My favorite time of year is around the corner. I love the fall, the days are shorter, the weather in Hawaii becomes a little cooler and the sunrises and sunsets become more colorful as we approach winter. The encore, or
My favorite time of year is around the corner. I love the fall, the days are shorter, the weather in Hawaii becomes a little cooler and the sunrises and sunsets become more colorful as we approach winter. The encore, or as we say in Hawaii, the Hana Hou, is that it’s football season!
“Are you ready for some football?” A jingle everybody knows from Monday night football’s theme song. A catchy jingle that goes on in an endless loop in my head this time of year as September is right around the corner and opening day is nearing for the NFL football season.
I am an NFL football junkie and if my favorite team the Buffalo Bills are not playing, I still watch the top teams compete. I enjoy a good professional football game more than a Hollywood movie.
The big news this year is no NFL owner wants to take the chance on placing former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Colin Kaepernick’s recent protests of taking a knee during the country’s national anthem before the football games last season while playing for the San Francisco 49ers has led to him being blackballed from working in the NFL, according to many sources.
The introduction of politics into our national sport by Kaepernick, unless countered (objected to) by a majority of members, will kill the sport.
It will also happen in Hollywood and the entertainment business, and more importantly, the media.
The NFL is a business, not a platform for the players to exercise free speech. If I started this type of protest in my work place my employer would say, “best of luck we support your goals, but not while you are working on our dime.”
The management of teams that put up with this is a joke. Protest all you want in the off season or when you’re off camera but not when you are on the payroll making millions for a team owner that is being threatened by fans that they will not attend games if this continues. Imagine if any of you protested your passions while at work?
Fans do not want politics interwoven with their football. Football is an escape for many to get away from the stresses of daily life including and not limited to politics. Once you include politics in football it ruins the aura from the get-go. Owners and coaches realize this and do not want locker room and media distractions taking away from team efforts.
All of the protests started on the night of Aug. 26, 2016 when Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem before the 49ers preseason game against the Packers. It might have been missed altogether had a reporter from the NFL Network not noticed and asked him about it after the game.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,”
Colin Kaepernick was adopted by white parents, Teresa and Rick Kaepernick.
His biological father was African-American. His biological mother, Heidi (Zabransky) Russo, is white. The surname “Kaepernick” is German. Colin grew up in white suburbia and never lived a day of being oppressed.
Ironically, Kaepernick’s national anthem protests are riding over into anti-Trump protests and this whole tearing down of statues.
Like I said. Are you ready for some football without the stress of politics? I know I am.
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James “Kimo” Rosen is a resident of Kapaa.
