Washington R-words no more
The end is 'nigh.
Hail to the TBD!
Long overdue. Maybe there is hope I can start watching the NFL again.
You weren’t watching the NFL because one of the team’s nicknames was Redskins?
No, that isn't why. I stopped watching when Kaepernick got blackballed. I just always thought they'd let him back in before they'd change the names of one of their teams. If this can happen then maybe that can too. The league has had a long history of racism and it was just too much to stomach. From "black men can't play QB" to "black men can't be head coaches" to the treatment and exile of a black man who was saying "stop killing unarmed black men" I was just done with it until change was made. If they can finally listen to change this, then maybe that can happen too. Native American leaders have long been saying this is offensive and the league has ignored them. I'm just glad to see they finally listened and glad to see it go. If this can happen, maybe we can see Kaep back on the field where he belongs.
My man, I hate to break it to you but Kaepernick got "blackballed" as a combination of sucking and being a distraction. His game when downhill fast. It didn't happen because "Owners are racist".
If you want to make a Political statement, start an non-profit, organize a protest on your own time.
The idiot made the issue front-and-center by making a divisive statement on the field before every game.
I don't care what your political view is, but if you give the finger to the national anthem solute (dumbasses like Lebron will say things like "But that's not what Kap was saying"... yes he was "saying" that, whether he was smart enough to realize it or not)... YES it is a divisive statement, and no f***ing business owner in his/her right mind is going to want that as part of the product.
They're bowing to it now, because everyone/organization/professional sport is hurting and the cancel culture mob will threaten to put them under.
Because Jerry Jones among other owners have stellar records when it comes to race...
You can't tell me Kaep wasn't better than half the starting QBs in 2017, let alone their backups--the narrative that he wasn't good enough is mind-boggling.
This leaves only the distraction aspect from owners' viewpoints. They'll keep rapists and wife-beaters and murderers--crazy how someone kneeling is a greater risk to product than Aaron Hernandez
I can absolutely say he was not good enough. His career high quarterback rating was 74.4 in 2013. His last year his quarterback rating was 49. Blaine Gabbert had a higher qbr that year at 56.9. On the same team. That's bad.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KaepCo00.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GabbBl00.htm
Blaine Gabbert had a higher qbr that year at 56.9. On the same team. That's bad.
Kap also had a higher completion percentage, 16:4 TD:INT (Gabbert was 5:6!!), higher YPA, and a higher rating. He also had more rushing yards and a higher YPC. He had 9 fumbles which was a problem but that still puts his TD:TO at 18:13 while Gabbert's was 7:6. QBR is a stat that you can use to show Alex Smith was better than Cam Newton in his MVP season. That Winston and Trubisky were better than Brady, Wilson, Ryan, and Luck in 2018. Look at the entirety of the stats instead of 1 number.
No one is claiming he was All-Pro or even top 20 in the NFL. But other terrible QBs kept getting signed as well as players with serious character concerns. He was a distraction, but that implies other player's distractions weren't as bad (bad on a morality scale, not a number of WP/NYT/WSJ articles). Aldon Smith, a very good player, has had so many legal issues I've lost count. He hasn't played since 2015! The Cowboys signed him THIS YEAR. Tebow was a massive distraction in Denver and was generally a terrible QB. Got signed by multiple teams who tried to make him a TE because he was so bad. Johnny Manziel was a walking time bomb. Brandon Weeden was a joke. Etc.
That all being said, Kap is over and should be. He was done in SF and needed a new team with a coach like Harbaugh/Roman who could put him in situations to at least be decent instead of playing for the joke of a coaching staff SF had between Harbaugh and Shannahan. He made plenty of mistakes in his attempted comebacks, but he was worth a contract of some kind in the NFL around 2016/2017 (according to some NFL execs he was offered a back up role but turned it down).
Yes, and the fact he even had a QBR is better than half the QBs in the league that didn't play.
As you mentioned, his fumbles killed his QBR but that's a largely random result.
People hanging on that one number for a single season while ignoring what he had done the previous several seasons are just trying to justify clear blackballing.
The "QB Whisperer" only got one good season out of him--then could do nothing more, like we've seen with his UM QB success.
Imagine if whites openly complained that there aren't a proportional number of white players in the NBA vs the general population. Imagine a response from the blacks that the whites just aren't good enough. Imagine the uproar, and then it follows with taking away jobs from guys like LeBron......
I don't understand the point you're trying to make at all. No one thinks every white guy in the world isn't given equal opportunity to play HS, college or pro hoops. Has anyone EVER said they didn't get a shot to make a team by a coach because they were white?
So now in your hypothetical all these guys that didn't get offered scholarships, or did but didn't get drafted, are going to complain in the media that the Association isn't proportional? And then somehow the courts are involved and remedy it by giving Lebron's job to you?!
