Many Fans Angered After Texans Players Take A Knee

HOUSTON, TX — The sight of NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem has become something of the norm over the last year, and it seems players who are making this silent protest are doing if for a number of reasons and often it’s not sitting well with fans.

On Sunday, the Houston Texans became the latest organization to kneel during the national anthem.

They didn’t kneel to protest any social injustice, but to express their disappointment in the comments made at an NFL owners meeting by team owner Bob McNair, who remarked “We don’t want inmates running the prison.”

READ: Texans Players Kneel In Protest To Owner's 'Inmate' Remarks

McNair, who was speaking about players who kneel during the national anthem, apologized for his comments at the meeting, and twice publically, but a majority of the Texans players didn’t accept that apology, and knelt anyway.

Many Texans fans who had previously expressed their admiration for their team abstaining from the firestorm this has created with other teams, were disappointed by the display, some to the point that they vowed to never watch another NFL game.

“I am done with the NFL,” said Damion Baker, who described himself as a diehard Texans fan. “No more football in my house.”

Eddie Glasper, a former U.S. Marine, turned on the game in the first quarter and was blissfully unaware of the Texans protest, but after hearing about the protest at halftime he turned the game off, and says he may never watch again.

Richmond resident Robert Delgado, an Iraq War veteran, called the Texans protest, “worthless,” while others took a different stance.

Michelle Mead, who expressed her support for the players, said it would have been better for the organization and the sport, if McNair had listened and not spoken.

Jay Phillips of Katy, said the comments made by McNair were obviously race-related.

“Everyone knows what he meant,” Jay Phillips said.

The phrase: “We don’t want to let the inmates run the prison,” is an idiom that has a number of connotations, such "letting the fox guard the hen house," and infers the least qualified to run an organization, are trying to be in charge.

However, players and critics took McNair’s comments more literally, and as a comparison to inmates.

Some Texans players were so angry and upset by the remark, that there are indications that this could be the start of a longer protest.

Last week, star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins skipped practice because of McNair's remark.

According to a Bleacher Report article, Hopkins was asked why he as angry about the remarks, and declined to comment.

While the reviews from fans are mixed, some just want to enjoy their football minus all the politics and social justice.

“If this was a protest to what McNair said then this should be it and done. Should this happen next week, it’s just complete disrespect,” said Joanna Frazier, a Texans fan since 2002.

The sight of NFL players kneeling or sitting during the national anthem has been in the national spotlight since 2016, when former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt or sat during the national anthem, supposedly as a protest against police brutality against African-Americans.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in August 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick, who was cut from the 49ers roster later than season after two abysmal seasons, has yet to be signed by another NFL.

Tommy Crow, a Dallas Cowboys fan, said Kaepernick’s protest was little more than a ploy from a desperate man that backfired.

“He was a QB in crisis. He was on the brink of getting cut. So he did what desperate people often do, he used his race as a ploy to save his job,” Crow, said. “All it did was damage a once great game and threatens to destroy an empire by the caustic infection it has wrought.”

At a September political rally in Alabama, President Donald Trump remarked that NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the anthem, CNN reported.

The next weekend, NFL players throughout the league began kneeling in protest to Trump’s remarks.

Vice President Mike Pence and his wife attended an NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers after Trump’s remarks.

When the players took a knee, Pence and his wife left the stadium.

Tomball resident Field Hudgens said he and his family were boycotting the NFL even before the Texans took a knee, and would like to see the game return to what it used to be: Fun.

“Owners are more afraid of players than (they) are of fans,” he said. “Penalize the players for interrupting the entertainment and those players that just play the game will be rewarded. We live in a something for nothing world which demands what have you done for me lately rather than being grateful for what you have.”

Image: Houston Texans players kneel during the singing of the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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