I heard today Colin Kaepernick has still not been signed by any NFL team.
The rumor is that no one wants to sign Kaepernick because no one wants the baggage that comes with him.
The baggage is the need he feels to use television broadcasts on game day as a stage to make political statements.
Interestingly, if this is the reason NFL teams are refusing to sign him, I think they have stumbled into agreement with the kingdom view on the subject.
First, let me say I agree with Kaepernick’s views on racism in police departments. I am a civil rights lawyer, and I am convinced racism is still a major problem in America. It needs to be exposed and opposed wherever it is found.
However, I am a kingdom citizen first, and the purpose of this blog is to examine the world and its events from a kingdom perspective. And, in the kingdom of God, jobs have a purpose. The job of a professional athlete is to entertain with his or her skill those who pay to watch.
Professional football players, like professional golfers, NBA and MLB players, are entertainers. People pay money to watch them play, broadcast media pay money for the rights to broadcast their games so people will watch, and the more people who watch the more advertisers pay to advertise on their broadcasts. Good players are generally more entertaining than bad, good teams more entertaining than bad, and good games more so than bad.
Honesty and integrity matters in commerce. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 11:1. In other words, God hates it when people use deceit to not give people what they pay for. That is why you are right to be angry when you pay for a Madonna concert and at the concert she lectures you on politics. It is not what you paid for and therefore is fundamentally dishonest on her part.
In the kingdom of God, the professional athlete fulfills his calling in his job when he plays well and thereby entertains his audience. The role of the professional athlete, however, is not that of a political activist. Colin Kaepernick should attend political rallies to speak against racism and use his free time to make political statements. After all, it’s his time and his right. But NFL teams are justified in passing on Kaepernick because his past conduct in the stadium on game day makes them concerned they will be paying for a professional football player and getting a politician instead. GS