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Some points of agreement, and then a couple to ponder, if you're so inclined.
- EXCELLENT link Moe, thanks muchly. I will admit that my personal echo chamber has lead me to rather blindly assume that there was some compelling evidence behind the BLM protests. I'm always a little leery of trusting studies published in strongly biased sources (this of course cuts both ways: Rachel Maddow is also a questionable citation to me), but I gingerly trust an upstanding outlet like the National Review to have their data straight. If so, wow, that is one fundamentally flawed argument. It helps me make sense out of why the kneeling protests seem to rub people the wrong way so badly.
- My girlfriend will be applying to law school pretty soon, and that is just about the sum total of my legal expertise. However, I feel pretty confident in my initial reaction to hearing about Kap's grievance: a derisive snort. Okay Colin. Good luck proving that no one will hire you because of your political views, and not the fact that you haven't had your mental edge since Richard Sherman ate your lunch in the NFCCG, and then ate Turkey on your logo eleven months later. What a lame attempt to distract people from a mediocre history as a passer and a decided lack of the clutch gene.
- As a separate issue, even if he's being blackballed for his political views, that's the owner's prerogative. Assuming there is no smoking-gun email that is at least as explicit as Rob Goldstone was about the Russians trying to collude with the Trump campaign, there's nothing to see here. NFL backup QBs are way closer to Willie Bloomquist than they are to actual NFL players. If you don't ooze grit, or you actually bring along baggage, don't expect many calls.
- With that said, I do wish the Hawks had signed Kap when he visited a few months ago. My logic is thus: (Kap) > (Treyvone Boykin). Moreover, (misguided social protest that at least demonstrates some level of selflessness) > (repeated run-ins with law enforcement for public intoxication and violence). Even for the most conservative of thinkers, I would argue that a Hawks team with Kap as Wilson's backup would be better, and on firmer moral footing. If you can root for a team that employs Boykin, Frank Clark and Tom Cable, I would think you can root for them with Colin Kaepernick. I bet I'm wrong about that... but I have no idea why. Maybe someone could help me?
- As for the chorus of voices saying the NFL has lost them... how can I put this delicately? It's your loss, not the NFL's. Seriously. I think if you allow thirty seconds of protest before the game even starts to put you off that badly, you're just looking at it wrong. There's a reason that athletes are the only celebrities left in America that everyone generally likes. It's because you aren't actually obligated to agree with their personal views to enjoy their physical prowess. It doesn't matter whether the guy on the field has your preferred stance on gun control, it just matters whether he's brave and resilient in the face of adversity. If you guys let Trump and Pence's crass little political feud with Kap derail your enjoyment of this country's most entertaining product, that's on you. Your lives will be a little bit less bright, and that will be a fitting punishment for being whatever the right-wing equivalent of snowflakes is, and rage-quitting just because your chosen entertainer offends your delicate sensibilities. I mean it in a good way, I swear. I'm just an equal opportunity scoffer. I scoff at safe spaces on college campuses, and I scoff at them in national anthems. To me, they look like to sides of the same coin. Think about it, is all I'm saying.