Nick Saban Says Taking A Knee Isn’t About Disrespecting Veterans

When Trump first spewed his venom at the sports world last week from Alabama, he aimed his scope at specific athletes and in response, athletes took to Twitter to clap back at the divisive Trump.

WATCH- Athletes Clap Back At Trump

Athletes vs Trump

While those athletes and their friends clapped back at him, one name that Trump mentioned remained silent, but that all changed yesterday.

Nick Saban, head coach of the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, had not uttered a word as leagues, teams, owners and players reacted to Trump’s continual vocal and Twitter attacks aimed at igniting the ignorance of his base core of followers. We saw images of high school and college athletes taking a knee in support of the movement against social injustice, the opponents of which foolishly and purposely, associating these protests with hatred of the Anthem, flag and veterans. Well Saban has finally joined the conversation, offering a little clarity into why Kap took a knee in the first place.

During his weekly radio show “Hey Coach,” Saban was asked about the protests by a veteran and how he would react if his players participated in the protests.

“I don’t think that what these people are doing is in any way, shape or form are meant to disrespect a veteran or somebody like yourself who has worked so hard, fought so hard, sacrificed so much for all of us to have the quality of life that we want to have,” said Saban.

The Tide’s head coach went on to elaborate about the protests and freedom of speech. 

“But one of the things that you also fought for and made sacrifice for was that we all could have the freedom to have choice, in terms of what we believe, what we did and what we said,” said Coach Saban. “Look, I respect people’s individual rights. I have my opinion, in terms of what I would do and how I would do it. And I would not want to ever disrespect the symbols that represent the values of our country. But I also respect individual differences that other people have, and I think they have the right to express those. Whether it’s our players or somebody else, whether I agree or disagree, I do think they have the right to do that.”

Now that Saban has spoken out, Trump has brought another major figure in the world of sports into the conversation, which means the eyes of the Nation will be on Alabama tonight to see how his players take to the field when they host Ole Miss tonight.

Back to top