Kaepernick Is Not A Thug... Far From It

Oh there was so much more than that ZXNA. There were mock comments scribbled on it from Rhodes that just had me dying with laughter. But that does ring a bell, 10 guys blitzing with 1 guy dropping 30, oh so fantastic.

It is still kind of odd for me reading Doug's stuff in SI (I follow him on Twitter, which I highly recommend), considering that he was just 'one of the guys' around here for several years before he actually made it into a career. We were quite spoiled to have him all to ourselves back then....

Oh, and if I remember correctly, it was the DE that was doing the dropback....

Marvin49":3iejeeaf said:

hawker84":3iejeeaf said:

If the seahawks win sunday, will Kap meet RW in the middle of the field and congratulate him, wish him luck the rest of the way? To me that's class, that's respect, that's profressionalism, that's sportmanship, not mocking the other QB after you score a TD or spiking the ball at a defenders head. I ask because he has not done this yet to my knowledge.

I like the guys talent, work ethic, fire, love how he doesn't back down from anyone out there, heck i don't even mind the shortness with the media, but this other childish crap he does from time to time is what turns me off about the dude which makes it hard for me to respect him as a player...

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I can't answer that. We'll see.

What I can say is that his behavior after the game had nothing to do with his desire to disrespect. It was because he thought he'd let his team down. Even his comments that get soooooo much play over here when he says "it was something I was doing, not something they did" which you guys read as disrespect is more about him taking ownership for the loss. He takes it SOOOOO personally.

The part about shaking hands tho....Lynch ran off the field right after the game last week. Didn't shake any hands. So? Was THAT disrespect? Its a player preogotive to do so. Boldin and WHitner were ahead of Kap on his way to the locker room.

You can say classless all you want. I'd rather he stayed just so I didn't have to have these conversations, but there is WAY, WAY to much attention paid to this stuff. Its all BS.

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Just for the record, wanted to point out that Kaep did in fact greet Wilson midfield after the game.

5_Golden_Rings":1rygtiqk said:

Polaris":1rygtiqk said:

5_Golden_Rings":1rygtiqk said:

But there's a BIG difference. 49er fans hate Wilson as a PLAYER because he's GOOD and he makes plays against the 49ers. Seahawk fans hate Kaepernick as a PERSON. Why? Probably isn't racism since Wilson is also of mixed race. So what's the difference? Why do 49er fans only attack Wilson as a player but Seahawk fans attack Kap as both a player and a person, despite both of them generally being good guys, if different in their stages of life (one lives the bachelor life, one is married and all things that go with those two respective positions in life).

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If the roles were reversed I almost guarantee you 49ner fans would be attacking Kaep as a person and a player (as the Seattle QB), while the Seattle fans would be attacking Wilson as a player (with the undertone of "is that an android or a person?") Why? Kaep opens himself up to attacks on his person with his own actions while Wilson really doesn't.

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That's possible, even probable, but either way it reflects pure ignorance. Willful ignorance, at that. It would either way. Being that it's 2014 and not 1950, I figured our society would be beyond attacking someone because of the way they look rather than the way they act- and Kaepernick acts the same was as most NFL players do (this all started with the racist white guy's article calling Kap a thug because he has Bible verse tattoos- which caused the bicep kissing, which caused more ignorance about him from people too lazy to ask why he does the celebration, and on and on). Maybe I'm wrong, but I figured 2014 was 60ish years AFTER the "content of their character" passage Dr. King so eloquently etched into history.

I think you're right if the roles were reversed it'd be the same thing, but it'd still be ignorance.

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I think that if Wilson played for SF, some Seattle fans would bash Wilson's openness about his religion, to be honest. He gets away with that in Seattle because he's ours.

Whenever people say Kaepernick dresses like a "thug," I just remember that "thug" is a new code word for n----- [would type it but don't want to get modded]. Lots of black people dress that way, but since it originated with black folks, it's thuggish. In the '50s, it was rock'n'roll being "from the devil" or what have you. If it's black-affiliated, there's a code word or term that racists use to be able to criticize without being called out.

Marshawn Lynch must be the biggest thug in the world then.









My point is you can never judge someone by their appearance. It's all fun and games in the context of rival smack-talk, when it becomes more than that (racial statements, not accusing anyone of that...just an example I've seen being brought up) it becomes an issue.

