XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.houston-texans, alt.sports.footba   
   l.pro.sf-49ers, rec.sport.football.pro   
   XPost: alt.business   
   From: fu-libtards@.net   
      
   Mike Tanier expresses his desire to suck Colin Kaepernick's   
   cock.  Colin Kaepernick is out of work because of sociology   
   activist Harry Edwards, Berkeley - where else..., author of The   
   Revolt of the Black Athlete.  The 49ers share equal blame for   
   hiring a racist black idiot from East Saint Louis, Illinois,   
   Harry Edwards, as a consultant.  Add the curse of Obama   
   supporter, and it's readily apparent why NOBODY wants to be   
   around this talking trainwreck of an ex-football player.   
      
   ***   
      
   Whenever a starting quarterback gets injured these days, we   
   cycle through the same battery of emotions:   
      
   Shock that an exciting, important player's season ended so   
   suddenly.   
      
   Grief that we won't get to see him play for a long time.   
      
   Depression over having to watch his backup for the rest of the   
   season.   
      
   Hope that his team will sign Colin Kaepernick, both so we can   
   see him play and regain some hope that society hasn't become so   
   polarized that we can't have nice things anymore.   
      
   Anger when it pulls some rando from the quarterback scrap heap   
   instead of Kaepernick.   
      
   Frustration and boredom about rehashing the Kaepernick argument   
   for the 10,000,000th time on social networks and in (ahem)   
   columns.   
      
   Acceptance that this is the world we live in.   
      
   We catapulted through those emotions quickly Thursday after   
   Deshaun Watson tore his ACL during a routine practice: The odds-   
   on favorite for Rookie of the Year, gone in a midweek flash?   
   (SHOCK). Darn it. We were just learning to appreciate both his   
   game and his potential. (GRIEF). Now Texans-Colts is Tom Savage   
   vs. Jacoby Brissett, the NFL equivalent of watching paint dry   
   (DEPRESSION). But maybe the Texans will (HOPE)…no, they signed   
   Matt McGloin because he "knows the system" from his one season   
   with Bill O'Brien at Penn State (ANGER).   
      
   So here comes the column, and I will keep it as brief and simple   
   as possible.   
      
   The NFL is blackballing Colin Kaepernick. It is systematically   
   preventing a highly qualified individual from pursuing his   
   career for political reasons. It is denying fans the best   
   possible entertainment experience, and teams that need quality   
   quarterbacks but sign randos are not making the best possible   
   effort to win a Super Bowl.   
      
   And they aren't even pretending to hide it anymore.   
      
   Maybe what the NFL is doing is not technically collusion. Maybe   
   it is. But it is a clear violation of its own goals and its   
   relationship with its audience.   
      
   The Watson injury is not the straw that broke the camel's back.   
   There have been about a dozen last straws. Watson is the straw   
   that buried all evidence of the camel's grave.   
      
   The fact that Bob McNair and the Texans did not even consider   
   Kaepernick in the wake of McNair's inmates-running-the-prison   
   remarks shows how little NFL owners care about the optics of the   
   Kaepernick situation.   
      
   In the wake of his remarks and his pathetic I wasn't talking   
   about you apology, McNair needs a scrap of public relations to   
   make him sound like something other than those remarks conveyed.   
      
   So maybe he might consider a whispered back-channel overture   
   toward the league's designated pariah, who might smell a   
   publicity rat trap and decline, or might show up for a meeting   
   that ends with a shrugging it wasn't the right fit but give us   
   kudos for trying.   
      
   Nope. Kaepernick didn't even merit token workouts. Meanwhile,   
   McGloin got snapped up in minutes after the Watson injury, as   
   multiple sources reported. The O'Brien-Penn State connection was   
   enough of a "football reason" for a guy who throws like a   
   coaching assistant (I got to see a lot of him in Eagles camp in   
   the offseason) to get an immediate job, while a player who came   
   within a few goal-line plays of winning a Super Bowl doesn't   
   even merit a phone call.   
      
   The timbre of the Kaepernick conversation has changed in recent   
   weeks, even as the NFL itself has made soothing sounds to   
   players about protests during the anthem and the social justice   
   causes they represent.   
      
   Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was noticeably snippy when   
   Kaepernick's name came up after the Aaron Rodgers injury a few   
   weeks ago. He then tossed the supposedly well-prepared Brett   
   Hundley on the field to have a glorified panic attack against   
   the Saints. Now the Texans can't bother to pay lip service to   
   the lip service.   
      
   We've come a long way from when the Seahawks had actual football   
   conversations with Kaepernick's people in May and Ravens owner   
   Steve Bisciotti prayed for guidance after Joe Flacco's preseason   
   injury, but it's been in the wrong direction. At this rate,   
   mention of the name "Kaepernick" will result in revoked media   
   credentials by December.   
      
   It's easy to blame a certain political figure for all of this.   
   NFL owners, players and the league office can close ranks when   
   the president calls players sons of bitches en masse. It's   
   different when only one team draws the fire, which is what will   
   happen if any team signs the one NFL protester the president   
   actually knows by name. Sign Kaepernick, and the POTUS unleashes   
   his full fury on your team, ginning up a not-insignificant   
   contingent of local fans while frightening local legislators and   
   sponsors.   
      
   That's certainly a deterrent. But it doesn't explain the   
   palpably hostile obstinance with which teams now reject   
   Kaepernick. There's something else going on.   
      
   Coaches and general managers have swaddled themselves in the   
   security blanket of citing "football reasons" for not signing   
   Kaepernick for so long that they have lost touch with reality.   
      
   >From free agency through the start of training camp, there was   
   some baseline merit to the "football reasons." Kaepernick   
   doesn't fit all systems and payrolls. Sure, he was better than   
   anyone on the Broncos, Jets or Browns rosters from the moment   
   those rosters were set, but each team could cite logic for going   
   in a different quarterbacking direction that was more convincing   
   than "our owner made a lot of campaign contributions to…"   
      
   Now that quarterbacks around the league have gotten hurt or   
   proved woefully ineffective, the football arguments are silly.   
      
   It was ridiculous to claim that the scrambling Kaepernick was   
   not a good system fit behind the scrambling Marcus Mariota in   
   the Titans' option-heavy offense. It's outrageous for the   
   Broncos to play Quarterback Roulette with try-hards and cost-   
   sinks while pretending there is no quarterback on the market who   
   has led a defense-first team to a Super Bowl.   
      
   It's absurd for the Texans to lose the brightest young star in   
   the league and then say Welp, sorry fans, but there's no one out   
   there who can improvise and make things happen the way Watson   
   did. Hope you enjoyed the World Series.   
      
   But the football people keeping making their "football   
   decisions," because it's convenient for them to think and act   
   that way: The owner isn't going to call a closed-door meeting   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)