I’m With Kap: Why I Support Kneeling for the Anthem

David Foster
Aug 23, 2017 · 8 min read

I don’t like Mike Francesa. I love Mike Francesa, though said love is pretty compartmentalized to his views and subsequent expressions on sports and athletes. I’ll never forget the experience of falling in love with him and his show as it became quickly apparent that he was in my brain, better yet, the better version of my brain, poignantly elaborating on everything I’d thought and wished I could express in a way that made every other sports talk guy sound second rate. Nevertheless, my brother and I would joke that we’d never before observed a greater disparity within a person’s IQ between one subject matter and almost every other in the world.

Have you ever heard Francesa discuss movies or TV shows or political climate? Before your eyes (ears) he suddenly transforms from all-knowing guru able to poke holes in each opposing argument and brilliantly contradict the contrarians into this generic, old, white, Long Island dad, who isn’t necessarily racist but says some things that racists say, thinks Frank Caliendo is funny, and… voted for Trump.

Today I was listening as one of his callers, typically cut from the same cloth pontificated on the Colin Kaepernick saga by making the point: “Football is entertainment, Mike. It’s entertainment, am I right? (Red flag any time someone poses this rhetorical) We don’t need to turn on the TV at 1:00 for our favorite pastime on Sundays and have it ruined by these guys kneeling during the national anthem. It’s supposed to be entertainment.”

I held my breath in prayer that Mike would come through for me.

Come on, Mike, shut him down. Put aside your latent disdain for brown people in exchange for your even greater disdain for stupidity and bury him the way you do so many jerk-offs who call up with their hacky views and recycled opinions.

“That’s a great point,” Mike said, “ a really great point,” and he broke my heart, but also offered me the silver lining in the fact that he’s retiring and this is his last year on the air. I’ll always miss him, but at the same time, fuck off, old man.

“A great point?!” In what elementary school debate class is that a great point?

First of all, do they even televise the national anthem before every game? I think they do, but I’m honestly not even sure because in spite of appreciating certain things about our country I, like most fans, don’t give a fuck about watching the national anthem, and I’d venture a guess that up until now this caller didn’t either. I think we can all agree that the entertainment is in the actual football played between the lines and ticks of the clock, so until players start wearing NAACP stickers on their helmets or perform end zone celebrations that include raising one fist as they hang a Nazi dummy from the end zone post, I’d say the entertainment remains unblemished.

“Stupid Mike” (not to be confused with “Mike,” who discusses the X’s and O’s of sports) droned on in accord: “People work hard all week long, and they just want to relax on Sundays and watch football — not your political protest. And you’ll see, you keep doing it and people will stop watching, and you’ll have to get a regular job paying not nearly as much as you’re now getting paid to play a kids’ game.”

Okay…

1. Umm, no they won’t (stop watching). Do you have any idea how popular football is? I know you do. Do you have any idea how fucking fun and exciting it is to watch? The NFL could air Black Panther rallies over the national anthem and KKK cross burnings at the Super Bowl halftime show and it would still do better numbers than any NBA finals or World Series game. If you think the mindless drones of the Midwest and deep south who worship football second only to the Lord in heaven, Jesus Christ, and Donald Trump, are going to stop watching football you are out of your Diet Coke-infested mind. Instead, they’re going to moan and groan in the same way you are about: “Why these blacks gotta disrespect the country like that?” and go about getting fatter and uglier on the couch as they slowly contribute next to nothing to the advance of society, also much like yourself.

2. Can we agree that the only thing more reprehensible than getting paid loads of money for playing a kids’ game is getting paid loads of money for simply talking about said kids’ game?

3. If a five second clip of five or ten guys quietly kneeling while the surrounding 75,000 others are standing in reverence compromises your ability to relax on Sundays then you should seek immediate mental health, in-patient.

I was so angry. How dare he suggest something is a corruption of his frivolous enjoyment when a) it only exists only in response to corruption in our social justice, and b) has objectively nothing to do with the actual source of said enjoyment.

Obviously one is free to disagree that there is in fact social injustice, but isn’t this part of what makes our country great, the very first amendment: Freedom of Speech? Aren’t you that much less “American” when you protest peoples’ right to protest, ironically shitting on the Bill of Rights whenever it happens to not appease your own views? When Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul used their platform to speak out against violence in urban communities it didn’t seem to bother anyone. Mohammed Ali and Arthur Ashe were activists whose legacies are both celebrated, and Bruce Springsteen has used his platform to condemn inequality, often interrupting the actual entertainment to do so. Why didn’t any half-wit Jersey douche bags call in about these?

