Joe Maddon: 'It’s dangerous when folks stop respecting the White House'
Many big names in the sports world have been weighing in on President Trump’s controversial comments cutting down the players behind the NFL’s national anthem protests, in addition to his public withdrawal of the Golden State Warriors invitation to visit the White House.
That growing list now includes Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who after his team’s 4-3 loss to the Brewers on Saturday made a plea for everyone to come together amid rising tensions.
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“It’s dangerous when folks in our country stop respecting the White House and the seat of the president,” Maddon told reporters at Miller Park. “It’s not a good situation.”
“With all due respect to everybody, I just believe that we need to get our acts together collectively, all of us.”
Maddon has consistently made it clear that respecting the president’s office is of utmost importance to him. He cited that very reason when he was among the smaller Cubs contingent to visit Trump in June after the team made it’s official visit to the White House before Barack Obama left office in January. Apparently that respect is unwavering, regardless of the rhetoric that’s coming out of the office, and that’s where Maddon is already meeting some resistance of his own.
President Trump used some undeniably offensive and ultimately divisive language when expressing how he felt about the players behind the protests, which have remained peaceful and focused on bringing attention to social injustices that have taken place in the United States. Trump’s comments have since drawn responses from athletes such as Lebron James and Chris Paul, in addition to several NFL owners. The overwhelming feeling being that Trump’s comments sent a clear message that isn’t reflective of the standards of the office he holds.
Madden sees things differently. The collective backlash clearly has him uneasy, feeling that the growing tensions are being sparked more by those unwilling to fall in line behind a president that doesn’t reflect or respect their morals and beliefs. If those are his feelings, he has every right to express them. But he’s going to have a difficult time gaining support around a premise that suggests we should quietly accept everything that comes from the White House.
With that in mind, Maddon wasn’t the only high-profile baseball personality to weigh in on Saturday. Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia told the New York Daily that he would “never” visit Trump’s White House, adding he did not believe in “anything that is Trump.”
Meanwhile, Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle echoed the one thought that has dominated the sports landscape on Saturday.
welp, i don't think anyone can tell athletes to "stick to sports" for a while
— Sean Doolittle (@whatwouldDOOdo) September 23, 2017
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
