To NFL Players, Coaches and Owners

If I have brain cancer, I don’t ask my dentist what I should do. If my car has a problem, I don’t seek help from a plumber! Why do you think the public cares what a football player thinks about politics? If we want to know about football, then depending on the information we seek, we might consult with you, but even a quarterback doesn’t seek advice on playing his position from a defensive tackle!

You seem to have this over inflated view of yourselves, thinking because you enjoy working on such a large scale stage, that somehow your opinion about everything matters. The NFL realizes the importance of its “image” so it has rules that specify the clothes and insignia you can wear, the language you use, and your “antics” after a touchdown or other “great” play. But somehow you and your employer don’t seem to care that you disgrace the entire nation and its 320 million people in the eyes of the world by publicly disrespecting this country, its flag, and its anthem! The taxpaying citizens of this country subsidize your plush work environments, yet you choose to use those venues to openly offend those very citizens.

Do you even understand what the flag of this country means to so many of its citizens before you choose to “take a knee” in protest of this “country" during our national anthem?

You may think because you are paid so much that your job is tough, but you are clueless when it comes to tough.

You are spoiled babies who stand around and have staff squirt GatorAid in your mouths, sit in front of misting cooling fans when it’s warm, and sit on heated benches when it's cold. That’s not “tough” that's pampered.

You think that you deserve to be paid excessively high salaries, because you play a “dangerous" game where you can incur career ending injuries.

You think you that you deserve immediate medical attention and the best medical facilities and doctors when injured.

You think you have the right to disrespect the flag of the United States, the one our veterans fought for, risked limbs and mental stability to defend, in many cases died for.

All you have to do to understand why I say these things, is to visit a V.A. Hospital once in a while and witness those men and women who've had their arms and/or legs blown off, their psyche shattered from the unbelievable things they've had to go through, or attend a graveside funeral - either in your home town, or at Arlington National Cemetery - to watch the spouse and children of those who've lost their loved one being handed a folded flag.

Then, perhaps, it may dawn on you that kneeling during our national anthem is not such a smart, or respectful, action despite your perceived grievances about racial oppression as a player in the NFL making millions. (And I say, perhaps, because if your already taking a knee, you've demonstrated that you're not thinking too clearly and you're just going along to be part of the current trend.)

From a veteran of the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force.