The Dallas Cowboys call themselves “America’s Team.” The slogan is central to the Cowboys’ brand and immense nationwide popularity.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones surely aims to keep it that way. Perhaps that’s why, in response to the trend of NFL players kneeling during pregame performances of “The Star-Spangled Banner” to protest racism, police mistreatment of African-Americans, President Trump, or whatever else, Jones told his players to stand during the national anthem, or sit during the game.

Two of America’s most powerful men shared Jones’ sentiments: In an incendiary late-September speech, President Trump bellowed that owners should fire players who kneel for the anthem. Vice President Mike Pence left his hometown Indianapolis Colts’ Oct. 9 game before kickoff to express disdain for kneeling players from the visiting 49ers.

NFL fans were mostly on Jones’ side, too: They perceived the protesters as spoiled millionaires disrespecting America’s flag, military, law enforcement, and even America itself. Many fans boycotted the league: Game attendance lagged, television ratings fell, and DirecTV even offered refunds to fans who canceled their subscriptions to NFL Sunday Ticket.

To stanch the financial bleeding, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to all 32 teams stating that he wanted all players to stand during the anthem. Unlike Jones, Goodell threatened no consequences to players who knelt.

The kneeling therefore persisted, and Jones’ threat made him a lightning rod for attacks from NFL players who compared Jones to a slave owner: New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress tweeted to Dallas players, “Your master has spoken.” Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett compared Jones’ stance to the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision: “You’re property, so you don’t have the ability to be a person first.”

National media on Oct. 22 thus focused their attention on Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., the 49ers’ home and the site of the Cowboys’ first game after Jones’ ultimatum, to cover a game of chicken as well as football: Would any Dallas players defy Jones and kneel? If, say, star quarterback Dak Prescott did, would Jones follow through on his threat and risk losing?

The showdown ultimately wasn’t one. No Cowboys knelt during the anthem, but eight 49ers did. Dallas player David Irving raised his fist as the final strains faded. Ultimately, the anthem still resounds o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Small shows of solidarity

While the NFL has been the locus of national anthem protests, support for NFL players’ cause has spilled over—albeit minimally—into other sports.

Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel during the National Anthem late in the regular season. Going into the World Series, no player knelt during the MLB playoffs.

Baseball, it’s worth noting, has a smaller percentage of African-American players than the NFL. The same is true of hockey, in which most players are either Canadian- or European-born.

Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown, an African-American, raised his fist during the anthem before two NHL games. He stopped after receiving death threats for doing so.

In basketball, both teams involved in the WNBA Finals engaged in anthem protests: The eventual champion Minnesota Lynx linked arms while the song played before Game 1.

The Los Angeles Sparks, meanwhile, left the floor before the anthem and returned to their locker room before Games 1 and 2.

At least one sports team outside the United States has shown support for the NFL players’ protests: Hertha Berlin, a German soccer team, knelt before a match in early October. —R.H.