Two things disgust me about this piece. "Someone so disgusted with our government ought to turn in the sweater and the medal" this is the loathsome love it or leave it stuff that the Bush fanatics were pushing. As if you aren't allowed to love your county and despise the government. I think the hypocrisy is on the other foot here. I have no idea of the political bent of the author, maybe he is one of those support the president no matter what guys that everyone pretends to be when the sling this kind of drivel. The other thing I loath is the idea that professional sports players shouldn't be people with opinions, and if they are they should never express them. Players like Doc Ellis and Bill "Spaceman" Lee fought against this kind of bias their whole career. Sport players are "role models" and should never swear, do drugs, dress funny, smoke drugs, or have an opinion on anything other then if refs are to quick to break up fights. I like to see an athletes be human beings. The "disloyalty to the team" slap because a player didn't like Nixon or Reagan or doesn't like Obama can actually hurt careers and players are brave to use their voice to take a stand on what they believe in. It may not be nice to diss the president, it's not nice to occupy public spaces for extended periods of time, but sometimes people have to stand up for what they believe is right. Denigrating the desire and courage to stand up and use what ever voice you have to express your point of view is a laudable action.