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Called out by Trump, NFL owners took different paths to present a united front

The moment Joe Lockhart learned of the fiery remarks President Donald Trump had made about the National Football League during a campaign-style rally in Huntsville, Alabama, last Friday, he quickly realized they had to be addressed.

The league couldn’t ignore the fact the president had profanely rebuked its players — urging NFL owners to fire any “son of a (expletive)” who took a knee in protest during the national anthem — and disparaged its product as “boring.”

“When the president of the United States calls anyone a son of a (expletive), that’s a story,” said Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications and public affairs, as well as former White House press secretary for President Bill Clinton.