Taking a knee....

[01Neaggrad02]

With the season almost upon us... and tickets sales about to be "Huge".... I was curious about the latest fad out there where athletes are taking a knee during the National Anthem. Does anyone know if UCONN has a policy on this? Maybe it is just me but I would like to know before I attend a game if the players are planning on expressing themselves in such a manner. I know I do not always think the same as others, but players on a team represent that team and organization, and therefore have limited free speech and their expressions might not reflect those of the people who are paying to attend such event.

What do people think about this? Do you think it would happen at UCONN?

 

[Kaizen]

Look how many UConn players have tattoos in their body (small one likes Gabby and Chong does not counted)? You know the answer.

 

[easttexastrash]

I would take a knee but at my age I might not be able to stand back up.

 

[easttexastrash]

I don't know if the article was real, but I read that Jerry Jones had informed the Cowboys players and staff that they would not take a knee on his field. Maybe that is just a bunch of Texas make-believe stuff but I can't say that it is not true, either. But it sounds like something that Jerry Jones...[mod edit: politics] would say.

 

[reno tony]

If I watch a UCONN game and a team member takes a knee it will be the last time I watch a game for the season.

 

[triaddukefan]

If I watch a UCONN game and a team member takes a knee it will be the last time I watch a game for the season.

Just for the season?

What if they were undefeated, playing in the title game vs TENNESSEE ????

So you would be fine watching them the next season? Even if the team member who took the knee was still on the team?

 

[JordyG]

If I watch a UCONN game and a team member takes a knee it will be the last time I watch a game for the season.

Hopefully then every time they do play the national anthem at games you stand up in you living room, put your hand on your heart and sing along. Or that's the last time I reply to reno tony.

 

[reno tony]

Just for the season?

What if they were undefeated, playing in the title game vs TENNESSEE ????

So you would be fine watching them the next season? Even if the team member who took the knee was still on the team?

Watching them next season would be a possibility. People learn from their mistakes. That was a nice set-up for a rebuttal.

 

[reno tony]

Hopefully then every time they do play the national anthem at games you stand up in you living room, put your hand on your heart and sing along. Or that's the last time I reply to reno tony.

Then so be it.

 

[Kibitzer]

I would take a knee but at my age I might not be able to stand back up.

My challenge is different. My left knee was taken to the pathology lab of the VA Hospital in West Haven.

 

[Plebe]

I really wish that participation in, and attendance at, domestic sporting events large and small was not tied to the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of nationalistic rituals. We don't see the anthem played at the start of movie showings, Broadway plays, or art exhibit openings; so I'm not sure why athletic competitions must be the cultural conveyor belt of the nation-state.

But as long as the anthem must be played, I support anyone and everyone's right to stand, or kneel, or sit, or sing along, or mess up the lyrics, or pray, or meditate, or yawn, or any combination of these and others.

 

[rwdinsalem]

I'm totally with you Plebe!

 

[JordyG]

This whole standing thing for the anthem began in the NFL in 2009. Before then players stayed in their locker rooms. This was [mod edit: politics] a pay for play deal made between the NFL and the DOD to stage on field patriotic ceremonies. The National Guard shelled out similar amounts of money to play. I'm a devout capitalist, but we are parsing and arguing over a deal to make the rich get richer.

 

[bramos]

I really wish that participation in, and attendance at, domestic sporting events large and small was not tied to the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of nationalistic rituals. We don't see the anthem played at the start of movie showings, Broadway plays, or art exhibit openings; so I'm not sure why athletic competitions must be the cultural conveyor belt of the nation-state.

But as long as the anthem must be played, I support anyone and everyone's right to stand, or kneel, or sit, or sing along, or mess up the lyrics, or pray, or meditate, or yawn, or any combination of these and others.

I am a military brat. When we went to movies on Post, the national anthem was played at the start. Now that I am in my 70s, I haven't gone to a movie on Post in a long time. But, when I hear the bugle blow at 1700 hrs, I still stop and direct my attention towards the sound/flag. That is just the way it was, and it still is to many who group up around the flag.

 

[Kaizen]

Q: what do you think if a Olympic metal winner was kneeling instead of standing ???

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

When all this sitting/knelling during the National Anthem began I was as upset as most of you are!
Then I had an epiphany (I looked that up), "Every-time they do that, no matter who it is, they are declaring that America is the greatest country on earth and they are honoring all who stood the wall defending their right to do that act!" So when you see athletes or whomever do that, they are broadcasting to the rest of the world that they live in the greatest country there was, is, and will be, because if they did that in Russia, Syria, North Korea, China, or anywhere the government tells them what to think or do, they would be killed on the spot, and here we argue whether it's right or wrong they have the constitutional freedom to express themselves peacefully!

 

[meyers7]

I really wish that participation in, and attendance at, domestic sporting events large and small was not tied to the fulfillment or nonfulfillment of nationalistic rituals. We don't see the anthem played at the start of movie showings, Broadway plays, or art exhibit openings; so I'm not sure why athletic competitions must be the cultural conveyor belt of the nation-state.

