That’s the photo that set twitter afire this past weekend. That’s Chargers 3rd round draft pick Keenan Allen, stud wide receiver out of Cal. That’s a Raiders hat.
You’re probably thinking… “no way a Chargers rookie would wear a Raiders hat, post it on his Vine account, and think that’s a good idea.” Well, that’s exactly what happened. On the bright side, it’s nice to see he’s eating In-N-Out.
Many of you sent me this screengrab, so I felt obliged to respond. My initial was simple. “Well, that was dumb. Chargers fans hate the Raiders. He won’t do that again.” That was my thought. That’s still my thought. Now that he’s a Charger, he can’t just go wearing any ole hat he wants because he likes the design or the look and he’s making a fashion statement. Rookie move, no biggie. I sent out a tweet to summarize, and Kevin Acee responded to it as well, and that’s when things got interesting.
I agree with Acee here, non-story, but lack of discernment… won’t happen again. I clearly underestimated the way fans would react to this… and react to me, personally. I’ll throw some responses to below… just to show you how clearly and logically people think when it comes to their fanhood.
I love a good “ass-wipe!!!!!” drop. Pretty rational, right? Kick him off the team and refuse to root for a guy because he’s a dumb rookie that wore the wrong hat. Good call. That’s what makes you a real Chargers fan. Not cheering for a guy on your team because he wasn’t thinking clearly enough to change his fashion sense after the draft. (apologies for my crappy skills at embedding tweets)
Keenan deleted the Vine post and took to twitter to apologize.
Like me, he didn’t realize how badly this would piss fans off… Then, just to piss people off and add some fuel to the fire… I made this little creation.
He loves every AFC West team except for his own!!! What a loser! Kick him off the team.
Like I said, it was a dumb rookie mistake. I don’t think older fans realize that “kids now-a-days” wear hats for fashion, not because they are necessarily fans. I love my old-school Expos hat, my Astros hat, my Brewers hat, my White Sox hat… I don’t give a crap about those teams, but I love those hats. I know I don’t actually play for the Padres so this not a perfect analogy, just making the point that fashion these days goes far beyond fanhood, so everybody just take a deep breath. Once Keenan scores a TD against the Raiders, I’m guessing Chargers fans will forgive him.
-bp
