Vikings Hall of Famer Ron Yary has turned his back on the NFL, stopped watching games a year ago and is encouraging others to do the same until players stop protesting during the national anthem.
He said he doesn't object to players speaking out on any issue on their own time, but disagrees "vehemently" with them using the football field, the national anthem and an audience of paying football customers as their backdrop.
"There's only one place in America where you cannot take your grievances with you and put them on display, and that's at the job site," Yary said. "You can do it in front of your government, you can do it in your church, you can do it any other place. But the one place in this country that is sacrosanct from presenting your personal dislikes and grievances is the job site."
As a Hall of Famer and 1968 No. 1 overall draft pick, Yary is a high-profile example in the quandary the NFL has been mired in for three years as players have taken a knee or sat during the national anthem to protest abuse of blacks by police. On the one hand, the league is trying to be sympathetic to the cause. But, on the other hand are an awful lot of consumers who share Yary's feelings.
During a recent phone call with the Star Tribune for another story, Yary was asked what he thinks of this year's Vikings team. He spent the next 12 minutes passionately explaining why he's done with the NFL until players stop protesting during the anthem. And, no, he wasn't satisfied with the new policy — since put on hold — that would allow players to stay in the locker room if they wouldn't stand during the anthem.
Yary compared the anthem protests to a shoe store losing customers because of a protesting employee.
"You want to destroy this country and all that it stands for? Take away that power from the owner to stop that, because when I'm a customer and I go into your business, I'm there for a specific purpose, which is to purchase what you're selling," Yary said. "I don't want your guys coming up to me putting their grievance in my face as a customer.
"That's disrespectful to the customer. It's disrespectful to the owner. It's disrespectful to this nation because you are there being paid not to present social justice, you're being paid to play a simple game that I played, which is football. They're wrong, they'll always be wrong, and they crossed the line."
