2017+Sports+Protests

=**Sports, Patriotism, and Protest**=

America is a sporting country. Americans play sports at every level: youth, recreation, club, middle school, high school college, and professional. Those who don't participate in sports themselves, are often sports fans. Sports figures are looked to as heroes when their performance and their character live up to our highest expectations. They can disappoint when they fall short- or just fall. Our lives can seem to revolve around sports. We glorify the competition and the effort and have connected performance with patriotism- playing and singing the National Anthem at the opening of every sporting event. Our sporting values are tauted as American values. We have sports in schools because of the greater lessons that they teach than the games themselves. Sports build character- and characters play sports. When sports are challenged- America is challenged, and national debates often ensue. Sporting events are stages for public performances, including public protests. This is nothing new.

Last year, Colin Kaepernick- an NFL quarterback decided to express his frustration with racial discrimination in America- especially in the wake of the police actions that had prompted rioting in St. Louis, by kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem at the start of NFL Football games. This was highly controversial. On the one hand, his cause was clear and timely and he has the right of Freedom of Speech. As a star athlete, he is followed in the media and by fans and thus has quite a stage from which to bring attention to his cause. On the other hand as a paid athlete, under contract, and in that context, his gesture of protest was seen by many to be unpatriotic and offensive. Now a free agent, he has yet to be signed by a team- perhaps because of his protests... but this Fall, the act of kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem has spread to more sports at more levels in the wake of the riots in Charlottesville and the debate over the removal of Confederate Monuments among other things. President Trump has involved himself in the issue with a number of comments during political rallies and on social media- and provoked anew, a national debate on the topic of Sports, Patriotism, and Protest.

Here is a link to a Plain Dealer Front Page Article from Monday, September 25- Players Kneel During Anthem

Here is a Newsela article- Dozens More NFL Players Take a Knee in Protest Sunday


 * What do you think about the playing of the National Anthem at sporting events? What do you think should be expected of players on the field and fans in the stands when it is played? Can sports and politics be kept apart? What can be learned better from sports, than school about what it means to be an American, and about how to be an active citizen? What can sports stars, teams, and leagues do to make America better?**


 * How have sports- including professional sports, helped America become a better country in the past?**