Jemele Hill, ESPN
- I’m not a fan of people taking a stand when it’s convenient.
I may have disagreed with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s reasons for refusing to stand for the national anthem, but I deeply admired his resolve and courage. His beliefs probably cost him his livelihood, and I doubt many people have the nerve to sacrifice a lucrative NBA career to prove a point.
So I could hardly criticize Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall for nearly incurring a game-changing penalty against the Browns because he wanted to commemorate Barack Obama’s historic presidential victory with a special end zone celebration.
If Marshall’s teammate Brandon Stokley hadn’t stopped Marshall from successfully imitating the raised gloved fists of former Olympians John Carlos and Tommie Smith in the end zone, I fear Marshall would have drawn relentless criticism and his actions would have been misinterpreted as selfish. But I would much rather see a wide receiver attempt to capture a moment in history instead of breaking out into a “Riverdance.”
