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FILE - San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod throws during the third inning of a spring training game against the San Diego Padres on March 1 in Peoria, Ariz.
Photo: Associated PressFILE - San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod throws during the third inning of a spring training game against the San Diego Padres on March 1 in Peoria, Ariz.
FILE - San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod throws during the third inning of a spring training game against the San Diego Padres on March 1 in Peoria, Ariz.
FILE - San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod throws during the third inning of a spring training game against the San Diego Padres on March 1 in Peoria, Ariz.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod quickly became a hero in conservative media Friday morning after he decided not to kneel during a demonstration for Black Lives Matter prior to the national anthem ahead of Thursday night's season opener vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Coonrod was the lone player on both teams who did not kneel with his teammates and grip a black ribbon during a narration from Morgan Freeman on racial inequality. After the narration was done, most players on the field subsequently returned to their feet for the national anthem, with the exception of Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and a group of Giants players and coaches that included Gabe Kapler, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence.
After the game, Coonrod was asked by reporters about being the lone player who stood for both the demonstration and the national anthem.
"I just can’t get on board with a couple things I’ve read about Black Lives Matter, how they lean towards Marxism," Coonrod said. "And … they said some negative things about the nuclear family. I just can’t get on board with that."
As fact-checking website PolitiFact notes, one of the organizers of the original Black Lives Matter movement in 2013 did say she and co-organizers were "trained Marxists," and the official Black Lives Matter website currently states, "We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another."
Coonrod also cited his religion as a decision not to kneel, stating he "can’t kneel before anything besides God.” His comments were widely reported and praised by conservative sites such as Breitbart and the Daily Caller, but both curiously omitted one of Coonrod's later quotes about his teammates who did take a knee for the demonstration.
After manager Gabe Kapler told reporters he was supportive of Coonrod's decision to stand, stating, "We were going to let people express themselves ... We were going to give them the choice on whether they were going to stand, kneel or do something else." Coonrod was grateful and bemoaned a growing intolerance for the opinions of others.
"My favorite thing about [Kapler] so far is he told me no matter what we differ on in opinions, whether we agree or disagree on something, he always respects what people say,” Coonrod said. “He’s not going to get mad if I disagree with him. I think that that’s part of the problem nowadays: People get mad whenever someone disagrees. I’m not mad at someone who decided to kneel. I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that I just get the same respect.”
While Coonrod harbors no ill will towards teammates who decide to kneel before and during the anthem, that is certainly not the case for many of the people who are now loudly singing the Giants pitcher's praises.
President Donald Trump tweeted "the game is over" for him if players protest during the anthem, and Twitter is littered with examples of conservative commentators who just two weeks ago mocked the left for calling for boycotts of Goya now cheering on boycotts of professional sports over anthem protests.
Hypocrisy on "cancel culture" has long been an issue for many conservatives as the president attempts to make it a campaign issue ahead of the November election. If you mock the left for boycotting Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby and other un-woke companies for certain political stances, you do not get to set your Nike gear on fire and smash Keurig machines for its respective political stances and call yourself an opponent of cancel culture.
Those who argue there is something fundamentally different about the stances of Nike and players who protest the anthem — those positions are "anti-American," they allege — are ironically engaging in the same thought police exercise the left undertakes by narrowing the scope of what can be considered an acceptable opinion.
Eric Ting is an SFGATE reporter. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting
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