by George Rasley, Conservative HQ Editor

Those Americans who spent Easter morning at church, and then were off to a traditional family Easter dinner, may have missed the latest establishment media outrage, this time perpetrated by Craig Calcaterra, lead baseball writer for NBC Sports.

Calcaterra started up a Twitter storm at 4:53 a.m. Sunday morning with this critique of the unfurling of a huge flag and an Air Force flyover during the National Anthem at the Atlanta Braves vs San Diego Padres baseball American flaggame.

“Will you keep politics out of sports, please. We like sports to be politics-free”

Calcaterra followed-up with this outrageous attack on patriotism:

“Maybe a flag, in and of itself isn’t always political. A two-acre flag with a military flyover is saying something very specific, however.”

And these two even more disgusting Leftist anti-American attacks:

“People often wrap themselves in the flag in order to achieve political ends.”

“I never said the flag itself was [political]. It’s just a piece of fabric. People use it in a lot of different ways. Sports teams and leagues included.”

But Calcaterra wasn’t done.

Additionally, as our friend Jay Maxon of NewsBusters observed, Calcaterra said by not standing for the singing of God Bless America, Calcaterra dialed up his inner snowflake and said the reactions around him made him feel bad.

Without citing examples, Calcaterra added: “Conspicuous patriotism is often used as a cudgel to silence/shame those who question our leaders.”

So, where do you think Craig Calcaterra was with his demand for politics-free sports and the right to criticize political leaders when Seattle Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger was suspended for criticizing Black Lives Matter and President Obama?

During the riots that torched downtown Charlotte and led to the looting of the stadium gift shop Clevenger tweeted:

“BLM is pathetic once again! Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!” the backup catcher tweeted out about the riots in Charlotte.”

Clevenger also tweeted:

“Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha shit cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the Anthem!”

Did Craig Calcaterra stand-up for Steve Cleveger’s right to criticize our country’s “leader” which at that time was President Barack Obama?

Nope.

Here’s what Calcarerra said in his column when Clevenger was suspended by the Mariners:

“Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger found himself in hot water on social media on Thursday evening. He tweeted some racist statements pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement… Kudos to the Mariners for being quick to respond to the issue [by suspending Clevenger].

Steve Clevenger was suspended without pay for the rest of the season, which for the Mariners was only three more weeks as they failed to make the playoffs, coming in second in the in the American League West Division.

The American flag – “just a piece of fabric”?

We’re still waiting for a statement from NBC sports explaining how Calcaterra’s views do not reflect the views of the NBC sports network, but we doubt one will ever be forthcoming, because Calcaterra’s anti-American screed probably does reflect the views of the corporate hierarchy at NBC.

If a suspension to the end of season was appropriate for Steve Clevenger for engaging in the kind of free speech that Craig Calcaterra advocates for himself, then we think the punishment should be the same – NBC should suspend Craig Calcaterra without pay until the end of the season – or better yet fire him outright for hypocrisy and for the damage he has done to the NBC brand.