Fox news host Laura Ingraham’s response to these comments about President Trump was less than positive, calling the statements “ignorant.” Ingraham added that the two players shouldn’t “run their mouths like that” because of their influence on young minds, citing their lack of education. James finished high school early for the NBA, and Durant completed a single year at the University of Texas before entering the league. Ingraham encouraged the two league ambassadors to “keep the political commentary to yourself… shut up and dribble.”

The reaction to Ingraham’s response by the basketball world was swift and unifying.

James thanked the host, saying “So, thank you, whatever her name is. … I get to sit up here and talk about what’s really important and how I can help change kids, it lets me know that everything I’ve been saying is correct for her to have that type of reaction, but we will definitely not shut up and dribble, I will definitely not do that, I mean too much to society, I mean too much to the youth, I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don’t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in.”

James furthered this sentiment by likening himself to former outspoken African American athletes like Muhammed Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown and Jackie Robinson.

“We know it’s bigger than us, it’s not about us… this is bigger than me playing the game of basketball,” he said.

Durant insisted that he and other professional athletes have an obligation to use their platforms to incite positive change in the world.

“We’ve got to speak what we believe in, we’ve got to speak our truths and we’ve got to keep it real out here,” he said.

Many in the NBA came quickly and voluntarily to James and Durant’s defense against Ingraham and those who agree with her. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement praising them for speaking out on the issues important to them and their responses to Ingraham’s comments.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, a five-time NBA championship coach who has not been shy in speaking out on issues he feels are important, criticized Ingraham’s comments and praised James for speaking out. Popovich called the Fox host’s comments “an unbelievable show of arrogance” while comparing James to the Marvel comics hero Black Panther. The recent movie release has inspired many African American outspoken personalities, particularly those in the sports world.

James’ best friend and former teammate Dwyane Wade also spoke out on Ingraham’s comments. Wade is a career leader in nine different statistics for the Miami Heat, has won three championships with and has played for the team for almost 14 of his almost 15 seasons in the NBA. He is objectively one of the greatest, if not the greatest, player to ever wear a Heat jersey. After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting Feb. 14, one of the victims, Joaquin Oliver, was buried in that very jersey. Wade used this particularly personal instance as an example, saying “this is why we will not just SHUT up and dribble” via Twitter Feb. 26. The next day, Wade hit the game-winning jump shot over Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers while wearing shoes with Joaquin’s name on them, and his family sitting courtside.

Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report

Cover photo courtesy of nydailynews.com

NFL players protesting during the anthem is not a new topic. The story began last year with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick choosing to kneel to protest police violence and racial injustices. Since then handfuls of players across the league have joined, with their protests sometimes being tweaked, like Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Bennett and Oakland Raiders’ Marshawn Lynch choosing to sit during the anthem. All protests have been peaceful, including the mass protest last week. Reactions were mixed, and the subject throughout the weekend turned into a bloated mess with many complicated layers to cover. To help me wade through these layers, I, as Sports Editor, was privileged enough to sit down with our Perspectives Editor and Student Senate President Drew Novak to discuss the wild weekend.

The most significant difference between the previous protests and the mass protest in week three was the involvement of President Trump. Trump’s comments at an Alabama rally wishing that owners would fire these “son of a bitch” players, incited a massive reaction by players, coaches and owners of every team in the NFL.

Novak: “[Trump] has no right to tell Americans which liberties they should and should not follow. He has more important things to worry about like his tweet setting off a major war with North Korea, it never ceases to amaze me the things he says and does.”

Marlay: “[Trump] clearly just throws constitutional rights out the window to rile up a crowd.” I questioned why such an importantly objective political leader in the world would make such a stance on this issue. “It’s such a sensitive topic, it kind of always has been since it started with Colin Kaepernick. You have major themes of race, constitutional rights, the NFL’s image problems.”

Novak: “Trump obviously felt as though his poll numbers were slipping… but that should in no way justify anything he said in no way, shape or form. I think there’s no justification for the comments he made.”

