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NFL decisions belong solely with owner

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

— Evelyn Beatrice Hall, paraphrasing Voltaire

By calling out National Football League players for not standing during the national anthem, and using profanity to do so, President Trump is only further dividing our already divided nation.

Is he doing so just to deflect attention from important issues like North Korea threatening to shoot down U.S. military aircraft over international waters, providing recovery aid to Puerto Rico and another GOP failure to deliver on repealing Obamacare?

Who knows? But actions by the teams were unavoidable due to his poor choice of words. And now the debate has begun.

NFL players, and the NFL free agent who started this bothersome practice of using the gridiron to protest racism, have every right to peacefully express their point of view either through actions or words.

The real question, however, is whether these highly paid football stars have the right to do so while on the team owners’ payrolls.

Prior to Monday night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones answered that question when he and his entire team took a knee before the national anthem began, then collectively stood, arms interlocked, as “The Star-Spangled Banner” began.

The clear signal Jones was sending to the president — who had called on owners to fire any player who refused to stand for the national anthem — was, in his own words, to “make the statement regarding the need for unity and the need for equality,” while also showing respect for the flag and the nation for which it stands.

Other NFL teams responded in various fashions to Trump’s divisive speeches and tweets, presumably with the blessing of their owners.

That’s precisely where these particular decisions belong. If a team player can’t abide by an owner’s decision, he’s free to do otherwise and face the consequences. It’s the same with every employee in the nation, except most employees don’t receive millions of dollars per year for their work, or have a national stage on which to do it.

Numerous boos were heard from the University of Phoenix Stadium audience, who were expressing their right to free speech, too, as Jones and the Cowboys knelt.

If fans don’t like the team owner’s decisions, they’re free to stop watching — and according to TV ratings from last weekend, many have done just that.

You can’t blame them. Given the huge sacrifices made by so many in the military, it’s difficult to watch this elite class of highly paid athletes refuse to stand for the national anthem.

In America, we have the freedom to raise, salute, wrap ourselves in or burn the flag — and to sing or ignore the national anthem. And others are free to respond, as long as they do so peacefully. That’s how freedoms work in a democracy.

— Albuquerque Journal