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July 30, 2023 - Stew Peters Show
01:00:51
The Richard Leonard Show - US?!? Womens's Soccer Team
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If you had to guess, what would you say is the percentage of the country that even knew that the Women's World Cup was going on?
At least until last week, that is.
Just seven days ago, when the women that are supposed to represent this country, the United States of America, chose to blatantly disrespect the flag and the country in which they're supposedly representing.
Today, we're gonna dive into this a little bit.
So stick with us.
Don't go away.
We start now.
Hey everybody and welcome here to the next episode of The Richard Leonard Show.
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Okay, so as I said in the intro, I had no idea.
I had no idea that the Women's World Cup was even happening.
And all of a sudden, on Monday morning, this flood of headlines about the United States women's soccer team came out.
About how when our national anthem was played for the first time at the World Cup, most of our players made the decision to stand with their hands at their sides.
They looked pissed and chose not to show respect how athletes for ages in this country have shown respect for the flag.
As we know that before sporting events, our national anthem is played.
But our ladies, if you even want to call them that, chose not to.
Not important.
For whatever their reason is.
And I guess I didn't dig into it enough because it just kind of...
It drums up this whole...
This whole feeling that I'll get off into the weeds about.
And so whatever their reason is, I guess it doesn't even matter.
It's a moot point.
But here, let me show you.
I'll show you the picture.
So this is the starting 11 for the United States women's soccer team.
This is right before last Sunday.
I'm sure that everybody knows this by now, right?
This was seven days ago.
When we played Vietnam.
It's kind of a landmark game, in my opinion.
You know, I mean, everybody knows that the United States fought a war in Vietnam against the Vietnamese for a very long time.
And so, this could have been a whole different kind of headline, in my opinion.
But if you look at this, there's three ladies that have their hands on their heart.
There's one that kind of has their hand on their heart, at least.
At least making an effort to show some kind of respect.
Some of the others just look pissed off.
This one lady, the...
Well, I don't even know.
Maybe she...
Or whatever, wants to play for the men's team, the fourth one from the left.
She looks super upset, like she doesn't even want to be there.
And so, you know, we've been having this debate for a long time, for many years since Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the National Anthem while he was playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
And as he explains...
His protest against the anthem was not about the flag.
It was not about the country.
It was not about the military or veterans or soldiers or anything like that.
It was about the mistreatment of minorities in this country by police and whoever else.
Which, if that's your stance, that's cool, whatever.
You know, fight your social justice battles.
But I do think that it is about the military.
It is about veterans.
It is about a lot of those things that he claims it wasn't about that.
And he has the utmost respect for service members and the men and women who have served this country.
But you don't show it.
Just like these ladies here are not showing it.
And again, there really is no...
There really is no explanation.
And to be quite honest with you, throughout the week, whether or not there was any follow-up news to this whole story, I don't know.
Because I really don't want to have it rent space in my head, so to speak.
And I say that, and here I am sitting here at Talking Head talking to you guys about it.
But I really think that it was something that if I didn't say something about it, if I didn't have a conversation with you about it, that it would bother me more than it should.
And I guess maybe I didn't look into it further because I don't know that their reasoning even really matters.
I don't know that the reason why They choose to stand staring at the ground or with their hands at their sides or some of the players maybe on the bench that weren't playing or weren't starting.
Reportedly there was one or two of them that were taking a knee and we'll hear more about that later in the show.
Your reason doesn't matter.
Just like your reason.
Think about this.
Think about some guy who is on trial for murder.
Didn't mean to do it.
His intention for committing this murder, or not even murder, but any crime against a person.
My intention wasn't to do that.
I didn't mean to, or it wasn't about this issue or that issue, but it's about issue C over here.
And so this is my way to draw attention to issue C. Well, none of that matters because you still committed a crime.
So you're going to pay the consequences for that crime no matter why you did it.
The reason for all of this happening is irrelevant.
Because at the end of the day, the land and the people and the ideas, the country that you represent on a world stage In my opinion,
trumps whatever reason it is that you have to disrespect the symbol and the song that signifies you are a representative of this country.
