Misplaced

It seems odd to me that the very people who self-describe as patriotic are having way too much fun celebrating the loss by the US Women's National Soccer team in the World Cup competition. 

A lot of the people who demean star forward Megan Rapinoe for her actions - kneeling in support of Colin Kaepernick's fight against police brutality, her suit against the United States Soccer Federation for gender discrimination, and her talking back when the former president - himself a frequent loser - told her to "win before talking" - are people who thank servicemen and women for their service, salute the flag as it passes, and sing the National Anthem lustily at ball games.

Pretty sure the Bill of Rights grants the right to speak her mind.

As the New York Times said, "The light of Rapinoe’s renowned and polarizing career as a player and activist has now gone into shadow on the World Cup stage, where she played her best and emphatically spoke her mind."

What's more, the team represented the entire country, yet, just because one player held some differing viewpoints, some "patriots" are willing to root against our national team. 

During the 2021 Olympics, someone with the name Grant Stinchfield, a Newsmax host, giggled that he took “pleasure” in Team USA’s basketball loss because of its players’ “woke” politics.

Another quote, this from ESPN journalist Pablo Torre:  “Nothing says AMERICA FIRST more than rooting against *checks notes* the literal U.S national team because they *checks notes* peacefully exercised freedom of speech.”

So instead of supporting their country's athletes, some people boo them. And instead of waking up, they would rather stay asleep.