This tale is a lesson about what happens when an employer – in this case, the NFL – allows its employees to bring their politics into the workplace:
An NFL quarterback has been spending his time listening to racist/communist ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Black Muslim propaganda, instead of reading his playbook. The result was him disrespectfully sitting {now kneeling} through the U.S. national anthem {see below}; then going out and completing 2 of 6 passes for a grand total of 14 yards. He not only embarrassed his teammates, team and country – he once again had nothing to contribute on the field.
He followed this up by wearing a Communist dictator Fidel Castro T-shirt to a press conference {see below}, and had already worn socks showing police hats on pig’s heads to practice {also below}.
Instead of understanding how lucky he is, this entitled fool – with no experience of life on the rest of this planet – has the gall to trash the only country in which he could have enjoyed such freedom and material success….
“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told Katie Couric of ‘Yahoo!’ that she believes San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other players’ decision to protest during the national anthem is “really dumb of them.”
“Would I arrest them for doing it? No,” Ginsburg said. “I think it’s dumb and disrespectful. I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning. I think it’s a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn’t lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act.”
“If they want to be stupid, there’s no law that should be preventive,” she added after Couric noted that it was Kaepernick’s First Amendment right to express himself. “If they want to be arrogant, there’s no law that prevents them from that. What I would do is strongly take issue with the point of view that they are expressing when they do that.”
“Ginsburg has been in the Supreme Court since 1993.”
–‘Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Colin Kaepernick protest is ‘dumb and disrespectful’’,
Sports Illustrated, October 10th, 2016
“Colin Kaepernick signed a 6-year, $114,000,000 contract with the San Francisco 49ers, including a $12,328,766 signing bonus, $61,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $19,000,000. In 2016, Kaepernick will earn a base salary of $11,900,000…”
“The NFL does not require its athletes stand for the national anthem, and, indeed, the 49ers said it was within Kaepernick’s right to not participate. But some coaches say they expect members of their team to stand, regardless of their personal feelings. It’s a delicate line that Rex Ryan, the Buffalo Bills head coach, addressed in a Sunday news conference:
“Anytime I talk to my team about that, if there’s personal beliefs or whatever that keep you from doing it, I understand. But at the same time, you know, you’ve got to look at the gifts that we have, the opportunity that we have to play a great game is through the men and women that serve our country. I think that’s an opportunity right there just to show respect, and I think that’s why when you see our team, every one of us are on that line and that’s kind of our way of giving thanks.”
COMMENT: “Funny to see a guy with shoe collection worth tens of thousands, who will collect millions for sitting down on the bench all season because he can’t beat our Blaine Gabbert (!), is suddenly a symbol of courage.
“It’s a myth that the US is especially racist, but it’s one that’s become common because it’s useful to the ‘progressive’ {‘reactionary’} Left and the media to flog it to death. It’s up to the rest of us to call BS on this rather than stay silent…”
–‘Could More NFL Players Join Colin Kaepernick’s Protest?’,
Matt Vasilogambros, The Atlantic, Aug. 29, 2016
http://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/08/nfl-colin-kaepernick-protest/497945/
“In a recent episode of ‘Hard Knocks’, an HBO series that follows one team a year through the rigors of an NFL training camp, the Los Angeles Rams head coach Jeff Fisher called a team-wide meeting that covered the protocol for the national anthem. Fisher gravely and emphatically explained the rules to the roughly 60 assembled men. Helmets belong under the left arm, he declared, and feet on the white of the sideline.
“It’s a respect thing,” he said. “It’s a self-respect thing, it’s respect for your teammates, it’s respect for this game, and it’s respect for this country.” Fisher proceeded to show the group footage of a past Rams team following the procedures and, turning to face the screen himself in the silence of the room, said, “That’s how you start a game.”
“I thought of the scene recently when Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback, neglected to stand while the national anthem was played before the team’s preseason game against the Green Bay Packers…
“When asked about Kaepernick’s actions, his ex-teammate and now-Minnesota Viking Alex Boone, whose brother served as a Marine, spoke passionately.
“That flag obviously gives him the right to do whatever he wants. I understand it. At the same time, you should have some fucking respect for people who served, especially people that lost their life to protect our freedom.”
