Former Major League Baseball manager Tony La Russa has added his voice to those criticizing San Francisco 49ers second-string quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his anti-American protests during the playing of the national anthem.
Speaking with “Sports Illustrated Now” host Maggie Gray, the Hall of Famer said he doubted Kaepernick’s sincerity and called the silent protests “disrespectful.”
“I know that there’s a constitutional right to express yourself, but I think you have a right as an organization to have a certain philosophy about respecting, whether it’s our Constitution, whether it’s our country, whether its our soldiers…our flag,” La Russa said during the September 14 broadcast. “I would not, to the best of my ability, I would not sanction somebody taking a knee.”
“I think that’s disrespectful,” La Russa, who played and managed in the Bay Area for the Oakland A’s, continued, “and I really question the sincerity of somebody like Kaepernick. I remember when he was on top. I never heard him talk about anything but himself. Now all of a sudden he’s struggling for attention and he makes this big pitch. I don’t buy it. And even if he was sincere, there are other ways to show your concern. Disrespecting our flag is not the way to do it.”
Colin Kaepernick has been indulging his anti-American protest since the end of August when he decided he could no longer stand for the playing of the anthem even though up until August he had been doing so for his entire five-year NFL career.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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