Vice-Captain of the US President’s Cup team Davis Love III believes team unity is more important than dissension and protest. Love says that he won’t protest personally at the Presidents Cup during the national anthem — because he believes it’s wrong to put his “personal statements” in front of his team. “Any athlete can protest. Whether it’s LeBron James or Colin Kaepernick or me or anybody else, that’s an American right. But sometimes you have to put personal statements and desires aside in the name of team unity and trying to reach a common goal,” Love told SI.
Love’s statement, saying that it’s the right of any athlete to protest and make “personal statements,” contradicts the beliefs of President Trump, who has expressed the belief that athletes who protest should lose their jobs. If you lose your job for an action, it follows that the action is not a protected right. So Love and Trump disagree about what rights athletes have. Yet Love advocates squashing the desire to protest, and not exercising that right, in order to serve unity. Love seemed to want it both ways, recognizing the right but saying no one should really exercise it. Love says he was told how to act when he got to the PGA Tour, which wants athletes to know they represent more than themselves. Think of the sponsors! “You don’t just say or do as you please,” Love revealed. “When you’re representing your country, like in the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, that becomes even more true.”