These 11 women in this picture, these 11 women in this picture, Are representatives of you.
They're representatives of me.
And they're representatives of all the ideas and principles in which we live by.
On a world stage.
And so...
It goes deeper than your social justice issue, your LGBTQ, RF, CUB, whatever the hell they added on to the end of that whole thing now.
Whatever issue you have with that, whatever battles you're fighting in that arena, police brutality, whatever it is.
Women's rights, inequality in the workplace, and wages and income, whatever it is.
None of that is relevant to the symbol that represents the country that you're there to play for.
And I think that a lot of people might agree that They're just athletes, right?
They're just playing a game.
And we really shouldn't take it all that serious.
And to a certain extent, I do agree with that.
At the end of the day, these women are making probably a pretty handsome living.
I mean, these are the 11 best women in the sport that our country has to offer.
Not only that, but Apparently, they're the favorites to win the whole thing.
So I'm sure that they're making a pretty handsome salary.
And you know what?
If they're the 11 best women in the world at this game, okay.
Make your money.
But that certainly is not more important than how you represent the place that you're from and the people in it.
Because I think that it goes deeper than that, folks.
I think that it's more about what it costs.
It's more about what it costs for the shield that's on the chest of the sweatshirts that they're wearing.
And yes, the tangible thing is just a bunch of thread Multicolored thread in the shape of a shield with three letters on it in red, white, and blue.
But it's more than that.
The price that was paid for this country to be what it was, what it is, and what it's going to be Hopefully what it's gonna be is a lot more like what it was than what it is now, but one can only hope.
You see, I think that people in today's day and age, for whatever reason, seem to lose sight of that because maybe it doesn't fit their narrative.
Is there other incentives for them not to respect the place that they're from?
In my opinion, it's a duty.
If this country is going to recognize you for being one of the best 11 athletes in your sport and pick you to represent all of us on a world stage, In my opinion,
you have been thrust into this duty to represent us and represent us with honor and represent us well.
Not piss all over us because you're upset about whatever you're upset about.
Whatever you're upset about has nothing to do.
Most likely, in my opinion, whatever any of these eleven ladies, or six ladies, because four of them, or five of them, or whatever, had their hands on their hearts.
Whatever they're upset about, I'm almost willing to bet my next paycheck has zero to do.
With the price that was paid for them to live in a country and be afforded the rights, liberties, and freedoms that they have.
Now some will say that that flag or that shield on their chest affords them the right to flick off the flag during the anthem if they want to.
Now you might be right.
But how about some respect for the flag and some recognition?
Do you think that the Russian female soccer team, if they're playing in the World Cup, were to disrespect the flag or go against what the social norm is to respect their country, were to do something like this?
Do you think that would just be alright?
I think there's a lot of countries in this world where if you pull this kind of crap, it'll be the last time that you pull any kind of crap like that.
It'll certainly maybe be the last time you play the sport.
It'll be the last time you represent your country for anything.
In fact, it might get so bad that you may not live in your country anymore.
And as usual, folks, we've run out of time in this segment.
We'll be right back.
Hey, guys.
Welcome back here to the next segment of the show.
I wanted to just keep on rolling here on this topic.
I got to tell you that it's very bothersome to know that there are There are people that have as much influence as professional athletes have, especially on little kids and teenagers and just young people in general in our society and how detrimental that is.
To the future of this country and how things are going to be ran and just how the whole overall feel of just like when you, for example, when you just go into like the grocery store, for example, and I'll use this as an example.
When I walk into my local Whole Foods, You can tell the vibe is just different, right?
Not necessarily that it's like good, bad, or indifferent, but it's different.
Versus you walk into just your local everyday grocery store where everyone's kind of just average Joe and there's some hustle and bustle.
Everyone's kind of just looking for their apples and their steaks and their lunch meat and ice cream and milk and then they're out of there.
Whole Foods sometimes just seems like they kind of want you to have a different experience there.
And I can appreciate places like Whole Foods because they have an amazing meat department, for example.
Amazing meat.
Go in there and try to find something for cheat day, for example.
You're not going to have a whole lot of options.
