It was the shot heard round the pro football world.
But truly child’s play for Steeler O lineman Alejandro Villanueva. He is a West Point graduate and Army Ranger who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan.
He wasn’t going to sit in the locker room with a group of pampered cowards and hide without standing at attention while the Star Spangled Banner played before the game against the Chicago Bears.
And that is exactly what he did. Alone. Unlike the Rangers, no teammates in the National Football League have your six when it truly matters. And they call the gridiron a “battlefield?” Now that’s simply a punchline.
Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin strongly hinted Sunday after the game that he wanted all his players to remain in the locker room as one unified group. Tomlin said:
“Like I said, I was looking for 100 percent participation. We’re going to be respectful of our football team. Man, these are divisive times in the United States and it’s a shame, but it is. But we’re not politicians, we’re coaches and pro athletes and if those of us who are individuals choose to, you know, participate in politics in some way, I’m going to be supportive of that, but when we come out of locker rooms, we come out of locker rooms to play football games.
“To be quite honest with you, I didn’t appreciate our football team being [dragged] into politics this weekend and I’m sure that that’s a global perspective. But we’re blessed to do this for a living, with that blessing comes responsibility, we understand that. We understand we’re given a platform that’s a unique one, many of us are called to do things we wouldn’t normally do because of that platform, where people apply pressure for us to do things because of that platform and the bottom line is we chose not to play ball today in that regard. maybe we will, but today we just said no.”
Sorry coach. Villanueva is a veteran of real battles, not play fights on a grass field. He served with and lost real brothers and was part of something much larger and far more important than the NFL.
You should remember that next time you send your team of wayward millionaire hobos into the locker room to hide during this country’s anthem.
There was one leader on the field Sunday for the Steelers and it wasn’t Tomlin.
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