Pittsburgh Steelers players stand in the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem before the football game Sept. 24 against the Chicago Bears.

The NFL, the national anthem and Donald Trump have turned into one huge tangled web.

The question now is how to straighten it out.

To understand much of the public's outrage over NFL players kneeling or sitting while the anthem is played — or not coming out of the locker room at all — we have to look at why "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played before sporting events in the first place.

Once the United States entered World War I, Major League Baseball games became home to patriotic rituals. Players marched in formation during military drills before games, and bands played songs of patriotism during games.

During the seventh-inning stretch of Game 1 of the 1918 World Series, a band played "The Star-Spangled Banner." It wasn't anything planned.

Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox players stood and faced the flagpole in center field and stood at attention as the song was played. The crowd, already on its feet for the seventh-inning stretch, began to sing along.

When the series shifted to Boston that year, the national anthem was played before the game and before each remaining game of the series.

Then it was played before Opening Day, national holidays and the World Series.

During World War II, the anthem was played before each game through the course of the war. By the time World War II ended, the anthem became a pregame MLB tradition and spread to other professional sports.

So while kneeling during the anthem may be intended as peaceful demonstration over a racial divide in this country, it comes across to many as disrespect to the anthem, the American flag and the U.S. military.

NFL players are not alone in this unintended disrespect. Fans at games unwittingly disrespect the anthem when they talk while it's playing, go to the bathroom or concession stand while it's being played, or operate their cellphones.

The difference is that NFL players are doing their thing in front of thousands of people and on national TV.

Peaceful demonstrations are fine. Using the anthem for that platform? Not so fine.

Terry Hanratty tweeted that every NFL team has either Monday or Tuesday off. The Butler graduate and former Steeler said that players should organize peaceful demonstrations in their respective cities during that day off.

He said if the media doesn't cover those demonstrations, the players don't talk to the press after games on Sunday.

Sounds like a viable option.

Players could also speak out on any national talk show, during an NFL pregame show or during any interview.

But to mess with the national anthem and what it stands for?

Wrong choice.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle