By the time you read this, Colin Kaepernick may very well be an NFL quarterback again.
As of this writing, the Pittsburgh Steelers have lost their starting QB, Ben Roethlisberger, for the season. The New Orleans Saints are without Drew Brees for at least 6 weeks, Jacksonville is without Nick Foles, Cam Newton missed week 3, and both Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz, of the Texans and Eagles respectively, look ready to lose a limb any game now based on their offensive lines’ first two performances. There are another half dozen teams, including the New York Jets, who could do well by exploring quarterback options other than what they have.
And yet, Kaepernick has not been signed. Reports are his agent is calling all NFL teams and that Kaepernick is in “game shape,” thanks to his daily regiment of getting up to work-out all day 5 days a week at 5AM.
And so, of course, the only explanation for Kaepernick not being signed is that he’s being black balled…or, as the asinine elites refer to it “white-balled,” because all of the NFL owners are white…get it? And Kaepernick isn’t? Eh? Eh? Remember, there are more than a few prominent sports writers, athletes, and people of consequence who, to this day, refer to the NFL as “modern day slavery.”
For point of reference, of course, (since facts still matter to a few of us), there are a total of two minority owners in the NFL; they are Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who is Pakistani American, and Kim Pegula, who is Asian American and co-owns the Buffalo Bills.
Never mind the asinine and intellectually insulting attempt to compare a league that is 80% African American with an average salary of $2.7 million dollars (and a minimum wage of $480,000) to slavery.
And never mind how absurd it is to claim that any player is in “game shape,” when they haven’t played in an actual game for 3 years. Christ, half of the league still isn’t in “game shape,” after 3 weeks of this season. Working out is not the same; not even close.
Oh, and never mind that Kaepernick left the NFL as a product of diminishing returns. (In other words, he’s really not that good. The league figured him out and he’s a second-rate quarterback at best).
Which brings us to the white-balling.
To be fair, there are A LOT of second-rate quarterbacks in the NFL, most of them back-ups. All things being equal, Kaepernick should be a back-up quarterback in the NFL, based on his experience and good-enough talent to run an offense and throw a football (usually to players on the other team, but I digress…)
However, all things aren’t equal, and that’s Colin Kaepernick’s fault, solely.
In 2019 America, consequences are a form of bullying, unless, ironically, you’re holding someone accountable for something they did a decade ago at a time when it wasn’t deemed offensive. Ironic isn’t it? We live in a “cancel culture,” in which we ruin peoples careers for things they did at a time most of us simply didn’t know better, and yet we’re told that Colin Kaepernick is being “black-balled,” by a bunch of owners who are mad at him for stepping out of line and bringing controversy unto their league.
Ridiculous.
Colin Kaepernick simply isn’t worth it. He’s simply not that talented; if he were, someone might take a gamble on him as the Patriots did with Antonio Brown. Faced with the specter of Brown’s bad attitude and distracting off-field antics, New England rolled the dice on his enormous talent. Then came and accusation of sexual assault. Still, the Patriots decided, they would argue that he was innocent until proven guilty, and allowed him to play a score a touchdown. Then, this week, texts from Brown threatening a second woman who claims he assaulted her emerged and the Patriots decided that Brown, despite his immense talent, was no longer worth it and released him. Kaepernick, who does not possess immense talent, most certainly is not worth it.
Were Patrick Mahomes, arguably the game’s best quarterback, who also happens to be half African American (just like Kaepernick), to begin kneeling during the National Anthem, it would plunge the Kansas City Chiefs into the morass of weighing the controversy and unwanted attention he was bringing to the team against winning. And as long as they kept winning, it would be an easy decision; Mahomes would play and the team would support his right to express himself.
Kaepernick is not a winner. And to argue that he “deserves” a chance to prove that theory wrong is to ignore basic principles of business and public relations. First of all, he had his chance already, and after going to and losing a Super Bowl, he became worse and worse. Secondly, The American public, and most notably, fans of the NFL don’t want politics in their sports. The minute Kaepernick is signed, the politics begin and the fans react. With Kaepernick, the distractions come first followed by the completely unknown performance. It simply isn’t worth it, and that’s why no one is returning his agent’s calls. To argue it’s as simple as the color of his skin is to once again diminish and demean the very real elements of racism that still exist in America’s culture today. It’s race baiting and crying wolf and it’s offensive.
And for those of you who believe that to settle this once and for all, a team should sign him just so he can fail, think again. In today’s culture results don’t matter and there’s always an excuse. Were Kaepernick to become a starting quarterback and predictably stink, there would be plenty of asinine ways to explain it away. His supporter would blame the lack of skill of other players on his team, of the play calling, or the ultimate; the time travel argument! Had Kaepernick been allowed to play the last three years, he would have shined! It’s the racist league’s fault that his career crumbled. And on and on it would go.
It’s despicable how we victimize Americans solely based on the color of their skin. It’s not supportive nor sympathetic, it’s demeaning and insulting. Bring me a person of color who has truly been discriminated against solely for their race, not choices they’ve made which therefore come with consequences, and I will be the first to support you and them. Bring me Colin Kaepernick and make that same argument and you will be exposed as the actual racist.
https://eurweb.com/2018/05/08/the-nfl-plantation-home-of-forty-million-dollar-slaves/
