PROFESSIONAL football players sell tickets, beer, hot dogs and trucks for a living. When Kaepernick offended his audience, he was not showing up for work. That's his privilege under the law, but it is, in spirit if not technicality, a breach of his employment contract. He has suffered the usual consequences of not doing his job.

The national anthem is about unity, not unanimity. It is a time for uniform behavior in recognition of that unity. People who buy tickets, beer, hot-dogs and trucks want to enjoy that moment of unity, that bit of e pluribus unum. Those who don't stand for the anthem deny that unity. No amount of righteous outrage makes that a smart move. I understand that the point of kneeling rather than sitting was to negate the notion of disrespect for the flag, but that attempt misses the point of the ritual: unless we all do the same thing in that moment, we are not expressing unity.

I don't see how any public figure can expect to take an unpopular stand and still be paid for his popularity. It makes no sense. I think CK picked a particularly bad way to take a stand, but I'm not sure there is a better way for someone who is popular for a living. When you sign up for a big paycheck for being liked, you don't get to complain about losing your job for antagonizing fans. That's why so many activists are independently wealthy or abjectly poor.