Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Who would have thought a hat could stir up so much controversy? Yes, a stupid hat. Colin Kaepernick decided to rock a Miami Dolphins hat to a party, and everybody lost their minds, one way or the other. I’m definitely in the camp of folks that don’t think it’s okay, but at the same time, I respect the other point of view that it’s just a stupid hat and he can do whatever he wants. But what I took from the whole fiasco, is that Kaepernick isn’t quite all grown up yet.
At 25 years-old the speedy quarterback took the NFL by storm. He burst on the scene midway through the 2012 season, and didn’t look back. He took the San Francisco 49ers all the way to the Super Bowl, and made it look easy at times. Who wouldn’t be supremely confident after that? But confident enough to wear another NFL team’s hat?
He’s right when he says that people ‘must be bored,’ but he also threw some fuel on the fire by acting like wearing the hat was no big deal. It clearly was a big deal.
To me, the main point is that you just don’t support a rival brand. It sends the wrong message to fans, and there’s just no reason to do it. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Jim Harbaugh would agree with me…
To be clear, I don’t think Colin Kaepernick is an immature person. I do believe he displayed immature behavior with his decision to wear the hat and his subsequent reaction to the criticism – but I also believe that he’ll learn from it and become more loyal to the 49ers than ever.
Follow Andrew Fisher on Twitter
