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After a few seasons of pearl-clutching and horror over players expressing their First Amendment right, the NFL has approved new rules for behavior during the playing of the national anthem which solve absolutely nothing.

The new policy basically demands players stand and respect the anthem on the field or face fines from both the league and from the player's team.

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But the NFL, benevolent overlords that they are, have given players an out: players who don't want to stand for the anthem will be allowed to stay in the locker room, a stupid, horrible decision that solves absolutely nothing.

The decision undercuts a player's freedom of expression, yes. But the new policy also does nothing to solve the issue in the first place. Players who choose to stay in the locker room still become pariahs in the eyes of the angry, vocal fans the league is placating and, more importantly, to team owners (31 of 32 of whom are -- shock! -- white).

Good thing these owners haven't punished any players for their protests, huh? Nope, not at all.

With sinking ratings (which, frankly, probably has as much to do with bad games than People Mad Online™) and President Trump (who was more forgiving of the white supremacists that caused deadly violence in Charlottesville than Colin Kaepernick) riling up the masses, the league is frightened as hell and is willing to to squash any kind of free expression even if it means siding with a wave of backlash that's heavily steeped in racism.

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Remember when Houston Texans' owner Robert McNair apologized for using the phrase "inmates running the prison" during a meeting with players? Well, just a few weeks ago, he came out and said he regretted apologizing and insisted it wasn't about the protests.

And, yet, during and after the 2017 season, after seeing their star quarterback Deshaun Watson go down with an ACL injury, the Texans continued to sign quarterbacks that were inferior to Kaepernick because heaven forbid.

Meanwhile, the NFL continues to reap heaps of money from television contracts -- billions of dollars, really -- off the backs of these players, players who the NFL has a bad track record of giving a damn about once their playing days are over.

Nevermind that most teams didn't even come out to the field for the anthem until 2009 or that the anthem portion is rarely shown live on television. The NFL wants to be sure the players are being RESPECTFUL and behaving APPROPRIATELY.

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The NFL has also put waaaaaay more effort in to protecting this sacred, eight-year-old tradition than, say, punishing players who are domestic abusers.

If the entire Ray Rice debacle wasn't enough for you, take Jerry Jones being quite forgiving of player Greg Hardy, who Jones stood by even after horrific photos of Hardy's ex-girlfriend were released in relation to the domestic abuse case against Hardy.

Too bad no NFL owners aren't as understanding about Kaepernick's peaceful, nonviolent protests as they are about players that hit women.

But at least thoseguys probably stand for the anthem, right?

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