The story kind of reads like something out of The Onion. In a game where the big headline was San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's very rusty performance in his return to the field, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk went in another direction. He focused on something that the quarterback decided not to do while off the field.
Florio points out that Kaepernick decided against standing for the National Anthem prior to kickoff on Friday night. The team even went as far as to issue a statement to Pro Football Talk.
"The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony," the team said in the statement. "It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose to participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem."
Pro Football Talk went on to point out that Kaepernick retweeted a Tweet on Thursday, accompanied by images of the American and Confederate flags, that said the following:
"The fact that you really believe that there is difference in these flags means that your [sic] ignoring history."
Yup. This is a story. And yes, we kind of just contributed to the problem. We offer our apologies. Here's to hoping that everyone kind of just gives Florio a thumbs up, says, "Cool story bro," and then moves on with their day.
Below is a photo originally posted via Twitter by Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. The Tweet was later deleted. That is Kaepernick sitting in front of the Gatorade containers.