Which is great because I think as a country, we probably should be doing a little bit better about how we are taking care of ourselves and what we put in our mouths.
But anyway, I digress.
What I wanted to do is share with you a couple clips throughout the show.
Megyn Kelly had a pretty interesting segment about this whole topic earlier this week.
And I want to just play a few minutes of it here and there.
Because she had a couple guests on.
There was two ladies on with her.
Emily Jasinski, excuse me.
Emily, if you ever see this, I'm really sorry that I just butchered your name.
Emily Jasinski and Elena Johnson.
And they were just having a discussion about this.
And they bring up some really good points.
And the reason I chose to play some of these for you and then kind of give my opinion on it is because I'm not a woman.
And some of the things that they talk about are a little bit different.
Than what I would think because I'm not a woman.
And I think that women have a different perspective about how they're represented on a world stage than men would have about how women are represented on a world stage.
My opinion about the thing comes from a place where being frustrated with how we're all represented on a world stage.
But women have been through a whole lot.
When we talk about just overall The overall view of women and what they're capable of doing or not capable of doing and what all of those discussions were early on in our country's history, not being able to vote and all kinds of stuff.
Women were second class citizens, all of that malarkey.
And so I believe that strong, professional women have some pretty good perspectives on things like this.
So let's get into this here.
There's just a few minutes of this clip here.
Here we go.
That takes me to the U.S. women's soccer team, who are suffering from all these same problems.
I really do believe their version of what a feminist is, what it means to be an empowered woman, at least as an American woman, means to hate your country.
It means to go out on the national stage and embarrass yourself and your country by not singing the national anthem, and for several of them, not even holding their hands over their hearts when the national anthem played.
That was a bridge too far.
They couldn't be bothered to actually place their hand on their heart when the national anthem played as they stood out there representing you and me and the country and our military and people who have given their lives for the country that they represent.
It was too much of an effort, you see, to place their hand over their heart or, God forbid, sing.
here's a clip of the disgrace that preceded the opening of the World Cup I like this gal at the end
I think that might be the gal from Arizona.
If you look at the roster, I mean, most of them are from California, some are from New Jersey, some are from Massachusetts, but like all these liberal bastions.
And there they are out there.
And by the way, Megan Rapinoe too, she's on the team.
She announced her retirement.
She's not starting.
She didn't make the cut to start.
Sorry, sit on the sidelines.
She said she'll never stand again for the national anthem.
So this is clearly, I think, as a result of her influence.
And it's disgusting.
Emily, what do you think?
Well, I didn't even realize that there was a Women's World Cup happening.
So first of all, thank you for...
Me neither.
...breaking that news to me.
But no, it's the, clearly, it's the culture of the team.
And it has come from Rapinoe.
And it's not just the culture of the team.
It's a culture of the team that's reflecting The culture of younger Americans.
And it's really, it is disrespectful to people who put their lives on the line for the country.
And it gets, I mean, I think, why are you even playing on the team?
Like, it gets to this incoherence.
They want the money, they want the power or the acclaim that comes with being a part of the team.
But they actually don't want to represent the country.
To me, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Don't go on the team if you're ashamed and embarrassed of the country, even if you dislike the country.
I mean, if you look at, for instance, what Frederick Douglass, his famous speech, what he had to say about the Fourth of July, even if you are upset with the country, even if you think the country's not living up to its potential, you can still be patriotic.
But we have this absurd binary that is overly simplistic That says you either absolutely hate America or you love America, and there's nothing in between.
You can't hope for it to be a better country and still be patriotic.
It just has to be, I'm not patriotic at all, so I'm just going to do this performative nonsense, not actually even put my money where my mouth is, but because my self-esteem is tied up in empty gestures, I'm going to have to do this empty gesture.
It is incredibly embarrassing, and it's just so stupid.
They just are ungrateful.
So, Eliana, only five of the 11 players on the field stood for the anthem with their hands over their hearts.
The other six did not.
Only three of our players, Julie Ertz, Alyssa Nair, and Lindsey Horan, sang, along with the hundreds of American supporters who were watching this dance, so good for those three, because that's an act of defiance now, to actually sing the national anthem when your loser teammates refuse to, to whom All opportunities have been given.
