by Mark Alexander: There is a lot of grossly misleading commentary being circulated by the mainstream media about Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, after he stood in honor of our national anthem Sunday. He is now being accused of “apologizing for honoring the anthem,” but he made no such apology.
As noted in his press conference, Villanueva regretted that the photos of him standing alone implied that none of the other Steelers would have stood with him honoring the anthem: “Very few players knew that I was going to the tunnel because I only asked the team leadership. And because of that I did not give them an opportunity to stand with me during the national anthem. That is the very embarrassing part of my end in what transpired, because when everybody sees an image of me standing by myself, everybody thinks that the team, the Steelers, are not behind me, and that’s absolutely wrong. It’s quite the opposite. Actually, the entire team would’ve been out there with me, even the ones that wanted to take a knee.” For the record, here are Villanueva’s remarks in context: VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJubf3o_YCo
Saturday night, as you guys all know, there was a team meeting that was going to determine what … to do as a team. Coach [Mike] Tomlin gave us the guidance that we had to do it all as one, so 100 percent, whatever … we [decided] to do. There was a disagreement in what we were going to do. And the only course of action was to go inside and remove ourselves from the situation. It was never to disrespect the national anthem. Every single one of my teammates is extremely supportive and extremely patriotic in this locker room. And I can not only say that for this locker room, I can say that across the NFL and every single player that I’ve gone against.
After the meeting … based on my unique circumstances and based on the fact that I’ve served in the Army … I asked [teammate and quarterback] Ben [Roethlisberger] if there was a way to define ‘the inside’ … and if I could watch the national anthem from the tunnel, and he agreed. He said the captains will be out there right behind me, so this plan sort of morphed to accommodate this tough, moral dilemma that I had in my hands to where the players can be behind me in the tunnel.
Ben Roethlisberger said at [12:]56 make sure you’re out there because the national anthem is going to start at 57. I walked out at 12:56. I asked one of the security guards when the national anthem was going to start and he said 20 seconds. And so I just walked out and I stopped as soon as I saw the flag, as soon as I had a vantage point. That, to me, was enough. … When I turned around to sort of signal everybody else to come so they wouldn’t leave me alone, that’s when they were essentially unable to exit. At that moment it was the decision of do you walk out of the national anthem and join your teammates? I know that would have looked extremely bad. Or as a team do you start moving halfway through the national anthem? So essentially what we can get out of this is that we butchered our plan to sort of have a response for the national anthem and respect everyone’s opinions.
Villanueva says that his team’s plan was to “remove ourselves from the situation” — a decision that was made in order to avoid offending anyone. In that sense, their motives should be applauded. Villanueva regrets the implication that none of his other teammates supported the anthem. They do and did and would have backed him up. As for Coach Tomlin, perhaps he should have just told his Steelers kneelers to stay off the field for the game too…
Predictably, the MSM talkingheads and news headlines have gotten it wrong again, suggesting Villanueva apologized for honoring our national anthem.
In the wake of all the AWOL NFL players last weekend, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart says, “There will be no discipline handed down this week for anyone who was not there.”
Memo to Joe: According to the NFL’s game operations manual, “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.” ~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/51503
{townhall.com} ~ The NFL has never proved itself more worthy of a boycott than the actions they enabled last Sunday. The so called #TakeAKnee movement enveloped almost every NFL stadium last Sunday, with knees and protests being met with well-deserved and overwhelming booing by fans.
The NFL, a majority of owners, and sports media has gone all in on radical leftism, and is but another product of the incessant desire for anti-American radicals to infiltrate every aspect of our culture.
Here are some facts that seem to have escaped NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is proud about the protests he enabled.
These protests were started by former player Colin Kaepernick, a man who wore socks to a team practice depicting police officers as pigs. Did Commissioner Goodell have anything to say about this disgusting display of hatred towards our first responders? No, he didn't have the courage then, and he doesn't have it now.
Kaepernick also wore a t-shirt celebrating Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to an NFL media interview, a menace who killed and ruthlessly tortured his people for decades. Any discipline for Kaepernick's celebration of a mass murdering dictator? Nothing.
The NFL prevented the Dallas Cowboys from paying tribute five Dallas Police officers, who were murdered at a Black Lives Matter protest in July of 2016. The Cowboys wanted to wear a unifying decal on their helmets that read “Arm in Arm,” until the NFL squashed it.
When a Tennessee player, Avery Williamson, wanted to wear a special pair of cleats to honor 9/11 victims, a league rep threatened to fine him.
What is surprising and increasingly shameful is the NFL's endorsement of such disrespect, from the failed NFL Commissioner, to the Owners, Coaches, and the players.
Of course, whenever leftists shame our country, military, or first responders, they always do so under the guise of "love" and "equality."
ANTIFA uses violence against those they disagree with out of the same deceitful sloganeering. But the NFL, owners, and players insist that this protest is to combat "police brutality" and "inequality."
First of all, the real problem plaguing this country is lack of respect for our heroes in blue, who put their lives on the line for very little pay, to protect self-entitled, ego inflated millionaires like those who defamed them on Sunday.
Secondly, in what universe does kneeling for the national anthem help combat police brutality or inequality? How does wearing socks depicting the thin blue line as pigs help that cause?
These radicals aren't fooling the fans. Recent polling shows that 64% of the public disagrees with kneeling or boycotting the national anthem, with only 24% supporting it.
Shannon Sharpe of Fox Sports 1 is perhaps the most militant example of such radicalism. Unlike most in the media who celebrated the display of disrespect for our anthem, Sharpe was "unimpressed," and wished the players had gone even further.
Sharpe also blasted three-time war tour and former Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva for standing during the anthem, while his Pittsburgh Steeler teammates sat in the locker room like cowards.
Skip Bayless, Sharpe's co-host on Fox Sports’ "Undisputed," shared in the criticism of Villanueva, who has since been forced to apologize for his patriotic actions after shameful media backlash.
Sharpe also referred to Ivanka Trump as an "animal" on Twitter Monday, continuing his vile hatred for those who do not share in his radical views about our great nation and first responders.
One has to ask the question, "What would happen if Shannon Sharpe was white, and used the exact same language to describe former President liar-nObama's daughter?
The hypocrisy from the NFL, the owners, coaches, players, and sports media is past alarming. We are now in an age where nothing is safe from the leftist anti-American propaganda movement, and we better be prepared to fight back, or continue to see the most unifying aspects of our culture destroyed.
Everyone has a right to free speech, but that includes the majority of patriots who resoundingly reject this effort to paint our country with false colors of hatred and oppression.
So, turn off the anti-American propaganda at ESPN and Fox Sports, and spend your money on other things besides merchandise, or tickets to a social justice rally formerly known as a game.
The left understands that boycotts work, and its high time that we, the majority who love America, realize, and act upon that truth ourselves.
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