Fredericton — While United States President Donald Trump is continuing his outspoken fight against athletes kneeling during the national anthem, one Fredericton man is finding himself inadvertently caught up in the controversy because he was feeling “a little fatigued” and took a knee during the anthem at last night’s senior men’s baseball championship game at Royals Field.
“I wasn’t trying to protest anything at all,” defended a clearly winded Chucky Barr. “I was just tired from jogging out on the field and was a little light-headed so I took a knee — plus I had a big dinner.”
The Manatee spoke with Royals coach Leroy Flewelling to ask whether he will enforce any sort of discipline upon his players who kneel during the national anthem.
“Absolutely not, no way!” he proclaimed. “I think athletes should be able to stand, or in this case kneel, in solidarity with their peers who are being threatened for protesting against racism and injustice around the world. But I will add that I don’t think Chucky was protesting anything at all, he’s just morbidly obese — but man, can that boy hit a ball.”
Our reporter asked Barr how he felt about his coach’s comments.
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘morbidly obese,'” he retorted while eating a hotdog. “I mean, I don’t even know what morbidly means. I’m just a little chubby and like I said, I had a big dinner that day. But, it’s good to know that coach is fine with me kneeling; those couple minutes of standing through the anthem are usually the toughest part of the game for me.”
The kneeling-during-anthem movement started during the 2016 NFL season when quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest the number of black people being killed by police officers in America. Now the movement has garnered a much larger following due to President Trump’s apparent attack on athletes’ right to peacefully protest. Now, it’s become an act of solidarity among athletes.
Our reporter took to the streets of New Brunsiwck’s capital to see how the general public felt about the president’s comments that kneeling athletes are “sons of bitches” and should be “banned from playing.”
“I for one am just happy that the most powerful person in the world is using his influence to try and stop kneeling,” declared Beth-Anne Perry. “Let’s forget about poverty, racism, the threat of North Korea and just focus on professional athletes not standing upright during a song.
“Four more years!”