Kaepernick vs. Stephen A. Smith...
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(Note: this will not be a partisan/political post. But I feel we ought to be able to discuss a nationally prominent sports figure).
Kaepernick’s saga continues. What made Stephen A. Smith (ESPN commentator) mad at Kaep, is that Kaepernick seemed to not care as much as his symbolic gesture seemed to suggest he did. Why? Because Kaep revealed that he did NOT vote. To protest inequality, and yet not vote seemed inconsistent to Smith. When so many people of all races worked for generations to make it possible for AfricanAmericans to vote, to then not vote… was called disrespectful by Smith.
Kaep went on to explain he feels pretty apathetic about the system and process. He basically said he didnt care who got elected.
Stephen A. Smith’s whole point is, that while its fine to protest the flag, and fine to abstain from voting…one cannot do 1 and then show apathy later, it doesnt make sense, and doesnt help the cause, as one of the cause’s standard-bearers, now just admitted he didnt vote. Smith called Kaep a “hypocrite”. It was discussed further that kids that look up to the 49er QB, now may be influenced to “not vote”, which Stephen A. Smith did not think a wise example to set for the youngsters…
(Just reporting…)
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@ralster With the snowflakes our progressive institutes of higher learning are turning out these days it could be a good thing.
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@brooksmd 'Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are," D. Whitney
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Kaepernick is synonymous with ruining football as an enjoyable mindless past time. Pre-Kaep I watched 90% of the Chiefs games I could. Post-Kaep I haven’t watched one. I’m sure I will again, but not until politics are out of it.
I turn to sports and come HERE for entertainment. Unimportant, doesn’t matter tomorrow - sports. Politics do not belong in sports. Look at the NFL a double digit decline in viewership this year.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LEAVE POLITICS OUT OF SPORTS!!!
edit This is aimed at ESPN and not at @ralster
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@dylans As far as I’m concerned we can leave the politics out of politics.
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Concussions ruined football for me, unfortunately. I haven’t watched very much football for going on three years now. The way the NFL covered up the effects made me abandon the NFL a while ago, and I have started becoming more apathetic about college football. Just too many young men sustaining lifelong injury without enough benefit. I know each of these young men has their own choice to make, but I have to make my choice, too, and that choice has been to not watch.
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All I have to say is the he should spout his personal politics and believes in his own time and keep them off the work place, i.e. the football field and locker room. This is what we all are expected to do with our real jobs that likely require more effort and pay a hell of a lot less and pay for the ridiculous salaries athletes get. Like a lot of people I know that have been turned off by these crybabies, I will watch the Chiefs only if I don’t have any thing better to do.
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@ralster I agree with Smith on this matter, several places where these riots are going on a high percentage of people able to vote didnt. If you have a say in things and dont use it, then complan you’re a fool.
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As the chart above shows, NFL viewership has been falling for the last several seasons. NFL viewership among women has been plummeting, and without adding guys to replace the women viewers (the NFL was previously the most popular pro sport among women), the NFL cannot sustain its level of viewers.
This has been coming for a while now. The NFL didn’t admit that viewership was eroding, and now it’s convenient to blame it on the protests, when the truth is the league was walking a very thin line the last few years anyway. The concussion issues, the domestic violence, and other factors have been chipping away at football for years. It’s now starting to crumble just a bit. Not saying it can’t bounce back, but I haven’t watched a full regular season game in more than two seasons.
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@justanotherfan Very true statement, tho I think the protesting has contributed to this decline. I know several people that wont watch it anymore do to the protests. I’m not a big NFL fan so I watch a little bit of a few games.
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I know people that have stopped watching for that reason as well, but those are the same people that only watched 13 or 14 games last year instead of all 16. Viewership was eroding and there were a lot of people on the fence this year. Maybe the protests pushed them off the ledge this year, but they were already trending down anyway and probably would have stopped watching in another year or two anyway. That’s the trend the NFL has to worry about - that the protests sped up a decline already in progress.
