Colin Kapaernick
A lot has been made about the fact 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick refused to stand up for the American national anthem. Personally, i applaud his reasons to do so. He's got balls and he stands by his principles.
I have also been against playing national anthems at league events. All it does is politicize sporting events when the reason those sporting events exist is solely for personal profit and entertainment. I loved this article written by Jeff Blair this morning:
THE ENDGAME
I’m going to stand – or, in this case, sit – with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has rankled many of the lemmings who follow, watch, cover, play in and run the NFL with his decision to not stand for the playing of the American national anthem.
First, I’ve made clear that playing the national anthem before a professional sports event is a sop to faux patriotism — a deliberately exclusive act that lost its meaning years ago. Most of the world gets by without it, only in countries like Canada and the U.S. that haven’t had wars fought on their own soil for a couple of centuries insist on it.
Second, Kaepernick seems to have a handle on his argument. “People of colour have been targeted by police … they are put in place by the government … there’s things we can do to hold them more accountable,” he told reporters Sunday. “You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have the same amount of training as a cosmologist.”
The remarkable aspect of the coverage of Kaepernick’s stand is the focus on his skills and where he is on his career arc. Talk about missing the point. Unlike NBA players, NFL players do not have guaranteed contracts and their players’ association is nothing more than ownership’s lapdog. For that reason, we in the media ought to be applauding Kaepernick’s courage and his intention to continue to sit for the anthem.
A lot has been made about the fact 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick refused to stand up for the American national anthem. Personally, i applaud his reasons to do so. He's got balls and he stands by his principles.
I have also been against playing national anthems at league events. All it does is politicize sporting events when the reason those sporting events exist is solely for personal profit and entertainment. I loved this article written by Jeff Blair this morning:
THE ENDGAME
I’m going to stand – or, in this case, sit – with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has rankled many of the lemmings who follow, watch, cover, play in and run the NFL with his decision to not stand for the playing of the American national anthem.
First, I’ve made clear that playing the national anthem before a professional sports event is a sop to faux patriotism — a deliberately exclusive act that lost its meaning years ago. Most of the world gets by without it, only in countries like Canada and the U.S. that haven’t had wars fought on their own soil for a couple of centuries insist on it.
Second, Kaepernick seems to have a handle on his argument. “People of colour have been targeted by police … they are put in place by the government … there’s things we can do to hold them more accountable,” he told reporters Sunday. “You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have the same amount of training as a cosmologist.”
The remarkable aspect of the coverage of Kaepernick’s stand is the focus on his skills and where he is on his career arc. Talk about missing the point. Unlike NBA players, NFL players do not have guaranteed contracts and their players’ association is nothing more than ownership’s lapdog. For that reason, we in the media ought to be applauding Kaepernick’s courage and his intention to continue to sit for the anthem.
