Why are you effectively blackballing Colin Kaepernick?
[Sunday]was the largest single day of protest in NFL history. Instead of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, 19 teams had about 200 players who participated in protests of some kind.
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The protesting players were joined by owners, some of whom even decided to go down to the field to lock arms with their players as a form of solidarity. Front offices from team after team blasted Trump’s words at the Alabama rally in official press statements and tweeted infographics — all saying some version of how much they disagreed with Trump’s divisive tone or rhetoric.
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But here’s the thing: What Trump said about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem was hardly different from what NFL owners have not only said, but actually done to Kaepernick.
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One general manager told Freeman, of Kaepernick, that he estimated a clear majority of NFL front offices “genuinely hate him and can’t stand what he did” — kneeling for the national anthem. “They want nothing to do with him. They won’t move on.” The same general manager went on to say that many of the other teams’ executives were afraid to put Kaepernick on their roster because “Trump will tweet about the team.”
The Intercept
Well, they can't use that excuse any more.
One general manager summed up the feeling among NFL team executives: “In my career, I have never seen a guy so hated by front office guys as Kaepernick.”
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All seven team executives interviewed by Freeman for one piece said they believed 90 to 95 percent of NFL front offices agreed with their harsh takes on Kaepernick. One even said Kaepernick was the most hated player since Rae Carruth, who is still in prison for plotting to murder his pregnant girlfriend.
Most of the comments came a year ago (and some this spring). What those team executives predicted has come true: Not a single team has signed Kaepernick, not even for the league minimum, not for a backup or third-string position. Kaepernick didn’t even get the chance to audition his skills in a workout. Even those teams who desperately needed a starter or an experienced backup, in the words of Minneapolis sportswriter Jim Souhan, “decided that they prefer comfortable losses to uneasy victories.”
Kaepernick has been effectively banned from the NFL by owners and management who hate his guts like they do traitors and murderers.
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What the NFL players did yesterday was genuine — real solidarity with one of their own. But what most of those team owners and general managers did was marketing. It was, in the words of ESPN’s Howard Bryant, “performance art.”
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In March, one general manager told Bleacher Report’s Freeman, “I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did.” Despite the owners and managers, they failed. This much is clear: Colin Kaepernick’s quiet bravery has sparked a movement that refuses to die.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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