The atmosphere at M&T Bank Stadium yesterday during the national anthem was "tense," and fans "booed as most members of the Ravens linked arms and knelt in prayer" prior to the playing of the anthem, according to Childs Walker of the Baltimore SUN. The Ravens "stood for the anthem itself, and there was no mass exodus from the stands." The Steelers, who were facing the Ravens, "also stood during the anthem after not coming out of the locker room for last Sunday’s game" against the Bears (Baltimore SUN, 10/2). Ravens LB Terrell Suggs said of the hostile reception, "We knew it was possible that we would get it." THE MMQB's Peter King writes the team "enraged many of its local fans" when many players "took a knee during the anthem" prior to its game last week in London. Yesterday's crowd response came "before the anthem." This is what it has "come to in the NFL: fans so on edge they have no idea what they’re booing, or why." When you "boo prayer, you’ve gone over the edge" (MMQB.SI.com, 10/2). USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell writes there "should have been no confusion about the purpose" of the Ravens' actions yesterday, as the stadium PA voice noted the "gesture was a prayer for America -- specifically to embrace 'kindness, unity, equality and justice.'" Bell: "Yet as the Ravens knelt, they were booed. How cruel." They "respected the American flag, exercising their First Amendment gesture before the anthem." But the "boo-birds -- and they can’t say this was about the flag or the military -- showered this group of largely African-American men kneeling in their peaceful demonstration with fresh negativity." Ravens LB C.J. Mosley: "That just goes to show. It has nothing to do with the anthem" (USA TODAY, 10/2).
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL? THE MMQB's King writes during a first quarter timeout, a serviceman was "introduced to massive cheers" at M&T Bank Stadium, while seven servicemen "appeared on the field, to more cheers," in the fourth quarter. The theme, at least yesterday in Baltimore after a "rancorous and angry week with fans questioning allegiance to the Ravens, was to hammer home the patriotic and militaristic theme for the afternoon." The crowd "ate it up" (MMQB.SI.com, 10/2). In Baltimore, Cox & Campbell in a front-page piece note red, white and blue "mingled with the normal Ravens purple" yesterday. Vendors "seized the business opportunity, selling 'I STAND FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM' T-shirts and Uncle Sam hats" (Baltimore SUN, 10/2).