Agree, unless it is a NT, I don't see the point.

 

[Tonyc]

I have very strong on this one. IMO we OWE it to all those who served to respect the American Flag. Disrespecting the flag that so many fought for and some gave their lives for should not be tolerated. Burning the flag is another problem I have. Try burning in this country a Muslim, ISIS, British Mexican etc flag. See what happens. RESPECT for those who fought for it. God Bless the USA.

 

[reno tony]

This whole standing thing for the anthem began in the NFL in 2009. Before then players stayed in their locker rooms. This was [mod edit: politics] a pay for play deal made between the NFL and the DOD to stage on field patriotic ceremonies. The National Guard shelled out similar amounts of money to play. I'm a devout capitalist, but we are parsing and arguing over a deal to make the rich get richer.

Where on this planet did you get your facts for this post? Whitney Houston, 1991 Super Bowl, National Anthem. There are many more prior to 2009. Please get some facts right or everything else looks suspicious.

 

[j66kicker]

I don't know if the article was real, but I read that Jerry Jones had informed the Cowboys players and staff that they would not take a knee on his field. Maybe that is just a bunch of Texas make-believe stuff but I can't say that it is not true, either. But it sounds like something that Jerry Jones...[mod edit: politics] would say.

I didn't see that, but Jerry has been critical of Colin Kaepernick.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

it's an interesting question as to what UConn's policy, and Coach Auriemma's policy, on the matter will be. Coach Auriemma has expressed admiration and respect for the women athletes in the WNBA who have joined these protests. He raised questions as to how the issue would be handled were it to come up at the Olympics. The issue did not come up. Would be worth the press corps asking him about it when the opportunity arises.

To those saying they would never support UConn women's basketball, or attend or watch a game, ever again were the players to kneel during the anthem, one should consider that the majority of players at the top ranks of the women's game, both in college and in the pro ranks, are black, while the fan base is overwhelmingly white. Black athletes are making a statement about their place in American society, and how they are being treated. Their experiences are often far different from those of the white fan base.

Whatever their plans, it's clear that black athletes are taking a stand, whether the white fan base approves or not. I wonder whether the UConn fan base would desert the Huskies were Coach Auriemma to offer his support for the gesture, and support his athletes' making that stand.

 

[CocoHusky]

I get on my knees to honor My God.
I stand when the national anthem is played to honor My Country for among other things the privilege/right to honor My God.
I understand why someone would/can choose do neither.
I don't understand why someone would choose to substitute one for the other.

 

[wallman]

John Wooden, another legend around our parts, told his players to follow their convictions, including Walton, they asked if they could miss practice for an anti war protest, Wooden who respected those with convictions said he had convictions too and he would be sorry to see the end of their careers at UCLA, or something to that effect. Wooden had his rules and they followed for the betterment of the team. Sometimes people forget that basketball is about a team, I have a hard time visualizing that a whole team, it's coach, the organization etc. would all agree that one should protest by not standing to respect the anthem and flag of the USA, without some sort of peer pressure.

I doubt it's about whether one really enjoys standing every time or whether or when the anthem is played, I think it is more about what it represents to the country and the unity for freedom, without that freedom none gets to protest and be active in the pursuit of a better society.

 

[UcMiami]

So, what if the all stand with one hand on their heart and the other raised in a fist, or as the Seahawks did as a team linking their arms, or if they all wear black lives matter tee shirts while standing, or ...?

I will not be surprised if they do choose to do something, and if they do, I am pretty sure they will all do the same thing as they know they are a team. That is the approach they have taken on their other social issues stances.

I will watch them regardless of what they choose to do - I believe in our constitution more than our flag and anthem, and I do not see protests to the playing of the anthem as anything more than a political statement that the country as a whole is not preforming as well as it should - I do not read into it anything about the military, or service men and women, or veterans whose service I honor, but do not put on a pedestal.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

It's true that John Wooden forbade his players from joining a protest against the Vietnam War. In hindsight, I wonder if, a couple years later, he would have.

In 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in black gloves as the national anthem was played. The IOC chairman Avery Brundage demanded that the USOC expel them from the US team, and banned them from the Olympic Village. When they returned home, Brent Musberger called them "black-skinned storm troopers."

Yet next week, Smith and Carlos will join the athletes from the 2016 Olympic team at the White House to be honored by President Barack Obama. And the Smithsonian reported that, "the tracksuit Smith was wearing that day, October 16, 1968, is among the artifacts acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, along with the shoes he wore in that race, his official Olympic bag from the Games, and the box containing the olive tree branch he held as he stood on the medal platform." The museum's curator, Damion Thomas says that, "the gesture was both a symbol of people who are willing to take a stand against injustice, and of those who are willing to use their platform to advance issues related to social justice."

I wonder if, some time in the future, Tina Charles and Swin Cash will also be honored in the Smithsonian's museum. I wonder whether they, too, will be invited to the White House to be acknowledged for their actions "to advance issues related to social justice."