President Trump this morning tweeted he is "looking forward to live sports," but added, "Any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!" (TWITTER.com, 7/21). USA TODAY's Chris Bumbaca notes the message reinforced that Trump "does not support athletes' rights to peacefully protest during the playing of the national anthem before games." Kneeling "has long been a hot-button issue for Trump and his supporters." The tweet comes the day after members of the MLB Giants, including manager Gabe Kapler, "knelt during the national anthem prior to an exhibition game" against the A's in Oakland. The official MLB Twitter account later "posted video of the scene" (USA TODAY, 7/21). NBCSPORTS.com's Ali Thanawalla noted some Twitter users were "not happy about several members of the Giants kneeling," but "MLB's official account was having none of it" (NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com, 7/20).
GIANTS MAKE A STATEMENT: In S.F., John Shea notes in addition to Kapler kneeling, Giants RF Jaylin Davis and first-base coach Antoan Richardson "took a knee on either side" of SS Brandon Crawford, who "stood and put a hand on the shoulder of each." LFs Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater "also knelt along with hitting coach Justin Viele and multiple people in the bullpen" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/21). Kapler in his postgame interview said that the team "has been having conversations about standing or kneeling for the anthem for the last three days." He indicated that he "wanted to convey two messages to the players: the Giants organization supports them and he himself wasn't pleased with how the country has handled police brutality." CNN.com's Amir Vera notes Angels P Keynan Middleton also "knelt and put his fist in the air during the national anthem" prior to yesterday's exhibition against the Padres (CNN.com, 7/21). USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale notes Kapler is "not only the first MLB manager to kneel during the national anthem, but he also is believed to be the first head coach in any of the four major North American sports leagues to protest racial injustice in that manner" (USA TODAY, 7/21).
CUBAN WEIGHED IN: Before the Giants' game, Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban said he supports players kneeling during the national anthem: "This hopefully is going to be a pivotal time in our history trying to end systemic racism. Using the platform that we have with the NBA to try to really get people to understand the challenges of African-Americans in this country is paramount. That's more important than anything else we do, and when people talk about ‘shut up and dribble’ or ‘I don't turn to sports to hear politics,’ it's not like in the middle of an NBA game we’re going to start having interviews about political issues" (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 7/20).
