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If I'd have expressed my first amendment rights in high school during the national anthem, coach would have bodily removed me and benched or suspended me. I also remember the FFA teachers whacking us on the back of the head if we forgot to remove our caps/hats when the anthem or the prayer started.

I would have some respect for Colin Kwhatever if he protested by refusing payment for playing a game, because of the cotton content of the US dollar.

I didn't find this posted elsewhere, and I thought it worth a follow-up. I'll hold my comments about Colin Kaepernick's BLM protests in the form of taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, but what he decided to do last week has made him a complete non-entity for me; he is inconsequential and should consider leaving the country. After all, there is the CFL, and he'd likely get more playing time there.

What Kaepernick did was instigate and flame a very public form of political protest against this nation...and then he refused to vote in the general election.

When asked early on November 8 by San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Eric Branch if he had voted in the election, he said simply, "No." When asked if he intended to vote later, he said "No." (https://twitter.com/Eric_Branch/status/ ... 2709200900)

Numerous media outlets--even staunchly leftist ones--have picked up the story, most with a similar conclusion: if you're going to actively protest something you see as a political injustice, it's incumbent on you to participate in the political system to foster change that you believe in. Not just whine and moan--calling attention to yourself individually while you do it--then sit back and refuse to even participate in the general election.

Kevin Blackistone, writing for the [i]Washington Post[/i] wrote:Kaepernick suggested that he didn’t vote because he didn’t see any election result dismantling systemic racism in this country. That may be true. But being dismissive of the process for such a reason ran counter to the reason to protest....

It also disrespected the names on the circular granite table across the street from the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., just around the corner from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. pastored during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the middle ’50s.

Stephen A. Smith, on ESPN2's First Take wrote:Colin Kaepernick, after all this noise that you made — even though you didn’t intend to do so — offending our military servicemen and women, and pointing out about how you wanted to bring attention to racial injustices and beyond in this country. To turn around and not to even take [yourself] to the polls to vote for a particular candidate? It is shameful. Absolutely shameful.

Smith, an African American himself, continued his chastisement unabated for two minutes, saying that Colin Kaepernick was a "flaming hypocrite" who "betrayed his cause."

CBS News on November 11 wrote:“For me, it was something that I couldn’t see another ‘hashtag Sandra Bland, hashtag Tamir Rice, hashtag Walter Scott, hashtag Eric Garner,’ the list goes on and on and on,” Kaepernick told ESPN back in September. “At what point do we do something about it? At what point do we take a stand and as a people say this isn’t right?”

The problem now is that Kaepernick said he wanted to change things, but when it came time to vote in the hope of doing just that, he did nothing at all.

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

Buddy, last Tuesday you did just that: you blatantly looked the other way. And you're correct: you showed us just how selfish you really are.

I think the best treatment for a guy who acts like he does and makes a living at being an entertainer is to ignore him...I don't care what he thinks or does - he's inconsequential as most entertainers are...now if he were to cure cancer or the common cold, I'd pay attention to him, but when a mere entertainer decides he needs negative attention as badly as he does, ignore him.

He'll eventually dry up and blow away...

You know Abraham, I think we can apply that to the NFL in general. The special snowflakes and their entitlement mentality spoil it for the other 12%.

I disagree with their protest, but I will defend their right to do so.

A follow-on. Tampa Bay's wide receiver Mike Evans decided to sit during the National Anthem before yesterday's Buccaneers' game. His choice was to protest the National Anthem over the election of Donald Trump.

Surprise! Evans, like Kaepernick, also chose not to vote last Tuesday.

Even more disappointing is that he is registered in Galveston, Texas.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1804 ... nald-trump
http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/11/14/buccan ... nald-trump

I'm one of those not disappointed what a "football player" does as I couldn't possibly be less interested in what a foot player does or does not do.

Football, in my opinion, is in the grand scheme of things, completely irrelevant.

It has zero importance to mankind overall.

It's simply mind numbing, repetitious entertainment.

Blech...

So, if any of them say or do whatever, it has the same impact on me a complete stranger's actions have on me, that's to say, none...

If you don't vote you have nothing to protest about.

They thrive on attention. The best thing is to ignore the whiny gits.

apostate,

BINGO!