What an incredible opportunity to stand out there, representing the United States of America in World Cup soccer.
And you can't be shamed into at least feigning a touch of patriotism.
Meanwhile, we're playing against Vietnam, who we beat, 3-0.
And look at the Vietnamese.
Look at them and how they sing their national anthem.
Every single one of them has their hand over their heart.
Every single one of them is singing.
Every single one.
But, you know, we're disgusting, I guess, when it comes to human rights.
This is what people like Rapinoe have said in the past.
So we can't be saluted in any way.
Yeah.
Unreal.
Unreal.
So there it is, folks.
I mean, and Emily, the blonde girl in the middle that spoke, had a very good point.
A very good point about even if you're upset with the direction in which the country is going, it's okay to be patriotic.
It's okay to hope and wish and pray that we get better.
That we can be better.
It's okay to believe that we can be better.
And it's okay to be a steward of that idea.
It's our right to do that.
And as she said, this idea that either you hate the country or you love it and there's nothing in between is absolutely asinine.
Because I am in full agreement that there are many examples throughout our country's history where we effed up.
And we could have been better.
We should have been better.
But I think that's part of what made this country great when it was great.
And I think that goes for just about anybody, right?
If you can own your mistakes, learn from them, and continue on down the road with this idea that you can be better, Great.
You see, I believe that life is all about how you learn the lessons that life has to teach you.
There's no reasonable explanation.
And this all plays into our youth.
I mean, the picture we saw earlier in the show, right?
All those players standing there, and I think it's a tradition in professional soccer, right, to have kids who play the game to stand out with the players during introductions and the anthem.
All those little girls that are standing with those players, right?
Who knows?
I would assume that they're from New Zealand, all those girls, or somewhere else in the world.
Who knows?
It's the World Cup.
What are they learning about representing their country and what it means to be standing in the middle of that field?
It's a pretty big honor, I would think.
You would think that these women would be over-the-top excited to be The 11 best women in the world at the craft in which they've chosen.
And if you're upset and you're pissed off at the way that this country is going, this is your opportunity to try to make a positive change.
And you're given that opportunity, which a lot of people don't get, guys.
But there's a lot of people in this world that talk about how things could be so much better.
And, you know, we should be doing A, B, C, and D. But never get up and do anything about it.
Or have the opportunity, like these ladies have, to actually make a positive change.
Or at least...
Start moving towards a positive change.
It's just really too bad.
It's sad.
And it's unnecessary.
And this Rapinoe lady they're talking about, this woman is a piece of shit.
A real piece of garbage.
And because at the end of the day, nobody cares what your crusade is about.
Shut the hell up and play soccer or don't.
Go fight your fight somewhere else.
That's not the time or the place.
Stick with us, folks.
We'll be right back.
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Hey folks, welcome back here.
We're just going to continue on down the road.
I want to get back to another clip from the Megyn Kelly show.
This next lady, the one that you, from the last segment, she's on the far right, the brunette woman, makes a really good point here and I don't want to keep it from you any longer.
So let's get to it here.
Here we go.
But what this brought to mind was Brittany Griner, the WNBA player who was detained unjustly in Russia a couple of years ago.
She protested the playing of the national anthem at WNBA games before she was detained in Russia and didn't stand.
And when she came back, she did stand.
And she told the press, and I pulled up this article because I wanted to get her quote right.
She said, hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different.
It's like when you go for the Olympics, you're sitting there about to get the gold put on your neck, the flags are going up and the anthem is playing.
It just hits different.
Being here today, it means a lot.
And it made me wonder a couple of things.
One, is it really the case that our professional athletes now have to go Mm-hmm.
in a foreign jail to come to appreciate the liberties that they have in this country.
And two, that it's a really sad reflection of the kind of education that our young people are getting today, that they actually do have to experience despotism in order to have a basic appreciation of how wonderful our country that they actually do have to experience despotism in order to Wow. Paul.
So, here's the thing.
It was my opinion, and I'm not going to say I'm sorry, but if this offends you, so be it.
