FRISCO -- The Cowboys began their season on bended knee at training camp in Oxnard, Calif. They listened to Dallas police chief David Brown urge them to be part of the conversation about race and the tension that exists between law enforcement and minority communities. They'd walked onto the field as part of a moving ceremony, arm-in-arm with Brown, Mayor Mike Rawlings and the families of the victims of the July ambush that left five Dallas officers dead.
Weeks later, Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, initiated a national controversy and discussion by sitting, then kneeling, during the national anthem before games to protest oppression in America, including the excessive use of deadly force by police.