Kneeling during the national anthem has taken the sports by storm since San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began it during preseason to protest police treatment of black people. Other NFL players have done it along with high school football players.
But Virginia Tech basketball coach Buzz Williams will not have that behavior in his house. Instead, he chose to show his players why we stand for the national anthem. We do it to honor the men and women who sacrificed so much so we can enjoy our freedom at home.
Members of the military brought in chairs the basketball players usually sit in. Then veterans walked out and Williams asked them to stand in the chairs. He said:
We didn’t earn those chairs. Your talent didn’t earn those chairs. How tall you are and how fast you run, how well you shoot, didn’t earn those chairs.These guys, when they were your age, interrupted their life, they paused their education, they changed their career, and they gave their life for those chairs. Do you guys understand what I’m saying? Not us. Not us. So when the anthem is played, we’re going to stand like grown men. And we’re going to honor men like this, that gave their life, so we can have a chair to sit in.
He also told his players they will stand at attention during the two in a half minute national anthem. He will not allow them to play with their shorts or adjust their jerseys.
I want you to know the words. I want you to be respectful of the words because those words represent people’s lives.
Williams then plays the national anthem to show the players exactly how they will honor America and those that served this country so they can have the freedom to attend college and play basketball.
Towards the middle of the anthem, players and veterans started singing along.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY