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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin
Kaepernick began kneeling for the anthem in 2016 and Trump
repeatedly took aim at the NFL and the protest situation during
the 2017 season.
Popovich said Goodell was intimidated by Trump.
"A smart man is running the NFL and he didn't understand the
difference between the flag and what makes the country great --
all the people who fought to allow Kaepernick to have the right
to kneel for justice," the famous basketball coach told The New
York Times. "The flag is irrelevant. It's just a symbol that
people glom onto for political reasons ..."
Popovich has been even more outspoken than usual since black man
George Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after white officer
Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.
He also has often criticized Trump.
And he also has no patience with the reported seven NFL owners
who donated $1 million to Trump's campaign in 2016. Among those
owners were Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Robert Kraft
of the New England Patriots.
"It's just hypocritical," he told the Times. "It's incongruent.
It doesn't make sense. People aren't blind. Do you go to your
staff and your players and talk about injustices and democracy
and how to protest? I don't get it. I think they put themselves
in a position that's untenable."
Earlier this month, Goodell released a video and said he was
wrong for not listening to players and their concerns about
social justice and racism.
Popovich, 71, has won five NBA titles with the Spurs and ranks
third all-time with 1,272 regular-season victories.
--Field Level Media
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