San Anotnio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is one of most well-respected men in basketball not just for the manner in which his team competes on the court.
Having become famous for his blunt and bullshit-free style of answering media questions, Popovich was not shy to give his opinion on the controversy that is dominating US sports following President Trump's comments on athletes kneeling for the national anthem.
After the NFL united on Sunday to take a stand against Trump's controversial comments that those who kneel for the anthem should be fired, Popovich joined the likes of LeBron James in publicly condemning the idea.
He opened by stating that his believed the USA was an embarrassment before describing Trump's decision to un-invite Steph Curry and the Warriors from their planned visit to the White House as 'disgusting but also comical'.
Popovich on #Warriors White House visit being rescinded #Spurs #NBA pic.twitter.com/aY3KyV3uJL
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) September 25, 2017
And he wasn't done there.
Popovich then tackled the idea of 'white privilege' and his views have seen an overwhelmingly positive response on social media.
Gregg Popovich: 'We still have no clue of what being born white means.' pic.twitter.com/whTL7y4ktu
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 25, 2017
Obviously, race is the elephant in the room, and we all understand that. Unless it is talked about constantly, it's not going to get better. ... 'Oh, that again. They pulled the race card again. Why do we have to talk about that?' Well, because it's uncomfortable. There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change, whether it's the LGBT community or women's suffrage, race, it doesn't matter. People have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people, because we're comfortable. We still have no clue of what being born white means. And if you read some of the recent literature, you realize there really is no such thing as whiteness. We kind of made it up. That's not my original thought, but it's true.
A thoroughly decent man, it's just a shame he won't be running for president any time soon.
Having served in the US Air Force in the 70s, Popovich is adamant that people should be allowed to protest or speak-up about any issue they want, which makes the idea that protesting the national anthem is 'unpatriotic' look ridiculous.
