Colin Kaepernick is a difficult quarterback to classify — is he a running quarterback with a rocket arm, or a strong-armed passer who’s fleet of foot? He’s also a difficult quarterback to punish, as the NFL’s fining and appeals process has shown over the last week.
Kaepernick was fined for three separate (and frivolous) violations.
— He was fined $5,512 for a uniform violation: wearing his pants too high above the knee. (If Major League Baseball was as anal as the NFL about pant length, Hunter Pence would’ve been fined 162 times this season and eight times since.) Kaepernick recently won his appeal, and this particular fine was rescinded.
— He was fined $10K for wearing the Beats by Dre headphones at a postgame press conference (pictured above). The NFL is a Bose league, and they are very serious about protecting that partnership. (Now this is a bloodsport league that has their priorities in order!) Kaepernick appealed the fine and has since been seeing wearing Beats with tape covering the logos.
— Kaepernick was fined $11,025 for allegedly saying the n-word to Lamarr Houston after throwing an interception against the Bears. “He knows what he said,” said side judge Laird Hayes, who penalized the 49ers 15 yards for Kaepernick’s naughty words. “It was the right call.”
T0day Kaepernick’s fine was cut in half after appeal.
The appeal was heard by Ted Cottrell, an appeals officer jointly appointed by the NFLPA and NFL, another source told CSNBayArea.com.
Cottrell found that Kaepernick’s conduct was a “clear violation of the rule” but there was no evidence that clearly showed that he used a racial slur, according to a source.
Uh, what? If there was no evidence that he used a racial slur, and his fine was cut in half, how did he violate “the rule”? What is “the rule,” anyway? I have a few ideas.
1. Kaepernick responded to Houston’s taunt by singing the chorus of Aloe Blacc’s “The Man.” … The explicit version.
2. After Houston said “nice pass” to tease Kaepernick for the interception, Kaepernick responded by saying, “Oh yeah? I bet you wear Bose headphones. Everyone knows the only people who wear those are senior citizens on airplanes, dork.”
3. “If you think that pass was nice, you should check out the Solo2 headphones from Beats by Dre,” said Kaepernick, maybe. “If the first Solos were didn’t give you the full audible spectrum you were looking for, the Solo2s will give you those nice highs and mid-level frequencies, Lamarr. Come by our locker room after the game and I’ll let you take a listen to mine.”
