This is what you get if you get involved with Colin Kaepernick. You get a never-ending s***show of nonsense in which every little thing you do is put under the microscope for tinges of racism, and if you don't do what Kapernick and his supporters want you to do at any given moment, you can be compared to Django Unchained characaters - whether that makes you a slavemaster or a slave depending on your role in the narrative.
The tweet above came from Nessa Diab, Kaepernick's girlfriend and by some accounts the inspiration behind much of his social activism. According to Ray Lewis, he was advocating behind the scenes in early August for the Ravens to sign Kaepernick as Joe Flacco's backup. The two sides were close to a deal.
Then came Diab's tweet. It depicts Lewis hugging team owner Steve Biscotti after the most recent Ravens' Super Bowl win, and puts that photo alongside a similar photo of Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio from the film Django Unchained. In the film, Jackson plays a slave who is owned by DiCaprio's character.
There is no way to mistake the implication of the tweet: Lewis is like a slave to Biscotti's slaveowner. And just like that, the deal is off.
Even the very best players in the NFL might not be worth this kind of trouble. Colin Kaepernick sure isn't
Is this fair to Kaepernick? That he should lose out on a deal because of his girlfriend's ill-advised tweet? It is absolutely fair. Why? Because as I've been telling you all along, this is the very thing teams are trying to avoid by refusing to touch Kaepernick with a 10-foot pole. He is not just a football player. He's a social cause. He's a movement. And if you sign him and bring him onto your team, you can't treat him the way you treat other players. Every decision you make that affects him will be very publicly scrutinized. If it's perceived as not favorable to Kaepernick, activists will protest. Shannon Sharpe will lose his mind on Fox Sports.
Even the very best players in the NFL might not be worth this kind of trouble. Colin Kaepernick sure isn't.
Try to imagine what would happen if you were trying to get a job somewhere, and during the course of the interview process, someone well known to be associated with you made a public statement that insulted the man you want to be your boss. Would you get the job? Of course you wouldn't.
Some of Diab's followers were prescient enough to see what she had done, like this guy:
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Come on Nessa, there is a time and place for everything and when Kap is trying to get a job from the Ravens this is not the right time.
And understand, it's not only the Ravens who saw this. Every general manager in the NFL saw it. All of them understood that getting in bed with Colin Kaepernick would mean inviting this type of nonsense. Why would you want that around your team? You wouldn't.
Not only is Ray Lewis one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history, and an icon of the Ravens franchise, but he was advocating behind the scenes for Kaepernick to be signed. And this is the thanks he gets from Kaepernick's girlfriend?
If Colin Kaepernick never gets another chance with an NFL team, it won't be because of the national anthem. It will be because of antics like this, that no team wants to have to deal with - especially not for a guy who's barely good enough to play in the league to begin with.
