The NFL national anthem story isn’t going away anytime soon. During many debate shows that air on cable sports networks, it was topic one. This was especially true during true during FS1’s Undisputed with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe.
As the FS1 Dynamic Duo began discussing the topic, Sharpe went on an incredible eight-minute rant on how NFL owners suddenly got an awakening about President Trump’s comments at an Alabama rally about players who kneel during the national anthem.
Sharpe first said he was “disappointed and … unimpressed,” about the whole thing. And then he expressed why he was disappointed and unimpressed:
“I’m disappointed, Skip and Joy, because this is the tipping point. Of the 7,537 things that President Trump has said in the last 50 years, him calling an NFL player a ‘SOB’ is what brought the NFL, the owners and players together. And while some might be moved by the conscience of these NFL owners, it wasn’t their conscience that moved them. It was the cash.
Because see Skip, what we know about people with money, they don’t like to be told what to do…they don’t like being bullied. You see, President Trump has bullied a lot of people …”
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And he also pointed out a number of owners, including Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder, Shad Khan, and Robert Kraft, who contributed to Trump’s inauguration.
“Now I’m unimpressed because this wasn’t a protest. This was unity. So what are we showing solidarity against, Skip? We’re showing solidarity because President Trump .. he challenged the very men … wealthy, wealthy men … billionaires and he told them what you should do if someone protests, you should fire them. They don’t like being told what to do, Skip.
“And then, Skip, he called players that protested the anthem … he called them ‘SOB’s.’ Think about that now, he called them ‘SOB’s.’ That’s what got the owners, that’s what got the players to unite.
“Is that the worst that he’s ever said? Absolutely not. Never called Vladimir Putin an ‘SOB,’ Never called (Erdogan) of Turkey an ‘SOB,’ even those men that walked down the streets in Charlottesville, Virginia … he never said ‘SOB’ …”
This was an impassioned Sharpe. He also pointed out Colin Kaepernick, who started the kneeling during the national anthem, was forgotten and the NFL owners were uniting against Donald Trump. “It wasn’t until he came for the NFL that their conscience was shocked!”
Sharpe said of all the teams that issued statements this weekend, only the Seattle Seahawks got the reason why they were denouncing the President’s statements.
And he also set his sights on fellow FS1 analyst Ray Lewis for previously criticizing Kaepernick and then kneeling on the sideline with the Baltimore Ravens in London on Sunday. Sharpe said he was “very disappointed” in him, saying Lewis “sat in that chair right there saying that he could never kneel, never not stand for the national anthem” citing those who died fighting for the flag and then he went down on both knees. “What are you kneeling for?”
It was one of the more emotional segments on Undisputed in its brief history.
