He's hardly the first black athlete to use his status as a visible sports figure to raise awareness about social issues. Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Muhammad Ali, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Jim Brown, Carlos Delgado. Kap wasn't even the only NFL player to demonstrate during the anthem.

It is not surprising he caught flak for this. Pretty much all of these people did. He knelt because he saw a rash of unarmed black kids getting killed by cops who were never adequately punished for their actions. He took a stand to say there was not "liberty and justice for all." And people lost their damn minds.

Plenty of military folks are on record as saying they fight for his right to take such a stand, even if they don't agree with it. Those that support his stand love him for it. Those that were offended by it loathe him for it.

But all of that venom rings a little hollow when you never hear how offended these same people are of Arian Foster, ex-Jag Brandon Marshall, Jelani Jenkins, Eric Reid, Eli Harold, T.J. Ward, Kenny Stills and Michael Thomas who all also kneeled for the anthem. Do US Women's Soccer fans have these same knives out for Megan Rapinoe who did the same thing in support of Kap?

If you're offended by what Kap did and don't buy what he says he was trying to do, that's your right. You're not alone. He is about as polarizing a figure as you're gonna get these days. But at least he had the guts to do something, whether you agree with it or not, when he saw injustice he wanted to change.

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