The controversy about the NFL and players kneeling during the national anthem is front and center today in two of the country's biggest newspapers. USA TODAY's Erik Brady in a front-page piece writes under the header, "Harmony Eludes NFL On Anthem" and notes tonight's Bears-Ravens HOF Game in Canton will begin the third year of a "three-way dispute among NFL owners and players and President Donald Trump." Communications consultant Dan McGinn said NFL owners "really don't know what to do, and you can see it." McGinn: "They feel enormous pressure from the president. They feel enormous pressure from the players, all conflicting pressures." Political consultant Frank Luntz said that the anthem debate "will be more prominent in the preseason than in the regular season." Luntz: "At some point, it just burns itself out." Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins said after the anthem, "there's a three-hour game that still goes on," so fans "can still focus on football" (USA TODAY, 8/2). Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's main sports story also deals with the controversy, with Andrew Beaton noting there remains a "potential for new disorder if a new anthem rule is not put in place." Trump, whose attacks on the league "pressured the NFL to change the rule in the first place, has already renewed his barbs on Twitter" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/2).
NAVIGATING STORMY SEAS: In Miami, Greg Cote writes under the header, "Why The NFL, In Year 3 Of Ongoing Mess, Remains Stuck In Quagmire Over Anthem Protests." Roger Goodell enters his 13th season as NFL commissioner like the "captain of a luxury cruise ship being tossed by turbulence." He "cannot calm the ocean." He has "no compass, and no idea what to do." The odd thing is that the controversy "stays alive not because more and more players are taking knees, but because Trump keeps fanning the flame for his own benefit and because of the NFL’s utter cluelessness in dealing with the issue" (MIAMI HERALD, 8/2).
DAK SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT: In Ft. Worth, Clarence Hill Jr. notes Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has "taken a beating on social media since his comments last week seemingly supporting owner Jerry Jones’ edict regarding protests against social injustice and racism during the national anthem." Prescott said that he "understood the reasons behind the protests." However, he said that he "believed it was the wrong time and venue in which to protest." His comments prompted a "swift and visceral backlash on social media." Prescott "regrets nothing he said." He believes in "standing for the anthem because that is a time of reflection for him." He said that his views of the protests were "misunderstood and that he certainly recognizes racism and inequality issues still plaguing our country." Prescott: "There was a little misunderstanding of the fact of what I believe in. I never said I didn’t believe in social injustice and things that were going on. I just said I didn’t think that the national anthem was the time" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/2). FS1's Jason Whitlock said, "My respect for Dak is growing just because this takes a tremendous amount of courage. Most people are silent on this issue because they don’t want the hassle of the social media backlash, but Dak Prescott speaks for 97% of the players" ("Speak For Yourself," FS1, 8/1). ESPN’s Will Cain said, Prescott is "saying something that we have to assume there are other players that feel the same." But ESPN's Stephen A. Smith said Prescott comes across "as tone deaf, and you cannot do that as the star quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys” ("First Take,” ESPN, 8/2).
