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With all these NBA athletes increasingly getting involved with politics (especially steph curry and lebron), I would not be surprised if Lebron succumbs to media pressure and kneels during the anthem at some point this season.

If that ever happens, will you be happy or just "shut up and dribble"?

I don't think any NBA player is going to kneel.

It's actually in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that "players, coaches and training staff are to be lined up single file in a dignified posture" (or something like that) during the playing of the anthem. Not only is it in the CBA, but it's actually been that way for a couple decades.....you know, when nobody on either side of the issue really cared about it. That's an agreement the players' union signed for.

The NFL can't make this claim. There is nothing in their CBA that makes the same requirement to stand for the anthem.

Andre Igoudala also said at the beginning of last season that players would stand for the anthem because the rule had been there to do so for quite a long time. He said that if the league had just come up with that rule last year, then the players would've felt as though the league was trying to shut them up, but that's not the case here. The rule has been there for a long time.

I don't think I'd care at all.

Turn it off probably, It’s appealing to some and disgusting to others. I just want to watch basketball and not politics

Players don't want to risk becoming the next Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Those Boys at the top of the food chain don't play, Good Ole' Boys Club 'Til they Die is the motto that they live by.

MotownMadness wrote:Turn it off probably, It’s appealing to some and disgusting to others. I just want to watch basketball and not politics

Best solution to me has always been to do like the rest of the world does during club sporting events and just skip any anthems. Just roll the ball out and play.

Playing the anthem and standing for it is, by itself, a political gesture.

dc wrote:

MotownMadness wrote:Turn it off probably, It’s appealing to some and disgusting to others. I just want to watch basketball and not politics

Best solution to me has always been to do like the rest of the world does during club sporting events and just skip any anthems. Just roll the ball out and play.

Playing the anthem and standing for is, by itself, a political gesture.

Pretty sure that’s what’s just gonna happen like ESPN is trying to do with the NFL now

It’s not a good thing though to just deliberately try to alienate half your audience like that. Just do like the poster above said and get rid of it

I don't turn it on until the game starts (or 20-30 seconds before), so I'm unaffected.

mashiach wrote:With all these NBA athletes increasingly getting involved with politics (especially steph curry and lebron), I would not be surprised if Lebron succumbs to media pressure and kneels during the anthem at some point this season.

If that ever happens, will you be happy or just "shut up and dribble"?

Succumbs to what?

MotownMadness wrote:It’s not a good thing though to just deliberately try to alienate half your audience like that. Just do like the poster above said and get rid of it

It’s telling that your concern here is people losing a bit of money when the issue that caused these protests in the first place is literal life or death for the people involved.

What a terrible poll lol. Horribly phrased with dumb choices.

As an international NBA fan I always thought that playing the national anthem before every game of a league in which all the teams but one are from the same country is a bit stupid.

I see anthems as a tool to empower the identity of a country/city/club, so what is the point of playing an anthem that is common to all the teams? I think it would be better to play some anthem or song that identifies with the city and that would pump up the fans of that team, or just nothing at all.

I think U.S.A. is the only country that plays its national anthem before a sporting event, and it's this narcissitic culture of american sports that bothers me sometimes a little bit. Like giving the title of "world champions" to the winner of a league where only teams from two countries are allowed to participate, we all know the best players play in the NBA, but so they do in the soccer Champion's League and they don't call themselves "world champions". Maybe they just want to remind international fans that America is the greatest country in the world...

He’d talked about this and he’s not gonna kneel. He said he wants to try bring on change in other ways.

But if he or any other player did kneel good on them.

I wouldn’t be bothered by the act itself, but I’d be bothered by the onslaught of media attention and divisiveness that would follow. Surely there are more effective ways to get the point across without rehashing this specific form of protest.

I don't really care for Lebron's political antics personally but I support his right to do them.

The NBA rules state you aren't allowed to do this, so I'm not sure I'd support it. The NFL rules, when Colin Kaepernick kneeled, did NOT say you couldn't do this. it was only added AFTER the fact, so it's a different situation.

Breaking league rules is one thing, but doing what you want to do within league rules I see no problems with. I support Lebron finding his own way to voice his concerns without violating NBA agreements.

rapskar wrote:As an international NBA fan I always thought that playing the national anthem before every game of a league in which all the teams but one are from the same country is a bit stupid.

I see anthems as a tool to empower the identity of a country/city/club, so what is the point of playing an anthem that is common to all the teams? I think it would be better to play some anthem or song that identifies with the city and that would pump up the fans of that team, or just nothing at all.

I think U.S.A. is the only country that plays its national anthem before a sporting event, and it's this narcissitic culture of american sports that bothers me sometimes a little bit. Like giving the title of "world champions" to the winner of a league where only teams from two countries are allowed to participate, we all know the best players play in the NBA, but so they do in the soccer Champion's League and they don't call themselves "world champions". Maybe they just want to remind international fans that America is the greatest country in the world...

The US isn't the only country that plays the national anthem before sporting events. It's pretty common in a lot of countries. I grew up in Belgium and the national anthem was played before football matches there as well.

Id have a heck of a lot more respect for him.

I would absolutely love it.