The Seahawks Might Protest the Anthem as a Team before 9/11 Season Opener

In contrast to the hypocritical New York Giants team that stood at attention for the national anthem during a preseason game—including kicker Josh Brown, who will miss (only) the season opener for multiple allegations of domestic abuse—the Seattle Seahawks may engage in a team-wide protest before kicking off against the Dolphins Sunday afternoon. Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane got the ball rolling last week when he joined Colin Kaepernick in solidarity and sat during the national anthem. Since then, the rest of the team has discussed joining in as well.

Middle linebacker Bobby Wagner says the Seahawks might make some kind of statement en masse."Anything that we are going to do is not going to be individually. It's going to be as a team," Wagner said."Honestly, as far as sitting for that, I don't know what that really does. I think if we are going to do something, it has to be more, because that's not going to change people that are doing the wrongs, that are doing the killings."I do appreciate it, because it has definitely opened up the conversations. But there is just so much more to be done."

The Seahawks are playing it close to the vest, all Wagner offered was that whatever act they choose would be "a big surprise." It will also likely cause a big to do, what with the the first Sunday of the NFL season falling on the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks and the now-inextricable ties between football and performative patriotism.

If you thought Kaepernick caused a stir while quietly sitting down during a preseason game, imagine 53 guys protesting during the national anthem on a day that—just like the American flag and anthem (not to mention the NFL itself)—has become a vehicle for military appreciation. Kaepernick, and the several other players who have joined him since, have never been about protesting the military, however. It has been about equality, whether that be racial or as in Megan Rapinoe's case, gender and sexual orientation.

That's what makes Wagner's comments so intriguing, and why maybe tipping people off ahead of time could prove more useful than what Kaepernick did. Kaepernick, it should be pointed out, never made a fuss about what he was doing. He sat quietly for three games before anyone noticed, and with the way this all played out you get the sense that he was doing this as a personal thing, not a public show. But when he was finally asked about it, he gave an honest answer and the story quickly, and incorrectly, spread as Unpatriotic Football Player Protests Beloved American Military. By the time Kaepernick was able to follow up on his comments, it had already spun out of control and his very thoughtful responses were lost in the sea of outrage and demands that he justify his position with a set of bullet points.

So now the Seahawks have provided that ahead of time. We will probably do something. We are doing it because of [x,y, and z] and because we want things to change. There will be a slew of people who still won't get it—because they don't want to ever get it—but maybe more people will start to listen.