This is getting ridiculous. Colin Kaepernick just won another award for his anti-social behavior, this time the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award from Sports Illustrated. He recently won the GQ citizen of the year award despite a less-than-exemplary record of citizenship.
Is this just the start of a lengthy awards season for Kaepernick? Can honorary degrees at historically black colleges and universities and historically liberal universities be far behind? Will this charade turn into a me-too parade of progressive groups tripping over each other to honor this guy who's alienated so many Americans?
Of course we already know what the big one will be -- the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2018 ESPYs. Vegas bookmakers would be smart to stop taking bets on that one. No one should even think of uttering the names Arthur Ashe and Colin Kaepernick in the same breath.
“In this noisy political and media environment, it’s easy to forget his core message: that all people in this country deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and recognition of their civil rights,” jabbered Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Stephen Cannella in a news release.
All people except public safety officers, whom Kaepernick considers "pigs," and veterans, whom he disrespected every time he sat or knelt during the national anthem last season.
Getting that feeling in his leg that Chris Matthews had for Obama, Cannella said only a few athletes have “followed [Ali’s] example as fully” as the former San Francisco quarterback and current free agent. That's an insult to Bill Russell, Jim Brown and other past winners of the SI award who never spat in the eye of the people we depend on for our freedom and our safety.
Like other pro-Kaepernick lemmings, Cannella tried to excuse away his spiteful behavior by mentioning how much he's sacrificed to get his message across and how much money he's given to charity. Sorry, Stephen, that doesn't cut it.
Characterizing police officers as "pigs" and "slave catchers," questioning the freedom of U.S. citizens from the foreign soil on Ghana on the Fourth of July are not the behaviors worthy of honors and awards. They should be seen for what they are: marks of shame, instead of the Kool-Aid served up by SI's Michael Rosenberg:
In the last 16 months, Kaepernick’s truth has been twisted, distorted and used for political gain. It has cost him at least a year of his NFL career and the income that should have come with it. But still, it is his truth. He has not wavered from it. He does not regret speaking it. He has caused millions of people to examine it. And, quietly, he has donated nearly a million dollars to support it.
For all those reasons—for his steadfastness in the fight for social justice, for his adherence to his beliefs no matter the cost—Colin Kaepernick is the recipient of the 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.
So Kaepernick gets "his truth?" His very own? OK, because it sure doesn't resemble THE truth. But what does that matter when you can fluff your very own civil rights hero?
ESPN's The Undefeated blog guzzles CK Kool-Aid, too, as Martenzie Johnson wrote:
Since his initial demonstrations in August 2016, the quarterback has influenced athletes, cheerleaders, musicians and actors to join in on bringing attention to issues that affect people of color ... .
247 Sports' Kevin Boilard acknowledged the controversy of Kaepernick's questionable actions, writing, "Kaepernick's political stance remains a very controversial topic among NFL fans. His form of protest was perceived by many as disrespectful to the American flag, as well as men and women who serve in the military." Then came Boilard's "but": "As controversial as his actions were, Kaepernick started a conversation that the country needed to have." That so-called "conversation" merely amounted to professional athletes using their work sites to take a knee or raise a fist during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. Insulting their paying customers and TV viewers.
Since destroying his football career and damaging the NFL, Kaepernick has infrequently sniped away at his targets from the cover of social media, but he's reportedly attending the Sports Illustrated award ceremony Dec. 8. Expect a slobbering love affair from his adoring media on that evening.
