The Bernstein Brief: Spurs' Gregg Popovich Gets It Right
By Dan Bernstein--
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) The biggest takeaway from NBA franchise media days across the country Monday has been that we have one league that appears to understand what's meant by the ongoing protests during the national anthem at sporting events. This sport is on the right side of the issue and is willing to say so.
This isn't the militaristic bluster of NFL types fearing disruption of precious order, a national team hockey coach making threats to players for exercising their constitutional rights or Tony La Russa dismissing Colin Kaepernick -- entirely wrongly -- as cynical and insincere.
It's Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying Americans "better be disgusted" by police killings of unarmed black men. And it's Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Monday calling his players "engaged citizens" who are free to express themselves.
"It's difficult for many white people to understand the day-to-day feeling many black people have to deal with," Popovich told reporters. "If it's not your daily experience, you don't understand it. I didn't talk to my kids about how to act in front of a policeman when you get stopped. I didn't have to do that. All of my black friends have done that. The conversation has to stay fresh, it has to stay continuous, it has to be persistent, and we all have a responsibility to make sure that happens in our communities."
This isn't any harder or more threatening to anyone than that.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.