LEFTOVERS: NFL writer pans madcap Kaepernick
It’s that time of year when a sports writer unjustly criticizes Colin Kaepernick for his appearance.
Last season, SportingNews.com columnist David Whitley condemned the San Francisco 49ers quarterback for having too many tattoos. On Sunday, Buffalo Bills beat writer Sal Maiorana denounced the former UNR star for wearing his hat backward.
After San Francisco’s 23-10 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Maiorana wrote on his Twitter account: “Kaepernick. Always so media friendly. Turn your cap around and act like a professional.”
When a follower replied, “You mean like Hissyfit Rivers?” Maiorana wrote, “No, like Manning, Brees, Rodgers, his own contemporary Wilson. Class goes long way.”
Not surprisingly, Maiorana’s Twitter account exploded, with countless people posting photos of other NFL quarterbacks — including Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Tony Romo — wearing their hats backward.
Maiorana, whose Twitter profile states, in part, “While I try to inform my followers, I usually just infuriate them,” apparently was amused by the response.
“It’s so much fun infuriating all of you,” he tweeted.
An author of 19 books, Maiorana’s next work might be “No Class: How Ken Griffey Jr. Ruined Baseball By Wearing His Hat Backward.”
■ FOOTBALL FEED BAG — The next time your significant other gives you grief for watching a game, just say you’re feeding your soul.
Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady’s supermodel wife, has your back.
Her popularity took a hit two years ago, when in the wake of New England’s 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, she was caught on video saying, “My husband cannot (bleeping) throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.”
The Brazilian helped redeem herself in a recent interview when she essentially supported sports fans everywhere while explaining she only watches football when Brady is playing.
“At night if my husband is watching TV and watching football, I have my little book and I put something in my ears so I don’t hear it, and I put my light (on) and have my book, and I’m like, ‘Ohhh.’ He’s feeding his soul, and that’s important to him to watch football,” she said. “I only want to watch if I’m watching him.”
Sports definitely feeds our souls — as well as nachos and pizza during games.
■ BRADY BASHING — On the subject of Brady, a recent poll (by Public Policy Polling) ranked him the least-liked NFL quarterback, garnering 18 percent of the vote to finish ahead of former NFL player Tim Tebow (12 percent), Robert Griffin III (11 percent) and Eli Manning (7 percent).
Joe Namath thinks Brady is disliked because people are jealous of him.
“He looks at his wife’s pictures in the magazines and holds her hands more than he reads his own press clips,” Namath said. “It is the wins, No. 1, then because he is so visible. It is human nature to want that success and want to see your own quarterback succeed.
“It’s kind of a compliment to be disliked by so many opponents. It comes from winning first.”
As for Brady’s wife, Namath wants to kiss her.
COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
