Well, its finally here, folks. The big fight is finally here.
In one corner, we have Donald J. Trump, the very rich and very polarizing president of the United States.
And in the other corner, we have the biggest sports leagues, athletes and superstars of the United States of America.
This fight has been meaning to happen for a long time.
It all started the day of his speech after the Charlottesville riots. The day he decided to pointedly condemn "both sides" of the riots, despite the fact that only one side had been, with no shame whatsoever, shouting racist and vile slurs. Many people across the US were astounded with Trump's reticence to denounce the racists of Charlottesville. Among those people were many athletes. Numerous athletes across the U.S., from Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks to Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves berated the POTUS and his words. I completely agreed with Karl-Anthony Town who wrote in The Players' Tribune, "It’s disheartening when our President doesn’t understand his words carry a tremendous amount of weight. It’s really hard to see our President refuse to stand up for what’s right — at a time when the country needs it. "
After Trump fumbled his chance to denounce racism as a whole in America, he made many enemies in the sports world. But that wasn't the end. On Friday night, as President Trump stood before masses of supporters in Huntsville, Alabama, he spoke the words that set the sports world ablaze last night.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say 'Get that son of a b*tch off the field right now, out. He's fired! He's fired!"
Players, coaches, teams and owners all across the U.S. reacted in different words, but they all meant the same thing: these should not be the words coming out of the mouth of the President of the United States. Rather, these words seemed like they came out of that one drunk uncle from every family barbeque, the one that claims that he knows politics, sports and refuses to acknowledge any other opinion. But alas, this is what the POTUS has come to be compared to. Not a calm, wise leader, but an intoxicated rambling uncle.
And if that wasn't bad enough, Donald Trump rescinded his White House invitation from the reigning NBA champions Steph Curry and the Warriors — via Twitter. Their attendance would have continued a White House tradition that Trump has decided to cancel on seemingly childish terms.
Numerous athletes have rained criticism on Trump's actions. LeBron James, one of the most influential players of this generation, called Trump a "bum" and said, "Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up." Among others, Chris Paul, Robin Lopez and Roger Goodell have all criticized Trump.
Donald Trump should not be making these ostracizing comments. As the President of the United States, he should be a centripetal force for the U.S. and be uniting the people. Instead, he has consistently made controversial comment after controversial comment, dividing the population by race, religion and politics. In a time of national tension accompanied by international troubles, America should be a leader and model of greatness for other countries to follow, but it is very hard to do that if the president himself succumbs to this level of insolence.