Yesterday, in a high profile example of profound tone deafness, the NFL announced that its team owners have agreed that any team which has a player who kneels during the national anthem will be fined by the league.  Interestingly, the decision was made without consulting with the NFL players’ union.  The decision was an attempt to make the controversy around NFL players’ protests of police brutality go away by making those protests not about police brutality, but disrespecting the flag and the song.  That accusation is not, and never has been, true.

For now, let’s set aside the appropriateness of all the super duper displays of patriotism at sporting events today.  It seems that you can’t attend any event, including 5 year old kids’ soccer games, without the obligatory playing of the national anthem.  The big leagues have taken all the flag waving to nauseating heights, parading military personnel out on the field between quarters and innings, doing the obligatory (and corny) on-field reunions of veteran-come-home and their families, competing for what team can get the gigantastigest flag out onto the field, and having everyone from Little Big Town to opera singers to sing the song.  Major league baseball has even taken the rituals to a whole new height where, not only does everyone now stand, put hand over heart and sing the national anthem before the game, now we have to stand, put hand over the heart and sing God Bless America before we can sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch.  Am I the only one to think all this military ritual is stupid?

What’s really important about this issue is all this jingoism and flag waving only started after Bush trumped up (no pun intended) non-existent evidence of Saddam’s WMD and invaded Iraq.  To whip up his base, he and his propagandists (read Dick Cheney and pals) started accusing those who disagreed about the war  as being unAmerican.  Remember being publicly chastised and accused of “hating the troops” if you disagreed?  I do.  In 2009, when the Defense Department started PAYING for military tributes before big games, the NFL adopted a policy of requiring players to not only be on the field, but requiring them to render respect for the entire ordeal.  Before then?  The players stayed in the locker rooms during the national anthem.

The NFL’s decision to now fine teams for their players exercising their right to free speech is nothing more than playing to their own base and pandering to Trump who has fanned the flames of hatred of African American players who dared to step out of line.  The entire controversy could be averted in two other ways:  1) stop requiring employees of the league to participate in patriotic rituals, or 2) actually address the content of the protests, the actual problem of police brutality against racial minorities.  But, no.  The NFL owners have cowardly made it about the flag and the song, just like Trump has, to avoid dealing with the actual issue.

Oh, and one last thing – while the NFL owners are getting all dewy-eyed over their love of the flag, and anthem, they’re selling THESE on their websites.

Oh, and this nice little piece is being sold by MLB:

Can you spell hypocrisy?