The blog world is all atwitter regarding our ascendant quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and his gall for wearing a Miami Dolphins hat in public last week. After feeling the slings and arrows from Niner fans on twitter (I guess) and of course, the media frenzy on a slow news day, he replied with this:
“This the hat y’all mad at? I’m goin wear what I want regardless of what you think, all you need to worry about is the fact that I grind for my teammates and the 49ers! I plan on doin this until they won’t let me in the building!”
Excuse me if I don’t feel the need to throw him under the bus quite yet. Some folks question his commitment to the team (really?), some think he’s a thug and a punk (whatever. Old ground), some think he’s simply immature (possible). My take? Get a grip. It’s a hat, for God’s sake. Is it juvenile wear another football team’s hat? Sure. Is it wrong to call out the media for dogging his attire? No. last time I checked, people are free to wear what they choose. Is it misguided to wear another team’s colors? Well, yeah. I suppose, but you see players wear other team’s hats all the time. However, it mostly is guys wearing hats from a different sport. As in Alan Iverson wearing a Boston Red Sox hat, or Bron Bron wearing a Yankee hat. Kappy himself last year was sporting a Milwaukee Brewers hat for some interviews. It makes sense as he was born in Wisconsin, and a baseball cap doesn’t conflict with football. If he was wearing a Packers hat, I could imagine the hooraw around something like that. Bitter rivals and all.
The Dolphins? Ehhh. Is it bad form? Sure. Does it bother me? Not in the least. Kappy has shown himself to be a true professional who works as hard as anyone else in the game, and is constantly pushing himself to be a better player. Plus, it’s the offseason. If this was 3 days before a Miami game, I’d be questioning his sanity, let alone his allegiance, but in July? Who cares? Will this be an issue in 3 months? No.
Forty Niners Forever 
WOOF!
Looks likes he was in a friends garage chillaxin, someone took his pixture….
How naive must a starting QB be to think wearing a Dolphins cap is going to be fine with the Niner fan base? How arrogant does one have to be to defend it with “I don’t give a shit what y’all think”?
Certainly nothing like the news that Vernon Davis painted a self-portrait for his art class. That made “big-deal” waves for years with some. Probably still.
It may be the big deal comes more from folks trying to tell fans how they should react to it.
The “this cap” picture looked like he took it himself in a mirror.
Certainly Kappy’s work ethic is second to none. As is his desire to win. I’m less inclined to go with the tatts-are-an-issue crowd than others. As well as the usual hyperbolic sheep castigating him. I mean really. It’s not football season, and he’s on his own time. Bad fashion choice? Sure. Breathlessly ripping him for this is ludicrous. But carry on MacDuff.
VD at the time WAS a self-serving prima donna. More ‘click-clack’ than actual numbers. One of Sing’s only good moves was getting VD out of his ‘me-first’ attitude and into the team concept of football. I’m not worried about Kaepernick. He’;s fine. Now kiss your forearm and make peace with it.
I get your point Chuck about Kap but don’t fully agree with it.
In other news Victor Cruz signed a weird deal that amounts to more or less 4 x 1 year @ $7.75 mil per. Niners should have taken a shot at him for that kind of money/contract terms.
I just think the angst around it is a little over the top.
BLEEP HATS!
Jimbo threw a temper tantrum at a SD reporter when he was playing for the Chargers. The guy showed up at a Charger practice wearing a 49er sweatshirt (just a little ironic) and Harbaugh refused to answer any of his questions. “I don’t answer any questions from anybody wearing the enemy’s jersey.”
Now his starting QB is wearing enemy apparel. Unless Jimbo’s the biggest hypocrite in the world he’ll tell Kap don’t even think about wearing anything other than 49er gear. Or he’ll ring his fucking neck.
I think that when he was handed the “keys to the car” he was not ready to understand what “the fans” expect from the player who plays QB for the 49er’s.
His lack of diplomacy in the response will be interpreted as a lack of respect to the faithful. Whether he meant it to be or not……
He better come out and kick ass in his sophmore year of being a starter…or this little indiscretion will blow up and start a backlash that will have him axting himself…what the hell happened to his popularity.
Using Harbaugh as a gauge of how to react to things is a bit disingenuous.
“disingenuous” is a big word for this blog!
It certainly wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but really, this is all over a hat. His play will determine how the fans see him anyway, and this’ll be long gone.
Chuck becoming a sage?
I made the same point as Florio, it isn’t the hat so much as the reaction to the fans:
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/
If Kappy succeeds, all will be forgiven.
If he fails, this will be remembered as the Kap TO dancing on the Dallas Star moment.
Man, I don’t think the OJ and coffee I had at the restaurant was enough.
Yesterday was my birthday, and today one of my favorite friends left to get married and won’t be back. Fortunately I met him completely by accident at the restaurant and we had a great time over Huevos con Chorizo, coffee and OJ.
“Teahouse of the August Moon” on in a couple hours. Glenn Ford.
Top 40 at worst. Funnier than scheist.
I go out this morning to buy smokes. Some guy from Indiana starts shaking his head at me.
Recognized the Benz immediately. Says he used to own one, sold it, and has regretted it ever since.
This is one weird town.
