Colin Kaepernick – Roy Kessel

Roy’s Ramble (11-22-19)

rkessel — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 05:55:47 +0000

It has been an interesting week. Last weekend I was out in Buffalo for Project Play Western New York. This week I have been out in California for meetings with more sports youth organizations, promoting Sports Philanthropy WORLD 2020 and meeting with speakers and sponsors for that event coming up June 25-26, 2020. If you would like to register, you can get our SUPER EARLY BIRD rate through December 31, 2019.

For much of the week I have been attending MEGASUCCESS, a conference run by JT Foxx. It has been an amazing experience. I have also had an opportunity to reconnect with some good friends and have a chance to sit down for meaningful conversations with people who are trying to change the world.

Amidst all of the travel and activity, I am feeling very thankful for the people that I have in my life and recognize how fortunate I am to have many supportive people in my life. While I am involved with sports philanthropy all year round, especially at this holiday time, I encourage people to think about their good fortune and donate to causes that help with food insecurity. Blessing in a Backpack is great organization my daughter Julia is raising money for through her sorority. Blessings helps feed children in need and is something that runs across all races and geographic locations.

What I was following this week:

Colin Kaepernick—This situation got out of control quick. You can see what I wrote about “Plenty of Blame to Go Around in NFL/Kaepernick Fiasco.” Ultimately, even many of those who have spoken out in support of Kaepernick’s right to protest, like Stephen A. Smith, have come down harshly on him agreeing with what I wrote about him trying to dictate terms of a job interview. Stephen A’s comments this morning focused on the fact that the NFL was even allowing him an opportunity after he sued them, took a huge settlement and more. I will be surprised if he ends up on an NFL roster this season.

Tua Tagovailoa injury—People heaped blame on Saban, but the injury occurred in the first half so that is clearly absurd. No team sits starters in the first half, regardless of the score. The bigger concern might be the issue raised when it became apparent that Tua did not have the proper insurance to protect him in the event of an injury. That is a place where they are rightfully angry at the school because he should have had coverage to protect a drop in value, not just the total permanent disability. This is why athletes need representation to help them negotiate and ensure the proper steps are taken.

Athlete violence—In the wake of the Myles Garrett fiasco, there were many calls for the NFL to take a stronger stance against domestic violence or other violence against women. Some expressed disappointment that there was more outrage from Garrett’s conduct than some of the recent examples of violence directed to women. It becomes interesting to watch some of the double standards that exist where players and many members of the media seem to be more willing to give players a second chance or benefit of the doubt for a domestic violence incident than they do for Myles Garrett’s helmet swing, with some calling for a permanent ban.

The NCPA (National College Players Association) held an event at UCLA which was primarily focused on two issues: 1) health and safety of college athletes; 2) whether players should be paid or allowed to capitalize on their name image and likeness. The stories from the women on the first panel were heartbreaking. Listening to the abuse they suffered and hearing about the number of failures in the administration, you have to wonder how so many people could turn a blind eye to their pleas. Yet it has happened frequently. (You can read my more detailed summary of each panel coming soon if you check back on this site). The second panel focused on the issue of payments to players, either in the form of direct payments from the schools or allowing athletes to capitalize on their name image and likeness. Here are a few articles that I have previously written about the topic.
- NCAA Statement on Name, Image, Likeness Leaves Gaping Holes
- Only Two Choices Left for College Sports: Level Playing Field or Free Market

MEGASUCCESS by JT Foxx—Each year JT Foxx puts together an incredible lineup of celebrities for his MegaSuccess event. So far, the event has featured: Hugh Hilton, Steadman Graham, Gabriel Macht (Harvey Spector from Suits), Omarosa, Dr. Phil, Vince Vaughn, Dolph Lundgren, Jillian Michaels and many others. The celebrity aspect is truly just one part of the environment because the event draws over 2500 entrepreneurs from over 80 countries around the world. It is an incredible opportunity to engage with business leaders from around the world, learn about different cultures and network with successful business people trying to help each other improve their businesses.

California Organizations—Great trip out to California to have the chance to meet with several organizations. Met with LA Scores (Spotlight), AVP First (Spotlight) and GOALS (Spotlight coming soon). Each of them perform incredible work in their community and I especially enjoy the opportunity to take a site visit and see the way each group works. If you want to support our efforts to help organization’s like these, you can become a member of the Sports Philanthropy Network by joining here!

Project Play Western New York— Last weekend I had the honor to present to Project Play of Western New York in Buffalo. There were over 75 people leading youth sports organizations about how to improve their organizations and build their capacity. There was amazing energy in the room and people that are very passionate about helping kids in their community remain active, learn through sports and develop needed life skills and relationship building through their sports activities. A special treat to end the trip was the hospitality of the Buffalo Sabres who gave me my peek into the Key Bank Center as they hosted “Hockey Fights Cancer” night. I managed to be a good luck charm to help the Sabres end their 7-game losing streak (with a 4-goal game from Jack Eichel).

