A week shy of the midway point of the
football season, the two winless NFL teams are no surprise. They are
the Cleveland Browns and Colin Kaepernick's former team, the once
storied San Francisco 49ers. As the Browns have never even made it
to the big game, this is frankly to be expected. But what of the Bay
City's franchise, winners of five Super Bowl championships: the
second most in the league? Making matters worse is a now disgruntled
NFL fan base—and the domino effect causing professional athletes
not to perform at their best.
In the sports movie “A League of
Their Own,” Jimmy Dugan (played by two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks)
famously exclaimed, “There's no crying in baseball!” As an
inverse parallel, neither should there be mute obstructionists in
football. Let's be clear on a couple of important details. First,
the field is the football player's workspace. In no industry does
any employee have the right to engage in political
demonstrations—whether they're physically disruptive or not. Thus,
the setting for such “social justice” stunts is inappropriate.
Moreover, such blatant disrespect of country should not have been
condoned by the NFL. Second, while Colin Kaepernick's antics have
clearly not endeared him to the NFL, his lack of gridiron success
tells the tale according to Doug Farrar of bleacherreport.com:
“He started 11 games last season,
completing 196 of his 331 passes for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns and
four interceptions, and he added 69 runs for 468 yards and two
touchdowns. He did so on a 49ers team that finished the season 2-14
….”
Given the pitiful result of only two
victories, what coach would hire him as a starting quarterback for a
different team? Kaepernick's MSM supporters spuriously suggest
racial discrimination as an alternative explanation, but that's
preposterous: 70 percent of the players in the National Football
League are black! In truth, his lack of success and his
overvaluation of self are the main reasons he finds himself
unemployed. In retrospect, was it wise for Mr. Kaepernick to choose
to walk away from his lucrative contract with the 49ers?
Successful football teams—same as
flourishing nation-states—are based upon harmony and cohesion. Who
wants to take a multi-million dollar chance on a rabble-rouser who
has repeatedly demonstrated he can't win football games? Adding to
his troubles is his own rampaging political Frankenstein monster.
Mr. Kaepernick's very presence now detracts from any team's purpose:
to gain fans and win Super Bowls. Such is the self-imposed fate of
this lightning rod for un-Americanism.
Another absurdity is that an entitled
millionaire 20-something claims to represent the oppressed! Only an
egotist—wanting to distract from the reality of his poor track
record—would “elevate” himself by initiating a counterculture
insurgency. What better way to draw media attention to himself than
to flout the enduring tradition of standing during the National
Anthem?
Kneeling-as-protest remains a silent
criticism of this foundational symbol of American unity. Speaking of
social inequality, why should less well-heeled spectators spend their
hard earned money watching spoiled athletes grandstand? As the
cratering TV ratings indicate, Sundays are days off for former
football aficionados to seek out less polarizing forms of
entertainment.
For those who remain, booing fans and
partially filled stadiums aren't helping team morale across the
league. Synchronistically, this dynamic is epitomized by San
Francisco's record as tied-for-worst. On a psychological level, is
it possible that Kaepernick's former team shares in the stain of his
dishonorable behavior? Simply put, have they so internalized his
self-defeating victimization narrative—and been distracted by its
fallout—that they believe they are losers, and act accordingly?
For context, recall that football games
are mock battles. Thus, NFL players experience similar stressors to
mind and body as any soldier in a war zone. Ultimately, it matters
not that they are world-class athletes if their heads are not
collectively in the game. Negative mindsets and debilitating mood
swings lead inexorably to risk of injury, lost play opportunities,
and subpar game day performance. This remains true whether or not
individual players have chosen to protest; clearly whole teams have
been adversely affected. So, too, has the ringleader. Ironically,
perhaps he most of all. By decisions he clearly regrets today, Colin
Kaepernick finds himself outside the NFL. Thus, for all concerned,
important life lessons can be gleaned. At their root is that
politics in sport is poisonous.
Twitter: @DavidHunterblog
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