The televised image of the San Francisco 49ers did not belong to Colin Kaepernick when he first "took a knee" during the National Anthem.  He didn't build the image of the team, he didn't nurture it over the years, and clearly he didn't appreciate it.  He decided to make himself a folk hero by dissing America while standing atop that image.  Like a child drawing on his parents' new silk wall covering with a marker pen, he did irreparable damage to the team and the game itself.  This was not "free speech," and it caused a lot of damage.

Other players wanted this hero status as well and thoughtlessly bit the hand that fed them.  They cost the owners and all the support organizations that made this harmless, enjoyable pastime a national icon of entertainment a whole lot of money.

Players were assisted in this wanton destruction by inept and cowardly management that scrambled to grovel cravenly before entities they didn't even understand.  They trembled in fear over the possibility of being considered "racist."

Football, already under attack by do-gooders who want to remove the violence from an elementally violent enterprise, has seen the last of its glory days.  The Chinese virus, a ubiquitous excuse for everything, was just a catalyst here that triggered a great sport's final throes.

The players, and many others involved, believed that American football was bulletproof, unassailable as a beloved institution.  They failed to understand the appeal of the game and the basic patriotic sentiment that was woven into its image from the beginning.  They were not born when it started, and the older leadership failed to instill the affection and respect their forebears fostered.  Football was an escape from everything else — it was something you could care about, paint your face, put a flag outside your house, support your team with a consuming passion.  Put simply, have a good time.

All that's gone.  It's gone because some dimwitted, narcissistic jocks decided that your free time was a resource for them to exploit.

What would have happened if Kaepernick had been booted off the field immediately and off the team for good?  This was not to be — the coaches and management had become as weak and shallow as the players.  They too believed that the NFL was bulletproof.

The dissing of America grew fashionable and spread to all kinds of venues, including international competitions where the players were representing America!  Pitiful, groveling kneeling displays have become commonplace.

It wasn't long before the permanently outraged set of groomed useful idiots decided that people should not be exposed to ideas that are the source of their outrage.  This would include any idea with which they disagree at any given moment in time.  This phenomenon eventually merged with the Cancel Culture — the sledgehammer of public discourse.  We are witnessing the death spiral of American entertainment.

I can only presume that many others are as sick of the whole thing as I am.  I am sick of melodramatic posturing by people who have more voice than brains.

Image: Pixabay