Grumpy Old Man

I must be on the wrong side of history.  Colin Kaepernick feels one way, I feel another.  The U.S. women’s soccer team acts one way, and I want it to act another.

Nike was all ready to launch a Fourth of July shoe featuring an American flag as designed by Betsy Ross.  Kaepernick, an advisor to Nike, protested on the grounds that the symbol has been coopted by the alt-right; Nike then dropped plans to introduce the shoe.  It seems to me the alt-right will coopt every patriotic symbol it can grab hold of if we let them.  Better to pry the symbol out of their hands than cede it to them, or so says the grumpy old man.

And then we have the women’s soccer team, one game away from the World’s Cup.  Yesterday, the U.S. beat Britain, 2-1, with forward Alex Morgan celebrating her goal by pretending to drink a sport of tea—get it, they’re playing Britain?—and, yes, with pinkie finger extended.  Again, it could just be me, but a team that has no love for Donald Trump may be coming off to the rest of the world as Trump 2.0 for its antics.