Game time is for the games

 (This appeared as my column in the Sept. 27 edition of The Anderson News.)

  There was one reason I became a Dallas Cowboy diehard when I was a kid and remain one today.
   Roger Staubach.
   Just like today, it seemed that back in the early and mid-1970s the Cowboys were always on TV somewhere on the weekend schedule and was intrigued as Roger the Dodger zigged when defenses zagged. I knew if they were down but time was left on the clock, the Cowboys and Captain Comeback had a fighting chance.
    As longtime fans of America’s Team can tell you, Staubach led his team to 15 comebacks and 23 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter. He quarterbacked the Cowboys to four Super Bowls, winning two.
    Not bad for a pro football career that didn’t start until he was 27.
    You see, Roger Staubach attended the United States Naval Academy, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1963. He’s the last player from one of the service academies so honored. Graduating the following spring, he began his five-year stint to fulfill his service requirement and eventually volunteered to serve in Vietnam.
    When this son of a career military man learned all that information, Roger Staubach became one of my heroes. He was the winner on the field, straight-laced family man and Vietnam vet. After he retired in 1979, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has been an ultra-successful business man.
    You can’t get much more red, white and blue than that.
    I’ve thought quite a bit about Staubach of late. Also have thought about Rocky Bleier, the Pittsburgh Steeler running back who was wounded in Vietnam. I’ve thought about Bob Kalsu and Pat Tillman, NFL players who died while serving their country.
    I don’t know how any of them feel or would feel about the NFL player protests during the National Anthem of late and certainly won’t try to figure it out.
    What I do believe is that the protests of kneeling or staying in the locker room during the anthem have overshadowed the games. As someone who has loved watching the NFL on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights for most of my life, that’s extremely unfortunate.
    What’s even more unfortunate is that sports are no longer immune to political statements.
    It’s actually been that way for decades.
Muhammad Ali. John Carlos. Tommie Smith. Some would say it goes back even further.
    But in our 24-hour cable culture, the protests – and the anger being shown on many fronts – are much more of a hot button.
    Last year, when Colin Kaepernick started making headlines much more for what he was doing during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” than his limited playing time with the San Francisco 49ers, I saw some anger and a lot of dismissing someone who had not performed at the same level since leading the team to the Super Bowl in 2012.
    Interestingly, Roger Staubach addressed the protests in a phone interview with USA Today last November. He said, “My respect for the military is the best, and it was somewhat interpreted that he was dishonoring the military because of the flag. So I was kind of upset about it, but I wish I would’ve been able to talk to him and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing? Why are you doing this specifically?’”
    It’s the same question I saw asked several times on Facebook over the weekend.
    Kaepernick said that he was protesting a system that oppressed people of color.
    Of course, he’s out of the league now and had pretty much lost his platform.
    This weekend, the kneeling was undoubtedly a reaction to President Trump’s tweets saying that if a player won’t stand for The National Anthem, the owner should “get that ____________ off the field.”
    Why in the world would the President say that? Few were protesting and the most visible one who had started the movement had become irrelevant. Chances are it would have quietly died out.
With North Korea threatening to launch nukes at our country and so many domestic problems, it’s beyond me that the President would be tweeting about firing NFL players. I agree with the President on some issues, disagree on others, but really, I wish he’d left the NFL alone.
    In addition, there is no reason for anyone to refer to another human being in such terms. It’s uncalled for in my book.
    But there’s also the perception that guys who have been afforded the opportunity of a free college education and make more money in a year than most of us will earn in a lifetime simply because they can run fast or have superhuman size protest at a time set aside to be honoring the country that afforded them that opportunity.
   Obviously, the flip side of that perception is that being materially blessed does not mean one can’t take up a cause.
    But the perception of overpaid whiners is much stronger than the message supposedly being sent.
    From my little place on the sideline, all should be standing during the playing of The National Anthem, not only out of respect for our country, but also those who have fought for the country and out of respect for each other.
    Do the NFL players -- or any other American, for that matter -- have the right to take a knee?           
   Absolutely.
   Does having that right mean it is the right thing to do? Far from it.
   Rightly, or wrongly, so many have taken the actions as a slap in the face to those who have fought for or served the country and a slap to the country itself.
    As a writer, I keep my personal views out of the story. The exceptions would be in an opinion piece that appears on the editorial pages or in clearly marked opinion columns such as this.
    In my personal life, I feel free to speak as I want face-to-face, on Facebook and any other form of communication. Sometimes I regret expressing those views. But I also know that if I used space designated for reportage to espouse political views, local or national, the ones who write my paycheck would not be happy.
    And they’d have reason to terminate my service.
    Pro athletes and entertainers have every right to promote the causes they believe in all they want. But they also have to expect the consequences.
    Fans also have the right to say, “Enough.” Fans have every right to watch other TV channels or not purchase tickets as many claim to be doing.
    And owners have the right to put a stop to behavior that diminishes their product.
    That’s putting the freedoms we have into real life in the sports world.
   For the record, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the Cowboys kneeling Monday night but they made a point to stand for the anthem and they and the Arizona Cardinals appeared respectful as the anthem was played.
    I find it ironic that NFL players are protesting in the context of a game that depends on every person doing his job. Have one person miss a block or blow a defensive coverage and see what happens.
    A successful football team has to be on the same page and often use sayings like, “It’s about we, not me.” It’s a sports lesson that should carry over to real life.
    Right now, our country is divided like I have never seen and, despite Roger Goodell’s statements about unity, the protests during The National Anthem are dividing the nation further.
    No one says there is not racism in our country. No one says there are not rogue cops. We live in a great country but it’s one with flaws and imperfections.
    It would be foolish to think otherwise.
    Those problems are still with us and can only end with the nation working together.
    I don’t know the answer to the problems. If I did, I would probably be a national celebrity.
    But I do know that protesting at a football game during a time that is meaningful to so many tears us farther apart and isn’t making changes our country needs.