You have shown a remarkable lack of understanding of the issues, truly fascinating in its thorough ignorance! Kudos!
And I don't understand how any of it pertains to use the term Redskins for a NFL team?
Right, it was a distraction. Would you spend millions on a distraction ?
While it was almost inevitable that it would become a divisive issue, the fact that it did says as much about many of the people who were offended as it does about Kap. Just to name a few people who don’t think that kneeling is the same as giving the flag the middle finger:
Nate Boyer, John Middemas and many other veterans who’ve supported Kapernick.
Jim Harbaugh (all be it not right away)
Eric Reid
Megan Rapinoe
Some of the people who were offended were offended for genuine reasons but many chose to be offended either as a way to avoid listening to and acknowledging what Kapernick had to say or for even crasser pure political motives.
I think the media did a good job of sanitizing Kaepernick.
You think people at the time were only upset about kneeling during the flag and that was it?
Kaepernick was arguably condoning violence against cops when several cops were murdered and he tweeted out a reply seemingly approving of it with a video of police brutality, he tweeted out that police were modern day slave catchers, his police pig socks, his praise for mass murderers Fidel Castro and Che, he actually specifically said in 2016 he was kneeling to show disrespect to a country built on racism and now we are being told it is nothing about disrespect for the country.
Many of his tweets crossed a line...but somehow it is sanitized down to he "kneeled to draw attention to the need for police reform please continue to forget everything else."
I support his right and ability to say and do what he did, except for perhaps the ones that bordered on inciting violence, but he had a horrible QBR and then you add in his comments - that is a lot of potential distraction for an NFL team to give to a poorly performing QB.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” -- Colin Kaepernick
That's a long way from 'disrespecting' the country. Otherwise, yeah, he made some self-inflicted mistakes that genuinely hurt his cause. But the overarching cause itself was ahead of its time, and simply cannot be construed with treasonous actions.
I never said treasonous. I said that some of his tweets crossed a line and some of his tweets seemingly endorsed violence against police. These are now mostly ignored for the more sanitized "he was just kneeling to draw attention to a legitimate cause."
Police brutality is a legitimate cause to take up, but I would guarantee that as a teacher I would be fired if I sent out the tweets that he did.
I can sympathize with an NFL team not wanting a distraction of those comments from a QB with a horrible QBR.
"Arguably" and "seemingly"...sounds like those tweets crossed a line to a small number of overly sensitive people that wanted to muzzle his right free speech. You're upset about socks? None of this is noteworthy. The only reason people even cared about his tweets is that he was kneeling.
Yes, it was a distraction and owners were put in a difficult spot, but the fact it was a distraction is because NFL fans suck. They were upset and boo'ed a man exercising his peaceful right to free speech. And these were all the hypocrites decrying cancel culture now. It shouldn't have even been a thing. And since it was a thing, that's why people are angry at the NFL. Mostly the fans but also the owners for caving.
I am not saying that he doesn't have the right. I am saying that what he was saying and doing has been sanitized down to "all he did was take a knee."
He tweeted out a happy birthday to a convicted cop killer that escaped prison and is currently on the FBI's "most wanted list" as a "terrorist" on the murderer's birthday. He donated $25K to an organization named after that cop killer.
6 police officers got shot in one incident in Philadelphia in a shoot out with a drug dealer and Kaepernick tweeted a response of a video of police brutality saying that black people need to be liberated from cops.
He sent out a tweet comparing cops to slave catchers and saying that the whole system needs to be dismantled, because it condones cops murdering black people.
Etc.
He has a right to say these things, but they are inflammatory to many and some might say he is condoning violence with those tweets. It is disingenuous to claim that all he did was take a knee and wear socks.
Since you missed it in the previous posts, let me repeat this. He has a right to tweet those things. However, they are inflammatory and added to many people's anger with him. It is disingenuous to boil it entirely down to kneeling.
He tweeted out a happy birthday to a convicted cop killer that escaped prison and is currently on the FBI's "most wanted list" as a "terrorist" on the murderer's birthday. He donated $25K to an organization named after that cop killer.
Are you talking about Assata Shakur? The Black Panther turned Black Liberation Army woman convicted by an all white jury of shooting an officer after multiple medical experts testified that the officer's testimony was inconsistent with her injuries ("anatomically impossible") because she herself was shot with her hands up and could not have fired a gun? Convicted, sure. Murderer? Dubious.
This is such an idiotic take... Forget the reason he was protesting, for a minute. The form of protest was absolutely beautiful! To whit:
- It was peaceful - it threatened nobody. There is no threat in an unarmed, kneeling man...