When Kaepernick first made the decision to kneel I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I knew it didn’t offend me as an American. I just wondered what a lot of people did, whether it was the right context for the action, not in terms of ethics but regarding potential efficacy towards his intention. One year later it’s one of the biggest stories in sports, which in my opinion indicates actualization of the first stage of efficacy.

He made it clear that his choice had nothing to do with not respecting the troops or their families — that there are many components of a nation, and his message was in regards to just one of those components. I found the point to be thoughtful and clear, rather indisputable to any rational mind, also personally relatable to myself.

I grew up a huge hip hop head and was often judged and criticized, mostly by fellow whites as being inauthentic, the inverse of an Uncle Tom, but occasionally also by blacks, for not having the right to culturally appropriate “their thing,” or employ certain words in my slang because I didn’t bear the burden of having to worry about getting shot by cops when I walk down the street.

I thought it was bullshit, an unfair card to pull, since as abhorrent as police brutality is, it makes up only a small percentage of the black experience in America. I’ve lived in New York my entire life and have spent a huge chunk of time in black communities. If the people I see on the streets are in this alleged perpetual state of worry about getting shot then I’d hate to see what they look like when they’re relaxed. Apparently this state of terror of being a constant target for random violence includes a lot of laughter, dancing, playing basketball and having barbeques in the park. Amazing! No wonder I wanted to be black growing up.

It’s classic argument cherry-picking, conveniently highlighting only the most tragic examples of a particular reality in order to make an accused transgressor seem as such. My hip hop appropriations get labeled as disrespectful to slavery and social inequality just as Kaepernick’s are to the troops and their families, when neither one could be further from the case. Are war and foreign policy the only things discussed in Presidential debates? Don’t they address the economy, education, social security, environmental concerns, even foreign relations not at all having to do with battle? The troops are courageous and appreciated by all of us, believe it or not even the most uber-Liberals trolling the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Most of us understand that regardless of our beliefs people are risking their lives, and this is significant. However it is no more the one and only thing the national anthem stands for than is public schools or tax plans. Uh. Duh.

As we grow into adulthood we become abundantly aware that we are flawed, then we come to terms with accepting that the partner we fall in love with is as well. I remember how enlightening it was for me in adolescence when I first started to hear (white) friends criticize “white people” in broad strokes that were only somewhat tongue and cheek. This was huge for me, and so logical. Of course! We live in the diverse melting pot of New York, so first we do have to specify when we’re talking about white people, as there are other people in the world. Secondly, “white people” as a group have resounding flaws, as well as strengths, and it’s okay to acknowledge both. The same goes for black people, Hispanics, Asians and Arab people, as well as men, women, groups of the Jewish religion and even Christians (have good qualities). I think one of the primary red flags for tunnel-vision stupidity is the failure to recognize the shortcomings of the group which one is inherently a part of. Much more disturbing to me than the 15 or 20 black players I see kneeling for the national anthem is how long it took to see even one white player join them. Regardless of whether kneeling is wrong it’s always disappointing to see symptoms of divide still determined by color.

As individuals we are microcosms of our group and/or our nation, which means if we are flawed so must be our macrocosm, which means we should take every opportunity to correct said flaws. We’re quick to honor and celebrate those of us who make great efforts to address their individual shortcomings, but equally quick to attack those who attempt the same for the group they are a part of. Colin Kaepernick is part of the black “group,” but he is also a part of America, a successful, upstanding part I might add. For this it pains me to see teams run from signing him, as fast as he’s run for so many end zones, in fear of backlash from their fan base who might oppose his peaceful protests. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick after he was released from prison for the violent crime of torturing and killing fighting dogs. Kaepernick, conversely, is legally protesting violence with the intention of raising social awareness, and he can’t get back into the league. It should be no surprise that our society is in the state that it is.

I’m definitely with Kap.


Originally published at davidfostercomedyblog.com.

SportsRaid

Original reporting and curated sports data journalism. Actively looking for additional writers.

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David Foster

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I practice acupuncture and Chinese medicine in Manhattan and the Bronx. Half Jew. Full New Yorker. Davidfosteracupuncture.com

SportsRaid

Original reporting and curated sports data journalism. Actively looking for additional writers.

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