Bigger Than The Game

 You may not have heard about De'Vondre Campbell. He's a professional football player, but not in that upper echelon of professional football players that you see on television selling insurance or underwear. De'Vondre is a linebacker who played for the San Francisco Forty-Niners. "Played" because he will no longer be playing for that franchise. It is not clear if he will be playing for any professional football team in the near future. This kind of thing happens around this time of year, when injuries take their toll and careers begin to fizzle out. 

That's not why Mister Campbell's football future is in doubt. In the midst of a somewhat forgettable battle of field goals against the Los Angeles Rams this past Thursday, the linebacker who had started the game in front of De'Vondre injured his knee. When the coaches tapped Campbell to go in as a substitute, he declined. He chose not to play. 

The reason for this choice was initially a little confounding. Why suit up and head out in the wind and rain of December in the Bay Area just to turn down your chance to get a little playing time? As more of the story became clear, it seems that De'Vondre was unhappy with the way he was being treated by the organization, coaches and ownership. This was his moment to stick it to the man. Which got me thinking about another San Francisco Forty-Niner, a quarterback who led his team to the Super Bowl a few years back. 

You probably remember Colin Kaepernick. He was a star in the manner of Mahomes and Manning. Until he decided he wanted to take a knee during the National Anthem. Not during the game, mind you, just during the pre-game "festivities." This was in 2016. Kaepernick was using his non-presence as a statement against a country that he felt "oppresses Black people and people of color." Even worse, other NFL players began to follow suit, and eventually there were dozens of others joined in the protest. 

Cutting to the chase, Colin Kaepernick's career with the San Francisco Forty-Niners was over soon after that. Donald Trump was elected "president," and in spite of being in his prime a Super Bowl quarterback Kaepernick was not picked up by any other team. 

This memory sent me way back in the data files to a movie from 1987 called Amazing Grace And Chuck. It tells the story of a Little League pitcher who decides that he won't play baseball until there are no more nuclear weapons. A professional basketball player hears about this and follows suit. Eventually there is a house full of pro athletes taking this pledge, causing a national crisis. The president is played by Gregory Peck in this film, so there's a little more liberal tinge to the goings-on, and I won't tell you how it ends. But I can say that it makes for a good parable. 

I hope that De'Vondre Campbell gets to play football again.