And it’s time for me to weigh in on some bullshit.
It’s football and that means Not For Long if you don’t get out there and execute. It also means a whole bunch of bullshit. First off, taking everyone off the field when someone has a boo boo? Bullshit. Crabtree’s penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct? Bullshit. And Kaepernick? #ISitWithKaep. Yep. Why?
Example: I might have gone out and got a little tore up Friday night. I took the Uber home. Then I needed an Uber the next day to get back to my car. A very nice black man picked me up. I had to look twice because he looked a lot like Shaq. Only about a foot and a half shorter. And I so did not want to be pranked feeling like crap. We started talking about football. And drinking. He said it was smart to take an Uber for $10 and save $10,000 in fines. He is working on his Class A license. He was a very good driver. I said “Yeah, I’ve had enough troubles with the police, I don’t need to take chances.” Then we started talking about the draft. Yeah, I got Big Ben. And Le’Veon Bell. And by the way I picked up Kaep. He looked at me. Oh hell yeah I did. With all the bullshit he started, he can’t be a piker this year. He has to play his balls off. And by the way, I am with Kaep. He looked at me over his sunglasses. Yes I am. Do you know why? No. Well, here goes. If you and me are in two different cars doing the exact same stupid thing driving down the road, which one of us gets pulled over? He’s quiet. You, my man. We both know that. And that’s wrong because I’m probably doing more stupid stuff than you are. I have more tickets than you probably ever will and I’m the one they need to look at, but they won’t. They’ll pull you over. Now, if a cop was getting ready to go on break had already called in and I drove by all by myself and there was no one else on the road, they’d pull me over and they have over the years, but if it’s between you and me, you’re getting popped. And that my friend is why I am with Kaep.
Now most white people don’t think like that. And I know it’s an uncomfortable position, but it’s a hell of a lot better than being shot by a cop. People think that it’s ok for Kaep to protest, just not like he is, because it’s the National Anthem. Well, that sounds good but it wasn’t the national anthem when my mother was born. Or my father. There were lots of songs used intermittently including America the Beautiful and My Country Tis of Thee and Hail Columbia. I prefer the latter. The thing is, there’s this little issue with Francis Scott Keys’ lyrics. You know, third verse same as first…except it ain’t.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
He is celebrating the death of the slaves that the British co-oped for the battle. Which, if you’re black, ain’t that comfortable either. If you’re white you’re probably sitting there saying “We don’t sing that verse anyway.”
The thing is, unless you’re extremely empathetic or have walked in their shoes, you don’t know what someone else’s journey is like. And to that end, I’m with Kaep.