Dump pledge as well as anthem at non-governmental events

We have big problems in this world, yet we waste limitless ink, pixels and talking head time agonizing over a football player refusing to stand for the Pledge at a sporting event. That's right, a sporting event. This isn't a governmental function or a military parade. It's a business enterprise in which the owners get fabulously rich, and the players risk permanent injury or early onset dementia with every play. 

On second thought, if all that ink and pixels and talking head time helps focus on the fact that 31 Republican controlled state legislators are working feverishly to disenfranchise millions of minority voters to rig the election and return America to pre-Voting Rights Act governance, than that sit down is one to stand up for. 

Private business ventures and meetings should end the practice of beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance as well as the National Anthem. When called on to say the Pledge, I comply but emphatically add the NO before the word God. When Ike and Congress put God in the Pledge back in '54, they lost my allegiance to its revision forever. At meetings of our local political organization, we proudly replace the Pledge with an inspiring quote by an inspiring person. Here's one that fits the quarterback who wouldn't stand:

   “Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.” 
― Albert Einstein

If Albert were around today, he'd flag the quarterback's critics for unsportsmanlike conduct.