Until President Donald Trump took office, it seemed the popularity of the National Football League was on a dramatic upward trend that didn’t have an end in sight.

Ratings were strong — both for the regular season and, of course, for the Super Bowl. Money was pouring in for owners and players. And baseball was no longer being called the national pastime — having been surpassed in popularity by football.

But then a decision by some players to protest police violence by kneeling during the playing of the national anthem put the NFL right in the middle of the culture wars.

And that is at the core of Mark Leibovich’s new book "Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times."

Leibovich, who is better known for his national political reporting for the New York Times Magazine, joined The Show to talk about it.