NFL front offices are becoming "weary of the cyclical back-and-forth" about President Trump's involvement in the debate about player protests during the national anthem, according to Charles Robinson of YAHOO SPORTS. One NFC exec said, "Right now, we have to have two meetings every Saturday. One with the (player) leadership group, and then another with (the owner) to talk about what we expect on game day." They added, "Every day it’s like ‘OK, what did he say today?’ ... We’ve tried to shut that out. But football energy is definitely going into it every week, on something that’s completely outside of the job you’re supposed to be doing." Robinson notes the '17 NFL season more and more is "becoming a referendum on race, politics, free speech, patriotism and TV ratings." In their own way, team owners are "fueling it in a manner that has nothing to do with general managers or personnel directors or coaching staffs." Vice President Pence left yesterday's 49ers-Colts game after players from both teams demonstrated during the anthem, and a league source asked, "Why were the Colts stupid enough to invite (Pence) after what Trump has been saying about the NFL? They only have themselves to blame" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/8).
BALANCING ACT: USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell prior to yesterday's games wrote the NFL is "walking a tightrope in trying to mitigate damage to its business model -- i.e. support from fans and sponsors -- amid protests linked to societal issues that are discomforting to a significant number of its players." The unity theme pushed after Trump "blasted the NFL is too shallow." Players, coaches and owners "certainly came together in the face of Trump’s criticism and skewing of the underlying source of the protests -- police brutality and racial inequality -- engaging in mass demonstrations before games across the league in Week 3." The NFL has been "progressive in taking a stronger stand -- finally -- against domestic violence." It has been "proactive with community service -- such as the breast cancer campaigns of recent years, expanded this year to raise awareness for all types of cancer -- and its commitment to the military." Yet the league, as an institution "faces a much more challenging task to reveal what it stands for in the face of the racial layers linked to the protests" (USA TODAY, 10/7).
