Editor’s note: I.C. Murrell usually releases a column for Sunday issues, with some weeks to be missed under extenuating circumstances. In light of the recent controversy surrounding President Trump’s comments on protests in the National Football League, this column has been released well in advance.

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If it weren’t for the story of a beloved basketball coach who needs a few notes from the past to finish an eagerly awaited book, the idea of a widely popular football league being attacked on social media by, of all people, a president would have taken up some of the space the much more local story did.

National stories, however, do make local impacts.

The fact that every supporter and dissenter of Donald Trump has faced is that he — as the president — spoke some harsh words against taxpaying citizens who happen to play football for a living for exercising the First Amendment of the Constitution, the supreme law of America.

Like it or not, believe it or not, a president basically told football players they don’t have a right to protest anything during the national anthem. He has a right to his belief, but — without taking any political side — the spoken belief was very concerning because of what office he holds.

Of all protests we’ve witnessed in the media in recent years, Sunday’s league-wide demonstrations in public gathering places across America might have been the most peaceful.

No lives were threatened, no weapons were flashed and no property was damaged. What a shame we in the media didn’t acknowledge that.

Many citizens who cherish the star-spangled beauty of a flag before every sports event peacefully stood hand over heart while the anthem was sung or played. As American as it gets, right?

Players, too, held their peace. Many coaches stood hand over another player’s shoulder. Owners locked arms with their employees, the very “sons of b—-es” Trump encouraged owners to fire (and call players, while at it) if they didn’t observe the national anthem.

Don’t look at me; the president said as much in a public forum where I’m sure football wasn’t the planned topic du jour.

Some teams didn’t even leave locker rooms. Then again, most college teams don’t even do that while the national anthem is played, although Ray Woodard had his teams stand on the sideline during the song when he was Lamar’s coach.

“This is what’s great about college football; we’re going to be inside that locker room when the anthem is played,” first-year Lamar coach Mike Schultz said during his Monday press conference. “And I have no intentions of changing that. … We’re not ever going to have to address it as long as the rules stay as is. That’s really good for our point of view.”

Schultz clarified that staying in the locker room is not a form of protest in college football. He added each game usually has a pregame schedule detailing when teams leave to take the field before kickoff.

“That’s just the way college football is,” he said. “They’ve never been outside for the national anthem in college football. … There’s no form of protest. Don’t read into that way.”

A message is never sent to the public in a private arena. We saw both sides of a national issue unfold in public forums.

The NFL took words from a president — let alone the same one who disinvited an NBA championship team to the White House — about its players and gave a resounding response.

Maybe he would think I should be fired for calling that an un-American thing for any high-ranking official to say. I guess I’ll be a son of a b—- if I did wrong. What I write is just a product of the First Amendment.

The next time you ask someone to “stay in your lane,” keep in mind that we’re all on a course of many lanes that run together, and sometimes, someone or something completely gets off course.

Imagine who the NFL felt was off-course.

Its response was just as strong: Band together. Be united.

The flag still flies strong and is not desecrated, and a fundamental American right was exercised in the world of sports.

Only in America.
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I.C. Murrell can be reached at 549-8541 or at ic.murrell@panews.com. On Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews