(CNN)As a second-term Congressman Colin Allred carefully respects the traditions of his hallowed workplace.
“You can’t even step on the floor without a suit jacket on,” he told CNN Sport via a remote link from his office in Dallas.
But on January 6, 2021, after witnessing the horrors of a deadly, armed insurrection at the US Capitol building, he deemed that — in that moment — such a tradition was no longer appropriate, or indeed practical.
“When I heard the attackers trying to get in,” Allred explained, “I took off my suit jacket coat, stood up and was prepared to fight or do whatever I had to do if somebody got on the floor.”
Allred knows how to look after himself; he spent five years as a linebacker with the Tennessee Titans in the NFL and thought he’d seen it all — until January.
“It was surreal, it really was. I’ve played in some really tough atmospheres; I’ve had things thrown at me and people cursing at me, but I’ve never seen anything like the rage and mob mentality that we saw that day.”
Continued
Carl Sagan
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/sport/nfl-colin-allred-insurrection-cmd-spt-intl/index.html