NFL owners agree players can hide In locker room during national anthem

Colin Kaepernik's career was ruined because he sat down twice for the National Anthem two years ago. Trump joined in on the debate back then--if the mob has an idea, Trump will repeat it on Twitter.

So, the NFL owners had a problem:  highly paid players they needed to get rid of.   Two years later, they decide on a policy to stop this.   As of today, every one must stand if they're on the field when the music starts.

Kind of like a junior high school dance!  In a gracious bow to free speech, the NFL decided dissenters can avoid the embarrassment of participating in a silly ceremony they don't support by staying in the locker room.

I love the thought of an empty playing field once the recorded bugles start to pound.  Build some bigger locker rooms, guys--it's gonna be CROWDED in there!

Here's Roger Goodell, summing up the wisdom of two years of what must have been painfully stupid discussions among a whole lot of rich-ish white men:

"We want people to be respectful of the national anthem," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We want people to stand -- that's all personnel -- and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That's something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices."

Instead, here are two solutions that solve the problem much better:

1. All professional sports teams should ban the playing of the National Anthem.   What does football have to do with the National Anthem?   Isn't that song for military funerals and crap like that...?   These aren't national teams, dudes.   They have names like "Cleveland" and "Buffalo."   Reserve the stupid song for games where at least one of the teams has a name like "France."   One of the main reasons I don't go to professional sports events is to avoid listening to the Star Spangled Banner.   
2. Do what I do when I get stuck and can't avoid the national anthem--turn my BACK to the flag.   As long as we have military invading another country, I won't face the flag.   It's a symbol of an imperialist, racist country.   Sorry, Roger--many of us strongly disagree that patriotism is something worthy of "respectful fashion." 

Fortunately, many others, in other sports, have picked up the banner of calling attention to unequal treatment in the hostile US.  Wouldn't it be great if the NFL was actually a voice of opposition?  I know Coors and Bud and Ford would totally up their advertising budget if the NFL would only show some independence.

As long as we have troops occupying some other country where the skin tone is, on average, darker than it is Denver, or leading the world in exporting weapons, I always turn my back whenever the national anthem is played. I face the people...it's much more energizing.

I don't face the flag, put my hand over my heart, do a silly boy scout salute, or even pay attention.

I'm 63.   There has never been a day in my lifetime where we weren't actively exercising imperialism somewhere on the globe.   So I have not sung the Star Spangled Banner since back in the days of elementary school when I didn't know any better.  Nor have I faced an American flag during the same period while the song has been sung.   I generally boo.

It's also a pretty crappy song.

Let us find our own real ways to be patriotic for once.