It’s not anything new that players and coaches speak about political issues. What was relatively new about this event was the response of NFL teams’ owners. Almost all displayed some sort of support, whether through actions on the field or statements publicly released against the president’s comments and supporting players’ right to protest.

Novak: “I thought that was really incredible that they went to the lengths to do that. I thought it was incredible. I was very struck by Jerry Jones going out and kneeling with his team [the Dallas Cowboys].”

It was a historic day in sports history as a protest at this scale against the President or the state of the country had never been seen at this scale before.

Novak: “I think it’s something unique to American culture and American society that something like sports is able to transcend something so important to our society like politics. Over the course of history, we’ve seen athletes have a tremendous impact both in their sport and in politics as well,” referring specifically to trailblazing athletes Mohammed Ali and Jackie Robinson.

There were many different forms of protest. Some teams chose to lock arms, some chose to kneel, and a few chose to remain in the locker room during the anthem. The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of these latter teams.

Marlay: “It was a team protest, they wanted to show a unification there more than with an anthem protest.”

However, not all the Steelers’ players remained in the locker room. Offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger, chose to come out of the tunnel alone and put his hand over his heart for the national anthem.

Novak: “Villanueva was a special case in the fact that he was a veteran and served with the army rangers, and I very much understand that emotional attachment to the United States. I think he went out there due to a responsibility he felt due to his past.”

The timeline of the weekend played out strangely. Just after Sunday, Villanueva had the number one selling jersey in the NFL, showing many supported his solo act. His head coach, Mike Tomlin, and teammates such as James Harrison publicly stated they would have preferred 100 percent participation in their protest, as the purpose was to demonstrate that their unity as a team was greater than a political agenda. Then, surprisingly, Villanueva publicly apologized to his teammates for going out alone.

Marlay: “It clearly shows his mind and heart are in the right place.”

Many fans responded negatively to the protests, as happened with Kaepernick. One of the continued responses has been the drop in television ratings of professional football. The NFL has seen a decline in ratings over the past decade, and according to a poll by ESPN, the anthem protests are the leading reason as to why. DIRECTV, the company behind the very popular “NFL Sunday Ticket” television package even offered a refund to subscribers who cancelled their service specifically because of the protests.

Marlay: “It seems kind of strange to me to reward people for having a strong political stance or opinion on either side.”

It appears DIRECTV is providing a special service to specific politically-aligned people.

Novak: “I think that DIRECTV is definetily sending the wrong message and I think they’re pandering to whoever they want to prevent losing business. I think those responses are just silly frankly, we are all allowed to express our own viewpoints in the U.S. without feeling endangered. For the life of me I can’t understand it, people need to understand that these issues are a part of our society, that they do matter and that we have people that care very very passionately about these and we can’t expect them to compartmentalize these issues away from their everyday lives. Playing a professional sport gives you a platform to be an advocate for these issues.”

Marlay: “I don’t really get it either, as a fan, you buy and watch these things to watch football… I don’t get how this affects them viewing it.”

This response by a significant number of fans tuning out of the NFL puts the league in a strange spot. On the one hand, it is a constitutional right for each and every one of these players and coaches to protest. On the other, this loss in television revenue could equate to a loss of millions of dollars for the league and the owners. A big enough loss in revenue could push the league or owners to take some sort of action.

Marlay: “If you’re an owner, and you’re losing millions because of this, there’s probably going to be some sort of reaction. It’s a scary spot for professional football right now.”

Novak: “You could gridlock the NFL in doing something like that. I would expect significant infighting among the owners and the NFLPA would have a fit and could potentially file a lawsuit against the NFL.”

We both came to the conclusion that this puts the NFL in a perplexing spot as a whole and it will be interesting to see how the entirety of this plays out. This historic weekend in the NFL will almost certainly have a far reaching fallout, but it was a great moment in history to witness, and a pleasure to talk about with my colleague, Drew Novak.

Photo courtesy of ABC News.

