As Kevin McCauley's points out in his piece U.S. Soccer missed the point of Megan Rapinoe's protest entirely and issued a dumb statement  US Soccer, like the Washington Spirit, is guilty of an epic moral and logical FAIL as they try to explain that by suppressing free speech and protest they are "appreciating" our "liberties and freedom". Just read their public announcement:

"Representing your country is a privilege and honor for any player or coach that is associated with U.S. Soccer's National Teams. Therefore, our national anthem has particular significance for U.S. Soccer. In front of national and often global audiences, the playing of our national anthem is an opportunity for our Men's and Women's National Team players and coaches to reflect upon the liberties and freedom we all appreciate in this country. As part of the privilege to represent your country, we have an expectation that our players and coaches will stand and honor our flag while the national anthem is played."

If you think about this statement for a second, you'll see it is appallingly conceited and self-serving. US Soccer is a for-profit organization. It isn't some kind of selfless idealization of the American spirit, or part of our diplomatic corps. These people use athletes to make money. Period. So Mr. McCauley hits the nail on the head when he says:

"...the utter tone-deafness of this statement is incredible. Asking Rapinoe and everyone else to use the national anthem to "reflect upon the liberties and freedom we all appreciate" when she's been trying to bring awareness to the fact that all Americans don't enjoy the same freedoms is insensitive and a reflection of what Rapinoe's trying to say: that people in positions of privilege aren't listening to what oppressed people are saying about their experiences."

That's right US Soccer. Shut the Fuck UP already! It would show more fucking American spirit if you said "America is a free country, and so long as we can actually play the game on schedule, our players have the god-given right to say whatever they want," but no. You pack of vasectomized PR flaks have to go and gin up some fake principled reason why you are saluting rights by dehumanizing your stars and stamping on their constitutional freedoms. The same rights and freedoms that made your silly game even possible you half-fascist fuckwits! You think you are the official spokespeople, or representatives of the US!!?? Are you kidding me? You guys are kicking balls around for money, what the fuck official post do you think the founding fathers had in mind for you!? 

Look cowards. Re-write that fucking statement. It can read like this: "Hey, yeah, I mean the US is the best place on Earth BECAUSE of our rights to protest and to free speech, but if it impacts our profits even 1%, we're just going to have to oppose that. Money is WAY more important than the values that actually make this nation great. So we'll just be telling that Rapinoe dyke and anyone else who wants to kneel to express some sort of political humanity to go fuck themselves and to all the young people listening who might be looking up to these people we say: fuck you and fuck America too. Enjoy the game."