G.J. Tengesdahl

LeBron James was born to a 16-year-old single mother in Akron, Ohio. He bounced between friends just to have a place to sleep. Then this country handed him everything. It gave him over $500 million in NBA salary and over $1 billion more in endorsements and business deals. Forbes puts his net worth at $1.4 billion. He was the first active NBA player in history to become a billionaire. And when the national anthem plays for the country that made all of that possible, he can't give it two minutes of respect. No hand over his heart. No standing still. He's goofing around, flailing his arms, flapping around, pretending to shoot a basketball, doing literally anything except honoring the flag that turned a kid from Akron into a billionaire. That's not a protest. That's not a statement. That's just disrespect. Millions of Americans work their whole lives and never see a fraction of what this country gave him. Men and women died so he could play a game for a living in front of sold-out arenas. The least he could do is stand there and act like it means something.