If you didn’t have a chance to see some of the other things I have been involved with or written recently, take a look here:

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Plenty of Blame to Go Around in Kaepernick and NFL Fiasco

rkessel — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 15:28:00 +0000

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick stands on the field before their NFL pre-season football game against the Denver Broncos in San Francisco, California, U.S. August 8, 2013. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo

Colin Kaepernick claims that he wants to be back in the NFL. The NFL claims it wants to give him the opportunity to make that happen.

Neither statement appears to be true.

While the finger pointing reached epidemic levels on Saturday, one key fact became clear. There is plenty blame to go around. You can nitpick all you want, you can point fingers in either direction, but it is clear that there were a lot of better options than what happened, a result, that ultimately will provide trouble for both sides—unless you believe Kaepernick’s sole mission is to get attention.

Let’s look at some of the basic facts.

The NFL set up a workout for Kaeperncik at the Atlanta Falcons facility in Flower Branch. For those that have not been there, it is located in the far NE suburbs of Atlanta, and on the complete opposite end of town from the airport (a fact that might be important later)
The NFL did not allow Kaepernick to select the date.
The NFL did not consult with Kaepernick or his agents and representatives about the date.
The NFL did not consult with the teams about the date or location of the workout and unilaterally scheduled the date without giving them any advance notice until the release went out.
NFL player tryouts are typically held by teams on Tuesdays.
On Saturdays, most NFL personnel are either involved in preparing for their Sunday game or scouting major college football games in person.
Most NFL workouts are closed not only to the public, but to the media and also to a player’s agent (or other representatives).
Players are not allowed to film their own workouts nor do they get tape of that workout to distribute for any other purposes.
Players are routinely asked to sign injury waivers to participate in the workout.

So against that backdrop, we can now see how unreasaonable both sides were in the way that they handled this process.

Problems with NFL Position

In my view, the biggest problems with the NFL action related to unilaterally scheduling the date and doing so without any input from Kaepernick or the other NFL teams. Setting the workout on a Tuesday may have had some good, though as yet, unarticulated purpose. However, from the outside, it appeared to be set in a way that would create a lot of hype, but with little substance, since it would make it difficult for many teams to attend. The injury waiver requirement is interesting. Some reports have characterized it as a standard media waiver. Others have highlighted the significant distinctions and sided with Kaepernick’s counsel who classified it as overreaching. You can judge for yourself by reading this great analysis by Michael McCann who writes for Sports Illustrated. While the NFL does not typically allow workouts to be filmed, it is obvious that this case is anything but typical. For instance, the NFL typically does not set up the workouts nor does the NFL distribute film or reports from the workouts to all of the NFL teams.

A bit of advance planning with Kaepernick’s camp could have prevented some of this drama and ultimately I think the NFL should have relaxed its positon on the media attendance at the workout. The league’s statement Saturday afternoon about Kaepernick’s no-show struck me as a bit disingenuous because while that was technically true, the league had knowledge that Kaepernick had moved the workout. So while its seemed reasonable to me to express frustration with that decision and the burden it put on traveling scouts, classifying it as a “No-Show” hardly seems accurate.

Problems with Kaepernick Position

In my view, ultimately Kaepernick came out the loser in this battle. The NFL is big. The NFL is powerful. The NFL will survive even if Kaepernick does ultimately file (and even win) a lawsuit. His time clock is ticking and his actions alienated a lot of teams in the league and likely pissed off many in the scouting community who felt that they were bending over backwards to give him a chance, only to be given exceedingly late notice to move to a different location over an hour away. In my view, his behavior in moving the workout, especially on late notice, was an attempt to take control of a workout that was never his to start with. If Kaepernick want to have his own workout, he could have done that at anytime over the last few years. You know why he hasn’t? Either he wasn’t interested, he wasn’t in shape or he knew that NFL teams would not attend. So now with the league extending an olive branch (as flawed as it may have been), Kaepernick would have been better served to accept it for what it was an build on it from there. Ask yourself this questions: If any person who works in finance was given an opportunity to interview for an executive position in an elite Wall Street firm, how would that firm react if the interviewee suggested on less than an hour’s notice that preferred to do the meeting in Hoboken, NJ and asked them to travel there to meet him.

My position does not minimize Kaepernick’s important message and the courage it has taken him to stand up and fight for what he believes is right. But it does seem to me that this is another step in the wrong direction for him, just as were the pig police socks he wore after his initial protest. The saddest part to me is that his entire message has been garbled and the power of his stance has been weakened dramatically from what it could have been and he has received far less support from the players (and probably also the league) because of those factors.

Additionally, I believe that because of his actions, many teams in the league now believe that Kaepernick was not that serious about really trying to play football. That image has been consistent for the last few years and Saturday’s fiasco did nothing to indicate a serious intent to be part of the league.

