Happy Labor Day everybody,I hope you’re having a great weekend and enjoying some much needed time off.

We begin Odds & ends with a question: If people are mad and outraged about Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the National Anthem, why isn’t there as much (or even any) outrage about Jeremy Lane doing the same?

Lane,the Seahawks defensive back, has joined Kaepernick and 49ers safety Eric Reid in choosing not to sit during the playing of the song before each game and did so before Thursday’s final exhibition match-up against Oakland. Yet I don’t see anyone posting any videos of his jersey going up in flames or Seahawks fans calling for his release or anyone sending death threats to him on social media or calling him the N-word.

So why are people not as upset with Lane doing it as opposed to Kaepernick?

My guess is that Lane isn’t as well known as Kaepernick and isn’t a quarterback that they once loved but now hated (even before this whole fiasco came about). Kaepernick was on thin ice with fans as it was and his behavior towards the flag and the anthem were basically the final straw for fans to turn on him completely. Lane doesn’t seem to have that kind of target on his back.
It’s really funny how we pick and choose what athletes we like for doing the same thing.

If college football didn’t grab you very much on Saturday,then you didn’t see the tribute the Nebraska Cornhuskers gave to their fallen teammate, punter Sam Foltz. Foltz was killed in an auto accident in July while returning from a kicking camp in Wisconsin. Former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler was also killed. Foltz was a Big Ten Punter of the Year. The football team dedicated their opening day game to Foltz. Before the game,the team huddled up to remind one another “We play for each other,we play for Foltz.”

In Saturday’s 43-10 win at home in Lincoln,Neb. against Fresno State, the Huskers on their first three-and-out lined up with 10 men on the field,leaving Foltz’s place on the field empty as the play clock ran out. Nebraska was flagged for a delay of game penalty,which the crowd cheered and the Fresno State Bulldogs declined.

Nebraska’s Twitter account explained the delay of game penalty as follows: “We had to take a delay of game,weren’t able to get all 11 guys out to punt in time. Missing one of them.”

And if that wasn’t enough of a tribute for the fallen player, in Green Bay,Wisc. where the University of Wisconsin Badgers hosted the LSU Tigers, Wisconsin placekicker Rafeal Gaglianone changed his number from 10 to 27, in honor of Foltz,his good friend.

I think it was a great tribute all around for Foltz,it’s obvious the impact he had on the lives of so many,even people he met across the country and people he never met at all. Often times we don’t think of punters or kickers as football players,but as Rich Eisen once exclaimed at the NFL Draft,punters are people,too.

Is is just me,or is it absolutely unnecessary for the Giants and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area to be rebroadcasting games that they lose?

I was out on Friday night and the location I was at had a TV tuned to the Giants-Cubs game, a game which the Giants lost 2-1 and a game where Jon Lester went the distance and had a no-hit bid against them until the seventh inning. Why in the world would anyone think Giants fans who,first of all,already know the final score and that they lost and also,would want to see how they lost?

Now I’m okay with a replay of the game if they won, that’s fine because you’re showing the fans what happened if they missed it and want to see all the great plays they made en route to the victory that occurred earlier in the day/the night before. But honestly, when you show a game again in which they lost,you’re basically rebroadcasting sadness. We have enough sadness in the world,I mean shit,look who we’ve got running for President.

So if the folks can do me and Giants fans everywhere a solid and not show us how the Giants lost yet another game later on after it happened,it would be great and it would probably help us swallow this pitiful second half the team is having a lot better.

Joe Nathan is back in a San Francisco Giants uniform for the first time since 2003,pictured above.

Joe Nathan,41, is back in a Giants uniform after 13 years away from the team. He made his return on Sunday in the team’s final game against the Cubs, a 3-2 Chicago win in 13 innings.

Nathan,wearing No. 74 (his familiar No. 36 has since been retired for Gaylord Perry) appeared in the 12th inning and had a nice outing but in the end the Giants didn’t prevail in the game.

“It’s kind of cool to come back here,” said Nathan on Saturday, “There were no promises to get up here, so that was a risk. There were other teams interested that would’ve been safer to get called up on the roster but probably didn’t have a chance for October baseball.

Nathan was a part of a controversial trade that sent him along with Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for catcher A.J. Pierzynski,who is among the most hated players to ever play for the Giants.

I was impressed with Nathan yesterday. He not only showed that he still has it,but has showed he is probably the most capable person in that bullpen to take over as closer during this final stretch to get to the postseason. I don’t care how old he is,I don’t care if some people think he’s washed up and I don’t care that his gray hair on his beard appears to be the same amount as mine despite me being seven years younger than he is, anything, and I mean anything has to be better than Santiago Casilla. Honestly the Giants don’t have much to lose by placing Nathan in the closer position.

Finally this week a story about friendship and being there by their side when they’re sick and making sure they’re not alone in a time of need and doing whatever it takes to make sure it happens.

That’s exactly what TNT analyst Charles Barkley did for Craig Sager who we’ve mentioned before as fighting leukemia. Sager recently underwent his third bone marrow transplant and his wife and full-time caregiver Stacy came down with a cold and wasn’t allowed to be by his side during the operation,upon hearing that she couldn’t be there, Barkley did what his doctor’s told him not to, he flew from Phoenix to Houston to be by Sager’s side. Barkley recently underwent hip surgery and was told not fly due to doctor’s orders.

“Craig Sager is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,” Barkley said. “We go to see Sager to cheer him up and by the time you leave you’re like, ‘Is anything wrong with him?’ He has the most positive attitude … When you go to try and cheer him up his attitude is so upbeat he cheers you up.”

That is so cool to hear about what Barkley did for his dear friend to make sure he wasn’t alone. I think it’s something we can all hope for if we’re ever in such a situation, to have a dear friend be there for us. Friendship is a simple idea and that’s something Barkley and Sager have just shown us.