NFL - "kneeling" trend

Out of all of the major sports that people follow, NFL has to be one of the largest, if not the largest, sports industry. When it comes to the players and the love for the game, most NFL players dedicate all of their time, day and night, to practice and be ready for their big games. Not only are NFL football players extremely dedicated, NFL is so large and popular, that Sundays are affiliated with watching “Sunday Night Football” games.

From Sunday night football to the Super Bowl, NFL fans know the game, and love their football, along with the players. However, in recent games, there has been a controversial topic that is becoming an issue, and sooner or later, it could change the way we start our football games. Kneeling for the national anthem before each NFL game has always been a tradition to honor our country, but lately it has become an issue. On Monday night on September 25th, 2017, at the game of the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals, players from both teams responded to President Trumps’ call to boycott athletes who kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. Even the owner of the Dallas Cowboys joined in and knelt with his players.

After the occurrence of the “movements” of protest, on Friday, Trump called for team owners to fire “those sons of B******” who kneeled during the national anthem to raise awareness about the issue and called the protests “a total disrespect of our heritage”. This is causing issues between not just the NFL players standing or kneeling, but also owners, coaches, and people across America questioning what to do and what will happen from here. Ray Lewis, a former NFL linebacker, talks about why he decided to kneel and that he did it for God.

In the interview, Lewis talks about how he didn’t do it to protest, he wasn’t trying to go against Trump, but that he was doing it for God. He was on two knees, not one. He even mentioned how his former teammates and closest friends thought he was taking an act against racial injustice, as well, when he was simply doing this on his own.

As you can see from recent events, the NFL is already very talked about and publicity within the football phenomenon, happens every single day. Some topics are much more controversial than others, and recently, this topic is dividing some teammates. Let’s hope that we as a football community can come together as one and put this behind us.

Sources Used:

https://www.google.com/search?q=nfl+football&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRr5zIu8PWAhUQ0GMKHZNOBRgQ_AUIDCgD&biw=1174&bih=629#imgrc=U98PrNm0jzML9M:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/football-kneeling-donald-trump-dallas-cowboys_us_59c98ce6e4b06ddf45fa92bf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwUfcnfL2LI