Kaepernick issue isn’t going away
NFL must stop being timid amid growing national divide
Another mediocre quarterback signed.
Two prominent players sitting for the national anthem.
Ugly, violent images from Charlottesville, Va.
If the NFL was hoping the Colin Kaepernick issue was going away soon, it seems to have badly miscalculated.
At every turn, as the NFL season opener gets closer and closer, we are reminded of the obvious: Kaepernick is being blackballed for his nonviolent political protest.
If Kaepernick doesn’t get a job this season, the NFL can count itself as part of the problem in this country’s growing racial divide.
“It’s one of those things where we have to understand that people have different viewpoints,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a question and answer session with Arizona ticket holders Monday. “People do have rights . ... There’s a responsibility of doing it the right way.”
Whatever those words actually mean, the NFL hasn’t figured out how to handle this
issue.
Whether or not there is outright collusion, there is certainly comprehensive cowardice among NFL owners. They are frightened at the prospect of signing a 29-year-old, fleet-footed quarterback who took a team to a Super Bowl and who had a 90.7 quarterback rating last season.
Fear because he took a knee during the national anthem to express his concerns about racial issues in our country. Fear because his hair is big.
Over the weekend, Kaepernick’s image was all over social media, as the horror of Charlottesville spooled out across the globe. His image was used as the contrast to the angry, tiki-torch-wielding mob, to a car plowing into counterprotesters. As an example of what a reasoned, nonviolent social protest actually looks like.
Over the weekend, two well-known players followed Kaepernick’s lead and didn’t stand during “The Star Spangled Banner.” Marshawn Lynch, as is his way, didn’t offer an explanation publicly, but Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said Lynch told him he never stands for the anthem, though that assertion’s accuracy seems to be in dispute. Del Rio said he told Lynch, “I’m going to respect you as a man, you do your thing,” and said it was a “nonissue.”
Seattle’s Michael Bennett, Lynch’s former teammate and a leader on the only team to bring Kaepernick in for a look this summer, sat Sunday during the anthem before the Seahawks played the Chargers. Bennett indicated he will sit all season and was ready for the questions, giving full-throated answers.
“With everything that’s been going on the last couple of months, and especially after the last couple of days seeing what’s going on in Virginia and earlier Monday in Seattle (where there was a right-wing rally and counterprotest), I just wanted to be able to use my platform to be able to continuously speak on injustices.”
“First of all, I want people to understand that I love the military. My father’s in the military. I love hot dogs like any other American. I love football like any other American. But I don’t love segregation. I don’t love riots or oppression. I just want to see people have the equality that they deserve. And I want to be able to use this platform to continuously push the message of that.”
Will there be protests outside Raiders and Seahawks games now? Unlikely.
Still, owners are afraid. They’re so afraid they seem willing to undermine their product.
On Monday, the Ravens — whose starter, Joe Flacco, is injured — signed backup quarterback Thaddeus Lewis. He has started six games in his career, the last in 2013. While Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said he was fine with signing Colin Kaepernick, his boss, owner Steve Bisciotti, is afraid.
Colts owner Jim Irsay is also afraid. His team is sticking with Scott Tolzien while Andrew Luck is recovering from shoulder surgery. Tolzien, the 49ers’ third-stringer behind Alex Smith and Kaepernick in 2011, has started three games in his career. Irsay said the team was going to bring in a “mid-to-late 30 guy . ... It wasn’t Kaepernick.”
Giants owner John Mara is afraid, because he received some emotional letters against anthem protests last season.
A survey conducted by J.D. Power released last month found that 26 percent of the football fans who said they watched less football last season cited the anthem protest as a reason. But that’s a bit misleading. Only 12 percent of the 9,200 surveyed said they watched less football. The other 88 percent surveyed didn’t watch less football.
Those surveyed ticked off other reasons given on a list of prepared answers: domestic violence issues, delays in the game, commercials, the distraction of the presidential election and lack of cable.
The conclusion that Kaepernick and other players who supported his position impacted viewership seems iffy at best.
“If I had to assume they’re worried about their bottom line, I think it’d actually go higher because his jersey is one of the top sellers,” the 49ers’ Eric Reid said of reluctant owners.
Reid, the San Francsico safety who participated last season in the protest, said he saw firsthand how popular Kaepernick is when he joined him in community work over the summer. Even without a team, Kaepernick’s jersey remains in the top 20 of sales.
For his part, Kaepernick has been silent, reportedly working out in readiness for a job, a shadow presence over the league.
This issue isn’t going away. To the contrary, it’s only becoming more important.