Steve Kerr calls NFL’s anthem stance ‘idiotic’

HOUSTON - Warriors coach Steve Kerr has never shied away from social issues. It’s true in the middle of the season, and it was true just hours away from the biggest game his team has played in two years.

Kerr addressed reporters after Thursday’s shootaround at Toyota Center in Houston, where the Warriors lost Game 5 of the best-of-seven Western Conference final series to the Rockets, 98-94. Houston can win the series with a victory in Game 6 at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Saturday. If the Warriors win, they’ll force Game 7 in Houston on Monday.

But Kerr, who spent part of his childhood in the Middle East, and whose father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated by a religious extremist in Beirut in 1984, is never focused solely on basketball. He had noticed the uproar over the NFL’s proposed rule implementation regarding the pregame rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and when asked for his thoughts Thursday, he let loose.

“It’s just typical of the NFL,” Kerr said. “They’re just playing to their fan base. Basically just trying to use the anthem as fake patriotism, nationalism, scaring people. It’s idiotic. But that’s how the NFL has conducted their business.

“I’m proud to be in a league that understands patriotism in America is about free speech and peacefully protesting. Our leadership in the NBA understands when the NFL players were kneeling, they were kneeling to protest police brutality, to protest racial inequality. They weren’t disrespecting the flag or the military. But our president decided to make it about that and the NFL followed suit, pandered to their fan base, created this hysteria.

“It’s kind of what’s wrong with our country right now. People in high places are trying to divide us, divide loyalties, make this about the flag, as if the flag is something other than it really is - which is a representation of what we’re about, which is diversity, peaceful protests, right to free speech. It’s ironic, actually.”

On Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement that read, in part: “This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem. Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room until after the Anthem has been performed.”

Many saw the NFL’s edict as a capitulation to President Donald Trump, who insulted protesting football players last fall, and who doubled down on Thursday by suggesting that any player who fails to stand for the anthem should leave the country.

It’s a particularly apt discussion in Houston, where the PA announcer instructs fans to put their hands over their hearts during the national anthem at Rockets home games, yet the home crowd sees no contradiction in cheering over the word “rockets” in the song.

The NBA, unlike the NFL, expressly directs its players to stand for the pregame anthem. No player has challenged this rule in recent years. Generally, though, the NBA is viewed as more respectful of its athletes, and more progressive in its stances, than the NFL.

Kerr certainly thinks so.

“(NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver) and his leadership, I do feel like we’re partners - players, coaches, management, the league’s management. I do feel like we’re all partners. … A lot of our players have been outspoken about gun safety, gun violence, and our league supports it. We’re proud to be part of a group that’s trying to make our country better, make some changes for the better. I’m proud of the NBA for that.”

Once he got on a roll, Kerr willingly shifted to one of his pet topics: gun control. The coach remembered observing a moment of silence for victims of the Pulse nightclub during the 2016 NBA Finals.

“That was two years ago, and we still haven’t done anything for our country,” Kerr said. “Our government still hasn’t done anything in terms of gun safety laws. In Santa Fe (High School, southeast of Houston), victims were victims because the parent of the shooter didn’t lock the guns up. Why don’t we have laws to lock guns up? Safety. Basic safety laws make so much sense.

“Yet we’re tied up in this idiotic political battle, ideological battle. There’s so many common-sense gun reform measures we can take.

“Yet we refuse to do so out of ideological philosophies and dynamics. Yet kids continue to be slaughtered.”

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.