The NFL is going in so many wrong directions it would be funny, if not for the gravity of the reasons it’s going south. Not only have various spousal and child abuse problems arisen for key players — grievous mistakes to be sure — but the NFL has now fined San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for wearing the wrong headphones after a game.
Really.
After the 49ers’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Kaepernick strolled into the post-game press conference wearing Beats by Dre headphones. Kaepernick’s been a long-time endorser for the Beats by Dre brand, and he’s previously worn the headphones on the sideline and during a post-game news conference in London.
He was reprimanded privately for those occurrences by the NFL.
The reprimand resulted from the NFL’s existing sponsorship agreement with Bose. Bose, perhaps best known for its noise-canceling headphones, has a slew of everyday headphones that compete with Beats by Dre. Seeing one of its preeminent stars wearing headphones from a competitor to one of its sponsors rubbed the NFL the wrong way.
But to see the 49ers’ Kaepernick fined $10,000 for wearing them? That’s beyond ridiculous.
The NFL has enough on its plate right now to worry about which headphones its players wear. From performance-enhancing drugs to spousal abuse to accusations of child abuse to smoking “a little weed” to drunken driven to concussions to … you get the picture. There are far more social issues the NFL could and should be addressing for it to fret about something as inconsequential as headphone preference.
As the San Jose Mercury News pointed out, the NFL fined Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas $8,268 for a chop block on Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell Sunday that left Campbell with a sprained knee ligament.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is going to fine someone more for wearing the “wrong” headphones than for physically injuring a man with an illegal hit? Come on, Commish, get your priorities straight.
