Mike Vick says he's sorry for telling Colin Kaepernick to cut his hair
The moment Mike Vick said Colin Kaepernick should cut his Afro, that started a brand new chapter in the Kaepernick controversy.
Many weird things have been said about Kaepernick being unsigned months after becoming a free agent, and Vick saying Kaepernick needs to cut his hair ranks high on the list. To Vick’s credit, he understands it was a mistake and said he’s “truly sorry.”
“At the end of the day, what I said, I should have never said. I think it was taken out of context in regards to what I was trying to convey, but I only want to help Kaepernick,” Vick said Thursday on “The Dan Patrick Show,” via ESPN. “I’m not a general manager, I’m not the guy who makes the decisions on getting him signed, and I’m truly sorry for what I said. I think I should have used a better choice of words.
“Obviously his Afro has nothing to do with him being signed and I wasn’t trying to relay that message. It was more so about helping him at the end of the day. In all my interviews all I have ever tried to do is help him and talk positive,” Vick said.
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Vick almost immediately took to Twitter to clarify what he meant by the comment, but it didn’t seem like an apology. His comments on “The Dan Patrick Show” did.
At least Vick has realized what he said was only adding to the problem. Others haven’t. Many have said Kaepernick needs to sit down for an interview to say he still wants to play football (San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch was probably the most prominent voice to say this), and all of them still seem to think that’s a reasonable idea. In the 97-year history of the NFL, no player has had to go on television to say he wants to play. It’s not like teams are eager to sign Kaepernick but have no way of figuring out if he wants to play. It’s just a way for NFL teams to get Kaepernick to show some contrition … contrition for what exactly, I’m not sure. The dog-and-pony show of a television interview wouldn’t help Kaepernick get signed, it would just allow NFL teams to feel like they’re still the ones in control.
Vick’s comments were just as misguided. Players through the years have had hairstyles of all kinds and they haven’t been forced to change them to get signed. At least Vick apologized. The whole Kaepernick discussion could benefit from some folks taking a step back and realizing they’re speaking nonsense.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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