Colin Kaepernick defends wearing Miami Dolphins hat, which he didn’t need to do

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

When I was a teenager I went to San Diego Chargers training camp, and saw Junior Seau in a Jacksonville Jaguars shirt. I thought it was a little weird (obviously, since I remember it). But about two seconds later I shrugged and realized it wasn't a big deal.

I had no idea at the time that kind of thing makes some people irrationally angry.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick wore a Miami Dolphins hat on the Fourth of July.

This is the absolute definition of "no big deal." He's not a free agent. He's not going to sell his playbook to Ryan Tannehill. He's not going to get in a time machine and change the outcome of Super Bowl XIX. A man wore a hat. But people got upset and this ended up being a big enough deal that Kaepernick took to Instagram to defend it.

Here's what he wrote with the rather funny picture above (which was reversed like it was taken in a mirror – we straightened it out for him):

"This the hat y'all mad at? I'm goin wear what I want regardless of what you think, all you need to worry about is the fact that I grind for my teammates and the 49ers! I plan on doin this until they won't let me in the building! #ridiculous #y'allmustbebored"

I weep that he had to write that. He wore a hat, people.

Much like the outrage over San Antonio's Danny Green going to the Heat's victory party to give his friend LeBron James some love after the Spurs lost, some people need some perspective. These athletes are normal people (albeit with exceptional athletic abilities, and a good deal of money and fame). You might hate every other team in the NFL other than your favorite, and have voodoo dolls for each in your home. That's fine. These players do their job, try their best to win, and then they do what everyone else does on their free time. Green perhaps wanted to relax after a really bad day of work. Kaepernick wanted to keep the sun out of his eyes. These are normal things. It's weird anyone would object.

But here we are, with Kaepernick having to defend wearing another NFL team's hat when he was out and about. I'm sorry, Colin, this was all a major waste of your time.

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