The greatest white privilege of all

At one point, painters would often have patrons who would support them. Colin Kaepernick, at one point an unconventional NFL quarterback, now has a patron, Nike. That's fine. Hope they live happily ever after.

Would I buy Nike shoes or clothes now that they employ Kaepernick? Doesn't really matter that much. If the clothes are well-made and reasonably priced, sure. Generally speaking, Nike gear is more expensive than it needs to be, but that's because it's designed for people who have disposable income. I send my kids to expensive colleges, so I don't have much disposable income. If my shirt or my shoes don't have a Nike swoosh on them, it doesn't affect my life appreciably.

I typically buy one pair of sneakers a year, usually around May, almost always at the local Kohl's. I have large, wide feet, so it's difficult to find shoes that fit. In my experience, Nike shoes tend to run narrow, so some years I can't find a pair that fits. In the past 20 years or so, I have bought Nike, New Balance, Skechers, Reebok, Converse, Adidas, K-Swiss and probably something else I don't remember. Did the shoes fit? Were they less than $75? If so, I probably bought 'em.

I hear a lot about white privilege, but I've always believed one thing is certain -- a significant percentage of the privilege that impacts your life isn't from the power of the authorities, but rather from the power of peer pressure. If you want to be a fat suburban guy and wear unfashionable Nike Air Monarchs, or some variation of New Balance, or off-brand shoes from Walmart, go right ahead. If you want to spend hundreds of dollars to wear clothing that Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James specify, that's cool with me, too. If you want true white privilege, free yourself from the bondage of caring what other people think about your clothing choices. In the end, people are going to care about what you do and how you treat them, rather than the clothes you had on at the time.

Freedom of speech

We have freedom of speech. When you are being compensated, the organization compensating you may not enjoy your observations so much and take action against you, up to and including no longer providing any more compensation.

• I don't care about Roseanne Barr. She was working for Disney/ABC. If Disney/ABC doesn't like her promulgating offensive tweets against Obama-era officials, they can fire her.
• I don't care about Colin Kaepernick. He was working for the San Francisco 49ers, who got rid of him. Other teams don't see his value being commensurate with the public relations nightmare he is. He's not entitled to a job any more than Roseanne Barr is entitled to a job.

That's the only way intellectually consistent way to look at these issues, I think. Just understand -- the culture war is for keeps, bro.

The day after

Aaron Rodgers goes down. A few thoughts:

• You can't really replace Rodgers. Another guy can play the position, but you can't replace a guy with the skill set Rodgers brings to the team. It's yet another reminder of how blessed the Packers have been for the past quarter century. 
• Brett Hundley will be better next week at home than he was in Minneapolis yesterday. He was a very good college quarterback and he has two years in the system. He can make plays. I don't know if he'll make enough to keep the Packers alive this season, but he'll give it a go. And it won't all be bad. He's playing for his future, which could be lucrative if he makes good.
• Should the Packers bring in Colin Kaepernick? I would not be surprised if the Packers do sign Kaepernick. I believe them when they say they want to ride with Hundley, but they'll need a competent backup. With the bye week coming soon, they would have time to teach him what he needs to know if something happens to Hundley. And the NFL would dearly love to have that grievance Kaepernick just filed against the league to go away. There are certain teams in the league that could "take one for the shield" (e.g., Packers, Giants, Steelers, Bears, old school teams) and I wouldn't be surprised if Roger Goodell and his friends haven't been on the phone with Mark Murphy about it. 
• The downside of Kaepernick isn't his silly politics, per se -- it's the question of whether or not he's sufficiently committed to doing what it takes to succeed. The 49ers let him go because he wasn't particularly effective after the first two seasons; the stories I've read indicate he wasn't willing to do the work outside of the team building that the top quarterbacks do, primarily because he had become too involved in the political causes du jour. If you're going to be a top quarterback, you have to be dedicated to your craft. The potential advantage for Kaepernick to come to Green Bay is simple; people there don't care about the politics nearly as much as they do about football. If you want to concentrate on your craft, Green Bay is a great place to do it, because there aren't as many distractions available as you would find in San Francisco, or even here in the Twin Cities.
• Is there an upside for the Packers signing Kaepernick? Maybe. I do not believe the Packers seriously want to see Joe Callahan playing in a regular season game, which is the current scenario if Hundley is injured. Although Callahan has experience in their system, the jump from being a Div-3 quarterback to the NFL is awfully steep.
• One last thing -- tell me, do you think the following meme is amusing? It was posted on something called "Minnesota Vikings Memes," which I assume has nothing to do with the Vikings organization itself: 



Humor

Apparently some Vikings fans do. I think it's crappy as hell.