Orlando Sentinel columnist George Diaz is disgusted that the world of sports has been dragged into the political arena, andj would like to see fans take a knee just like some of the protesting players.
"A volatile man with idle time and a Twitter account can lead to prickly situations," Diaz wrote, after President Trump stirred up the sports world Saturday during a rally in Alabama.
Trump encouraged fans to boycott NFL games until players stop disrespecting the flag and then claimed to uninvite the NBA champion Golden State Warriors to the White House.
Diaz pleaded with fans to take a middle-of-the road stance:
"I would kindly ask to respect any player who lodges a peaceful protest," he wrote. "It's not because they don't love our country. It's because they don't love a Petulant President who interjects himself into all issues, often in inflammatory ways, and whose to-go retort when things don't look so good for him is #fakenews.
"Sports used to be a great unifying force for our country. Now, not so much. Maybe Trump can add that to his list of accomplishments.
"By the way, didn't Trump take a knee too when he received his draft notice?
"Happy Sunday Funday everybody."
Helmet, please
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times says it might be time for football to do like baseball and put its coaches in uniforms, too -- helmets, pads and all.
In the case of Hawaii linebackers coach Sean Duggan, it might have kept him out of the hospital.
Duggan suffered a dislocated elbow and broken wrist after an ill-fated celebratory leap into O-lineman Viane Moala, who was returning to the sideline after a blocked kick vs. Western Carolina on Sept. 2 in Honolulu.
"You advise against chest-bumping a 6-foot-7, 300-pound Tongan," Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich told Hawaii News Now. "That's just, as a new haole guy to the island, that's just not something you should make a habit of. It's a hard lesson to learn, but he'll get through it."
Missouri's misery
The Missouri Tigers have been outscored 117-30 in three home games since an unimpressive 72-43 victory over middling FCS foe Missouri State in the opener.
The Tigers are last in the SEC defense, are minus-8 in turnover margin in their past three games and lead the nation in fans heading to the exits before halftime.
"It's unfortunate that we again get into a situation where we were minus four in the turnover margin, gave up explosive plays on defense and didn't sustain drives offensively," Coach Barry Odom said after Saturday night's 51-14 loss to Auburn. "For us, right now that's who we are."
And that's not good.
QUIZ
When as the last time Florida State started a season 0-2 and how did it end up.
ANSWER
- Florida State finished 10-2 and ranked No. 3.
Sports on 09/25/2017