Over the last few days, Baltimore Ravens starter Joe Flacco has become an injury concern. Causing many to float the name of anti-American protester Colin Kaepernick as a possible replacement. But, even as fans immediately began warning of dire consequences if Kaepernick comes to Baltimore, yet another member of the left-wing sports media wound up his high dudgeon to denounce the player’s detractors as un-American.
Flacco is questionable with a back injury, and if he officially ends up on the injury list, the team will need to find a replacement. Flacco’s status naturally raised the specter of the one free agent quarterback on everyone’s tongue, Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers second string quarterback who spent a year protesting against the United States.
As soon as the anthem-protesting quarterback was raised as a possible replacement for Flacco, fans immediately let the team know how unhappy they would be with the hire.
Showing fans that he got the message, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti noted that he is not assessing Kaepernick only on his NFL record, but also for his behavior off the field. Bisciotti impressed on fans that he is thinking of the Ravens “brand” with the consideration of hiring Kaepernick.
But, as in most cases concerning the discussion over the former 49er, Bisciotti tried to have it both ways by praising Kaepernick. While also trying to make it sound as if he understood the complaints. “I know that we’re going to upset some people, and I know that we’re going to make people happy that we stood up for somebody that has the right to do what he did. Non-violent protesting is something that we have all embraced. I don’t like the way he did it. Personally, I kind of liked it a lot when he went from sitting to kneeling. I don’t know, I’m Catholic, we spend a lot of time kneeling,” the NFL owner said.
So what is Bisciotti saying? Is he saying kneeling in supplication before God is exactly the same as kneeling to protest a country that Colin Kaepernick says “has never been great”? Kneeling to pray to our Lord and Savior is exactly the same as kneeling to call police “pigs”?
Bisciotti also became the second NFL owner in less than a week to raise the possibility of hiring the controversial protester. Days ago Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt insisted that he would also have no problem hiring Kaepernick if his team needed a quarterback.
Though, both owners might want to err on the side of caution with talk of bringing Kaepernick into their locker rooms. A recent survey of sports fans who have given up sports, showed that Colin Kaepernick’s anti-American protest to be the top reason they stopped watching sports.
However, that kind of public discontent has had no restraining effect on the media.
The Baltimore Sun’s Peter Schmuck jumped to his Saturday column to decry the fact that Kaepernick doesn’t have a job and insisted that it is un-American to oppose his being given a shot at another NFL birth.
As if the country and the league both somehow owe Kaepernick a new job despite his telling us for well over a year how much he hates the country and disrespects the fans, Schmuck attacked the player’s unemployment. The writer claimed that it is inherently wrong that players with records of domestic violence and drug abuse are still employed in the NFL while Kaepernick is on the outside looking in. Just because he “remained seated during the national anthem.”
To drive his point home, Schmuck added a sarcastic “(Gasp!)” after that line, too.
The Sun writer next scolded those who oppose hiring Kaepernick.
Kaepernick is not a “traitor.” Standing up for a controversial cause is not un-American. The founding fathers risked the noose to create a system of government that protects the right of every citizen to protest and call for change.
But, once again, this gross, oversimplification of what Kaepernick did is a prime example of why these left-wing sports “reporters” are so out of touch with Americans.
After all, Schmuck is calling for “rights” to go only one way. He wants to give Kaepernick all the rights in the world to attack the U.S.A., but then take away the rights of everyone else to protest what Kaepernick does. No one disputes that Colin Kaepernick has every right to hate this country all he wants. But the fans have a corresponding right to hate him back and refuse to patronize whatever team is foolish enough to hire him.
Furthermore, Colin Kaepernick’s anti-American campaign wasn’t just an inoffensive “peaceful protest.” He came to the support of Black Lives Matter, a group that many feel is a domestic terror outfit responsible for numerous destructive riots across the country. He also encouraged hate for America’s police, an act that arguably encourages violence against the police which puts us all in danger. He also spent more than a year verbally smearing the country in the most despicable terms.
It’s no wonder Americans have taken such an intense dislike to him.
Schmuck joins a growing list of other left-wing sports writers jumping in to support Kaepernick. Others include ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio, USA Today’s Nancy Armour, Michigan sports writer and professor Louis Moore, ESPN’s Todd Archer, the Chicago Tribune’s Diana Goetsch, and many, many more.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.