USA Today Reporter Claims Colin Kaepernick Is ‘Most Important Athlete Of The Decade’

A sports reporter for USA Today just claimed that former NFL player Colin Kaepernick is the “most important athlete of the decade.”

Reporter Praises Kaepernick

Chris Korman took to the USA Today “For The Win” website to praise Kaepernick for his infamous National Anthem protests that saw him taking knee during the the patriotic song to protest against racial inequality in America.

Korman argues that Kaepernick is “important” because his protests “worked as intended.”

“He sat, at first, and then knelt during the playing of the national anthem,” Korman wrote, “precisely so that we would talk about the issues he wanted us to talk about: police violence directed toward black men and the systemic racism that enables it and shapes so much of how we live and have always lived in America.”

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Korman Is Wrong

However, Korman is wrong in making this argument. By the time Kaepernick began taking a knee, the Black Lives Matter movement was in full swing. So, everyone was already aware of the issues that he claimed to be trying to shine a light on.

With his piece, Korman is clearly conflating notoriety with importance. Yes, Kaepernick did make headlines for his protest, but he did not really accomplish anything else.

“For his part, Kaepernick has avoided the public light — unless he has control over how his image is used,” Korman continued. “He very much started this fire but has rarely stoked it, repeatedly declining to sit for interviews for the myriad stories done about him.”

I beg to differ with Korman there as well considering Kaepernick held a special workout session for NFL teams, only to move it at the last minute. Kaep stepped into the limelight for that and it subsequently backfired on him.

This just goes to show that Kaepernick is far more interested in helping himself than he is in helping others. Since leaving the NFL at the end of the 2016 season, Kaepernick has only spoken publicly when he was benefiting financially in some way.

RELATED: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Says League Has ‘Moved On’ From Colin Kaepernick

Korman Continues To Praise Kaepernick

Korman went on to say:

In late August of 2016, after he was first noticed sitting for the anthem, he gave an exclusive interview to the NFL’s Steve Wyche to explain his decision — “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said…

At least Korman quoted Kaepernick correctly.

With this statement, Kaepernick made it clear that he will never stand for the American flag.

This is a blatant slap in the face to the millions of men and women who have fought and died for our flag.

Here are just a couple of the tweets in response to Korman that echo my sentiment:

I can think of many words to describe Kaepernick and his offensive protests. But, “important” would not be one of them.