Unless you were knocked unconscious for the past 24 hours, you've heard about the mass anthem protests by NFL teams yesterday. You've also heard about the severe backlash from pretty much every non-leftist in the land of the free. Well, Ben Roethlisberger sure heard about it. He's walking back his decision to sit out the anthem entirely.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger expressed his regret for his team’s decision to stand in the tunnel while the national anthem played before their 23-17 overtime loss to the Bears. After one player, offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, stepped out to salute the flag during the anthem and confused his teammates who thought they were in all agreement, Roethlisberger now wishes they had joined him.

“I was unable to sleep last night and want to share my thoughts and feelings on our team’s decision to remain in the tunnel for the National Anthem yesterday,” the 35-year-old Roethlisberger wrote on his personal website Monday. “The idea was to be unified as a team when so much attention is paid to things dividing our country, but I wish we approached it differently. We did not want to appear divided on the sideline with some standing and some kneeling or sitting.

So, Benny's having second thoughts, eh? I suppose now everyone's supposed to just forget Benjamin and his teammates' complete lack of respect for America.

Unity is nice and all. But, Ben unified with his team to take a dump on the flag and everyone who ever bled for it. Because "screw Trump," or some such nonsense. It's nice that Ben Roethlisberger regrets his decision, but he still made his choice, all the same. You called the play, Ben. Now, you've got to run it.

You'd think the NFL would have learned its lesson after Colin Kaepernick started this trend. Their ratings haven't exactly been golden since Colin started taking knees. If they want to put leftist political gestures above playing football, they have that right. Free country and all.

I expect to see a lot more mea culpas like this in the next few days. I also expect to see the NFL's ratings sink faster than a canoe laden with Michael Moore. Call Americans crazy, but they don't take kindly to disrespectful gestures from spoiled millionaire ballplayers.

By all means, NFL players are free to sit or squat or lay for the anthem. But the fans are also free to change the channel. So, the ballers have to ask themselves a question. Is educating us simple folk about the scourge of racist coppers and white privilege worth joining their pal Colin in the unemployment line? The choice is theirs.

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