s Bruce Maxwell first MLB player to kneel for anthem
……..
The product of a U.S. military family, Maxwell placed his hand on his heart and faced the flag during the anthem while taking a knee before the game against Texas.
“The point of my kneeling was not to disrespect our military or our constitution or our country,” Maxwell said. “My hand was over my heart because I love this country and I have family members, including my father, who bled for this country, and who continue to serve. At the end of the day, this is the best country on the planet. I am and forever will be an American citizen and grateful to be here, but my kneeling is what’s getting the attention, and I’m kneeling for the people who don’t have a voice.
“This goes beyond the black and Hispanic communities because right now we have a racial divide that’s being practiced from the highest power we have in this country saying it’s basically OK to treat people differently. I’m kneeling for a cause but I’m in no way disrespecting my country or my flag.”
Mark Canha, who is from San Jose and went to Cal, placed his hand on Maxwell’s shoulder. After the anthem, the teammates hugged.
“Every fiber in my being was telling me he needed a brother today,” Canha said. “I thought about kneeling myself when (Colin) Kaepernick was doing it but decided not to, but when Bruce said he was going to do it, I thought, ‘Someone has to be out there, and I have to be one of those people.’”
Maxwell held a meeting before the game to let his teammates know about his decision, along with manager Bob Melvin and general manager David Forst.
“He was as articulate as I’ve seen him,” Melvin said. “This wasn’t an emotional thing just today for him. Something had been leading up to it and he felt today would be the right platform to do it.”
The A’s issued a statement on Twitter that read: “The Oakland A’s pride ourselves on being inclusive. We respect and support all our players’ constitutional rights and freedom of expression.”
……….
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/nov/02/san-francisco-49ers-cheerleader-takes-a-knee-kaepernick-protest
Woman becomes first NFL cheerleader to take a knee during national anthem
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That article linked to this one.
https://www.wcnc.com/mobile/article/news/politics/college-cheerleaders-who-knelt-during-national-anthem-cut-from-squad/275-586849535
College cheerleaders who knelt during national anthem [4 of 5] cut from squad
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And this man, Ahmaud Arbery, still doesn’t have rights, while the white men who murdered him were entitled to theirs and more (but, no doubt, felt deprived and offended).
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/man-who-recorded-ahmaud-arbery-s-shooting-death-on-video-arrested-on-murder-charges-83763781703
Man who recorded Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting death on video arrested on murder charges
William “Roddie” Bryan, 50, is the third person …
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https://crooksandliars.com/2020/05/breonna-taylor-tragedy-raises-question-do
The Breonna Taylor Tragedy Raises The Question: Do African Americans Have 2nd Amendment Rights?
… [plainclothes] Louisville, Kentucky police executed a no-knock search warrant on Taylor in a drug case involving a man who lived in a different part of the city but who police claim was using Taylor’s apartment to receive mail, stash money or keep drugs. … But Glover was already in custody before police raided Taylor’s home.
Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep in their apartment when just before 1 a.m.
………
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https://www.11alive.com/mobile/article/news/local/investigation-launched-into-ksu-cheerleader-controversy-olens-apologizes/85-484320217
Investigation launched into KSU cheerleader controversy; Olens apologizes
Documents obtained by 11Alive through the Open Records Act show Cobb County’s sheriff and a powerful state lawmaker put pressure on Kennesaw State University administrators to bar protesting cheerleaders from being on the football field during the national anthem.
October 18, 2017
The University System of Georgia is conducting a special review to look into recent allegations raised about athletic processes at Kennesaw State University.
The investigation stems from a recent incident where five KSU cheerleaders knelt during the national anthem prior to the KSU-North Greenville University football game. Since the Sept. 30 incident, KSU administrators have barred the cheerleaders from taking the field until after the anthem has been played…………….
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