–‘Did Colin Kaepernick Really Insult the Troops?’,
Robert O’Connell, The Atlantic, Aug.30, 2016
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/08/colin-kaepernick-nfl-patriotism/498014/
“We’re out here playing a game, making millions of dollars. People are losing their lives, and you don’t have the common courtesy to do that. That just drove me nuts.”
“Alex Boone, who played five seasons with Kaepernick in San Francisco, said he was upset and disappointed by Kaepernick’s actions but not surprised…
“You see all these pictures of these veterans that have no legs, and they’re standing up in a wheelchair,” Boone said after a small group of reporters gathered at his locker. “I had a brother that served, and he lost friends, and I know how much it means to him. It’s shameful.”
“Asked how he would’ve handled it had he still been with the 49ers, Boone said:
“See, I’m a very emotional person. So, I think if I had known that, my emotions would’ve been rolling — I think we would’ve had a problem on the sideline.
“And I get that he can do whatever he wants. But there’s a time and a place. Show some respect…”
–‘Vikings’ Alex Boone rips ex-teammate Colin Kaepernick for lack of respect’,
Tom Pelissero, USA TODAY Sports, August 29, 2016
“NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick should “find a country that works better for him” said Donald Trump after the player’s national anthem protest.
“The Republican presidential nominee weighed in on the San Francisco 49er’s decision to sit during ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in a pre-game ceremony.
“Kaepernick said he will continue to sit out the national anthem until he sees improvements in US race relations. {Then he should be sitting out games, as well…}
“Mr Trump called the quarterback’s controversial stand a “terrible thing.”
“I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him,” Mr Trump told KIRO radio in Seattle. “Let him try. It won’t happen.”
“The response of Senior Airman Brian Kolfage, who lost three limbs in Iraq in 2004, has been shared more than 30,000 times on ‘Facebook’.
“Next time I hear the national anthem I’ll be sure to stand for the both us since you feel that you’ve been oppressed. We live in America, the land where no one is truly oppressed in the grand scheme of things. If you want to see the real meaning of oppressed, I suggest you enlist in the military and travel abroad to the Middle East where you will witness what oppression is. Where women are beaten and killed…if they are raped, where 6-year-old little girls are forced to marry men in their 60s, that’s just a little taste of what oppression is.”
“Jim Brown, former Cleveland Browns running back, said:
“He’s within his rights and he’s telling the truth as he sees it and I am with him 100 percent.”
“But Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints quarterback, said he wholeheartedly disagreed.
“He can speak out about a very important issue. But there are plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag.”
–‘Colin Kaepernick protest: Trump tells NFL player to quit US’
BBC News, Aug.30, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37223377
“Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t mince words when asked Monday about the recent protest made by his former quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.
“I acknowledge his right to do that. I don’t respect the motivation or the action,”
said Harbaugh, who coached Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers…
“New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees voiced his displeasure with the protest and said he believes standing for the anthem is a way for players to give thanks to military members who have
“sacrificed so much for that flag throughout history.”
“I wholeheartedly disagree,” Brees told ESPN’s Mike Triplett on Monday. “Not that he wants to speak out about a very important issue. No, he can speak out about a very important issue. But there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag.”
“Brees said he felt compelled to speak out because he has always been a passionate supporter of the military and feels the American flag is the
“one thing that’s sacred.”
“Sitting down for that, that is a blatant disrespect of the freedoms that that gives you,” Brees said. “Like, it’s an oxymoron that you’re sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out.”
“Rick Monday, who prevented two protesters from setting a U.S. flag on fire in left-center field of Dodger Stadium while he was an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs in 1976, said he was “shocked” by Kaepernick’s protest.
“The problem I have is whether he’s actually giving attention to himself, or is it the issues?” {Well, he has been an obvious narcissist his entire career…}
“Monday, who spent six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, told ‘USA Today Sports’.
“It’s freedom of speech,” Monday said, “but the flag itself, I look at it from a positive standpoint. I look at it from the standpoint where I heard today from one of the moms who lost their son. It’s like Barbaralee [Monday’s wife] says, ‘We drape the caskets of our fallen warriors with the flag, and it’s presented to the family with the words, from a grateful nation.’
“So how grateful are we if we do not respect the very people that have given? They gave the ultimate, protecting the rights and freedoms the flag represents.”
“American tennis player John Isner also weighed in on the debate when asked about Kaepernick after winning a first-round match at the US Open on Monday.
