Sports leagues seem determined to become vehicles for politics.
The NBA is perhaps the biggest example of this new normal.
And one NBA owner is furious after an anti-American anthem protest went up in smoke.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made the stunning move to stop playing the national anthem at the American Airlines Center.
The move by Cuban was the latest escalation in the NBA’s role in the culture war.
The 2020 season was marred by anti-American and anti-police protests, which resulted in ratings for the NBA Finals cratering.
Commissioner Adam Silver countermanded Cuban’s anthem ban, and now lawmakers in Texas went a step further and passed Senate Bill 4, also known as the Star-Spangled Banner Protection Act.
From Breitbart:
“In February, Mavs Owner Mark Cuban ordered stadium staff not to play the national anthem. Last week, Texas Republicans responded by passing a law requiring him to play it.
Now, all that remains is for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to sign it.
The bill…was made a legislative priority of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick after Cuban canceled the anthem for 13 Mavericks preseason and regular-season home games earlier this year.
‘Sell the franchise & some Texas Patriots will buy it. We ARE the land of free & home of the brave,’ Patrick wrote on Twitter at the time.”
If Texas governor Greg Abbott signs the bill and Cuban defies the law, then he would not be eligible for business relationships with the state.
State House representative Dustin Burrows said that the bill “does not violate free speech because teams can still choose not to play the anthem and forgo the funding and business relationship with the state.”
Liberals who were appalled by the move were silent when a similar pressure campaign was applied to NFL owner Dan Snyder.
Under intense pressure from the Left, Snyder finally dropped the Washington Redskins moniker for the Washington Football Team.
Cuban’s move to cancel the anthem at the stadium was the culmination of years of anti-American sentiment that started with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
What started as one player kneeling for the national anthem turned into a cause célèbre for the Democrat Media Complex.
Kaepernick was turned into a cult hero, and many athletes followed along.
Even owners like Cuban have gone “woke.”
Republicans willing to engage in the culture war is a good sign for the country.
For too long, the Right idly sat by as the radical Left systematically poisoned the culture and eroded the American ethic.
In five short years, players who refuse to kneel for the anthem are ostracized by the media.
That’s what happened to Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac, who was peppered with questions for not kneeling alongside his teammates.
Some members of the press even reacted with glee when Isaac tore his ACL soon after the incident.
It’s time for conservatives to take a stand for their principles.
