Colin Kaepernick vs. #NFL lackeys over #BLM and First Amendment

I hadn't originally planned a second post on Colin Kaepernick and his pledge to continue to remain seated during the National Anthem.

But, given the array of flak he's drawn, and the curious connection of most of that flak, no, this deserves a second post.

Follow the money, I'll say, by and large.

Per Yahoo, Drew Brees, I "get." (I don't "accept," though, especially as Kaep had already said this isn't anti-military.) That said Brees (along with many a black athlete, whether hypocritically or seriously, winning or losing, has been a public, seemingly conservative, Jesus confessor.

But, let's move on.

Richard Sherman, with:

"At the same time, you’ve got to honor your country."

Still gets it half-wrong, as I see it.

That's just the old "my country, right or wrong," in new dress. And, it's kind of surprising coming from him. But not totally surprising. His "protests" have generally been confined to games and halfway football-related.

And Jerry Rice [Tap-Dancing with the Stars?] and an admitted Stickum cheat, has reportedly now taken the Sherman fade route.

"Honor the flag" from Rice is as half-wrong as is Sherman's comment.

Running to daylight and the end zone, even more, is Tiki Barber, who's now been getting Twitter-flamed. Maybe when black athletes get rich enough (see Jordan, Michael) they start shading their opinions more, or at least get tempted to. Jordan has now finally found a voice and LeBron James never ignored his. That said, if Kaep were the starter in the Bay???

And, Rodney Harrison has really doubled down on teh stupidz, saying Kaep isn't black. I guess Obama isn't either? 

Jerry Rice may not be getting paid to protect the NFL's legacy, but all the others above are.

Sherman and Brees are both players. Barber has a CBS Radio sports talk show. Harrison is a talking head for NBC.

On the side of sanity, fortunately, Jim Brown (no surprise) totally supports him. But, he was called out for that by ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

Starting to see a pattern here?

It's not just football. I referenced MJ above. NBA players and GMs in general weren't very supportive of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf during his own National Anthem protest, which still doesn't sit totally well with his then-head coach Bernie Bickerstaff. (And, this was before 9/11; could you imagine the reaction to Abdul-Rauf doing that in the name of Islam today?)

Ken Silverstein notes that peer pressure can be pretty big as part of the Kaepernick ... "lynching," to quote one of our nation's Nine in Black.

Besides those above whose livelihoods might be even slightly threatened, there's the general circling of the wagons, the protecting of the legacy.

Now, I don't think any of this is being orchestrated by Roger Goodell, the man behind the Shield. Doesn't have to be. Have you heard one word from him in support of Kaep?

Nope. Crickets.

And, getting back to black, because Kaep said this was in part about Black Lives Matter.


Isn't this a bit like saying, "Shut up and let massa pay you"?

Speaking of, Francis Scott Key's song has plenty of room for fodder here.

First, as The Intercept notes, the third verse salutes the killing of slaves. Or rather, slaves attempting to escape to the British vessels that bombarded Fort McHenry and led to Key's words.

But, other people have other reasons to balk at the song.

The fourth stanza, per Wiki, is explicitly Christian, claiming America's motto is "In God is our Trust." And, now you know where Salmon P. Chase was inspired to inscribe our coinage in 1864; "In God We Trust" likely started with Key.