re: James McClean getting death threats now

McClean's actions certainly warrant criticism, obviously not death threats. Every other player in the Premier League wears the poppy. Germans, French, Irish, Americans and countless other citizens of countries formerly harassed by the British military still wear the poppy.

The poppy appeal is one of the few open displays of British pride that the country shows. The British have a very evident shame psyche in terms of nationalism. It's nice to see foreign players show respect to the citizens of the country that provides their very lucrative wellbeing. Most of them may not even donate to the charity.

This reminds me of the female high basketball player who refused to salute the American flag during the national anthem, at the onset of the War in Iraq. ESPN did a story on her, and she subsequently received all kinds of hate mail. Did she have the right to do it? Of course. Should she have thought of the families affected by the war? Of course.

The same should go for McClean, who should have found a less explosive time to display a political message.