I’m never the one to say, “it’s just a game, it doesn’t matter,” because frankly, that’s not true. Sports are more than just games to so many people. It’s a lifestyle, a way to connect with people in your life. For some it is equal to a religious belief in their lives and a worldwide phenomenon. But these sometimes tragic, always mortal moments on the worldwide stage often shows that while athletes are superstars who make millions of dollars to entertain or break the hearts of fans by being the best in the world at what they do, they are still human. They aren’t perfect and don’t have perfect lives. They may have more fun and/or more luxurious lives than you or I, but that doesn’t mean their lives can’t come crashing down around them just like ours. Moments like these put into perspective the hateful insults and vicious crowds who want nothing more than something bad to happen to that player who they hate, just as much as idolizing these athletes and viewing them as supernatural.

Professional athletes demand respect on their respective fields with their play, but off the field, they don’t really have a defendant for their respect. While they get praise from fans, they also get plenty of unwanted negative attention in the spotlight. Dismissing athletes as dumb jocks who know nothing apart from their sport, calling young men “thugs” for keeping their childhood friendships, listening to hip-hop and buying luxurious vehicles or jewelry, are examples of how sometimes people or fans can be insensitive to these fellow human beings because there is this disconnect.

I understand many think that professional sports and professional athletes get too much attention and too much money already. I’ll easily admit many professional athletes aren’t great people. All I’m trying to say is that they are imperfect human beings, just like the rest of us. One should be cautious to throw harsh criticism and judgement at these men and women, and shouldn’t view these people as perfect individuals incapable of wrong-doing. We all share this planet with each other and should respect each other as such, even if LeBron James just single-handedly knocked your favorite team out of the playoffs.

Photo courtesy of Imgur.

The first part of the album is very much about the artist. It is very introspective and examines how Lamar’s past and rise to fame has effected his perspective on the world. With “YAH.” Lamar tackles a subject he hasn’t yet with this intensity: his own image. In this track, he examines how his image and fame are being used for the wrong reasons, like being labeled as a representative or advocate of ideals that he doesn’t subscribe to, due to his style of music or his look. “FEEL.” is classic Lamar, with a West-Coast beat and background bolstering his old-school rap style. With this track, Lamar is again introspective on a subject that he hinted at in “To Pimp a Butterfly:” his own introverted nature and how alienated he feels from the rest of the world and the subsequent paranoia about the intentions of those around him. These themes of paranoia are also examined in “ELEMENT.”.

“LOYALTY.” is another classic Lamar track with the same West-Coast-Dr.-Dre samples that he used in “m.A.A.d. City” and showcases, in my opinion, the best Rihanna feature in a hip-hop song since “FourFiveSeconds” with Kanye West and Paul McCartney.

“LOVE.” is my favorite song from the album, not because it is the best or has the best bars, beat or rhythm, but because it is so divergent from Lamar’s norms and it seems to be so far outside of the box for him. The track is Lamar’s take on a love song. He mixes his west coast style with some R&B work, which certainly isn’t something he has done before. This is mixed with a beautiful message about imperfect people and how we can all find love, but often times problems and obstacles are ever-present and there isn’t a perfect ending.

The tail-end of the album contains the bulk of the larger message behind “DAMN.”. Tracks like “LUST.”, “XXX.” (feat. U2), “FEAR.” and “DUCKWORTH.” examine the societal and behavioral problems of urban, impoverished community lifestyles, and how the infrastructure of power in the country doesn’t help and often continues these norms. This part of the album offers a great perspective into these problems, while still posing tough and interesting ideas to the listener, all on top of some top-notch hip-hop tracks.

There is an important message behind “DAMN.” and Kendrick Lamar does a beautiful job delivering it. While the tracks in this album are very deep and complex, musically and lyrically, they are also just plain fun. The pulse-pounding beats, the unique rhythms and rhymes and the interesting choice of samples littered throughout the album make it a fun, casual listen in the car, and just as easily a listening and thinking piece of art.

Cover photo courtesy of Hypebeast.