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Reilly's Kaepernick column

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Double Down, Jan 30, 2013.

  1. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    He's encouraging Kaep to meet his birth mom. Invokes his own adopted daughter, who he adopted from Korea.

    http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

    Powerful? Unfair? Somewhere in between?
     
  2. Small Town Guy

    Small Town Guy Well-Known Member

    I'm gonna say somewhere in between. Main reaction is the same one I had to Reilly's piece about guilting Tiger into meeting his siblings -- uneasy. it's great Reilly's daughter has had the experiences she did. Doesn't mean Kaepernick has to follow the same path. I think about my own family and someone writing a column about my relationship with, say, my sister. Who I get along with and love and would do just about anything for. But...we have issues. And never talk on the phone. And see each other about five days a year. How could I explain the complexities in an answer to a reporter's queries? How could a writer in 800 words explain why I should do something in a situation he, when you get down to it, doesn't know anything about. Feels too much like he's going for a Hallmark moment, and I picture Kaepernick agreeing to do it and then Reilly requesting if he can be there at the reunion as they relaunch the Homecoming series.
     
  3. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    You can see how little he cares in the wording of the first two paragraphs. That could have been a really powerful passage.
     
  4. Harry Doyle

    Harry Doyle Member

    I don't know how Reilly could have written this without bringing his own daughter into it. It gives him credibility on this issue, it allows him to offer an opinion that otherwise would be quickly dismissed. However, I'm no fan of telling someone what to do with their personal life. Agree with Small Town Guy. What was good for Rae isn't necessarily good for Colin Kaepernick. Do I think he should call the lady up? Yeah, of course. But my opinion on this matters just as much as Reilly's — zilch.
     
  5. Uncle.Ruckus

    Uncle.Ruckus Guest

  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  7. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    A few Rick Reilly ledes:

    The last one probably applies best to this kind of column.
     
  8. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Those are some awesome ledes, save the last one. Dude was nails in his prime.
     
  9. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    The Schott one is great.
     
  10. swenk

    swenk Member

    Really glad someone posted this, I actually got a stomach ache reading it earlier today.

    As an adoptive parent, I was stunned and revolted by Reilly's suggestion that Kaepernick has somehow made the wrong choice, that his attitude is "odd," that a hug with his birthmother could "fill two hearts."

    You want to write about your daughter's successful reunion with her birthmother in Korea, write it. It's a beautiful story for your family. But to write is as an admonition of a young man who has chosen otherwise--because, you know, it's Super Bowl week and this is what we do--is arrogant beyond belief.

    My beautiful daughter found and met her birthparents, with the full support of our family. Let me just say this: You don't know what's behind that door until it's been opened, and once opened, it cannot be easily closed. It's not a bad thing or a good thing, it's just a complexity that most people don't have to deal with. It's also a deeply personal and complicated emotional process to be navigated by a family, not by a sports columnist eager to share his personal experience, playing at pop psychology and inserting himself into a private issue that's apparently a non-issue to the Kaepernicks.
     
  11. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    Reilly has no right to guilt-trip Kaepernick. And he laid it on pretty thick.
     
  12. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    The more interesting rumor is who Kaepernick's father may be...
     
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