If Colin Kaepernick ever rejoins the National Football League, Adidas is ready to cash in with a shoe line befitting of America’s most notorious jock/social justice warrior. The Undefeated race-baiting blog is all for it, too, because Kap is a “man of the people.”
Aaron Dodson’s blog on The Undefeated quoted Adidas North America president Mark King saying of the former football player-turned-Black Lives Matter activist: “If he signs on a team, we would definitely want to sign him.” Dodson lists the reasons why that would be sooo cool.
For one, Kaepernick is “a man of the people.” Dodson writes that Kaepernick led the NFL in jersey sales for a time after he began his anthem protest in 2016. He has 4 million-plus followers on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. He was among the finalists for Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2017. He gave away $100,000 to charitable organizations – if you can call the Center for Reproductive Rights “charitable” for promoting abortion. He even gave all of his sweaty sneakers to homeless people.
“For a company like Adidas that’s the brand of the culture, it almost seems like a no-brainer to sign a man of the people like Kaepernick,” a fawning Dodson writes. “And why not give him his own signature sneaker too?”
Dodson argued that Adidas has embraced other endorsees with questionable pasts and adds, “We’re not here to judge people’s pasts.” Among those others are Snoop Dog, who was acquitted of first- and second-degree murder charges in his dubious drug-filled past.
“Nowadays, Snoop is the inspiration behind multiple Adidas shoes and football cleats,” Dodson says. “On The Clipse’s 2002 record “Grindin’,” Pusha T spits, From ghetto to ghetto, to backyard to yard, I sell it whipped, unwhipped, it’s soft or hard. The Virginia MC isn’t shy about rapping about his history of slanging drugs, and that artistic creativity has contributed to a reputation that warranted a signature Adidas sneaker. But Kaepernick has to be in the NFL to get signed to a deal? C’mon.”
Kaepernick also has the right brand stuff for a company like Adidas, Dodson asserts:
“You can’t tell us Kap wouldn’t have fit into the brand’s one-minute short film (with his Afro perfectly picked out), and the campaign’s overarching message as the creator of one of the most impactful social movements of his generation.”
Incidentally, Tennessee Titans wide receiver Rishard Matthews had custom Kaepernick shoes (seen in above photograph) prepared for a November game last season. Those shoes were adorned by the name of an event Kaepernick started, "Know Your Rights," and which include a drawing of Kaepernick. Dodson crowed then about Mathews bringing Kaepernick back to football.
Those shoes never made it onto the playing field because Matthews had a hamstring injury. And there’s a huge segment of Americans who hope the disrespectful Kaepernick never steps onto an NFL field again either. Their vote for a Kaepernick shoe line would include the words “Not Now, Colin. Not ever.”
