NFL Players, Cannabis, and the Media: Perfect PR Crapstorm

Colin Kaepernick

Another story involving cannabis and the NFL has come to light recently, and the PR agents of these players have some work ahead of them.

San Francisco 49er’s quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, has been spending his off-season in Miami at a training facility. Quinton Patton, a 49er second year wideout, has been training with Kaepernick as well. Additionally, Seattle Seahawks wideout Ricardo Lockette, a longtime friend of Kaepernick, was also in Miami.

The story goes that on April 1st, Kaepernick, Patton and Lockette were all hanging out in a luxury apartment being rented by one of the players. The report indicates that the men were drinking shots and watching a basketball game. At some point, a 25-year old woman arrived at the apartment and began to prepare drinks for the guys. Apparently, there was also a bong loaded with cannabis in the room. The young woman related that the men wouldn’t let her drink with them unless she hit the bong, which she claims to have done. After some time passed, this young woman began to feel light-headed and went to one of the bedrooms to lay down. Kaepernick allegedly followed her to the bedroom and began to kiss her and undressed her but then left the room, without having sex, and never came back. Patton and Lockette reportedly then opened the door to the bedroom and saw the young woman laying naked on the bed. She then yelled at them to leave and asked where Colin was.

This is the last thing she remembers prior to waking up in the hospital the following day.

TMZ took the story and immediately reported that Kaepernick was being investigated for a sexual assault, which even the police say is not accurate. To clarify, the young woman said herself that no sexual activities happened and none of the players have been questioned by police at all.

As the days since the story broke continue to pass, we are starting to get a clearer picture of what may have happened. It turns out that, at some point during the night, Lockette wanted the woman to leave, but she refused, so he twice called the police. The police arrived on scene, observed the state of the young woman and called the EMT’s to take her to the hospital and an incident report was filed.

From the sounds of it, they were drinking and (possibly) smoking weed and the young lady seems to have had too much and passed out. At which point, the right thing to do would have been to leave her to sleep it off in peace. It is my sincere hope that Kaepernick, after initially following her to the bedroom, realized that she was too far gone and left her to sleep it off. And if reports that the other two players peeked in on the naked woman are accurate, I would say that’s a rather shameful way to behave. Regardless of what substances may or may not have been at play here, consensual intent is paramount in any form of intimacy.

If it comes to light that there is something more sinister going on, I will lose respect for these young men. Like 49er coach Jim Harbaugh says, “you put your hands on a woman and you’re done.” I am a lifetime 49er’s fan and I’m not exactly happy that my QB and promising young receiver are in the headlines for this kind of stuff. That said, being a good person means more to me than how many touchdowns you make. I hope that this comes out to be little more than a night of poor judgement and perhaps some embarrassment. I hope the young woman is well and healthy, and I hope the players gained some form of wisdom from this situation. And I really hope TMZ gets all kinds of egg on their face.

It will be interesting to see how much cannabis does or does not come into play in this story. As far as I know, it has been a relatively minor facet so far. Beyond mentioning that cannabis was in the apartment, it really hasn’t popped up too much. I have a suspicion that if the sexual nature of this story proves to be misleading, cannabis will take a bigger role. The media loves to sell ads, after all.