Kaepernick's Culture Warrior “Curse”

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.

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When Celebrity Insults Patriotism

In our modern era of internet connectivity and 24-hour news cycles, for better or worse, celebrity is an instant megaphone for gaining national attention. Especially for the controversial, or in former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick's case, the foolishly aggrieved. Given his upbringing in a loving household by adoptive parents, a college scholarship—and per Spotrac earning $43,479,216 during a short-lived NFL career—one would think this manifestation of the American Dream would be the first to sing its praises. Yet, this “social justice warrior” instead chose to wear socks depicting little piggies wearing police hats. (How does that stunt not visually reference Black Lives Matter's anarchist chant, “Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon”?) Furthermore, if that wasn't derogatory enough, his habit of not standing during the national anthem also repeatedly violated polite sensibilities. In August of 2016, this agitator explained himself:

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”

Unfortunately, that divisive example has spurred a larger movement of disrespect by NFL players that has turned off patriotic Americans from watching a previously beloved sport. Specifically, Sunday Night Football is down 9 percent from last week. For context, that's down 11 percent from the comparable game last year. Whether the loss of viewership will make a difference to the organization remains to be seen.

In any case, Mr. Kaepernick finds himself sacked for his lack of performance. Undoubtedly, his juvenile antics didn’t help matters either. If he's made himself odious to the league, isn't the fault his own? Beyond that, what has this sideshow really achieved? Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men” (1992), has the answer:

“All you did was weaken a country today, Kaffee. That's all you did. ... Sweet dreams, son.”

Why is metaphorical defecation on the American flag “the newest sport” of multimillionaire football players in the NFL? From grade school, all children are taught to stand, place hand over heart and salute the American flag. That's the purpose of the Pledge of Allegiance—a unifying promise to country—one nation under God. Simply put, it's the basis of civic responsibility and patriotism. By taking a knee (rather than standing), how is that not an act of blatant disrespect? Not to their fellow citizens per se, but to generations of buried soldiers who sacrificed everything to guarantee American liberty. A case in point is President Trump's September 24 tweet:

“Courageous Patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag — we MUST honor and respect it! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

In this situation that freedom includes petulant protesters bemoaning their good fortune: being paid a king's ransom for an hour of chasing a pigskin around a manicured field of dreams. What a tough life these pampered athletes have! How they “suffer” for their weekly gridiron exertions!

At least 5-time Superbowl champion quarterback Tom Brady of the aptly named New England Patriots thinks so:

“I mean, we go through a lot together, there’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I don’t think it’s easy to play this sport. I mean, there’s a lot of guys that sacrifice a lot.”

Certainly actual heroes, the ones facing gunfire storming the beaches at Normandy (read: the Allied invasion, codenamed Operation Neptune, on D-Day: Tuesday, June 6, 1944) during World War II—like our recovering wounded warriors of today—would laugh at the absurdity of such a pretentious comparison! After all, football is only a game: an artificial clash with rules and penalties. The goal is not to kill the enemy, it's to achieve a high score. To that end, it has brightly uniformed teams, adversarial elements and risk to life and limb, but no weapons and medical professionals on standby. Likewise, while both activities tax body vitality, battlefields don't have referees, timeouts or commercial interruptions. Moreover, recall that the base salary for a soldier is $19,198.80. Adding combat pay of $225.00 per month means another $2,700. As the average professional football player earns $1.9 million annually, who's exactly sacrificing a lot here, Mr. Brady? (In any case, certainly not he. According to Forbes, Mr. Brady is the 15th–highest paid athlete in the world. With salary and endorsements, he earned whopping $44 million in 2016.)

What is football, or any sporting event, supposed to be? A lighthearted diversion from real-life stressors for the audience. So, who wants polarizing leftists ruining a traditional American entertainment with their in-your-face grievance pretenses? In any other profession, employees are fired for disruptive displays at the workplace on company time. Is that really what fans pay to see? And if they object, why don't their feelings count?

