On Monday night, prior to their game against the Arizona Cardinals, the Dallas Cowboys (including owner Jerry Jones) locked arms for a few seconds to cap an NFL Week 3 that was overflowing with similar demonstrations. Obviously this was their version of a protest following Donald Trump's Friday night comments where he called for owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem:
Though the Cowboys' gesture actually came prior to the playing of the song, Cardinals fans booed the visiting team, which was noted by tweets Trump sent out on Tuesday morning that seemed... I don't know, a bit mixed?
Now if you stopped watching SportsCenter awhile ago 1) Nobody could really blame you, but 2) You also would've missed Scott Van Pelt's reaction to fans who decided to boo even though this show of dissent was pretty tame. Van Pelt's reaction came after he played a clip of head coach Jason Garrett saying that the organization tried to find a way to "convey the importance of equality in our country without in any way involving the American flag and the national anthem."
"Does anybody listen to what the man just said? Will anyone listen to what he said about what they did as a team, how they talked for days to figure out how they could show their support and not be disrespectful to the flag?" Van Pelt said.
"That’s what they did. But if this is something that upsets you, you’re just going to be mad. And no conversation can take place if that’s all there is. It just can’t happen, if you just want to be mad. This was before the anthem and what they did was booed. So if the anthem wasn’t being played and the flag wasn’t being displayed and you’re angry at that, what are you angry about? I’m out on this one. I’m out of gas. I don’t know what else there is."
