The NFL failed to make its national anthem problem go away by making a unilateral policy designed to appease a person who drags them out for parties like a pinata, so maybe a gag order will work.
According to Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com, Bengals owner Mike Brown was asked about the anthem policy Tuesday, and said owners had been “instructed” to stay out of it.
“The league and the union are talking on this and we’re instructed to stand down while that’s ongoing,” Brown said. “I’m not going to sit here and stir the pot. They don’t want to hear from me right now. Let’s see how this bubbles up and I hope they can come up with some kind of answer that is acceptable to not just the clubs and the players but more the public.”
Brown then added with a laugh: “And let’s not forget the president!”
Of course, no policy the NFL comes up with is going to do that, because Donald Trump has decided it’s a political winner for him. Earlier today while addressing a VFW gathering in Kansas City, he ran the NFL up the proverbial flagpole again.
“We don’t apologize for America anymore,” Trump said. “We stand up for America. We stand up for the patriots who defend America. And we stand up for our national anthem.”
The NFL has decided to involve players in a possible solution — two months after making the policy which requires anyone on the field to stand — and that work is apparently ongoing.
Whether it will ever work or not remains to be seen, but keeping a guy whose team seemed ready to sign Eric Reid until he answered a question about his future plans incorrectly can’t hurt.