Getting kneed

I haven't been following that "taking a knee" very closely but I did read that the NFL owners have decided that any player that takes a knee will be fired, which sounds a bit extreme to me.  Anyhow, suppose a player did get fired and then he points to his contract which says nothing about no knees.  Can the rules be changed in the middle of a binding contract?  Or suppose a whole team, in a display of solidarity, takes a knee before the game.  Is the owner of the team going to fire the whole team and start from scratch?  I don't think so; too much money is involved and professional sports is a very big business.

There is an aspect of taking a knee that no one has mentioned: it's a sign of submission or surrender and definitely not a sign of disrespect.  If the players want to show disrespect they would simply turn their backs, wouldn't they?

I don't object to displays of patriotism but the link to professional sports strikes me as being phony and contrived.  There was a time when the National Anthem wasn't played before a game and nobody seemed to mind.  Maybe the government started twisting the NFL's arm and said, "Hey!  You've been getting all kinds of sweetheart tax deals and subsidies and now we want a little taste; we'll even pay for it and provide flags, marching bands, and awesome fly-overs by the Blue Angels.  What do you say?"

It also strikes me that the most vociferous and enthusiastic of those flag wavers are the least likely to have served in any of the Armed Forces.  The veterans that I've known are usually quiet and reserved about their experiences and are not prone to a lot of flag waving but they are respectful.  They had a job to do, they did it, and they keep their mouths shut.  Unless they're at the VFW and getting liqoured up after the Friday Fish Fry, of course.  But I haven't been so I don't know.

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Went to Costco for the first time today and what a temple of consumerism; you buy big or stay home.  I can see it's appeal especially if you are raising a family and have storage space for all your goodies but I'm not and I don't.  I went there because I needed a prescription filled and I read that they are the cheapest.  You don't need a membership for the pharmacy or the Food Court, which I read was pretty good.  The food is definitely cheap but I was not impressed; it's okay but I would not go out of my way for it.  Costco loses money in the Food Court but it keeps the customers happy, allowing them to refuel after pushing around their big shopping carts  throughout the vast expanse.  And it is vast, maybe the biggest store I've been in.  'Murica!