Many people have been cheering for Colin Kaepernick to get back into the NFL. This, because they thought he wanted nothing more than to play again but that team owners were blackballing him.
But the stunt he pulled yesterday should disabuse everyone of that thought.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s much-anticipated NFL workout was all but scuttled Saturday when he made a last-minute venue change, and the league responded that he was a no-show.
The 32-year-old free agent said in a statement that the venue was changed to allow the media to attend after the NFL had planned a private workout at the Atlanta Falcons training center in Flowery Branch. …
The NFL said 25 clubs were present and all 32 teams would have received video footage of the event.
(NBC News, November 17, 2019)
Frankly, Kaepernick must think he’s Trump and the NFL, the Republican Party. Because only delusions of grandeur on that scale explains him thinking he can play the NFL like this.
As it turned out only 8 of the 25 teams followed his dog-and-pony show to his new venue. But it would not surprise me if none of them bother to watch his video footage. Because not even Tom Brady is worth tolerating this kind of grandstanding, self-regarding impudence.
Mind you, I have no doubt team owners colluded to blackball Kaepernick for plunging the NFL into polarizing politics. The plunge began in 2016 when he started sitting/kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.
But I’m convinced that, but for collusion, at least one team owner would have risked fan backlash and team disruption to hire Kaepernick. That’s why the NFL finally settled his anti-collusion lawsuit earlier this year to — what his lawyer boasted — was his vindicated satisfaction.
But Kaepernick has always struck me as his own worst enemy. This in part is why, unlike his diehard fans, I stopped cheering him years ago. More to the point, his remarks on Saturday only reinforced my suspicion that he’s more interested in playing politics than football:
We’re waiting for the 32 owners, 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running … stop running from the truth … stop running from the people. Around here we’re ready to play … ready to go anywhere.
(Sports Illustrated, November 16, 2019)
Now why would any self-respecting owner even dignify that impudent challenge with a response, let alone an offer…? Truth be told, I’d respond by saying he might as well be Waiting for Godot.
In any event, I have dismissed Kaepernick’s one-man crusade in commentaries like “NFL: Kneeling, the Flag, and the National Anthem,” September 25, 2017, “Justice Ginsburg Affirms My Take on Kaepernick’s National Anthem Protest,” October 13, 2016, and “Delusional Kaepernick Standing Up by Kneeling Down During National Anthem,” August 30, 2016.
The last of those includes this prescient excerpt:
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Let me state from the outset that nobody should question or even criticize Kaepernick’s right to protest in any way he chooses. What’s more, his heart might be in the right place.
It’s just that this protest smacks of grandstanding. And it’s only slightly less lazy and misguided than people who think (re)tweeting slogans about injustice is tantamount to fighting for justice. …
The point is that there are many ways Kaepernick can stand up for his cause without showing wanton disrespect for the pride so many people have in the American flag. I urge him to find another way.
He claims he’s using his voice to ‘bring awareness’ to racial injustice. Except he seems unaware that people have been raising their voices to decry racial injustice all over this country in recent years. Which raises two questions:
- Where was Kaepernick when people (of all colors) took to the streets to decry the killing of blacks like Trayvon Martin, Dontre Hamilton, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, and Charles Kinsey, to name just a few?
- Is Kaepernick unaware that their outcry found its most defiant expression in the slogan, ‘Black Lives Matter!’? …
Meanwhile, this is probably the first time many die-hard football fans have heard any media mention of his name in years. That’s because he became a shell of himself after Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks outplayed and humbled him during the 2014 NFC Championship game. …
So, even as Kaepernick is doing little to help the San Francisco 49ers succeed, he is now drawing attention away from teammates who are doing lots. Hence, nobody should be surprised if his team releases him before mid-season for distracting too much, while contributing too little.
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In other words, notwithstanding prevailing suspicions of blackballing, the San Francisco 49ers had legitimate reasons for releasing him. It follows, therefore, that other teams had legitimate reasons for not hiring him. And all of that was before his three-year exile diminished what remained of his skills, naturally.
This is why, even if a team were inclined to overlook his crusading impudence, it could probably find many younger, cheaper, and more talented quarterbacks to add to its roster. So why bother?
Incidentally, reports are that Jay-Z negotiated this tryout for Kaepernick as part of his new business partnership with the NFL. I believe he did. Which is why Kaepernick just succeeded not only in torpedoing his chance of ever playing in the NFL again, but also in undermining Jay-Z’s street and business cred.
Kaepernick showed on Saturday why he belongs on the left wing of the Democratic Party, not on center field in the NFL. He seems hell-bent on living as a martyr for his own cause; as such, I wish him well. Never mind that, when it comes to playing politics, Kaepernick is more Forrest Gump than Malcolm X.
But, insofar as playing football is concerned, I bid him good riddance!
Related commentaries:
Kap kneeling…
Ginsburg…my take…
Delusional Kap…