AV: Yeah, absolutely. There have been players that have gone out of their way in the National Football League to thank me
Youth Jersey for my service. The archrivals in the AFC North, Terrell Suggs, Michael Johnson, John Harbaugh, they've gone out of their way after a game to thank me for my service. And not just because it's me, it's because I'm a soldier, I could be Soldier X, and they're out there thanking me. So out of all these players in the NFL who are taking a knee, I don't think as a veteran I take offense. In a big picture where there's customized different thing, nobody thinks when you're taking a knee you're offending the flag. And they're saying it. And I don't think that anybody that standing for the flag is not respecting the fact that there is a lot of unjustices and racial divide in our country. So we're essentially talking about two completely different things. But the problem is that it's interpreted as disrespectful to the flag, and so at the end of the day people have to live with those consequences. Colin Kaepernick did, and there's a lot that can be said about his adventure of starting this process. But I take no offense, I don't think veterans at the end of the day take offense, they actually signed up and fought so that somebody could take a knee and protest peacefully for whatever it is their hearts desire. What did you express to your teammates Saturday night about any potential feelings you had about not seeing the field? AV: There's a lot
http://www.greenbaypackersauthorizedstore.com/blake-martinez-jersey-elite of levels, and there's a lot of reasons why people join the Army. But at the end of the day ... it happens all the time, people die for the flag. There's no way else to put it. When somebody's about to go on a mission, when somebody's loading up the Chinook, when somebody's ready to go, there's nothing else that's going to justify other than the men to the left and right dying for that mission. I wish I could stay home. I wish we could all play "Call of Duty" and not have to go to war. Some men, some women, sign up for this tough challenge, and they have to do it for the flag. When I see a flag of a mission on the shoulder of a soldier that reminds me that that guy's with me. It reminds me that I have to fight and lay my life down for him. Whether it's in my unit, whether it's Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, it doesn't matter. You're going to have a flag on your shoulder, I'm going to identify that, and we're fighting for each other. So that's what the flag means to me, that's what the flag means to a lot of veterans. Wounded warriors, they have no legs, they have shrapnel in their legs, they stand up and salute [during] the national anthem, it means a lot to them, it means a lot to me. So I think my teammates respected this thoroughly. It was just not communicated
http://www.sandiegochargersauthorizedstore.com/junior-seau-jersey-elite and the plan did not allow them the chance to get out and support me or maybe go back to the lab and sit five more hours before the game and figure out a plan. I thought we had to go to bed, work something in the middle. Unfortunately, I threw them under the bus unintentionally. Al, today you had the best-selling jersey in the league. You're a guy who doesn't enjoy -- you don't like this attention for this sort of stuff -- so how does it feel? People are treating you because of those pictures today, they're treating you as some sort of hero who stood up to whatever. They sort of take or interpret it for another thing. What would you say to people who are trying to put you up there? AV: It's completely wrong, and every single time I see that picture of me standing by myself I feel embarrassed to a degree, because like I said, unintentionally I left my teammates behind. It wasn't me stepping forward. I never planned to boycott the plan that the Steelers came up with. I just thought that there would be some middle ground where I could stay in the tunnel, nobody would see me, and then afterward I just wouldn't talk to the media, like I do all the time. I'll avoid you guys, I'll shower, bring my clothes in, never address you guys and two weeks later you guys will be talking about something else. So I thought that was in my head what was going to happen: Steelers don't show up for national anthem, there's a debate nationally about what's right or wrong, everything goes down, we go back to talk about North Korea or the health-care bill and then we play the Baltimore Ravens and we forget about it. So you guys know me, for the guys who come into the locker room all the time, I hate attention, I don't like it, I give you guys clichés so you guys will leave me alone. But when it comes to this, it's a difficult situation, and I don't like the attention, and at the end of the day, the reason whether I want it or not, whether it was my intent or not, the reason I went out there by myself is the reason that is causing all this distress that is making the organization look bad, my coach look bad and my teammates look bad. And for anybody who thinks Coach Tomlin is not as patriotic as you can get in America, or any one of my teammates or the owner, I
Authentic Keenan Allen Womens Jersey take offense to that. That's how I feel when I see myself standing alone for the national anthem