I use Shawn as an example because of his personal style seems to be the same thing that everyone hates on, but they don't even acknowledge it. You can't seriously judge someone by looking at them, you have to get to know the person. Lynch may look like he doesn't care about anything in the world or the kind of dude you don't want to meet in a dark alley, but the fact of the matter is he might be one of the most down to earth, honest, human beings on the planet.

I don't watch SC player interviews, so I have no idea what their like outside of the coverage they get on a national platform and/or on Dot Net. I don't like Colon because of his appearance. If anything he's an ass (He could be a good dude, but I think some of his off season stuff is getting polish by his PR team now that he's the face of a franchise), but that's not what this is about. That said, there's no way he's different than anyone in Seattle's locker room in terms of dress or giving off the perception that they're tough guys that had to bust their ass to keep away from choosing a negative path in life.

This comes in more forms that just the "urban kid" that made it big, go look at the ESPN "touching life stories" or whatever the hell you want to call it. People come back from injuries in high school, college kids have to hop around from school to school because of different problems, etc. It all depends on the story a person tells, the persona they give off, and more importantly how media outlets try and spin it.

Smelly McUgly":1jahkhhl said:

Whenever people say Kaepernick dresses like a "thug," I just remember that "thug" is a new code word

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Yeah, that's where I start getting really touchy too. I mean, 99/100 I don't think people who say it are doing so with active racial animus in their hearts, but we also know what it means and what it's a code word for.

When people say Kap is "immature" my response is "yeah, that's true." Doubling down on the Dolphins hat thing is immature. Retweeting his "haters" is immature. "Immature" is a code word for emotionally young, and still with some growing to do, and I think those things are absolutely true of Kap. It's the thug thing where I draw the line.

TBH, the same thing happens with the 9ers fanbase, which I've skated around on three or four occasions here. We all know the 9ers fanbase is significantly less white than the Hawks fanbase, so when Hawks fans say 9ers fans are "all thugs" I get pretty edgy for the same reason. When some Hawks fans incessantly talk about 9ers fans stabbing other fans (because two years ago a gangmember stabbed another gangmember near Candlestick over something that had nothing to do with football) because 9ers fans are "all thugs" I get super touchy. 9ers fans are all "bandwagoners", all "whiners", all whatever doesn't bother me, it's just the coded thug thing that chaps my hide a lot, and makes everything suddenly less fun.

FWIW I've never heard a 9ers fan bag on Wilson about his faith. They just call him a midget and a boring robot. They don't do the "thug" thing b/c there are tons of young black men across the bay area who look and sound and talk like Lynch or Kap or whoever. Some of 'em are struggling or selling drugs. Some of 'em are lawyers. Some of 'em work for non-profit social justice organizations and some of 'em work in tech and media. There are a lot of really nice kids and smart kids in the Bay Area who some people would see from across the street and label as "thugs."

Just for the record, wanted to point out that Kaep did in fact greet Wilson midfield after the game.

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He did Marv and I was very happy to see it.. there's hope for that young man yet...

I know a lot of the guys are down on Kap after the way this game went in the 4th quarter, but man that dudes a warrior, and what an athlete, that TD throw to Boldin in mid air blew me away. I think another year under his belt that dude will be a the real deal..

Congrats on a great team and great season.

Seahawk Sailor":1e0dotg6 said:

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Kaep always looks like a kid where the other qbs look like grown men.

Seahawk Sailor":ioghotn4 said:

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Russ is so handsome

HoRneR":3j6ypoab said:

SmokinHawk":3j6ypoab said:

Never saw him as a thug. I see him as a mentally weak wannabe in the throes of an identity crisis.

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Being 3-0 on the road in the playoffs soon to be 4-0 seems mentally weak to me also!

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3-1.

SUPERB OWL!!!!

I'm really confused what you guys think a 'thug' is?

When I see those QBs in post-game attire, I think (fairly or not), three lawyers and Vanilla Ice.

After seeing Turning Point and hearing Kaep congratulate Russell and tell him to "Go get yourself a ring" I have a new found respect for the young man.

He's a hell of a player, and if he learns to go through his reads, he will be near impossible to stop.

SonicHawk":3ql1i1ye said:

I'm really confused what you guys think a 'thug' is?

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Pretty simple, wear any type of urban clothing and listen to hip hop = thug

Doesn't matter if you have a criminal record or not, if you do any of these things or both, by god you're a thug.

Zeb is a huge thug.

Throwdown":nk8tro88 said:

Seahawk Sailor":nk8tro88 said:

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Russ is so handsome

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RUSSELL FOR PRESIDENT!!! .. Wait this isn't what we're talking about huh?