Do you have an opinion?

Well it’s time once again for the NFL season and again there is a controversy with a few players still taking a knee when the National Anthem is being played and the American flag is on the field.

The Dallas Cowboys owner basically told his players if you want to be a Cowboy you better stand for the anthem.

Other teams are staying in the locker room until after the anthem is played just in case somebody decides to make a political statement. I believe that a few other teams are levying fines if a player kneels instead of standing.

There is a passionate group of football fans that are not happy with the political statement and many of those have basically said they’ve quit watching the NFL. I know that viewership has dropped and some owners are in a quandary between keeping their players happy and making sure the fans still fill up the stadiums.

The person that started this whole kneeling for the National Anthem has not played for a football team for several years now. CK was a San Francisco 49er but became famous for his refusal to stand for the playing of the National Anthem. In the following weeks after he did it he was joined by a few others.

To be honest, he would have been much better off focusing on improving his game than protesting. The Seattle Seahawks showed the world his shortcomings and it didn’t take long that every team made CK look merely average as a QB.

Several teams have (including the Seahawks) brought him to their facilities to see if he was good enough to be a backup QB. He hasn’t been able to find a team that would take a chance on someone they couldn’t rely upon.

His speed has diminished and that was maybe the strongest aspect of his game. The baggage he would bring with him wouldn’t help any team either.

A couple of weeks ago a northwest shoe company with major ties in Oregon signed CK as the guy who was going to be a recognizable face to sell shoes. Now once the word was out on this campaign the reaction was quick. There were videos of their product that tore off the logo from their socks or shirts. Others burned their shoes and other apparel.

It is easy to see that some people are passionate about the American flag as well as the Star Spangled Banner.

A few months back I heard a former soldier say that he felt CK could do whatever he wanted because it was a free country and the former soldier said that that freedom was the reason he joined the service to defend those rights.

Still others believe that not standing for the National Anthem is disrespecting all members of the military who defend those freedoms. I heard from some people that it is no big deal and the players do have every right to not stand for the flag raising and playing of the Star Spangled Banner.

All Americans have the right to feel the way we do about it either it being okay or not okay. I’ve heard people get all worked up when the President chimes in about being very unhappy with the decisions the kneeling players have made.

As an American he has every right to feel the way he does. That is what is great about this country we all can have an opinion and no one is going to jail for voicing their opinion about this subject.

It will be solved one day and I believe that if the viewership and attendance continues to diminish the NFL owners will have to do something because the fans are a bit unhappy. The fans have more power than the players think they do.

I will leave you with something that happened nearly two weeks at the first home game of the season. About 10 to seven that night the LRS Bronco band began to play the National Anthem. Across the street there were about 10 people that were at a pregame barbecue at the Kelly household and all of them stood up and removed their hats.

Across the street from them were four young kids about 6–12 years of age or so playing in their yard. Once the music started all four of these kids stopped playing, stood at attention and put their hands over their heart out of respect for the American flag.

I’m not sure it gets any better than that but then again it is just my opinion.