Commentary: If no one hires Colin Kaepernick, I won't watch professional football this year.
Some readers are now angry at me. Many others may wonder what a Kaepernick is.
Colin Kaepernick is a quarterback. He did some marvelous things as a San Francisco 49er. Then the team committed suicide by getting rid of a great coach, Jim Harbaugh. Kaepernick got injured. He recovered and played fairly well on a terrible team. No one knows whether, on a decent team, he could now revive the greatness he showed during the 'Niners' Super Bowl season.
Last year, Kaepernick (who looks to be of mixed race, and was adopted and raised by a white couple) took a knee during the pre-game national anthem.
He did so to affirm, “Black Lives Matter.” They do. All lives matter, and we shouldn't need to be reminded of that; but saying it, specifically about black lives, also matters, because our society hasn't always thought so -- and still sometimes seems to find them less significant than white lives.
No one needs to say “White Lives Matter.” “Blue lives matter” too. Black lifes have often seemed to matter least. Blue lives have always gotten plenty of lip service from politicians but are too easily dismissed; and if you say black lives matter, you should also note that blue lives do.
Many have said that Kaepernick, making a professional football player's salary, should donate money to nonprofits working to improve things. He does.
After last season, San Francisco parted ways with Kaepernick. Teams with excellent, proven quarterbacks have a good football reason to ignore him.
But given his skills as a quarterback, the game's key position, at least half the teams in the NFL should be quite interested in hiring him, as starter or backup. This summer teams have hired or retained many QB's far below Kaepernick in ability, accomplishments, and winning probability.
The reason he's still available is painfully obvious. Even Donald Trump has told the NFL not to hire Kaepernick. One owner admitted that Kaepernick's politics were the problem, while another owner (whose coach, Jim Harbaugh's brother, John, wanted to hire Kaepernick), asked the public to “pray for us” then vetoed the hiring.
Teams say the kneeling “is a distraction.” But coaches from San Francisco say it wasn't a distraction there. A couple of players kneeled with Kaepernick instead of standing for the national anthem. Most players didn't. Coaches confirm that there was no locker room distraction. And Kap has said that if he gets a job this fall he won't be kneeling during the anthem.
I enjoy watching pro football, though less than when I was younger. But it is sort of militaristic, and has been somewhat racist. All teams other than Green Bay are owned by obscenely wealthy individuals or by corporations. I don't agree with all the league's policies. Yet I've kept watching.
In sports, athletes' skills and competitive drive should matter most. Unless a player's laziness, undependability, or selfishness impacts the team's spirit and cohesion, put the best on the field. Whatever color or religion or nationiality they are. Whatever their beliefs. Particularly when the NFL has a history of ignoring wife-beating and drunken driving and battery offenses when committed by successful or promising players. If punishing a freethinker or thoughtful dissenter is more important than playing the best football you can, count me out.
I know I'm pretty insignificant. I know the NFL ain't gonna miss one old guy in southern New Mexico with his back steadfastly turned to the TV Sunday mornings. But it's my turn to take a knee.