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Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 079 ~ 27 of 40
Cowboys kneel before national anthem against Arizona By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, so the speculation was that he would not allow his players to kneel during the national anthem.
The Cowboys and their owner did kneel, though not during the anthem.
Following a weekend of kneeling and protesting across the NFL, the Cowboys and their owner displayed their own version of unity Monday night, kneeling on the eld before rising as a group prior to the playing of the national anthem.
“I hope that I’m clear and I hope that our team is clear: We want to respect the ag. Make no mistake about that,” Jones said.
“Nothing that we’ve done, nothing that we did tonight says anything other than that. We also want to as a complete team, as players and an organization, be able to, whenever we can, demonstrate that unity is important and equality is important.
“That’s what I’m so proud of these guys for, they did both and did it in a way when people really stop and think about it, makes a lot of sense.”
The Cowboys sat and watched the protests across the NFL on Sunday and spent most of Monday dis- cussing the best way to show unity without denigrating the ag.
After warmups Monday night, they went into the locker room and returned to the eld for the anthem, lining up between the sideline and the yard markers on the eld.
Arm-in-arm, they dropped to a knee as a giant ag was carried onto the eld, with Jones and his family in the middle near the 50-yard line.
Numerous boos rang out across University of Phoenix Stadium as the Cowboys kneeled and continued as the players rose, still arm-in-arm, and stepped back to the sideline as the ag was unfurled across the eld. They remained connected as Jordin Sparks sang the national anthem.
“The objectives, as much as anything else, was to somehow, some way demonstrate unity and demon- strate equality, and do so without any way involving the American ag and the national anthem,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said.
The Arizona Cardinals had their own symbol of unity after a weekend of protests in the NFL, gathering along the goal line arm-in-arm during the national anthem. They were joined by owner Michael Bidwell, his family and general manager Steve Keim.
More than 200 NFL players kneeled, sat or prayed during the national anthem on Sunday after President Trump said any player who does not stand for the national anthem should be red.
Three teams did not take the eld for the national anthem and numerous NFL owners came out against Trump’s statements.
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For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL .
Water and some food scarce as Puerto Rico emerges from storm By BEN FOX, Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Supermarkets are gradually re-opening in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico but the situation is far from normal and many customers are going home disappointed.
Most food stores and restaurants remain closed. That is largely because power is out for most of the island and few have generators or enough diesel to power them. The shops that were open Monday had long lines outside and vast empty shelves where they once held milk, meat and other perishables. Drink- ing water was nowhere to be found.
Mercedes Caro shook her head in frustration as she emerged from the SuperMax in the Condado neigh- borhood of San Juan with a loaf of white bread, cheese and bananas.
“There is no water and practically no food,” she said. “Not even spaghetti.”