Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL today alleging collusion between the entirely of the NFL in blocking him from playing in the League.
He needs your support more than ever. Think the guy is a joke and disrespectful? That's your right, but if you're a fan of the 15 or so NFL teams that need a quarterback that's better than the one they have right now, you'd probably root for the guy if he were to sign with your team!
Get your "I'M WITH KAP" shirt right here!!
Or how about this shirt: I Sit With Kaepernick!! Click here to see!!!
Finally, check out this amazing zany tshirt with Kap's fro used in the design!!!
Show your support for Kaepernick!!!
Monday, October 16, 2017
Why Colin Kapernick's Collusion Case Is Different From Tim Tebow
On Sunday Colin Kaepernick's legal time filed a grievance with the NFLPA alleging that the NFL has colluded against him. Kaepernick's well-publicized kneeling during the National Anthem campaign is cited as the reasoning behind the collusion.
I will go over the particulars about why this case is so incredibly important to the NFL in another post. Right now I want to lay out why Kaepernick's collusion allegations are well-founded and why collusion wasn't an issue with another notorious former NFL player, Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow's situation was based on the enormous disparity between his level of playing ability and his popularity. But over 3 seasons and 16 games started in the NFL, Tebow proved time and again that he didn't have the ability to be a consistently successful NFL quarterback. He had a completion percentage of 47.9% with a career quarterback rating of 75.3. In total he threw for 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. For those who may still look at these numbers and see a QB needing time to develop, I see a QB who was very hesitant to make mistakes and consequently made far more plays with his legs than his arm. He should have been a fullback or a tight end. He's not in the league anymore because of his stubbornness in wanting to be a QB, not because he was too demonstrative in his religion.
Photo: https://cdn-s3.si.com/s3fs-public/2016/10/07/colin-kaepernick-49ers-starting-quarterback-chip-kelly.jpg
Get an I'M WITH KAP shirt here!!!
Conversely, let's look at Kaepernick's NFL stats. It's easily forgotten in the controversy that he actually started 10 games last season for the San Francisco 49ers. In his last season as a starter, he threw for 16 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while completing passes at a 59.2% rate. That was good enough for a QB rating of 90.7. Apparently it wasn't good enough for the 49ers who let him go after the season was over. For his career his stats are pretty consistent. Over 69 total games he had a QB rating of 88.9.
Kaepernick's season in 2016 with an atrocious 49ers team (who are slightly less atrocious in 2017) was impressive. How does his QB performance rank with 2017 starting quarterbacks? Quite favorably. He'd be ahead in QB rating over the likes of Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, and Ben Roethlisberger. He'd also be doing much more favorably than the 49ers starting QB, Brian Hoyer. Over the first 6 games on the season Hoyer's QB rating is a dismal 74.1.
Kaepernick has a solid QB history in the NFL. With the paucity of quality backups and, in some cases, capable starters in this year's NFL, at least a few teams should be in a bidding war over acquiring him.
I will go over the particulars about why this case is so incredibly important to the NFL in another post. Right now I want to lay out why Kaepernick's collusion allegations are well-founded and why collusion wasn't an issue with another notorious former NFL player, Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow's situation was based on the enormous disparity between his level of playing ability and his popularity. But over 3 seasons and 16 games started in the NFL, Tebow proved time and again that he didn't have the ability to be a consistently successful NFL quarterback. He had a completion percentage of 47.9% with a career quarterback rating of 75.3. In total he threw for 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. For those who may still look at these numbers and see a QB needing time to develop, I see a QB who was very hesitant to make mistakes and consequently made far more plays with his legs than his arm. He should have been a fullback or a tight end. He's not in the league anymore because of his stubbornness in wanting to be a QB, not because he was too demonstrative in his religion.
Get an I'M WITH KAP shirt here!!!
Conversely, let's look at Kaepernick's NFL stats. It's easily forgotten in the controversy that he actually started 10 games last season for the San Francisco 49ers. In his last season as a starter, he threw for 16 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while completing passes at a 59.2% rate. That was good enough for a QB rating of 90.7. Apparently it wasn't good enough for the 49ers who let him go after the season was over. For his career his stats are pretty consistent. Over 69 total games he had a QB rating of 88.9.
Kaepernick's season in 2016 with an atrocious 49ers team (who are slightly less atrocious in 2017) was impressive. How does his QB performance rank with 2017 starting quarterbacks? Quite favorably. He'd be ahead in QB rating over the likes of Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Andy Dalton, and Ben Roethlisberger. He'd also be doing much more favorably than the 49ers starting QB, Brian Hoyer. Over the first 6 games on the season Hoyer's QB rating is a dismal 74.1.
Kaepernick has a solid QB history in the NFL. With the paucity of quality backups and, in some cases, capable starters in this year's NFL, at least a few teams should be in a bidding war over acquiring him.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Chicago Cubs In the MLB Playoffs: 5 Astounding Facts
1) The Chicago Cubs have been around since 1876 and have only made the post-season playoffs 21 times - a meager 14.8% appearance rate
2) 2017 marks the third year in a row that the Cubs have made the playoffs. The last time this happened was from 1906-1908 (in which they won two World Series championships)
3) 1908 was also the last time the Cubs won a playoff series before 2018
4) In 2016, the Cubs had the highest World Series ticket prices ever: an average ticket went for sale for $3,870, more than double the price for any World Series ticket sold before.
5) When the Cubs won the 2016 World Series in Game 4, it became the single-most watched baseball game on tv in over 25 years.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
The NFL Will Be Around Long After Donald Trump Is Gone
Current U.S. President Donald Trump is picking on NFL players' protest during the National Anthem and now we are seeing a bit of backlash from NFL owners worried about their bottom line.
