At the beginning of this summer, Kevin Durant decided that he would leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for another team, and the Thunder being the first professional sports team in the state was the reason many fans naively felt personally betrayed. They are unexposed to the reality that the loyalty of a team and any player on it is not to the town and the people who reside there, but to what is best for the team as a whole and its individual players. They seem to have overlooked that the Thunder arrived in OKC from Seattle because the receiving city built an arena with taxpayer money while the taxpayers in the old city had turned that idea down, and it could happen again if a third city makes a juicy offer.

But the wailing and gnashing of teeth was very loud as the Thunder fan base demanded the removal of all things Kevin Durant related from the city and state, and, whether facetiously or seriously the idea was put forth to change the name of Durant OK to that of a player who could have left, but chose to stay.

At least for now.

Of the various expressions of anger toward the perceived betrayal, none struck me as more self defeating and injurious than the torching of the KD jersey.

Fans pay huge amounts of money to wear a player’s jersey as if the declaration of adoration makes one special, or wearing the jersey enhances one’s skills.

No player ever changed his or her mind and decided to stay in a city they had decided to leave because a jersey was torched, and, considering the manufacturer of the jersey, the sports store that sold it, the league that got a cut, and the municipality that collected sales tax on the item have already gained from a jersey purchase, the only one who loses is the person who bought the jersey and then burned it with nothing to show for the expenditure.

If someone no longer chooses to wear the jersey, re-purposing it could be as cathartic as, say for example, using it as a grease rag in the garage. Durant is demeaned, but you still have something that you paid for.

But it seems too often it is not the actual principle at the heart of a protest, but the attention garnered by the protester, like with the overuse of flags to appear more patriotic than those around you, and the ostentatiousness of one’s protest might get one the prize, title of the biggest fan.

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The louder one defends the flag, the more American a person is supposed to be assumed to be.

Lots of patriotic speeches are made before the jersey is lit on the videos, but few are based on a real understanding of the Constitution.

So people are putting down the rifle they purchased to fight against the established republic  for which the flag stands, donning their Stars and Bars t-shirts, and yelling about this betrayal of America because this is a country on the high road, and we support those things that make America great, and the proof is the burning his football jersey.

Of course, a person looks even “More American” if they claim not standing for the National Anthem is a betrayal of our troops which is a more emotional appeal than a real one. It is making the Troops a useful underdog and a convenient tool for some sort of partriotic competition.

The burning of the jersey is not only showy, but it is carefully applied for personal gain.

Considering that just this past weekend a professional football player beat up a 70 year old man and his son in their hotel rooms, that Ray Rice knocked out his girlfriend, that Michael Vick tortured dogs, that Tyreek Hill punched his pregnant girlfriend, that over 40 players with the NFL have been accused of rape, that at least a dozen players have committed acts of domestic violence, that there have been multiple DUIs, and multiple weapons charges, it seems strange that no jerseys get burned.

It could be that certain actions are macho enough to warrant the expense of jersey burnings.

Note to self on business idea: mass produce paper sports team jerseys onto which can be affixed the names of various players with a minutes notice, and making them available to people who want to produce videos of jersey burnings without the actual expense, but be prepared to only have them sought by those who don’t like someone changing teams, or those who want their patriotism compared to someone else’s.