Despite the superficial liberal narrative that this is a “racial” issue, it is not. The only pigments involved here are red, white and blue. After all, the flag's stars and stripes do not play favorites. They do not represent a particular class, creed or color. Indeed, this uniquely American symbol epitomizes everyone within her borders. Thus, ironically, players kneeling in a posture of submission during the national anthem are a cultural “attack” on America's foundation. Factoring in the U.S.'s many legitimate challenges, who needs Colin Kaepernick's growing tempest in a teapot? Who is to blame for its cascading dishonor but his muddled followers? Game day politically correct rabble-rousers with lots of money, but not a lick of sense.

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“Pimping” Progressives Ignore Black Community

“It is a fact that for 54 years we have been voting for the Democratic Party like no other race in America. ... Where we’re being pimped [politically] like prostitutes ... [promised everything, but] we get nothing in return. We gotta step back now as black people and we gotta look at all the parties and vote our best interests. Barack Obama, our president, served two terms. The first black president ever, but did our condition get better? Did things get better? The condition got worse.” – Quanell X, Houston's New Black Panther leader

“You live in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. What the hell do you have to lose?” – Donald Trump, on the black community mistakenly voting for Democrats rather than the GOP, the party of Abraham Lincoln

Ironically, the group that has suffered the most under the first black president, Barack Obama, is the black community. In one telling example, the black youth unemployment rate has been 393% higher than the national average. Even worse, his home city, nicknamed Chiraq (a combination of Chicago and Iraq), is more dangerous to his fellows than certain ISIS-controlled Middle East war zones. Recently, Bull's basketball player Dwyane Wade’s cousin, 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, was shot to death on the south side while pushing her baby in a stroller. Comparing Chicago's death toll to American combat fatalities in Afghanistan, Washington Times columnist Tammy Bruce brilliantly summarized:

“In Afghanistan, from the start of the war in 2001 to August 2016, there have been 2,384 American casualties. In Chicago, since 2009 to August 2016, there have been 3,686 homicides. In other words, under President Obama’s watch, there have been 1,302 more people murdered in an American city in half the time compared to the longest war in U.S. history.”

That's overwhelmingly black-on-black homicide. Per the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Obama has made 25 trips since becoming president—mostly for fundraising and/or pleasure—with only 7 reportedly for policy issues such as community dysfunction. That works out to one visit per year for every year this president has breathed the rarefied air of the Washington bubble. Yet, Mr. Obama's blasé attitude is obvious. When one habitually (and frequently) vacations at millionaire playgrounds in Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard, why should he (or first lady, Michelle) care about the deplorable state of an abandoned former hometown?

Of course, Barack Obama doesn't. Beyond lip service “concern” of the rising body count, this is. Per the Free Beacon, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “Well, I’m not aware of any specific prescription that the president’s prepared to put forward to address the situation just in Chicago.” What other response would one expect from this tragedy-ignoring president? He remained on a two week golfing vacation while Black Lives Matter burned Milwaukee, and Baton Rouge was deluged by major flooding. The fact that both calamities disproportionately affected black populations made absolutely no difference to him. Mr. Obama made a lackadaisically late appearance to the Louisiana disaster zone. For her part, Mrs. Clinton didn’t bother to show up at all.

In the modern era the pandered-to black community has repeatedly been duped into voting for “down with the struggle” Democrats at near 90%. These progressives purveyors of “black victimization” (read: blame “racist” whitey) show up every election cycle with closed eyes, and the promise of more welfare subsistence living. (In truth, Hillary Clinton is an outspoken admirer of white supremacist icon Margaret Sanger.) Right after Election Day, Democrats' do Mr. Obama's disappearing act. Anyone who thinks otherwise is indeed a victim—of self-inflicted ignorance.

Sometimes the light of new awareness emanates from unexpected places. If Quanell X, a Black Panther leader, acknowledges that Barack Obama has “pimped” and betrayed the black community, hopefully he will find similar courage to speak out against Mr. Obama's more-of-the-same would-be successor. Even unpatriotic, anthem-sitting QB Colin Kaepernick has brought needed attention to Mrs. Clinton history of demonizing the black community, “You have Hillary, who has called black kids, or black teens, ‘Super-predators.'” Likewise in 1996, she said, “We need to bring them to heel.” She's a self-obsessed elitist publicly uttering hate speech: no friend to black people—then or now.

By dumping Hillary minorities have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. True economic and social improvement for the downtrodden will only come from the GOP—and specifically border-securing, job-creating billionaire capitalist Donald Trump.

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog
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