We’re less than a month away from the return of the NFL to the American stage. For tens of millions of Americans, it’s a glorious time; bigger than “Game of Thrones,” or the release of a new “Star Wars,” film, this is America’s true pastime…tackle football. Even with all of the pussifying they’ve done to the game and all of the hand-wringing over CTE (which as Michael Strahan said last week the overwhelming majority of players simply don’t care about), it’s still the biggest show on America’s Earth, as reported last week by multiple studies showing that despite claims to the contrary, football is more popular than ever.
One of the reasons we were told that fewer people were watching the NFL (which, again, turned out to be completely “fake news,”) was all of the people offended by Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem. In other words, we’re supposed to believe that people who plan their entire weeks around enjoying their Sunday with food, friends, family, each other, and football suddenly decided to turn off the boob tube as a result of some jackass not standing for the national anthem. This, in a nation, that has almost no patriotism whatsoever.
I bring this up only because the wizards of smart in the media are experiencing exploding head syndrome over the fact that Kaepernick remains un-signed as we head into the final month before the 2017 season begins. Jemele Hill of ESPN was just the latest to lose her feces over this fact, making sure to take a shot at American police along the way, calling them “slave patrols,” and somehow likening that to the fact that Kaepernick isn’t on a team.
Ok, ok…I’ll slow down. First, let’s review why, according to the aggrieved, Kaepernick doesn’t have a team to play on:
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He’s partially black (although he identifies as a full African American) and had the audacity to go against the white-run institution of the NFL by taking a knee during the National Anthem and such insubordination cannot and will not be tolerated. Homie needs to know his place.
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End of list
The thing that I find most fascinating about this story is that it’s a circle that completes itself. First of all, the idea that Kaepernick is not signed because of his color and his audacity to “stand up to the man,” is the most ludicrous piece of race-baiting this country has seen since Ferguson. In a league that protects drug users, wife beaters, kid beaters, DUI offenders and everything in between as long as you’re talented, the notion that kneeling during the national anthem is a bridge too far is hysterically laughable. If Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers or even…yes Cam Newton, a black man, took a knee do you think they’d be cut? Of course not…and do you know why? Because, unlike Kaepernick, they’re actually good at playing quarterback. Trust me, as a life-long 49ers fan I had a front row seat to the misery that was Colin Kaepernick’s attempt to prove he belonged in the NFL. He does not. He is awful…and quite stupid as well. Quarterbacks need to be intelligent.
But, just for the sake of stupidity let’s pretend that his defenders are partially correct. I refuse to play the race game. As a man engaged to an African American woman I am painfully familiar with the fact that racism is alive and well in America, but can we please get real? The NFL is 75% black and has made more millionaires out of African Americans than anyone else. If you’re good, you get paid, regardless of color. But let’s, just for a moment, indulge these loons and believe that because Kaepernick took a knee last season during the national anthem, he crossed a red line and has been black listed because he offended sooooooooo many people watching (even though that’s been proven untrue).
Guess what? Choices have consequences.
If it were revealed tomorrow that all 32 owners got together and said “hey, that punk kneeling during the anthem really grates my groin. He’s making us look bad. I say none of us sign him,” and everyone agreed, what’s wrong with that? There’s no such thing as free speech in the NFL…free speech is a government issue not a private industry issue, which is exactly what the NFL is. They tell their players what they can and can’t wear, write on their shoes and body, and say in post-game press conferences and they have EVERY right to do so. Don’t like it? Don’t join the league.
These bogus cries of latent racism are insulting to actual racism. Colin Kaepernick does not currently have a contract because he stinks. He’s a bad football player who, like so many before him, simply fizzled out quickly under the hot lights of the NFL. Get over it, America. He’s not being black balled because he’s black, he’s being ignored because he sucks.
