Trump's potential willingness to meet with players over social justice issues contrasts his previous rhetoricGETTY IMAGES
President Trump "appeared to publicly acknowledge for the first time" that NFL player protests during the national anthem were "aimed at inequalities in the justice system," according to Charles Robinson of YAHOO SPORTS. Trump on Friday said, "You should stand for our national anthem. You shouldn’t go in a locker room when our national anthem is played. I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me -- because that’s what they’re protesting -- people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system. ... And if I find and my committee finds that they’re unfairly treated, then we will pardon them or at least let them out." Trump's statement "represents a fairly dramatic contrast to previous rhetoric," but whether it "generates dialogue between Trump or NFL players remains to be seen" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/8).
GAMES OF STATE: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote when Trump rescinded the Eagles' invitation to the White House, he "once again showed an ability to yo-yo NFL owners, dangling them on his string and embroiling the league in another controversy transcending the game itself." Trump has "proven he can turn the NFL upside down when he feels like it" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/10). In Boston, Ben Volin wrote if NFL owners "thought that changing the policy to ban kneeling would get Trump off their case, they were sorely mistaken." Trump has "continued to hammer the players and the league for the past three weeks," and he reportedly "plans to keep the NFL in his crosshairs" through the '18 midterm elections (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/10). THE MMQB's Albert Breer writes for Trump, this is "about the business of getting reelected, and having this red-meat issue to engage his base" (SI.com, 6/11).
FOLLOW THE LEADER: In N.Y., Pat Leonard wrote what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, owners and franchises "need to do is copy the Eagles’ social awareness" and the organization’s "handling of some of our nation’s most sensitive and significant issues." It seems Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie "encourages this culture in which his players feel comfortable speaking up against social injustice, in support of the issues most important to them, and in which he stands beside them and not above them. At this "most critical juncture for not just this league but also our country," it would "behoove the NFL’s copycats to replicate the Eagles’ culture, their players’ social consciousness and their awareness and actions in using their platform to try and make people’s lives better" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/10). In Boston, Christopher Gasper wrote NFL owners "put themselves in a no-win situation" by adopting the new anthem policy. The "misguided anthem policy and backfiring attempt to appease the president show that NFL owners still don’t grasp the difference between their other businesses and pro football -- in the NFL the players are the product." Gasper: "You can’t separate the disparagement of one from the other" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/10).
