Michael Bennett has company.
The free-agent pass rusher recently explained that support for the Black Lives Matter movement and the Commander-in-Chief can’t be reconciled. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has echoed that point, and expanded on it, in an interview with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times.
Popovich initially criticizes Commissioner Roger Goodell for allowing himself to be pushed around in the past by the President.
“A smart man is running the NFL. and he didn’t understand the difference between the flag and what makes the country great -- all the people who fought to allow [Colin] Kaepernick to have the right to kneel for justice,” Popovich said. “The flag is irrelevant. It’s just a symbol that people glom onto for political reasons, just like [Dick] Cheney back in the Iraq war. . . . [Goodell] got intimidated when Trump jumped on the kneeling [and] he folded.”
Popovich compared Goodell to Republican politicians who support Donald Trump because they fear a tweetstorm from a golden toilet at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And Popovich didn’t confine his criticism to Goodell; the Spurs coach also went after owners who support the President.
“It’s just hypocritical,” Popovich said. “It’s incongruent. It doesn’t make sense. People aren’t blind. Do you go to your staff and your players and talk about injustices and democracy and how to protest? I don’t get it. I think they put themselves in a position that’s untenable.”
Although the article mentions Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Patriots owner Robert Kraft as Trump supporters who each gave $1 million to the inauguration committee for the 45th President, they weren’t alone. Others who gave $1 million, based on a 2017 report from USA Today, were Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Jets owner Woody Johnson (who became the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom), Washington owner Daniel Snyder, Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and Texans founder Bob McNair, who has since passed away. Buccaneers owner Edward Glazer donated $250,000, and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam gave $100,000 directly, along with $300,000 through his truck-stop business.
NFL Ventures also gave $100,000.
Although NFL owners have become much more outspoken in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, most still pull punches -- and many have remained silent publicly. Popovich, like Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, has used his voice and his platform for years. In this moment, Popovich had increased the volume and intensity of his verbal attacks.
The problem for the NFL is that, in the past, it had to worry only about the President, who recently has renewed attacks on the league over the kneeling-is-disrespect red herring. With Popovich and Bennett taking aim at perceived or actual hypocrisy of the league and its owners, the NFL may have to do more than what it has done to prove that recent comments and donations reflect a true commitment to change and not simply an exercise in damage control.
So maybe the list of action items should be expanded to four: (1) owners must publicly express support and approval for any player who chooses to protest during the anthem, with a vow that there will be no repercussions; (2) Colin Kaepernick must be repaired; (3) the Washington name must change; and (4) owners must speak out against and financially break away from the President.
