In recent years players have been questioning authorities and government by protesting during the national anthem pre-game ceremony that is specifically for the support of our country but more importantly our troops. While we have players protesting an issue during the time of showing pride for our country, it triggers many people to believe their protest is against the entire country while also disrespecting the ones that sacrificed their lives for our country’s fate. There have been many suggestions, explanations, and ideas for players that try to eliminate what it looks as disrespecting our country to get their point across. By players continue to express their feelings it has caused some effect to the NFL fanbase. In the article,” The Fans Who Say They’re Walking Away from the NFL” there are many people that express their feelings about this ongoing occurrences from both sides. Jim Coletti explains how he completely stopped watching his long time favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers, because the entire team didn’t come out of the locker room for the national anthem. He explains his view upon that strategy of protesting.” I am of the opinion that this is quite possibly the worst way to go about protesting. If you want to hold a rally at Heinz Field to allow your players to voice their opinions, that would be fine.”(Paragraph 2) I have to say I agree with this statement because if you’ve known anybody whose has served or if you were to imagine being a veteran and the only time you are truly being appreciated in front of the nation is completely neglected by a team, that wouldn’t feel good at all. Also, I believe rally’s would be better for the players and the NFL industry itself. One reason why I believe that is because it would inform the people who don’t know why they were kneeling or raising a fist. Not only that, but it would clarify that the players are not trying to disrespect the veterans for their sacrifices. Bottom line when it comes to football, in my opinion, 90% of the viewers watching are watching because of the game and if you want to protest an issue, I would suggest to leave the flag and anthem out of it because the message the player is trying to send can be put out another way with just enough viewers to see without disrespecting the men who have sacrificed everything for us. Because of how the tradition of the national anthem has worked for a long time, when people do the opposite of what your supposed to do during that time, it causes people to feel shame upon the person associating with these acts. So, when many Americans have taken themselves away from the game because of these protests, it is something we need to think about at our University. The reason why is, if we don’t take the account of people believing that kneeling during the national isn’t right it could potentially decrease the rate of enrollment. Which, is not good for a college like ours that is solely run from the students. In effort to balance both sides of this argument, something we need to do is to find an alternative method to help the players who want to speak out. Without, making the other side discouraged and uncomfortable with our university. When I say about the “other side” I’m talking about the myth of football.

As athletes speak upon their beliefs it seems there are at least two sides to this argument. These two sides seem to connect as separate views of America. Author Newkirk ii explains his beliefs in the myths of the NFL. When I say myth you probably are questioning what I mean by that. But, Newkirk believes the NFL created its own version or image of America. The myth supports his claim about things such as patriotism for our country by standing and giving attention during the national anthem. Also stated, that sports should be unifying without any racism because it is believed to be in the past. This idea ties into the people who disagree with the protests because they believe in these core values about the sport and how it rep[resents their version of America. But, the side of the protesters believe it is right to speak up which is not the wrong thing to do to help promote change. But, like said before, I believe for the universities sake and support from all sides we should allow the pregame ceremonies to help support the players views who want to speak up without having to run the risk of mass assumptions of disrespect towards our country so our school won’t receive such damage from people of other beliefs. I believe ideas such as rally’s, the African American National Anthem, or raising a fist during the national anthem would help decrease the damage upon the university.