Civil rights activists protested outside NFL headquarters Friday [url=http://www.authenticsindianapoliscolts.com/cheap-quenton-nelson-jersey]Quenton Nelson Color Rush Jersey[/url] , calling on team owners to overturn their new national anthem policy and urging a boycott of the league and its sponsors.

About 50 people gathered at the midtown Manhattan office building for a rally organized by National Action Network, a civil rights nonprofit.

Kirsten John Foy, the group's northeast regional director, was the first of 10 speakers who took turns during the 40-minute demonstration to criticize NFL team owners and President Donald Trump.

"Our demand is that the NFL reverse that immoral and unconstitutional decision," Foy said.

NFL owners voted Wednesday to require players to stand for the national anthem or stay in the locker room. Teams will be fined if players don't stand. Some players have been kneeling during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before games the last two seasons to protest police brutality and racial inequality.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the protest in 2016. He did not play last season after being unsigned as a free agent. He is suing the NFL and team owners for colluding to keep him out of the league.

National Action Network spokesman Alex Butcher-Nesbitt said the group planned to hold similar demonstrations around the country, including Detroit and Los Angeles.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network, said if Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford and the team adhere to the anthem policy, "then they are doing nothing more than ... standing with racism."

In New York, Foy was joined by progressive talk radio host Mark Thompson [url=http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/isaiah-oliver-jersey]Authentic Isaiah Oliver Jersey[/url] , who wore a long shirt with a depiction of Kaepernick in his 49ers uniform taking a knee, and city councilman Jumaane Williams, who brought a Kaepernick No. 7 jersey to display after he spoke and wore a shirt with the slogan #IMWITHKAP across the front.

"I'm proud because I'm going to be on the right side of history," Williams said. "I'm going to be standing and kneeling with Colin Kaepernick."

Several speakers said supporters of Kaepernick and the protesting players should stop watching NFL games and no longer patronize companies that sponsor the league.

"You can't inundate us with tens of millions of dollars in commercial ads and then strip the people that generate your money and your profits of their first amendment rights," Foy said. "And if they choose to protest, they've got to stay in the locker room. So the locker room is the new slave shanty."

TAMPA, Fla. — Four games into the Eastern Conference final, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals are tied 2-2, but getting there hasn’t been anything as expected.

The road team has won all four games, with Washington dominating its way to a 2-0 lead in Tampa [url=http://www.giantsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-saquon-barkley-jersey]Authentic Saquon Barkley Jersey[/url] , only to see the Lightning pull back even with two road wins themselves.

The Capitals are 7-1 on the road and 3-5 at home in the playoffs, so do the Lightning really have an advantage with two of the remaining three games at Amalie Arena?

“It seems like in this series, the pressure shifts on the home team,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose team is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs against the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins and Capitals. “The big, glaring 0-4 is staring at you. Home-ice advantage has been a disadvantage in this series. Having said that, I’d rather have Game 5 at home. I believe we’ll be a different team than we showed up in Games 1 and 2.”

In a battle of division winners, the Lightning are in the conference final for the third time in four years and the Capitals are here for the first time in 20 years.

Which will be the advantage to push one team to the Stanley Cup final?

Capitals forward Tom Wilson said the advantages of home ice are lessened in the playoffs, when both teams have ample energy and intensity because of what’s on the line.

“It doesn’t really matter this time of year [url=http://www.authenticstampabaybuccaneers.com/cheap-ryan-jensen-jersey]Ryan Jensen Jersey Elite[/url] , whether you’re home or away,” Wilson said after the Game 4 loss. “Every game is huge and the emotion is going to be there. Road, home, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to go after it and hopefully get the next one.”

Special teams have been at the center of Tampa Bay’s turnaround, as well as stellar play in net from Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have gone 6 of 14 on their power play in the series, improving on the success rate for what was the NHL’s best power play in the regular season.

Even more impressively, Tampa Bay’s penalty kill, which ranked in the bottom five of the league in the regular season, went 7 of 7 on killing off Capitals power plays in the last two games. Three of those came in the final eight minutes of the first period Thursday night, as Tampa Bay held onto a 2-1 lead.

Steven Stamkos has dominated on the power play — six of his seven postseason goals and six of his nine postseason assists have come on that unit [url=http://www.miamidolphinsteamonline.com/kalen-ballage-jersey]Authentic Kalen Ballage Jersey[/url] , matching Nikita Kucherov for the team scoring lead with 16 total points each.

Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin both have 10 goals to pace the Capitals, who now have the confidence that comes with playing on the road.

Tampa Bay tied for the NHL lead with 25 road wins in the regular season, but it will need to win a home game to win this series. Overall in the playoffs, road teams are 40-34, on pace to challenge the NHL record for most postseason wins by a road team — 47 in 2012.

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