Bad Fashion

This is the problem with young people—youth is wasted on them way too often.  Colin Kaepernick is testament to that.

The 28-year old 49ers’ quarterback has stirred up a hornets’ nest of controversy by refusing to stand for the national anthem, twice now at the start of preseason games.  His explanation why is about as articulate as you could expect from someone who’s grown up a jock and is now searching for a different kind of voice.  If anything, Kaepernick has burnished his reputation by saying he’s going to donate $1 million to organizations involved in the fight against violence.  That’s good, that’s walking the walk.  But the socks?  Nope, that was dumb.

It appears that at practice last month Kaepernick wore socks with little pig police on them.  He wore them to protest “rogue cops” who “put the community in danger,” Kaepernick wrote on Twitter.  Here’s the thing.  People are now going to start sticking Kaepernick’s face on a slew of farm animals, wild beasts and insects.  He’s never going to be able to direct the conversation how he wants to.  It would’ve been a lot better to pay for a special “Don’t shoot”/hands-up arm band and wear that instead. 

I wouldn’t presume to tell Colin Kaepernick what to think or what to do, but I would urge him to get smarter advisors who could steer him away from the adolescent stuff.  People would then have to pay attention to what the man has to say.