Thrift Treasures 119: Colin Kaepernick signed “Salute to Service” hat
This has been a really interesting week. Sort of out of nowhere I found myself in the market for a new (to us) dresser for my kids. The one we’ve had for the last few years broke and no longer held the drawers properly so I was faced with buying a new one, or looking for a suitable used replacement.
I chose to thrift shop since I could also get my fix of looking for discarded sports treasures
Well, Day One of the hunt actually led me to a GREAT deal on a new (to us) couch. And Day Two was pretty bleak for a few hours as I struck out at four different thrift stores — no good cards (only some over priced early cards it former quarterback Jake Plummer) or furniture
The fifth store was a long shot … a small Goodwill in San Jose, Calif., near the border of Santa Clara. I checked the showfloor and there was no dresser, but I discovered an upstairs “loft” boutique that had better quality items
Again, no dresser. But there was something that I had to own. You guessed it — the item listed in the title.
Here is what presents as an San Francisco 49ers 2013 Salute to Service cap with tags … signed by former quarterback and polarizing social justice figure Colin Kaepernick.
Let that sink in for a second …
This post isn’t supposed to be a place for people to bash Kaepernick, to show their patriotism, etc. Or really a place to bash the establishment, and show support for the former quarterback.
I’m not going to get all political here. That’s never been my deal.
But, I will say this is a mighty interesting piece in context. It was interesting when it was signed ,presumably at practice since the facility is nearby. It’s even more interesting in context today. And who knows how interesting this looks as a historical item in 25-40 years.
Needless to say, I had to own it.
By the way, I did find an alternative to a dresser — I found an IKEA 8-cube bookshelf for $25, about 70% off the original price.
Total cost of this Thrift Treasure: $14.97
You can seen more Thrift Treasures posts here
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September 13, 2019 at 6:11 am
Yeah, that’s a very interesting find. There’s really no contradiction…Kaepernick wasn’t protesting the military, and in fact consulted veterans about the best way to protest. But it certainly will feel weird to many people, including some of his supporters and some of his critics.