Whatever side you fall upon in this debate, one thing is clear: the NFL has a kind of staying power that Trump will not. The short-terms ratings drop won't matter. Most Americans who love football will continue to love football as time goes on.
And, as time goes on, more and more people will come to realize the true rationale for why the protests occurred in the first place. NFL players haven't done the best job in communicating why they are protesting.
Photo: https://gdb.voanews.com/2EB2F2D6-0CC2-4BD6-9539-A34DB5F359BA_w1023_r1_s.jpg
Personally I never really liked Kapernick as a player before he started the protests, and it took months for me to understand why it was happening. I thought he was being rather selfish and trying to put attention on himself but I came to see the bigger picture after a great deal of thought. Considering how much money he's donated over the past year to various charities (and we've yet to see proof of Trump's donations anywhere), the narrative about Kapernick should be that he's actually DOING something.
The best thing that could happen with Kapernick is that he gets signed on with an NFL team that has the kind of coaching that could take his game to a better, most consistent level.
Trump's popularity and power peaked months ago. The economy has nowhere to go but down. We could get into a war with...(pick a country; many are a possibility). His reality show tv act is tired and is going to wear out any borderline supporters.
The NFL has weathered many storms...and Tropical Depression Donald will be just another one.
Whatever side you fall upon in this debate, one thing is clear: the NFL has a kind of staying power that Trump will not. The short-terms ratings drop won't matter. Most Americans who love football will continue to love football as time goes on.
And, as time goes on, more and more people will come to realize the true rationale for why the protests occurred in the first place. NFL players haven't done the best job in communicating why they are protesting.
Personally I never really liked Kapernick as a player before he started the protests, and it took months for me to understand why it was happening. I thought he was being rather selfish and trying to put attention on himself but I came to see the bigger picture after a great deal of thought. Considering how much money he's donated over the past year to various charities (and we've yet to see proof of Trump's donations anywhere), the narrative about Kapernick should be that he's actually DOING something.
The best thing that could happen with Kapernick is that he gets signed on with an NFL team that has the kind of coaching that could take his game to a better, most consistent level.
Trump's popularity and power peaked months ago. The economy has nowhere to go but down. We could get into a war with...(pick a country; many are a possibility). His reality show tv act is tired and is going to wear out any borderline supporters.
The NFL has weathered many storms...and Tropical Depression Donald will be just another one.
Why The Olympics Need To Die
Over the past few months, it's been quite clear that the Winter Olympics in South Korea early in 2018 are in a lot of financial trouble. With only a few months left before the Opening Ceremonies, the vast majority of tickets are still available. With international and regional political tensions rising between North Korea and the United States, it's unlikely that we will see a surge of tourism to the area to increase attendance. South Korea is going to need to give the tickets away to their own citizens to get the seats filled.
Photo: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/08/13/article-P-c8db42c0-5621-4a68-b549-3e5aa4ae8304-1J5bY1dRgKae936c68daee847aec-498_634x356.jpg
It's not like this is a new situation, either. The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio didn't come close to selling out, and many venues were clearly quite empty during the competition. Part of the problem for these poor tickets sales is location and the local economy. In Rio, many of the locals were simply not capable of buying tickets, and outsiders were leery of going to a city that has a high degree of crime. In South Korea, the culture doesn't particularly care for winter sports. According to this article, the most popular sports Koreans like to watch are baseball, basketball, and soccer - all summer Olympic sports. Outside of that, the most popular activity is gaming.
Because of the financial strain of hosting the Olympics, fewer and fewer countries are bidding for the "honor" of hosting. Very few countries have the infrastructure and venues already in place to justify hosting.
Olympic Games from 2004 -2016 cost over $8 billion to run, and that doesn't even include all the local infrastructure improvements that had to take place. The hope is that the exposure during the Olympic Games will be enough to stimulate a surge in tourism afterwards, but that's just not been the case. Does anyone actually visit Sochi? London has probably made the best usage of its Olympic venues in recent years, but does it make the nation enough money to justify the expense? Rio's venues are going to remain barren until they are demolished.
Countries shouldn't have to go bankrupt in order to host the Games, and at some point in the next 10 years no one is going to step forward anymore to want to do it.
It's not like this is a new situation, either. The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio didn't come close to selling out, and many venues were clearly quite empty during the competition. Part of the problem for these poor tickets sales is location and the local economy. In Rio, many of the locals were simply not capable of buying tickets, and outsiders were leery of going to a city that has a high degree of crime. In South Korea, the culture doesn't particularly care for winter sports. According to this article, the most popular sports Koreans like to watch are baseball, basketball, and soccer - all summer Olympic sports. Outside of that, the most popular activity is gaming.
Because of the financial strain of hosting the Olympics, fewer and fewer countries are bidding for the "honor" of hosting. Very few countries have the infrastructure and venues already in place to justify hosting.
Olympic Games from 2004 -2016 cost over $8 billion to run, and that doesn't even include all the local infrastructure improvements that had to take place. The hope is that the exposure during the Olympic Games will be enough to stimulate a surge in tourism afterwards, but that's just not been the case. Does anyone actually visit Sochi? London has probably made the best usage of its Olympic venues in recent years, but does it make the nation enough money to justify the expense? Rio's venues are going to remain barren until they are demolished.
Countries shouldn't have to go bankrupt in order to host the Games, and at some point in the next 10 years no one is going to step forward anymore to want to do it.
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