ROSTER OUSTER IS OWNER’S RIGHT, COLIN
Well, what do you know? After making a spectacle of himself by figuratively thumbing his nose at this country’s national anthem, taking a knee while it was being played, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, now an unemployed free agent, is in a panic, legally challenging the NFL’s right to wash its hands of him, claiming team owners are conspiring against him.
Declare yourself a victim! What could be more American than that?
It’s an option available to this ingrate because he lives in “the land of the free,” which the anthem reminded him even as he petulantly displayed his contempt for it.
And just in case anyone wondered why this pampered jock would scorn this symbol of the freedom he enjoys, Kaepernick rationalized it was to raise awareness of oppression suffered by people of color, especially at the hands of vigilante cops. Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon, right, Colin? That’s what he’d have you ponder before the opening kickoff. It was the only platform he had because his talent, though estimable, had yet to assure him of roster security, an inconvenient truth that’s now becoming apparent to him.
Did he have a right to be the jerk that he became? Yes.
But the NFL should also have a right to choose who gets to wear its jerseys because that’s a meaningful identity not found in statistics.
It’s simple. Rights are wonderful, but they are not without unspoken responsibilities.
John Wooden, the great UCLA basketball coach whose players revered his towering integrity, told them, “Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.” That’s not complicated. Back in 1996 the Patriots drafted Nebraska’s Christian Peter, a highly regarded defensive tackle.
But when the late Myra Kraft learned he had a history of violence against women she implored her husband to cut him adrift, no doubt to the consternation of coach Bill Parcells, who demanded autonomy in “buying the groceries,” remember?
Bob Kraft honored his wife’s wishes.
“While I believe in second chances and giving players an opportunity for redemption,” he told writers, “I also believe that playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right. For me personally, that privilege is lost for men who have a history of abusing women.”
It should also be lost for muscle heads who use their NFL prominence to tell the world what a miserable place America is.
Was that Kaepernick’s right? Of course it was.
But telling him to go to hell is the NFL’s right, too.