It was my opinion that we should have left Brittany Griner in Russia.
Let her figure it out.
This lady, Elena, or however you pronounce her name, had said that she was unjustly jailed in Russia.
I don't know.
She brought drugs to a foreign country.
She was caught.
She was jailed.
Maybe the time in which she was incarcerated might have been a little extreme, but whatever.
The point is that when she was jailed, Then it became important.
Then, being an American was important to her.
Before that, National Anthem didn't mean nothing.
Being an American didn't mean anything.
She didn't care.
But when she found herself in a grimy Russian prison cell, then she was hoping and praying that America would come get her.
And that's really too bad.
But the point that I think that was very interesting and that we should take note of from what she said in that short clip is that what are our children being taught?
What are they being taught about what it means to be American?
What are our school systems telling them?
While we're at work, doing whatever it is we do for our jobs to provide a roof over their heads, to put clothes on their backs and food in their bellies, all that stuff.
What's being told to them?
Because these ladies, to the best of my knowledge, they're not very old.
Maybe they're mid-twenties.
This Rapinoe woman, she's probably old.
Apparently she's retiring.
Who gives a shit?
Who cares?
Good, go retire.
Hopefully you move the hell out of our country.
Is it possible, and this might be a rhetorical question, but is it possible that our youngsters are being taught the things but is it possible that our youngsters are being taught the things in which these athletes Amen.
Are they being taught to not respect the flag?
Are they being taught to have these ideas that it's not okay to show respect to the country?
Are they being taught that it's not okay to take pride in being an American?
Is it possible?
You see, that's why I think that this is an important topic.
Right?
Because our young people, our teenagers, even our young adults, especially the little kids, in my opinion, are very easily swayed one way or the other.
And In some cases, it doesn't always seem like the popular path is always what mom and dad say.
Sometimes it seems that the popular path is to go down the path in which the people that we look up to outside of our home say.
Which is why I think people like Colin Kaepernick, that crybaby LeBron James, these women, all these athletes and famous people who have these very tight grips on our youth have a huge responsibility.
And when they do things like this, they should have a price to pay for it.
And what is that price?
I don't know.
Should we make it criminal for them to do these types of things?
I don't know, maybe.
Should there be some kind of rules or guidelines or laws in place that say, if this is the type of actions you're going to take, You're done.
Alright, you don't wanna even pretend to show respect during the national anthem?
Okay, you don't play basketball no more.
Okay, you don't play soccer no more.
You're done.
Go play for a different country.
And I think that it's important, guys, because the young people that are influenced so much by these people are the ones That are going to be in charge when we're going to retirement homes, we're moving in the basement of our kids' houses so they can take care of us when we're not able to take care of ourselves.
The way that we live our lives now and have in the past, I think it's clear that it's never going to be the same.
But believe me, I think it can be worse.
And so when all these things just start snowballing downhill, and the ones that are shaping the minds of our young people while we're at work, well, that's a pretty important thing, if you ask me.
It's a huge responsibility, in my opinion, to be a professional athlete, especially if you're in the top 20%.
You know, if you're a guy like Luke Longley, right, who played center for the Bulls while Jordan and Pippen won their last couple championships,
great basketball player, I'm sure he had quite a following behind him and all that, but I don't know that he sold 50 million jerseys, but he was a professional athlete.
I don't know a whole lot about him, but it's just an arbitrary name I picked out.
But he wasn't in the realm of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, LeBron James, Steph Curry, you know, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, all those big names in sports, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady.
He wasn't up there.
He might have been in the top, as far as NBA centers go of the mid-90s, he might have been in the top 75.
I don't know.
Was his role as a professional athlete and the way he carried himself important?
Yes.
Was it as impactful as people like Michael Jordan or other people that were at the top of the game?
No, probably not.
And so when you're one of the 11 best in the world and you're representing a country and you make it very clear that you disrespect Said country.
I believe that there should be consequences for that.
And furthermore, if you hate it so much, then why even put the uniform on?
Why even travel all the way to New Zealand?