- It raised awareness - everyone noticed there was a protest, without being impacted by it in any way whatsoever
- It required no mass gatherings, no permits, no accommodations, no public assistance whatsoever (ie: completely free of cost)
- It garnered crap-loads of attention - full blown press coverage (TV, radio, and written) without need to ask for the attention, pay for it, or tell anyone to watch what you're doing
As a veteran, that form protest checked every box I want to see for a protest of anything. It expressed freedom of speech and the ability to assemble peacefully in a more coherent manner than any large protest could ever hope to do.
If you are part of the group that cried 'OUTRAGE' because you took only what you wanted to take from someone else's expression, the problem is with you.
Thank you for your service, and your thoughtful view on peaceful protest!
I'm a veteran and have tried to explain this to my friends, though not as well as you put it here. But they don't want to hear it. It hurts their feelings, and so it's bad. What kills me is these same people will complain the their rights don't end where others' feelings begin, but then they expect other people to forgo their rights so as not to hurt their feelings. Just frustrating that they can't see the hypocrisy.
Man, what a horrible take. Helpful hint, less writing and more listening.
This is like saying the civil was was about "state's rights".
I believe 100% in what Kaepernick did. However, the reality is that his play was not good enough to overcome the distraction of his protests. That is a reality in every profession, the quality of your work has to outweigh the amount of drama you cause even if it is for a righteous cause. Tebow was also good enough to be in the league, but the media swarm that followed him got him cut from the league.
if a team were to sign Kaep now, it would have to be a team like Seattle who has a well entrenched starter that would not face that pressure to start him. But that is also not a position Kaep wants. Thus you won’t see him in the NFL. Remember, his last season in the NFL he finished as the backup QB on the worst team in the league.
This is a much stronger argument than the one above from Glen Mason's wife.
I generally agree with you though I still buy blackballing. Teams gave the Johnny Manziel circus plenty of time and he (and Tebow) weren't starting-quality QBs, let alone ones that decimated the Packers on the way to a Superbowl. Shoot the Pats just signed Cam Newton--he is fun and a competitor but injury-prone and a distraction. For no team to even bring Kaep in for a workout is blackballing.
Do you realize how many second chances the worst kinds of people get in the NFL if they are good? I'm not putting Kaepernick in that category, I'm just proving a point.
If Kaepernick was still good he would have been on a team. You can't suck, and be a distraction. You can be one of those things, and an NFL team will pay you, but not both.
That's a good point. Even Michael Vick got a job after his release.
You are a virtuous person.
I think Kaepernick's absence from the league boils down to dollars and cents. Any team that signs him will immediately alienate (right, wrong, or indifferent) a significant chunk of its fan base, which may affect the bottom line. I don't think any owner is willing to chance damaging the bottom line by signing him. Also, if he were to sign the ensuing media crush would be a circus.
Seriously, the NFL will be fine!
Keep doing what you've been doing on Sundays...
I'm pretty sure they didn't miss you....
I could see Dan Snyder changing it to something even worse. Don't underestimate his ability to fuck things up.
Maybe the "Diplomats" (rip-off the old NASL team name) or the "Witches" or "Warlocks" (to pair it with the NBA's "Wizards"). Maybe just the "Bureaucrats"..... so many options.
The Trumpanzees?
((ducks))
Tally ??
tennis ??
This would be my choice to honor the Tuskegee Airmen, but I would love to see the D.C. Go-Gos. Go-Go music is D.C.-originated funk driven by cowbell, timbales and other percussion. It hypes up any crowd and allows regional music culture to be integrated into football, as the Saints do quite well. Here’s an example you might know:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FShE0VifCYs
That's already the Wizard's G-League team name. I'm sure the NFL team could buy it off them if they really wanted it, but it'd be another challenge to getting a team name in place.
This is a very cool historical story but my unpopular opinion is that the name phonetically sounds kind of stupid. If I didn't know about the airmen I would assume it had something to do with diaper rash.
I know schefter claims they aren't sticking with native imagery, but if it were up to me I would either find an endorsement from a specific tribe, like FSU, or go with warriors and either try to keep the Blackfoot logo or change it to something along these lines.
If I didn't know about the airmen I would assume it had something to do with diaper rash.
Kind of makes you think maybe we should mention them in high school history classes so everyone is aware of the name because... you know, history. The NFL is a US based sports league so it's not like they should worry about people in Australia or Spain misunderstanding the name. What's a 49er or Packer to some guy in Germany?
I'll put in my request for the "Washington Bandits" in tribute to congress for the work they do in that city.
How about the Washington Swamp Things in tribute to the work the administration does.
Washington Swamp Drainers
You mean like an aspirational name?
Washington Swamp Drainers
Saying it twice doesn't make it better the second time...
You just know he's thinking of naming the team the "Washington Snyders" ala the Browns.