Fresh off the 2018 draft, NFL teams are finalizing their training camp rosters and getting ready for the first preseason football games in August. Notably absent from any NFL rosters? Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and safety Eric Reid.
Kaepernick last played in 2016 and was recently invited to work out with the Seattle Seahawks, but talks broke down after Kaepernick refused to say he’d stop kneeling during the national anthem. Last October, Kaepernick filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging that owners colluded to keep him out of the league over his kneeling protests.
Last week, Reid also filed a collusion suit against the league. He was the first player to begin kneeling alongside Kaepernick and alleges owners have colluded to keep him off the field. Reid was solid with the 49ers last year with 53 tackles, four deflected passes, and two interceptions.
But a day later, legendary New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath spoke up for both Kaepernick and Reid on Fox Business’ “Varney & Co.”
He questioned why they hadn’t been signed. “I think in Eric’s case — and even Kaepernick’s case — they are good enough players to be out there and having a job,” Namath said. “Why aren’t they? I don’t know. I don't believe in the collusion though, I think the NFL is smarter than that.”
NFL legend Joe Namath on @E_Reid35 and @Kaepernick7: "They're good enough players to be out there and having a job." pic.twitter.com/6yBh9L1HYy
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 4, 2018
This isn’t the first time Namath has stuck up for Kaepernick. In October 2017, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka claimed there had been no oppression in America over the past 100 years. In an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Namath countered the ignorant comment.
“Look up the meaning of oppression. Look up the definition of oppression, and you understand that it’s obviously taken place,” Namath said. “Going back to what Colin Kaepernick initially did, it was to point out some injustice that’s being done to the black race. Or to people that obviously when you look — and I say obviously, some of these dash cams and shootings that were done to unarmed people and all. He was reaching out to try to get it more investigated. So that’s where this oppression thing comes in.”
When asked if he’d kneel for the anthem, Namath gave a supportive response. “I’m not there, but I’ve never walked in a black man’s shoes either.” Maybe if the league’s owners slipped on a pair of their players' cleats for a moment, they’d understand why Kaepernick and Reid deserve to be on the field.
Hungry and ready.Photo credit 
The mac and cheese staple presentation.Photo credit 
Pizza ready from the oven.Photo credit 
Friends hover around the barbeque.Photo credit 
Seafood platter on the beach.Photo credit 
Scarecrow watches over a vegetable garden.Photo credit 
Happiness next exit.Photo credit: 
Butterflies in a flower patch.Photo credit: 
Happy running doggie.Photo credit: 
Positive confirmation.Photo credit: 
Gif from Schitt's Creek via
Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.