And from the second you leave your house to go play in the World Cup for however long that takes, whenever you're out in public, from the second you step foot out of your door for the next month maybe, Something or everything that you are wearing on your body has that shield with USA in it.
Everything's red, white, or blue.
Or all three colors.
Why even put it on?
Why even wear it?
Well, my guess is...
That they have maybe one, two, five, ten million reasons why they're putting it on.
My question would be, if this Rapinoe puke were to go play for Israel, Or Russia?
Or Germany?
Would her paycheck be the same?
In fact, in the next segment, I'm going to show you a commercial that Nike made about her.
And if this doesn't get your water warm, then maybe we're not on the same page.
But...
Maybe they shouldn't even be allowed.
They shouldn't even be allowed to wear.
You don't have the right.
You haven't earned the honor of wearing the official clothing of the United States of America soccer team.
You don't deserve to represent our flag.
I certainly don't want them representing me, although now I don't have a choice, right, because they're there.
And, of course, women's soccer during the U.S. Cup is not a democratic thing.
We're not going to vote about who goes.
They make those decisions, and I suppose you try out and earn your way on a team.
But we'll get to it in the next segment, how Ms.
Rapinoe is put out to our kids.
But not her message, just what they want our kids to think.
We'll be right back.
Hey folks, welcome back here.
I want to just get down to it.
We're running out of time.
We're in the last segment of the show.
And as usual, I've run over my time in a couple of the segments already today.
But what I want to do is get to this next clip.
This is how Ms.
Rapinoe's biggest sponsor puts her out to the world.
And mind you, kids, right?
Think about our young people and our kids when you see this.
Here we go.
Check this out.
This woman, Megan Rapinoe, is a problem.
I mean, just last week she was out there saying, what's the matter with trans athletes playing against women?
Where are all these trans athletes who are taking away women's rights?
Obviously, she's a dumbass who pays no attention to the news.
It would take about two minutes of a Google search, two seconds, for you to come up with a long list, which I read to her in part when she made that inane statement.
But she said, back before the 2019 World Cup, She would probably, she said, I would quote, never put my hand over my heart again.
Would never put my hand over my heart.
And I'll probably never sing the national anthem again.
You should be disqualified.
You shouldn't be allowed to play on the team.
I'd rather have a lesser player out there who loves America.
And this woman, rather than being shamed right after the team, Emily, goes out there.
And she is being lauded like she is some sort of literal superhero.
Look at this ad Nike had running during the World Cup, which we watched because my daughter loves soccer.
And I bit my tongue because I'm trying not to ruin it for her with the politics of these loser players.
But look at this Nike ad about Megan Rapinoe.
Megan Rapinoe.
The all-American hero.
Listen to the pitch now, baby.
Okay, that's enough.
They get the picture.
She's a superhero.
Freaking hates America, but she's our superhero.
Unbelievable.
This is, ladies and gentlemen, this is what they put out.
A cartoon superhero vibe.
The woman that said she will never stand for the national anthem, she will never put her hand over her heart, she'll never, certainly never sing it.
But yet, they have her in a commercial, a cartoon commercial, with eagles and flags and stars and fireworks and all kinds of stuff.
As Megyn Kelly said, some kind of superhero.
Now, tell me this.
Any little girl who loves to play the game of soccer that sees that commercial or had seen that commercial, they're going to love this.
They're going to love this woman, right?
Maybe.
And if they do and they start following her and now they catch on to her narrative...
Well now Nike has just turned another innocent little girl into whatever Megan Rapinoe thinks or says that she is.
The point here is that this battle or this narrative that Megan Rapinoe has has nothing to do with the game of soccer.
It has nothing to do with anything that that commercial shows or anything to do with the game that is played.
Why isn't our youth, why isn't the little girl that sees that commercial, why isn't she allowed to make her own decision?
About how to feel about LGBTQ or trans sports or the price of tea in China.
Why isn't she allowed to grow up innocent and then make her own decision as she grows?
Why does Nike and this Rapinoe lady Have to try to influence those types of decisions in young people.
Just like so many other things going on in this country.
Why the hell is the country getting involved in these trans rights for kids?
