Mark Cuban is a smart but weak man. On Thursday, Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said he had decided before the season not to have the National Anthem played before the team's home games.

Within a couple hours, surprisingly, the NBA stated that "all teams will play national anthem 'in keeping with longstanding league policy.'"

Mark Cuban [subsequently] said during an appearance on ESPN's The Jump that his organization has no problem playing the anthem "at all," and that the decision to not do so to this point in the season was the product of ongoing conversations with members of the community who felt the tradition "did not fully represent them."

Which is it, Mark? 

What Mark Cuban understands, but is unwilling to address in his own locker room, is that a vast majority of Americans see "kneeling" during the National Anthem as disrespectful to the flag, our veterans, and America.

Faced with a hard choice, Mark Cuban opted to ditch the National Anthem rather than address the disrespect shown by his players towards the symbol of our great nation.

Black Lives Matter and Colin Kaepernick may have an argument to make about police brutality, but their choice of protest alienates those who respect our symbol of freedom, those who died to provide said freedom, and the most race-just country on the planet.

If you hate America, leave.  If you "believe" that injustice exists in America, make your case, or work within the system to make improvements.  Protests have their place, but the result of BLM protests (riots) to date have been nothing but destruction and death.  

Defund-the-police movements within democratic-run municipalities across the country have seen in some cases a hundredfold increase in violent crimes.  The primary victims and perpetrators are almost exclusively black.

Facts, as John Adams asserted, are stubborn things.  Violence, and more particularly inner-city violence, has increased since Kaepernick's so-called heroic stance.

What Mark Cuban, as well as the Democrat leadership, understands is that division and class and race envy are good for votes.

Mark Cuban is woke.  Weak still, but woke.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.