Remember, neither side is blameless. But the negative repercussions are worse for Kaepernick.

Roy’s Ramble, November 15, 2019

rkessel — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 03:15:17 +0000

A terrible week for the NFL comes to an end with one of the ugliest incidents anyone has ever seen in the league. They can only hope that Sunday’s games do something to take the spotlight off of the the Browns-Steelers debacle.

Browns-Steelers—This is obviously the headline story of the week. One of the most vicious incidents ever seen in an NFL game overshadowed an otherwise boring football game. Probably the only person happy about the ending was Browns DB Demarious Randall. Randall was ejected—something hard to accomplish in the NFL—for a helmet to helmet hit which was really not even close to being a reasonable football play. His hit would be the talk of the NFL world if not for Myles Garrett and his helmet swing. Roger Goodell and the NFL came out with a strong and prompt message. The prompt part might have been the most surprising given how slow the NFL usually moves, but the league could not let last night’s incident go unpunished into a full slate of games this weekend. The quick suspensions are just the easy ones and you can anticipate that there will be a lot more fallout as the NFL fully looks into the incident. Mason Rudolph is unlikely to go without punishment either.

Houston Astros—The Astros were also beneficiaries of Myles Garrett’s actions. Their electronic sign stealing will still be a huge story as it is unlikely that they are the only team using technology to steal signs. As the analytics craze hits everything else, it is almost funny that the teams do not want anyone stealing signs. The process of stealing signs has been going on for over 100 years, but the “spirit” of the game apparently draws the line here.

Project Play Western New York—I am excited to be presenting Saturday for a group of sports organizations funded by Project Play of Western New York. We are expecting over 75 leaders representing 50+ organizations to participate in the workshop and break out sessions aimed at building the capacity of their organizations. As with many organizations, the challenge is how to balance all of the requirements of running a youth sports organization. Typically the Founder takes on an enormous burden both financially and in time. As we sit with organizations we try to help them identify the best way to make their organization sustainable so that if they get hit by that bus, the organization will be able to carry on its important mission and all of the hard-work from the Founder will not go to waste. One of my favorite parts of this process is the smaller group sessions which allow the participants to ask the questions with which they need the most help.

Colin Kaepernick—In another of the NFL’s struggles, the workout set up for Colin Kaepernick on Saturday has received wide-spread criticism. The reason is that it does not fit in the NFL’s usual timeframe for working out players (Tuesday). The league did not give Kaepernick much advance notice and many sources have reported that they gave the teams no notice at all prior to the media announcement. The bottom line is many feel this is a CYA move by the league. Kaepernick feels he has been blackballed by the league and a victim of systematic discrimination. However, some former players close to the league have told me that Kaepernick was not even trying to get workouts, was not in shape, and was not training and practicing in any fashion which would make the NFL teams take him seriously. Remember, this is a small community and people know what is going on. If Kaepernick was training and preparing for workouts, word would easily have gotten back to the NFL teams. It will be interesting to follow what happens at Saturday’s workout. Maybe the NFL should give a compensatory to pick to the team who dares to sign him. It will be interesting to follow what happens on Saturday and it will probably merit its own article early next week so check back here. UPDATE: 11-18-19 Plenty of Blame To Go Around in Kaepernick and NFL Fiasco

Fiserv Forum/Giannis—I had my first chance to see Fiserv Forum and watch Giannis live. His athleticism is even more impressive in person than in HDTV. For my personal taste, there are still too many side shows at NBA games because I like the focus on the game and the competition but the crowd for the most part seemed much more engaged by the entertainment during the timeouts. Fiserv lived up to its billing with an impressive array of food selections and nicely redeveloped area though somewhat inexplicably, several of the bar/restaurants would not serve food or have anything other than bar service. Really? You didn’t see the game schedule? Or you didn’t expect people to come by after the game when you are 200 feet from the exit? Puzzling.

Georgia vs. Alabama—Does someone want to explain to me how Georgia is ranked ahead of Alabama? As you can read in my post about “Why an 8-team Playoff Will Save College Football”, the criteria are so questionable that nobody knows the real requirements. Georgia lost at home to South Carolina. South Carolina is currently 4-5. Alabama lost at home to #1 LSU. LSU is undefeated. Granted Georgia has a couple good wins (Notre Dame and Florida). However, you can only play who is on your schedule. I hate the concept of punishing teams for schedules which are either set a decade in advance (for non-conference games) or are out of their control (set by the conference). Alabama is still likely to get into the playoff if LSU beat Georgia. So the Tide will now have to cheer for their rivals because there is almost no way Bama gets in if LSU loses to Georgia because you are hard pressed to see how Bama would be picked ahead of the team that beat them.

HUMOR FOR THE WEEK

MOTIVATION FOR THE WEEK