None of it makes any sense to me.
And I'm going to stop that discussion and that thought right there because That's not what this show is about.
At the end of the day, this show today is about the blatant disrespect of the symbol of this country and what that symbol stands for.
And as we've talked about so many times on the show, The Sacrifice...
The sacrifice that is made by so many past, present and future to come for that flag to go up every day and wave in the wind as a symbol a symbol of what we are a symbol of what it means What it means to be an
an American.
And when people with this much influence, and I would venture to say that these folks don't just have influence on young people.
I think they have influence on adults as well.
I mean, there's diehard women's soccer fans out there, I'm sure.
Just like there's diehard NBA fans and there's diehard NFL fans.
I mean, there's diehard fans of everything.
And so, those athletes and the people that participate in these activities, they have a duty to uphold the ideas.
In my opinion, they have a duty to uphold those ideas about what this country was founded on.
We're getting to the end of the show.
I want to just play for you Megan's final thoughts on this whole topic because I thought it was pretty profound.
And then we'll close out the last couple minutes here.
Here we go.
Check this out.
Those girls need to represent this country if they agree to represent this country.
That means standing tall and at a minimum putting your hand over your heart.
If you could find it within yourself to actually muster a few words of the national anthem, if you learned it ever in your young, dumbass lives, that'd be great.
And don't tell me they didn't have time because they're athletes because athletes have time to memorize the one song that we sing to honor, yes, America, the idea.
But also it's fallen heroes and the sacrifices that have been made and the principles that we stand for.
Do we uphold them perfectly at all times?
Have we always in our history?
Absolutely not.
But we strive to more than any other country on earth.
And if you would spend two minutes doing some homework, you would know that.
But you're too busy lauding yourself in the Nike ads and cashing your million dollar checks to actually give a shit about what this country you're out there representing stands for.
So, there it is, folks.
These people, athletes, in particular, these women, their concern is not about the influence that they have.
On the populace of the country, but more importantly to me, in my opinion, the young people in this country.
Their concern is cashing their checks.
Their concern is the fame and being able to say in whatever circle it is that they roll in, That hey, we were in the World Cup and I think that I made my statement pretty loud and clear.
But as Megan said, I believe it's when you accept the position on the team, you've agreed to represent this country in a positive light.
You've agreed to represent this flag, the flag that stands for the heroes.
The heroes that strapped up their boots and trudged through the mud and the jungles and sat out in below-zero weather to fight an enemy, to keep the idea Of America alive.
To keep the country alive.
And this may sound cliche, but I think that we're all aware, and I agree with it, that freedom isn't free.
There's a cost to be paid.
And unfortunately, Sometimes, many times, almost always, that cost is blood.
The cost is young men and women, and sometimes even older men and women.
But these women will never have to pay that cost.
All they're asked to do is to represent it in a positive light.
But instead, some of them, most of them, decide to make a mockery of it.
And again, much like we talked about a few weeks ago, the message that we send out as a country It's not positive.
It's not the right thing.
And if you ask me, what does my opinion matter, I guess?
But I don't know that I'm the only one that believes the same thing.
This show is meant to talk about all things military and veteran related and
And maybe today we kind of got off that topic, but I believe that it's relevant because the cost, because of the cost, the price that was paid for that flag to fly and what it means.
It was paid In blood.
Sweat and tears.
By young people.
Or just people.
I guess I don't know if everyone was young.
I'm sure not.
But it was paid by Americans.
that believed in the idea and believed A week ago today, that idea seemed to be forgotten.
And it will continue to be forgotten until these women are held accountable.
It will continue to be forgotten until anybody who disrespects this place and that symbol the way that they have are held accountable.
Personally, I hope they don't win another game.
I hope that the U.S. women's soccer team never qualifies for another World Cup.
In fact, I hope there's never a U.S. women's soccer team ever again.
Which is unfortunate for the young ladies that may be able to compete at that level in the future.
Fix it or don't play.
Anyway, we've run out of time folks.
As usual, I want to thank you.
Thank you very much for joining us.
I hope that you have an amazing evening and a great week.
We'll see you next week.
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