Indeed, Garrison says that while the players have a right to their opinion they also have great power with their positions as highly paid, professional athletes and should chose a more suitable time and place to let their voices be heard about the problems they say trouble the country:

“There has been the huge tidal change in racial makeup of the player base in the NFL. Over these decades we have witnessed the advent of that base go from a pretty small minority to what is now a clear and growing majority status of blacks over whites throughout teams and at every position on offense and defense. Of course there have been grumps and blind men who have decried it all, complaining about the ethnic differences and even the complexion (no pun intended) of the media crowd as well.

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With African American players accounting for a huge portion of the active salaries throughout the NFL — again only right, given their contributions and consistent skills—and with their visibility on and off the field in all walks of public discourse comes one feature that has been lacking and now threatens the sport. It is that sense of responsibility that comes from such powerful, even overwhelming influence at every level.

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The vast majority of players do not commit acts of domestic abuse, but go home after work and raise fine families. In further point of fact, domestic issues such as those so hyped among the media vultures are far less common than in the rest of the population. They commit fewer suicides, fewer felonies and use illicit drugs less than the rest of the population as well. What makes no sense, however, is for these successful folk not to recognize that with all that success comes the necessary responsibility to refrain from damaging their own brand and the future of that enterprise that has provided them with such opportunity and success.