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Doug Baldwin tweets Seahawks will have 'pregame demonstration of unity'

So we know one thing for sure: before the Seattle Seahawks play their season opener against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, all players will be taking part in something, some expression done en masse.

As to what they have planned, that’s a mystery.

Receiver Doug Baldwin tweeted this somewhat cryptic message on Thursday afternoon:

There has been talk this week from Baldwin and teammate Bobby Wagner that Seahawks players have discussed joining teammate Jeremy Lane in protest of the national anthem; last week, Lane sat during the anthem, following the lead of San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick (Kaepernick’s 49ers teammate Eric Reed also took a knee last week).

According to the Seattle Times, on Wednesday Wagner said nothing had been decided, but whatever was done, the Seahawks would do as a team: “That’s what the world needs to see. The world needs to see people coming together versus being individuals.”

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Doug Baldwin (AP)
Doug Baldwin (AP)

Seattle could of course join with Lane and sit or take a knee during the anthem, or perhaps they could all join hands, black players and white players from all over the country, all types of backgrounds, as their show of unity.

It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall as the Seahawks discussed what they’ll do – cornerback Richard Sherman said over a week ago that he didn’t agree with Kaepernick’s method but he certainly understood his message.

“You can’t ever stand against the flag, and things like that. A lot of people have sacrificed and things like that for it. But, there is also a deeper meaning to what he did. He’s talking about the oppression of African-Americans in this country, and that has been going on for a long time,” Sherman said. “And I think a lot of the focus has shifted away from his message, and shifted for some people – and rightfully so – to him taking a stand against the nation, etcetera.

“But I think there is also things in this nation that people need to remember and need to take heed of and also acknowledge. This country is the same country that had ‘Whites’ and ‘Colored’ signs on the bathroom. We are still in that country. We are still in that nation. And that needs to be acknowledged and that needs to be changed; that mentality still exists. And that needs to change…

“I think he could have picked a better platform and a better way to do it. But, you know, every day they say athletes are so robotic and do everything by the book — and then somebody takes a stand like that and he gets his head chopped off.”

Guess we’ll all be watching to see just what the Seahawks do.