I understand your last sentence is accurate, but if you want to compare a kneeling NFL star to a guy attempting to stand while Bull Connor sprays him with a firehose and sets a German Shepherd on him, I'm just going to walk away from the conversation.

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Freedom is our Strength.

You evidently didn't because I already acknowledged the exact way you'd try to dismiss it in that very sentence and you proceeded to do so anyway. Quite amusing whilst you yourself are crying about being misread by others.

Kaepernick is being blackballed out of the league. Last year, MANY of his detractors here were saying his protest was purely empty virtue signaling. Seems to be the opposite of empty virtue signaling if it had that kind of economic implications, no?

Kaepernick had a contract to play in the NFL this year. He alone is the reason he is not currently on an NFL roster. I'm not sure why this is something MANY don't know, or pretend isn't true.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1879 ... s-contract

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miam ... story.html

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas ... lowed-play

These are monetary decisions being made by NFL owners.

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Because the 49ers GM said he was being cut if he didn't opt out. I have a hunch as to why MANY like to ignore that fact though.

Yep.



Nope.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... opted-out/

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Why wouldn't Kaep let them cut him then though?

Lynch was just trying to get himself out of the story.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Kaepernick had restructured his deal before John Lynch even came.

A 2.5M cap hit is hardly cost prohibitive.

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If I can't trust football management, who can I trust?

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Yes, that's exactly what Lynch was doing.

I will give Kaep major props for what he did with his contract BEFORE Lynch arrived.

He put his money where his mouth was.

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This indicates that it is wrong to ever think that there is a "wrong place" to protest. Is it ok to think the Westboro idiots are wrong to protest at the time they do?

And before anyone swoops in to remind everyone that the Westboro church idiots are not the equivalent of NFL kneelers (plus they're winning millions in court), the point is that the people who most often insist that this just isn't right time or place for protests often believe there's never a right time or place for them.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Lynch doesn't mention restructuring at all as a possibility. If he was merely trying to get the 49ers out of the story, they could have painted themselves in an even better light just by mentioning that, just like all these teams Kaepernick was supposedly pricing himself out of when in fact nothing close to a deal ever materialized with any of them.

The problem is that if he says they wanted to keep him, then the question is "Why not sign him now?" and the answer of "Because we'd rather suck next year and get a higher draft pick so why would we sign a guy who opted out?" doesn't go over very well with fans.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yup.
The silent majority as well as the Southern Strategy were littered with millions that believed such a thing. This way of thinking was prevalent during a time when moral justification for such protests should have been a no brainer. If they didn't believe in such protests during that period imagine now. Probably a lot of "how dare they" being pondered regarding such a thing.

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Kaepernick took a stand- as confused as he may be about what exactly he stands for- and now others are standing against him. Nobody has to hire someone who is immediately going to anger his customers. And nobody has to like the way he is protesting. We all have rights.

I'm simply pointing out that for most Americans, a man suffering under Jim Crow being set upon by a German Shepherd is infinitely more sympathetic than a wealthy guy who is disrespecting the flag. And they are disrespecting it. I don't want to take their right to do so away. And I'm not concerned about it in any way. But that is what they are doing and many Americans don't like it. They have that right too.

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Freedom is our Strength.

No, that's not a logical implication of what I wrote at all.

One key difference in your tortured comparison of course is that few people are really sympathetic to Westboro's views in the first place, not just their tactics. Compare that to the NFL players, where MANY feign sympathy for what they're protesting about but do an awful lot of throatclearing about how it's just not the right place or time. Now if you want to suggest that the NFL players' views are in fact as abhorrent as Westboro's, feel free. That strikes me as a more honest argument than disingenuous complaints about tactics for a group you don't even have any substantive agreement with.

No team has an obligation to sign Kaepernick. When people say it is wrong of NFL teams not to sign him, they are essentially saying that a team with a need at quarterback has no right to consider the circus that would accompany him. And if they are saying that the team has to "put up" with the circus, aren't they essentially saying that the team must basically agree with the message?

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I agree. Sports are first and foremost a business. If Kaepernick is comfortable with the consequences then fine. I think he should have known what lie before him.

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But the freedom riders evidently weren't sympathetic to most Americans, nor was King (nor were the wealthy athletes protesting in that time), despite the distinctions you're trying to draw. That's the whole point of the polls. Those tactics only became acceptable retrospectively as part of our happy narrative of US history.

well somehow the civil rights movement was able to achieve most of its objectives at the time. how did that happen if most people were opposed to the cause?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill.

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No I'd say you can't pretend you're committed to winning above all else if you're not willing to sign him (which BTW, is exactly what teams say again and again when they sign guys with long criminal records without a moment's hesitation). As to the circus, no one who actually played with him or coached him in San Francisco complained that he was a distraction.

Again yep.

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His opting out was done months before John Lynch was hired.

Kaepernick's contract was originally supposed to keep him with the Niners through 2020, but the team worked with the 29-year-old to revamp it before he reclaimed the starting job in October.

As part of the deal's reconfiguration, Kaepernick traded $14.5 million in injury guarantees during the 2017 season for the opportunity to opt out of the deal early. His decision saves the Niners his $14.5 million base salary in 2017 though he will still count nearly $2.5 million in dead money for the remainder of his signing bonus proration.

From the moment Kaepernick and the Niners struck that agreement, the expectation was that Kaepernick would explore his options

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Again, its everyone else BUT Kaep that seems to be concerned he's not on a roster. Ive yet to hear or read anything coming from his mouth saying" I deserve to be playing and this is bullshit that I'm not".

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I don't know how he could have. Pro athletes have a pretty high opinion of their value, as they should and have to. I'm sure he thought a team would pick him up.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

"Tortured comparison".

Both are protests. The Westboro one being more unpopular doesn't change the fact that it's ok for people to think some places should be free from protest or they won't like it.

Your last two sentences are laughable.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

So why would the 49ers have cut him? Was he bad at football?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

So why would the 49ers have cut him? Was he bad at football?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Its as simple as this.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.