“I thought that was pathetic from him,” Isner responded. “The cause he was going for, fine by me — but don’t do it in that fashion. He could have found some other ways to present his voice there.”
“Isner ended his answer — and his news conference — by declaring:
“I’m a big Blaine Gabbert fan now,”
a reference to another 49ers quarterback {The fellow who beat Kaepernick out of a starting job}…
–‘Jim Harbaugh: ‘I don’t respect’ action of Colin Kaepernick’s protest’,
Dan Murphy, ESPN, Aug.30, 2016
“Add {race car driver} Tony Stewart to the chorus of sports figures weighing in on Colin Kaepernick, who recently sat in protest during the national anthem during an NFL preseason game.
“Taking to ‘Twitter’ on Monday, Stewart — who is one of many to share his views on the San Francisco 49ers quarterback — said,
“I’m sorry but (Kaepernick) needs to learn the fact about police before running his (expletive) mouth! He has no clue what they go thru!”
“Stewart completed his tweet with a hashtag and the word “idiot”…
“Meanwhile, 49ers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice also gave his opinion Monday, disagreeing with Kaepernick’s stance.
“All lives matter,” Rice tweeted. “So much going on in this world today. Can we all just get along! Colin, I respect your stance but don’t disrespect the Flag.”
–‘Tony Stewart calls Colin Kaepernick an ‘idiot’ as more reaction pours in’,
Jill Martin, CNN, August 30, 2016
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/30/sport/colin-kaepernick-sports-figures-reaction/
‘San Francisco Police Union To Colin Kaepernick: What About Black-On-Black Crime?’
“I only wish Mr. Kaepernick could see the emotional and psychological challenges that our officers face following a fatal encounter. Some are so affected they never return to the streets. In short, Mr. Kaepernick has embarrassed himself, the 49er organization, and the NFL based on a false narrative and misinformation that lacks any factual basis.
“Perhaps Mr. Kaepernick could comment on the murder of 40 police officers in the United States in the past few months, or the assaults perpetrated on over 100,000 law enforcement officers in the past year. Perhaps he could lend his commentary to the over 8,000 murders that African Americans inflicted on one another in 2015. The law enforcement community cannot be continuously blamed for all of society’s problems, including racial divide, in our country. It isn’t fair and it isn’t true.”
“Colin Kaepernick wore socks to a…practice that show cartoon policemen done up as “pigs.”
“Photos from Aug. 10 show the NFL lightning rod wearing the black socks adorned with the anti-police caricatures. Kaepernick wore the socks again on Aug. 12. One photo from the Aug. 10 practice session in San Francisco, which was open to the public, captures him walking onto the field with a raised fist…
–‘Colin Kaepernick wore socks with ‘pig’ cops’,
Jonathan Lehman, New York Post, September 1, 2016
http://nypost.com/2016/09/01/colin-kaepernick-wore-socks-with-pig-cops/
“Most of the sports media has defended Colin Kaepernick of the 49ers for refusing to honor the U.S. flag and national anthem last Friday night. That’s why it was surprising to hear Max Kellerman of ESPN2’s “First Take” call Kap out as a useful idiot for wearing a Fidel Castro T-shirt.
“During a postgame press conference, Kaepernick wore the shirt showing Castro and African-American ‘civil rights activist’ {‘Black Muslim’} Malcolm X. Bad move and a bad look, said Kellerman.
“Kaepernick came off like one of those naive college sophomores who doesn’t realize what Castro’s 55-year Communist dictatorship has done to Cubans, said Kellerman.
“Don’t wear the Castro T-shirt Colin. Bad look. Dumb,” said Kellerman.
“His debate opponent Stephen A. Smith agreed that Comrade Fidel was a bad fashion accessory.
“The Fidel Castro t-shirt incriminates him significantly. It put him in a situation where now you have American military that are justified in questioning him,” Smith said.
“Moderator Molly Qerim added Kaepernick should be more educated.
“Wearing something like a Castro T-shirt when you’re trying to stand up to oppression, you’re doing the exact opposite,” she said.
–‘ESPN’s First Take: Kaepernick ‘dumb’ for wearing Castro T-shirt’,
Michael McCarthy, Sporting News, Sept. 1, 2016
Inside Sports 