Colin Kaepernick is fast approaching super hero status because objectivity-challenged media will have you believe he can make a lot of problems go away. Bleacher Report claims the Oakland Raiders can stay out of hot water with the NFL by signing Kaepernick. USA Today claims Kaepernick is the man who can make the NFL's new awareness campaign succeed. And the NFL players' union would have you believe this "Super Saint" is a Community MVP.
Let's address the hot rumor first. The Raiders recently hired Jon Gruden as head coach, leading to accusations that they violated the Rooney Rule requiring NFL teams to include at least one minority applicant in the interview process. Bleacher Report's liberal writer Mike Freeman tweeted that the NFL asked the Raiders to help them by signing free-agent quarterback Kaepernick since they "looked out" for the team on the Rooney Rule investigation.
Freeman said it's just a rumor, but it's believable because, in his view, this is "how the league operates."
That's how Kaepernick could solve a potential problem for the Raiders. Then there's USA Today's opinion piece claiming Kaepernick needs to be a part of the NFL's new "Let's Listen Together" campaign, an $89 million pacifier for the league's protesting players. Jarrett Bell writes:
"For all of the well-intentioned pledges, newfound insight and politically correct backslapping that came with the NFL’s announcement Tuesday about its 'Let’s Listen Together' campaign to highlight a commitment to social justice and equality, there was one glaring omission.
"Colin Kaepernick."
Bell opines that the man who used his platform and risked his career to start a conversation about police brutality "is nowhere in the mix with this new collaborative movement of players, owners and the league office that aims to spark change for the greater good. That’s a shame, (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell."
The solution to the NFL's problem and the key to the listening campaign are right in front of the league's brass and they're too blind to see it, Bell alleges:
"That was like the elephant on the conference call the NFL held to trumpet its new initiative. Kaepernick’s name wasn’t uttered a single time by any of the half dozen or so speakers from a newly formed committee of owners and current and retired players advancing this cause."
Bell says the slight of Kaepernick "has the feel of top-shelf marketing and PR spin, with Kaepernick’s original message hijacked as part of an NFL crisis management strategy in the face of backlash from those who could care less.''
The listening campaign doesn't even approach what could be done with America's new super hero. Bell said it’s high time that Goodell formed a “Kaepernick committee. Maybe that would give all of us a better understanding of how a quarterback in his prime — with a strong arm, elite mobility and significant experience — is still being punished, shut out of the NFL."
Oh, there's so much good that could be done by the NFL, the Raiders and the world if Kaepernick is given the proper stage. This is the man who has been selected a finalist for the NFL Players Association’s Byron “Whizzer” White Community MVP award.
Capable of leaping over an entire NFL season in a single bound without playing or attending a single game, Kaepernick is an incredible asset to the league -- and mankind -- merely by donating money to charities and popping off on social media now and then.
GQ magazine, Sports Illustrated and the ACLU all recognized Kaepernick's amazing virtue by giving him awards. It'll be a colossal injustice if he doesn't also reap ESPN's Arthur Ashe Courage Award, later this year, as well.
