Donald Trump, the Great Uniter, bridged the gap between sports labor and management on Friday night with his comments about the NFL in Alabama.  At a campaign event for a Senate candidate, the President commented on the football players who refused to stand during the national anthem, saying, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, say: ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.  Out.  He’s fired!’”  NFL ratings are way down of late, for the reasons I mentioned in Frank on Friday two weeks ago, namely, when fans turn on the game, they want to hear about football, not social problems or protests.  Former 49’ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the national anthem protest stating, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”  Before Trump’s comments, about five players continued the protest.  After the Trump comments, entire teams knelt or locked arms.  The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t come out for the anthem at all, giving the ultimate middle finger to military veterans, and at Chicago’s Soldier Field no less.  The sports media immediately went into knee-jerk liberal mode.  ESPN’s Howard Bryant spewed, “it’s a 70 percent black league.  This is an issue that’s very important to them.  There’s a quarterback named Colin Kaepernick who this league still did not hire and still has not even brought in for a tryout.  I think.”  Uh, where do I begin?  It’s very important to the players?  See above.  It was an isolated issue until Trump weighed in.  Kaepernick hasn’t even got a tryout, you think?  Think again.  Ray Lewis had the Baltimore Ravens ready to hire Kaepernick, until his girlfriend posted a photo of Lewis hugging the team’s white owner, and compared it to a slave hugging his master.  MSNBC was predictable.  “Donald Trump may be the American President (may be?), but he doesn’t understand the importance of American values — particularly freedom of expression, pluralism and tolerance.  In fact, he is a threat to them.”  Really?  Perhaps someone can tell me, what do liberals tolerate?  And Trump also enjoys freedom of expression; the 1st Amendment isn’t just for left-wing nuts.  NFL players took to Twitter to fight back against the President.  Washington Redskins linebacker Zach Brown tweeted, “Trump stay in ur place… football have nothing to do wit u.,”  Even basketball players got into he act.  The owners also distanced themselves from Trump, “Comments like we heard last night from the president are inappropriate, offensive and divisive.”  Two forces are at work here.  The Left’s hatred of Trump, and the owners’ love of money.  The hatred of Trump is the factor driving the athletes and the media.  Had Trump demanded that they kneel, they would have stood at attention just to prove they could.  What rebels.  I must say though that I do agree with Zach Brown to some extent. His advice, less the fractured grammar, which I will attribute charitably to the constraints of Twitter, is good advice – for the players.  “Stay in your place.”  Like it or not, Donald Trump was in his rightful place.  You players are performers.  Your place is on the field playing the game for which you are so richly compensated.  And don’t give me the 1st Amendment, freedom of expression line, because it doesn’t apply.  An employee has a right to stand on his soapbox and spout any position he wishes to spout, on his time, in an appropriate place, and in an appropriate manner.  There is no right to make a spectacle at your place of business, on your employer’s time.  Let me take a stab at Freedom of Expression for Dummies (a/k/a/ Liberals).  You run a health food and cannabis store in Denver.  You are fervently pro-choice.  Some of your employees decide to hold a pro-life protest in your store, and they call in the local TV station to broadcast it.  Do you say, “well, they’re just exercising their freedom of expression,” or do you shut it down and fire them?  You know the answer.  The owners?  That’s a different story.  Simply put, they’re scared.  Like the GEICO commercials say, “In this media culture, you disagree with Donald Trump, it’s what you do.”  The owners are painfully aware that more than 70% of their employees are black, and they rightfully don’t wish to antagonize them, but encouraging this protest, should it continue, is dangerous.  First of all, players making $1 million a year may not be the best spokesmen for the oppression of people of color in America, even if their cause is just.  Secondly, remember, this is the NFL, The No Fun League.  The League whose own rules prevented the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal on their helmets honoring five murdered police officers; the league that stopped Titans linebacker Avery Williamson from honoring 9/11 victims by wearing cleats that read “9-11/01” and “Never Forget;” the league that fined Robert Griffin III $10,000 for wearing a shirt during a press conference that said “Operation Patience” because the shirt was made by Reebok and the league contract is with Nike; the league that prohibited Griffin from wearing a shirt that said “Know Jesus, Know Peace;” the league that fines players for wearing non-regulation socks.  The NFL Operations Manual is clear and sensible on this issue.  “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking.  It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country.  Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline … for violations of the above, including first offenses.”  The league’s not handing down discipline for last week though.  The owners are thinking about their pocket books, not civil rights.  And they are walking a tightrope between their players on one side and pissed-off fans turning off their games on the other.  They took the easy way out.  Tell Trump he’s wrong.  Their statement put me in mind of a line from the movie Network, “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature Mr. Trump, and you will atone!”  For the owners, the primal force of nature is their cash-flow.  The players should take heed of this force as well.  Their pay is based on 55% of all revenue.  If league revenue declines, their new contracts get cut.  Let’s see how important they think this issue is when they have to pay for it.