SALT LAKE CITY — Four more stories from the world of sports.

1. Kaepernick continues his protest, military veteran NFL player stands beside him

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick has ruffled a lot of feathers this preseason with his protest of the national anthem by sitting as it plays before each game. Since explaining his reasoning Saturday, it seems almost everyone has weighed in on it — positively or negatively.

Kaepernick returned to the football field Thursday for the first time since expressing his views and it wasn’t surprising that the boos came early and often as the Niners traveled to San Diego.

Kaepernick stayed true to his word that he would continue to protest the national anthem and took a knee — instead of sitting — during the anthem Thursday. Teammate Eric Reid kneeled with him on the sideline.

After the 49ers defeated the Chargers 31-21 in a game that the quarterback threw for 103 yards on 11-of-18 attempts, Kaepernick again met members of the media in a lengthy postgame press conference.

During that conference, Kaepernick didn’t waver on his stance. He also pledged the first $1 million he makes this season will go to organizations he believes in.

In addition, he said he and Reid met with NFL free-agent long snapper and former Green Beret Nate Boyer to find a way to continue to protest, but do so in a more respectful manner to the military. Kaepernick said it was during their meeting that the idea was given to take a knee during the anthem instead of sitting.

Boyer penned an open letter to Kaepernick Tuesday, where he discussed what standing for the national anthem meant for him. In an interview with NFL Media, Boyer said Kaepernick invited him to San Diego so the two could chat about the issue.

Boyer tweeted out a picture of him with the 49ers quarterback Thursday. In fact, he also stood next to Kaepernick during the singing of the national anthem.

“I don’t know if I’m necessarily supporting the act, but I’m supporting his right to do that,” Boyer told NFL Network’s Alex Flanagan. “I think he took a step forward today. He didn’t sit on the bench and that’s something we talked about today. He invited me to come down and just meet with him, and just talk about things — see if we could figure out how to do something and develop some action, a plan of action.”

The 49ers teammates weren’t alone in not standing for the national anthem Thursday. In Oakland, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane also took a seat during the national anthem.

“I wasn’t trying to say anything, just standing behind Kaepernick,’’ Lane said afterward, according to The Seattle Times.

2. College football team’s tumble

College football kicked off last week, but the first full week of gridiron action began Thursday. For one college team, getting on the field was quite the struggle.

As the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers rushed out of the tunnel for their season-opening game vs. Rice, one player tripped, causing a hilarious mini accordion-style pileup.

Luckily for Western Kentucky, nobody was injured and the entrance slip up didn’t turn out to be a bad omen. The Hilltoppers knocked around reported Big 12 expansion candidate Rice 46-14.

3. Baseball player's unbelievable groundout

Any pitcher will tell you they'll take anything to get an out. On Thursday, pitcher Eric Yardley, of Triple-A El Paso, got out of the seventh inning with a little magic.

With two out and a running on second base as the Chihuahuas trailed the Las Vegas 51s 5-1, Yardley threw a pitch that Las Vegas first baseman Eric Campbell seemingly fouled off. After going several feet to the right of the first base foul line — almost closer to the dugout than the line itself — it curved back to the left and into fair territory.

El Paso first baseman Diego Goris then scooped up the ball and touched first base to end the inning.

That's an impressive and unlucky way to leave a runner stranded in scoring position.

4. Olympian plans to donate upgraded medal to competitor's family

On Monday, Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt tweeted that his Olympic bronze medal would be upgraded to silver due to the infamous Russian doping scandal, according to the The Times of India.

In 2012, Dutt won bronze and Russian Besik Kudukhov won silver during the London Olympics. However, Kudukhov would have lost his silver medal due to the scandal.

Here’s the twist. Kudukhov died in a car accident in 2013. Instead of claiming the silver medal, Dutt said he planned on giving it to Kudukhov’s family and praised the late wrestler.

In several tweets about the manner, Dutt said, “human compassion is paramount for him.”

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