There was Alejandro Villanueva, an Army Ranger veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan, standing alone Sunday beneath the noonday sun at Chicago’s Soldier Field. Behind him, darkened in the shadows of a stadium tunnel, were his Steelers teammates. They waited out of sight, their sideline almost entirely unoccupied, until the national anthem ended.
When whispers of protest surfaced Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump said NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin asked his team to determine a course of action with which the full 53-man roster could comply. Everyone does it, he said, or no one does. A players-only meeting concluded with no accord.
“So they chose to remove themselves from it,” Mr. Tomlin said after a 23-17 overtime loss Sunday. “They were not going to be disrespectful of the anthem, so they chose not to participate. But at the same time many of them were not going to accept the words of the president. We decided to sit it out, to not take the field, to remove ourselves from it, to focus on playing football.
“Those were our intentions.”
Regardless of intent, the result was a striking and symbolic image. Rather than present a unified front, abstaining from a highly charged conversation, the Steelers’ position appeared unclear. Seen one way, they had Mr. Villanueva’s back. Seen another way, they stranded him. Mr. Villanueva, who did not speak with media Sunday in Chicago, said last year he recognized players’ rights to peacefully protest but wished they would do so in another forum.
In a rally Friday in Alabama, Mr. Trump said protesters were “hurting the game.” He added, to the delight of the crowd, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a [expletive] off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’ “
This weekend, 13 months after Colin Kaepernick first sat during the national anthem to protest persistent police brutality and oppression of people of color, it seemed impossible to not take a stand. The Steelers, attempting to make no statement at all, still made one. The Penguins, announcing they plan to visit the White House for the second consecutive year, made one, too.
“We will not be divided by this,” Mr. Tomlin said. “We’ve got a group of men in there that come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, races, creeds, ethnicities [and] religions. … But because of our position we get drug into [stuff], to be quite honest with you. Some have opinions. Some don’t. We wanted to protect those that don’t. We wanted to protect those that do.”
On Saturday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said “divisive comments like” those from Mr. Trump “demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”
Steelers president Art Rooney II said he felt Mr. Goodell made “an appropriate statement.” Several other owners made similar comments. The strongest came from Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who linked arms with Jacksonville players at Wembley Stadium in London and later said, “We have a lot of work to do, and we can do it, but the comments by the president make it harder.”
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Dwayne Woodruff, a former Steelers defensive back currently campaigning for the position of Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice, said in a statement Mr. Trump’s “disparaging comments … only serve to push our country to become more divided and ultimately penalizes our first amendment rights under the Constitution.”
Sunday morning, Mr. Trump endorsed the notion of an NFL boycott. He wrote on Twitter, “If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend! NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S.”
In the afternoon, with a scintillating slate of 1 p.m. games underway, Mr. Trump clarified, “Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!” He then echoed an earlier announcement from the Penguins, tweeting, “Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony. Great team!”
The Penguins, who in 1991 became the first Stanley Cup champion to visit the White House, will proceed as they did after winning the title last year. This is newsworthy only because Mr. Trump publicly uninvited the Golden State Warriors last week, and the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team declined an invite because of scheduling issues.
A statement from the Penguins read, in part, “Any agreement or disagreement with a president’s politics, policies or agenda can be expressed in other ways. However, we very much respect the rights of other individuals and groups to express themselves as they see fit.”
In June, Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle, a longtime donor to Democratic candidates, said visiting the White House was “a tradition that should be honored, first and foremost.” Captain Sidney Crosby said Sunday he understood why certain teams or players may choose to pass up a post-championship invitation to the White House because of their political beliefs.
“People have that right to not go, too,” Mr. Crosby said. “Nobody’s saying they have to go. As a group, we decided to go.”
Major League Baseball was thrust into the spotlight Saturday when Oakland A’s rookie Bruce Maxwell placed his cap over his heart and became the first player in the majors to kneel during the national anthem. Mr. Maxwell was born on a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, Germany, where his family was located while his father, Bruce Jr., did a tour of duty with the U.S. Army.
Pirates rookie Josh Bell applauded Mr. Maxwell’s protest, saying, “I think it’s important that he comes from a background of a military family because so many people will say, ‘There’s so many people that risk their lives for that flag, that you better honor it.’ So for him to take that stand and truly understand that is important.”
So far, no Pirates players have joined the protests.
“The Pittsburgh Pirates respect and appreciate the individual opinions of our players,” Pirates president Frank Coonelly said in a statement. “As an organization, we respect the American sacrifice and national unity that are routinely displayed at our games. We stand just as strongly for the fundamental principles of equality, diversity and inclusion.”
Jason Mackey, Bill Brink, Liz Bloom and Ed Bouchette contributed to this report. Stephen J. Nesbitt: snesbitt@post-gazette.com and Twitter @stephenjnesbitt.
First Published: September 25, 2017, 2:09 a.m.
