Yep, your national nightmare is about to get a makeover.
And to all those consumers of the National Football League product who volunteered to give up their Sunday afternoon entertainment last year -- presumably because of Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the national anthem -- let's toss a couple new names out there for you.
Marshawn Lynch and Michael Bennett.
Over the weekend, both Lynch and Bennett refused to stand for the anthem in separate pregame ceremonies. Lynch, who came out of retirement during the offseason to join the Oakland Raiders, sat on top of a cooler before a Saturday preseason game in Glendale, Arizona against the Cardinals. Bennett remained seated alone on the Seattle Seahawks bench during the playing of the anthem last night before the start of their preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center.
Now, there are some interesting ironies here.
Both Lynch and Bennett have actively been a part of the refusal to stand for the anthem in the past.
Before he retired from the league early in 2016, Lynch didn't stand for the anthem. According to Raiders coach Jack Del Rio, “[Marshawn] said, ‘This is something I’ve done for 11 years. It’s not a form of anything other than me being myself,’”
That's all well and good from the perspective of the player perhaps best known for his refusal to speak to the media on multiple occasions, but it's not likely to sit well with those who adamantly believe that any form of protest goes against the grain.
Meantime, Bennett spoke in favor of Kaepernick's protests last season, at one point suggesting the protests would gain even further traction if a caucasian player took part in the effort.
"You need a white guy to join the fight," Bennett told the Seattle Times last year. "The white guy is super important to the fight. For people to really see social injustices, there must be someone from the other side of the race who recognizes the problem, because a lot of times if just one race says there’s a problem, nobody is realistic about it."
So, we're here again.
And again, we'll address the issue of the necessity of the anthem at a sporting event. Because it seems to be that if we don't want our athletes using something considered sacred and traditional to create a distraction or to further an individual cause, then simply removing the opportunity seems to be the path of least (and most logical) resistance.
I'll have much more on this later this morning.
* According to ESPN, the Florida Gators football team has suspended seven players for its season-opener against Michigan on Sept. 2 -- including its top playmaker, wide receiver Antonio Callaway -- for making improper charges on their university student IDs at the school bookstore and then selling those items for cash.
Because I'm sure there's nothing suspicious at all about potential credit card fraud. We'll chat with Trey Wallace, who's covering this story for The Read Optional, with the latest on this story.
* And of course, we'll get to the Ezekiel Elliott story as well.
Suspended by the NFL for the first six games of the upcoming regular season, Elliott of course will file an appeal and is likely to be at the center of another discussion of the rights of the league to act as a legal sanctioning body despite there being no actual legal charges filed against him.
It's a bad look on all sides. We'll chat about that as well.
* There is a lot on the table this morning, including Major League Baseball talk with Paul West from P Dub's Sports Hub on why Bryce Harper (in my mind) does have a legitimate beef with the way things were handled this past Saturday night in regards to his knee injury.
We'll get it rolling at 9am ET across the country on I Heart Radio at foxsports1340.com or locally on the radio dial at AM1340/93.9FM!