Steelers Legend Says Teammates Would Have Dealt With Anthem Protestors

Over the years the NFL has really lost a lot as it shifted from a game with players who were real men into a multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry where the quarterbacks may as well be wearing skirts.

Not only has the on the field product sucked out loud thanks to endless replays, game stoppages, arcane rules and lousy officiating, but there just isn’t any American pride exhibited by far too many of the pampered multi-millionaire players who have no empathy towards those who have to go out and work a real job to earn their daily bread.

This would especially be the case with the national anthem protesting crybabies like Colin Kaepernick and his disciples, a cult of personality if there ever was one as well as one that threatens the financial future of the league itself with mounting boycotts and conduct that continues to turn off longtime fans.

Perhaps I am old but I never liked all of the ass-shaking, show-boating, ESPN play of the day style of nonsense and back in the day, a guy like Ray Nitschke or Dick Butkus would never have allowed that style of exhibitionism. Locker rooms policed themselves whenever it became necessary which wasn’t often because players respected the flag, the country and understood their NFL privilege.

That being said, an interesting – and soon to be controversial – comment has been made by Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Franco Harris on the national anthem protesters. The members of the Steel Curtain defense would have made sure that the first time that Kaepernick took a knee, that he would have been wearing his ass for a hat.

According to the Washington Times “Steelers legend Franco Harris says teammates would’ve quashed national anthem protests”:

NFL great Franco Harris says there is no way national anthem protests inspired by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would have caught on in his era.

The four-time Super Bowl champion and man known for the “Immaculate Reception” sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Mediaite’s John Ziegler over the Labor Day weekend. The two talked about the racial strife of the late 1960s and his time at Penn State when today’s Kaepernick-inspired protests came up.

“When [a professional] puts that suit on, it’s not just about him and his position and the things that he wants to back and wants to believe in, because the team has to come first,” Mr. Harris said during the podcast. “If he wants to make statements, make a position, then that’s fine. Go do that. There’s no reason why you couldn’t do that after practice on another platform than doing it with his suit on at the stadium. […] That was his personal position that he wanted to take.”

The NFL Hall of Fame fullback then said that team leaders would have quashed any national anthem protests before Steelers head coach Chuck Noll needed to get involved.

“I don’t think it would have been Chuck,” Mr. Harris said Sunday. “I think that there would have been two guys on our team […] who would have said, ‘Hey.’ […] We had two of the meanest guys in football, who I think would’ve dealt with it that way, and that would’ve been Joe Greene and Jack Lambert.”

Yes indeed, the prima donnas and social justice warriors in today’s locker rooms would benefit greatly were a couple of guys like Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene been around to offer them a “lesson” in the proper way to conduct themselves.

Those were the days.