Are you even capable of stopping and thinking for a minute that the coverage happened last weekend because of what Trump said in Alabama at another one of his campaign rallies? He is the one that decided to make this a "political event." Kaepernick started this last year. Preseason if I remember correctly, when Obama was president. It died down as the year went on. Then, our president, who is supposed to be the leader of this country, calls people exercising their freedoms, not harming or intimidating anyone, a son of a bitch. Do you think that athletes, owners, etc. were just going to lie down and take that? Now, we have this stir-crazy debate over the flag, what is and isn't against code and what it means to be patriotic. There have been no meaningful discussions about the real issues, just deflection after deflection and faux-outrage "boycotts." What better platform do these guys have than when people from all backgrounds are converging together to watch? I guarantee you as sure as the sky is blue, if the first knee had never been taken during the anthem and players instead help up a black power sign during a TD celebration, or ran out of the tunnel with a sign, people would find something else wrong with it.