Blackball: “To shut out from social or commercial participation; ostracize or boycott.”
If the NFL had just been honest, I would probably be giving it more credit in this situation. Had the league said what Billy McSportsfan can crank out in 140 characters on Twitter, we’d have the most direct statement from the NFL in at least a decade.
“Colin Kaepernick doesn’t belong in our league because we are uneasy about him taking a knee to bring light to a social cause. Why? Because we (the NFL) struggle to address social issues that don’t end with us throwing on a bunch of pink accessories as a sign of us showing support and solidarity.”
That’s what the NFL should say but its actions are more damming than any blanketed statement. Instead, there has been stages of reaction. We are past the anger, confusion and acceptance stages. Now we’ve reached the stage of not-so-subtle backlash to Kaepernick’s actions that started in August 2016.
Since February began, 21 veteran quarterbacks have either re-signed or signed onto a team. One notable signing was Mike Glennon, who the Bears gave a three-year, $45 million deal. This for a quarterback with a 5-13 career record, who hasn’t seen a playoff game and whose last start came on Nov. 2, 2014 in a 22-17 loss to the Browns.
A more recent but equally embarrassing signing was the Cardinals inking Blaine Gabbert. This will be Gabbert’s third team in four seasons. He was an occasional starter for the 49ers over the past two seasons, taking turns with Kaepernick while putting up inferior stats.
When comparing the two quarterbacks, Kaepernick has almost twice as many passing touchdowns (72 to 38) as Gabbert with a passer rating of almost 90. Gabbert has struggled to get over the 70.0 mark for his career.
So one must ask: is Kaepernick’s stance against cops killing innocent black people that damning for his career? So damning that teams won’t touch him, even those willing to hire less qualified employees to avoid the potential headache?
If anything, Kaepernick’s situation shows the NFL doesn’t know how to handle dialogue like athlete activism. Meanwhile, it is fine with letting domestic abusers, such as Tyreek Hill, walk through the doors of the NFL like it’s a revolving door. A former Super Bowl starter can’t sniff a job, but someone who punched his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach is living large.
Where is Kaepernick at this point? He has kept his name in the news for doing good in the community. This narrative is typically something the league loves to talk about when handing out the Walter Payton Man of the Year award (they plug it regularly on Sundays in the fall). The “Know Your Rights Camp” is fully funded by the blacklisted quarterback and the mission statement of the camp goes as follows.
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If Kaepernick hadn’t spoken out, many would tout Kaepernick as a great example for the league. With the news that Kaepernick’s jersey will go into the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. it’s clear he has made an impact on both the league and country. The NFL’s unofficial blackballing of Kaepernick is a major loss for the league and continues to be as long as it chooses to believe he doesn’t exist.
The impact of his decision to take a knee deserved applause and respect, not to be cast aside like Curt Flood or Craig Hodges, whose hard-line stances killed their careers.
Someone will sign Kaepernick. It’s just going to take someone brave enough to step up and buck the norm, just like Colin Kaepernick.