Ugh, I'm done with Kaepernick anyway. Not for political reasons and I'm sure Spike Lee's movie would've been great but he just does some things that irk me. Since his whole ordeal with the NFL he just strikes me as so self-aggrandizing like it's about him and not the message or the principle, but there's some other stuff too. Disclaimer: the first paragraph is just a fan rant.
I watched his last Netflix thing and he was such a dick to Cal. I get that he was mad because he thought he had a shot with us but he had all sorts of gear and logos from the schools he was trying to get a scholarship from and he uses official logos and store bought merch. For us he went petty and custom made "Cal-Berkeley" gear and that pissed me off. Secondly he had this one interaction with him after we moved on when he said to a friend "I couldn't even get into cal" the friend said "whatever they suck anyway" and Kaep replies "so I can't even get a shot from a school who sucks." And I was like ***?! At the time we were coming off an 8-4 season and a top 25 finish, the year before we went 10-3 and finished in the top 10. The year before that we won 8 games and finished 3rd in the PAC. And that year, the year Kaep graduated HS and started college, we won 10 games again, finished as PAC co-champs, and had another top 15 finish. Meanwhile he completely sucked off Stanford in the show/movie (I forget what it was) and what a powerhouse they were. Let's look at the state of their program at the time: they were coming off a 5-6 season, 4-7 the year before, 4-7 the year before that, 2-9 the year before that, and the year he graduated and started at UNR they went 1-11. He's just **** talking us because he's mad that we actually gave him a solid look and brought him to campus for a visit and went in another direction. But we had Kevin Riley in that class and Ayoob the year before, we didn't have room for another QB and they were both very highly rated coming out of high school. And, not to belabor the point, but *no one* in power football gave him a scholarship, he just clearly holds a grudge against us. But he was also a complete twig. He was 6-3 or 6-4 and 160lbs at the time. Because he was adopted no one could look at his family and project if he'd fill out which coaches will sometimes do with physically underdeveloped players. So **** you Kaep, we didn't do you dirty or promise you anything and pull the rug out, get over it.
Anyway that's just the fan side. More importantly, in his Netflix thing he was really cruel to the people around him. He was adopted by white parents in Turlock and, by all accounts, they were great parents and did everything they could for him. But he lowkey portrayed them as villains for being white. Not in a "did the best they could but didn't understand and were unable to help him with his racial identity" kind of way but like he actively blamed them and made it seem like they were a problem. He goes on to have a whole segment where he gets his first girlfriend and then treats her terribly and just ghosts her, like no contact for months. And then she starts dating one of his friends and he tries to make *her* out to be a villain too like he wasn't the one who dropped her like a hot rock. Anyway it's just a theme that I noticed both in his Netflix movie and in some of his interactions afterward. He has a massive victim complex. And, to be clear, HE WAS THE VICTIM in the NFL case; I would never argue otherwise and I have absolutely no issue with his kneeling or stances on social justice or any of that. He was unjustly colluded against by the NFL and that was wrong. But he also has a pattern making it about himself and not the social justice he's purporting to shine a light on, he's a "me" guy and loves to play the victim because that's what made him a symbol.
Also ESPN absolutely dropped it because they need the Trump administration to support their deal with the NFL. When Tua was added to the president's fitness council and said he never joined it or talked to anyone about it they put out a really soft headline about it being an accident or a miscommunication. NBC called them out on it since they need to curry favor with Trump and were unwilling to do an accurate headline about them adding an athlete to the council without their knowledge or consent. It was a bigger deal than the Barkley one where I truly believe Barkley joined and then backtracked because of the backlash he was getting in Philly, Barkley is a MAGA guy and when lots of his teammates didn't go to the White House he went a day early to hang out and golf with Trump.
Anyway, my bad for the long post I just have a lot of mixed feelings on Kaepernick, both the good he did and brave stance he took but also a very questionable personality
