anthem and stand with linked arms as the anthem is playing. still sort of a grab bag and a mixed reaction from the players. and certainly from the fans. alex. okay, mike, thank you so much. appreciate that live report. to continue the conversation, i m joined by jarvis green and by boston globe sports columnist dan shaunse, also correspondent for the journal review, erin mcpike. jarvis, i m going to reach out to you first. i want to get your reaction to what we saw in london this morning. most players standing for the national anthem, logging arms. you had three players from the dolphins kneeling during the anthem. what do you think of that kind of protest? well, i mean, first of all, i support the guys kneeling. being part of a team, you know, unity, and i know many times we were in a situation where we had to come together as one team. and when they re kneeling, they re not disrespecting the flag. it s about equality. they re getting a message across.
who are speaking from their hearts about an important issue. it is not just like the end of a campaign where you will see celebrities who are surrogates for a candidate and you ll hear a lot of political analysts say they really can t get anybody to the polls. this is a deeper issue when celebrities are speaking from the heart and are trying to move an issue forward. i think this is a very big moment in our country. and i m hopeful that things will be better going forward because of this moment. okay. dan, what about you? who do you think wins in the end? well, i think defining the issue is part of the problem. the players haven t successfully defined what exactly they re protesting. people are taking it as they re being anti-american. no, they re not. they re being pro-american by doing something they re allowed to do. this is the thing that our fathers fought for. it s a very confused message. it s been confused by the president. he s tried to draw everybody into an argument whic
again, we re all human beings. we watch the game, we support the game, we love the game. we love the flag. i mean, look, my dad, uncles, great uncles, grand fathers served in war. i believe in the american way and everything that s going on, but again, we re talking about equality. okay, jarvis, pretty clear on that statement. i appreciate that. dan, what about you? what do you think about the way management from the nfl, the owners, roger goodell, have all responded to the controversy? well, the owners don t want them doing this. but the owners also are americans. they re good americans. and they know that they have the right to do this. they re in kind of a bind there. that s why you re seeing the sensitivity. i expect the situation in new england changed today from last week. last week, 18 guys kneeled. i don t think you saw it today. i don t know it because i m not there, but the message this week was everybody do the same thing. that s how we ll present this, lock arms and you
and just the things that we believe in, as athletes, working together as a team and being one. so okay, dan. the fact that most players knelt also before the national anthem. do you think that might be some kind of a compromise with the president? or what about the locking of arms? is that also something of a compromise? people take such offense at the kneeling, but locking arms is showing a unity in the protest and what they re trying to say, and we re talking about it. i think the word compromise is fitting here. in both instances. i think that there was a meeting in new york this week where the commissioner brought a lot of people together, players, owners, et cetera, trying to have a policy on this. i think in new england today, i m not there today, i m talking to you. i expect you will see some kneeling before and then during the anthment, everybody locking arms. the teams are trying to have a united message here. they re not necessarily protesting against the president, but i