One other season of NFL soccer is forthcoming, which suggests it’s time for the annual reminder that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains to be not employed.
In an interview with Sky Sports activities, Kaepernick made clear that — regardless of not having performed skilled soccer in almost eight years — he nonetheless thinks he could be a key cog on a championship staff.
In a video posted Monday, Sky Sports activities spoke to Kaepernick concerning the (controversial) Olympics and the dialog began off innocuous sufficient.
Actually, Kaepernick opened the interview talking concerning the Group USA males’s basketball staff that simply gained gold in Paris (the interview occurred earlier than the precise gold medal sport).
After lauding a few of Group USA’s stalwarts, like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the interviewer broached a sport that Kaepernick is a bit more acquainted with.
“It appears the Olympic spirit has acquired to you, as effectively,” the interviewer mentioned. “Clearly, the following Olympics is in [Los Angeles]. Will we see you play flag soccer in 2028?”
“Hopefully, we’ll be on the market,” Kaepernick mentioned, with fun. “We’re going to work on some issues and see if we are able to make it in there, however we’d like to be on the market.”
Given the distinction between “actual” soccer and its flag-based variant, it’s truly not a stretch to assume that Kaepernick might sneak his method onto the Olympic staff.
And had he left it at that, he most likely wouldn’t be having formerly-favorable retailers calling him “delusional.” (Extra on this shortly.)
“And can we see you play [in the] NFL once more?” the interviewer requested.
A barely extra pensive Kaepernick rapidly gathered his ideas earlier than answering: “We’re nonetheless coaching. We’re nonetheless pushing. So, hopefully, we, uh, simply acquired to get one among these staff homeowners to open up.”
The interviewer swiftly adopted up, asking, “What wouldn’t it imply to you to play [in the] NFL once more?”
“I imply, it’s one thing I’ve educated my entire life for, so having the ability to step again on that subject, I feel that might be a significant second, a significant accomplishment for me,” Kaepernick responded. “Additionally, I feel it’s one thing that I might deliver rather a lot to a staff and assist them win a championship.”
The dialog pivoted away from soccer at that time, however the response to Kaepernick’s latest comeback attempt was telling.
Even retailers which have traditionally been sympathetic to Kaepernick’s unfounded claims of being “blackballed” from the league, urged the previous quarterback to surrender.
Take, for example, a relatively scathing critique from left-leaning Mike Florio‘s Professional Soccer Discuss:
Colin Kaepernick says he nonetheless needs to play within the NFL. Greater than seven years since he final performed, it comes off as delusional. https://t.co/bLpbVFZkm6
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 13, 2024
“Colin Kaepernick says he nonetheless needs to play within the NFL,” Professional Soccer Discuss’s official X account posted. “Greater than seven years since he final performed, it comes off as delusional.”
(And sure, you possibly can see simply how sympathetic Florio and his crew nonetheless are to Kaepernick in the event you learn your entire article.)
Kaepernick grew to become a infamous family identify when, in 2016, the then-benched 49ers quarterback started protesting in the course of the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He first sat in the course of the anthem, earlier than selecting to kneel for it.
Whereas Kaepernick claimed that he was doing it within the identify of social justice, many critics construed his antics as a last-ditch stunt to remain related.
The 36-year-old Kaepernick final performed an NFL sport on Jan. 1, 2017.
This text appeared initially on The Western Journal.
