There has been a bit of a brouhaha about a clip where Michael was at a game and when the national anthem was played his colleagues put their hands over their heart but Michael didn't, he stood there with his hands clasted in front of him. I thought that as a very conservative person I wanted to give my perspective and take.
Nothing he did was disrespectful. When I was in school, many years ago, we put our hands over our heart for the Pledge of Allegiance but not when we sang the patriotic song, whether it be the National Anthem or My Country Tis of Thee or something else. Going to ball games (Shea and Yankee Stadiums) they would ask gentlemen to remove their hats, but no one put their hand over their heart. I was taken aback the first time I was somewhere and I saw people put their hands over their heart for the National Anthem. Customs vary by time and place, but as I started, he may not have had his hand over his heart but he wasn't remotely disrespectful.
I give him a complete pass on this.
As a veteran, I don't expect people to show respect for our country in the way that I would. If people didn't want to be here or didn't appreciate this country, they wouldn't be here.
I don't hold any ill-will towards Colin Kapernick or any other players who knelt either. It's what America is about: freedom.
It's not required or customary to do that. The National Anthem is not for just the military, it's for everyone who is a US Citizen. He has family in the Military and has done many things to support the Military. He was a Military Brat. He said he was soaking it all in and didn't notice that the rest of the guys did this until it was almost over.
I think this Country has had enough of the overreaction and BS pearl clutching at the expense of someone else. I know I have.
Just for the sake of this, I am also a veteran. As most know I have been a baseball umpire for well over 50 years now. In many games I do, they play the National Anthem before the game. Everyone removes their caps and some do put their hands over their hearts. I do not. With no disrespect for anything, I keep my hands on my cap in front of myself, but I have never done the hand/heart thing. As a veteran, I also learned that you do not need to remove your cap either if you are saluting the flag with your hand at your cap. I don't do this either, but many vets do.