You may have heard that former no-name NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick did a formal workout — whatever the hell that means — with the National Football League, raising speculation that the social justice activist may return to professional sports after all.
If that was all you knew about the incident, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a good faith attempt to get back in the game. But…there’s more to the story. You see, this was a media spectacle more than it was anything else. Kaepernick said he’s been waiting for this for years, and maintains that he was booted from the league due to his social justice activism. People who actually paid attention to his career think differently.
Before Kaepernick began “taking a knee” during the national anthem at the beginning of games, no one outside of the NFL’s fandom knew who he was. Even those more familiar with the league didn’t really have him on their radar, because they had no reason to. He was a backup quarterback, and found a way to make himself a celebrity overnight.
As he fades into obscurity, this stunt with the NFL wasn’t anything different.
