It is what it is? He's wrong for not "reading" them, based solely on the fact that their reaction was different this time? Do you not see the obvious flaw in that logic? You are asking him to look into the future to know that they would react differently, so as to say something else that would not have prompted the reaction he got.

Information being shared faster has nothing to do with attitudes changing. There is no new information. It's the same tired BS, about racial injustice, while these guys are making millions to play a game, and black neighborhoods are shooting each other up. No one can predict how irrational people can suddenly become.

Your quip about the anthem being political is perhaps the most egregiously pathetic thing I have read on this site. The anthem is about AMERICA. It's not about whites, or blacks, or Hispanics, or Democrats, Republicans, males, females, rich people or poor people. It's the National Anthem. What people choose to fabricate about the song is their problem. Every country has a national anthem, and they all play it before they play a game in their native land. It's standard.

You appeared to agree with me at the end of your post, saying "his response was very politically correct", but confusingly tried to explain away how he was still wrong, because it's the age of sound bites. If his answer was politically correct (it was), then why should he have been concerned about the sound bites and headlines? Of course he knows about those things. Why do you think his answer WAS so politically correct? You're going in circles, man.