I’m just killin’ time, fellas, until ex season. But, I WILL watch Teahouse of the August Moon.
I still have 2 thumbs, and they’re both up!
I’m wearing one of my Niner caps while I wait for TotAM.
Well, had to know this was coming:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/colin-kaepernick-posts-picture-wearing-49ers-hat-happy-135820912.html
End the madness!
Saw that this morning but his comments were not exactly contrite, still better than nothing I suppose and he is feeling the heat a little.
Y’all are missing one of the BEST comedies of all time.
I forgot about Marlon Brandon as a comedian, and the guy who played the CO on the Phil Silvers Show (“Sgt. Bilko”)
The occupation of Okinawa after WWII. Only the army doesn’t understand the culture.
Marlon Brando teaches Glenn Ford, a failure as an officer assigned to Okinawa as punishment duty.
All I can say is, “It’s funnier then F***”.
*Brando*, I’m busting a rib laughing so hard and the flick has just started.
Kap is a kid, he’s a little immature. But, he’s apparently working hard in the off season, and Harbs has given the keys to the Niner car. That’s enough for me. I don’t care if he puts a Dolphins cap on his head. He should show some more smarts, though, and at least wear the cap of a decent team. Steelers would be a better choice. At least he wasn’t rockin’ a Seahawks cap…
Not surprising really, it’s the ‘now’ attitude in a growing punk culture. I do what the fuck I want. I demand respect for no reason but I don’t give respect to anything or anyone. No more sports heroes for the young’uns to emulate. Who gives a shit? Give ’em more money.
Says the cranky old guy.
If it matters which team’s hat he wears then it matters that he wears any other team’s hat. Some players just don’t get the role fans or certain standards play in their success and fortunes.
Eddie Arnold, too. I completely forgot about him.
I worked with an ex-Marine at one time who served in Okinawa.
This flick is about better times right after WWII.
Beyond the fact that, as a young man, Kappy graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA, and graduated early from UNR with a Biz Mgmt degree. He recently gave the commencement speech (unannounced) at his high school (Turlock High), donated money to the school, and created his ‘Against All Odds’ charity golf tournament for children with heart conditions.
Bravo! He’s our guy!
Fuck the fans, NoFear. This was driven by teenage girls with twitter accounts. This is what we hold our behavior standards to. Screaming teenyboppers with twitter accounts.
Kap wearing a Dolphins hat is a non-issue for me. He’s received an absurd amount if flack over this. Shit, he’s not Aaron Hernandez. He wore a fucking hat. Big deal
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Hard to see how Kappy comes off so bad in the eyes of the fans when he’s done what he’s done in his short career.
Disingenuous……dissed the genuous…has Harbaugh ever been genuine with the press….except to make fun of them….Kap is posing neckid in the espn shoot….so is 75 year old Gary Player, sorry, just not a good look, old men need to wear pants.
So does the 49ers QB, just sayin’…..put me down as just another old cranky guy waiting for football season to start
Now if it was the Niner Nuggets…I’d be all for it
I’m totally with you there, NinerDog!
Haven’t had the (dis)pleasure of seeing Gary Player sans-a-belt. Think I’ll pass.
I read Staley was wondering when they were gonna get to feature the O-line in the birthday suit shoot. That would send people to reverse thier laser eye surgeries for sure.
At least Kap isn’t groping women on hospital gurneys while drunk in Las Vegas like Chad Gaudin is (allegedly). I’d say the SF Giants have hit an all-time low, but each time I do they just keep digging deeper and deeper.
In the words of Chris Cornell of Soundgarden,
“I got up feeling so down
I got off being sold out
I’ve kept the movie rolling
But the story’s getting old now
I just looked in the mirror
Things aren’t looking so good
I’m looking California
And feeling Minnesota
I’m feeling that I’m sober
Even though I’m drinking
I can’t get any lower
Still I feel I’m sinking”
sob…..sniff…..
You OK, RTF?
Me, Chuck? Yeah, I’m great. Just had one cup of coffee too many at the restaurant next door where I supped. Took FOREVER to get to sleep, and I’m not sure I ever really made it.
No mas! No more coffee for me, at least not in the evening. Just watchin’ movies today and listenin’ to music on YouTube.
Chuck, when I drove cross country, I listened to the Mamas and the Papas nearly the whole way home.
And I just found a very old B&W of them on TV. They had these dancers dressed up in cheerleader costumes pop up out of the bathtubs they had on stage.
I’m just fine, thank you.
Found one, Chuck. Some guy put together a video mix combined with “California Dreamin'”.
Shows guys wading through knee deep snow in full winter clothes just to get to their cars (which I have done, because you have to here if you wish to survive). Mixed in with pics of babes in bikinis walking on the beach.
I love the snow and the cold, myself. Didn’t at first, but do now, but it’s July and it’s bloody hot.
“California Dreamin on such a winter’s DAY!”
Michelle Phillips interviewed about organizing the first Monterey Pop Festival with John Phillips.
“Otis Redding had never performed before a white hippie audience.”
“I’d never even heard of Janis Joplin, or Jimi Hendrix. But your jaw just dropped.”
Gawd, I love YouTube sometimes. Now I’ve got to listen to some Hendrix.