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When we were young, we were taught to stand up while pledging allegiance.
Pledging allegiance.
That sounds so cult-like, doesn't it?
But we didn't put to much thought into what it was called. We just stood up and recited the pledge of allegiance.
No big deal.

Later, before big events, we knew that we had to stand up for 'The Star Spangled Banner'.
The Star Spangled Banner.
Really, if not having heard the song, we would probably guess it was a country song.
But, it is what it is. It is America's song.
No, not the 'America' that sang 'Horse With No Name'.
It is our song.

We think of it in many ways.
Running through our minds while it is being sung may be the following things....
'Did I turn off the lights at home?'
'I wonder if she is still mad at me?'
'Crap, this isn't 'The Voice'! Sing the song right, willya?'

Or after a catastophic event like 9-11-2001, it could make us break down.
Make us proud that we are an American.
That no foreigners are going to come in and ruin the good thing we've got going here.
It is at this time that we get the true feel and meaning of the anthem.

Colin Kaepernick sat for the National Anthem.
He got what he wanted,
Or did he?
He got attention.
Kaepernick wanted to raise awareness about some issue with police and blacks.
Did he raise more awareness towards that or to himself?
And now his 'followers' all seem to be just that, followers.
The press obsessing more about the 'how many' than the 'why'.
It's a colonoscopy or 'Colinoscopy' if you will.
The camera's are focused on something kind of icky.
Only the diagnosis won't come from doctors. It'll come from you, me and John Q. Public.

Kaepernick is a fading football player who is probably going to be out of football in a year or two.
He'll be remembered for being in a Super Bowl and sitting down for the National Anthem.
His 'cause'?
That'll be a 'Jeopardy' question in five years.
Heck, raising awareness to police/blacks is like raising awareness to Isis.
Most of us, as individuals, don't like the problem, but at the same time, there is not much we can do about the problem either.
Mostly, what Colin Kaepernick did was raise awareness to Colin Kaepernick.
And not in a good way.
And like every shooting-star celebrity, it'll fade fast.

I'd like to give Kaepernick a colonoscopy using rusty garden tools.

In the United States, we are a complex and advanced republic. We would fight to the death to protect the right of someone to speak his or her mind, even if the topic or position taken is one that makes our blood boil.

Kaepernick has the RIGHT to sit, kneel, or whizz, or whatever during the National Anthem. He has the RIGHT of free expression. What he LACKS is the intelligence, the insight, or the foresight to choose HOW to exercise his right in a manner that will generate other than the most short term and insignificant impact.

But like I wrote earlier, we protect the rights of all, even the stupid too. And it is MY right to view his expression and adjust my actions accordingly. I do not like what he did. I do not like what the other football players did. The NFL's silence or at least lack of punitive punishment is taken by me to be tacit acceptance.

Therefore I will exercise MY right to either support Kaepernick, the other players, and the NFL...or not.

Not.

I will not buy one ticket, one jersey, cap, mug, banner, or poster.

I will not even watch a single game this year.

I will not watch the Super Bowl.

I am only one. They will not miss me. But you know, I will not miss them either. I will take a knee in my own way. I just got my Sunday's back.