[Audio] NFL-bound HSU student talks teamwork, kneeling, concussions, program; Humboldt’s last week of news


In the latest episode of Humboldt Last Week (12:33): Humboldt State University student Alex Cappa is very likely going to be the first HSU football player drafted into the NFL since 1991, and he certainly didn’t shy away from any hot topics surrounding his sport in a recent interview.

“Right now I’m focused on the team goals,” Cappa said. “Everyone wants to focus on the personal goals but those things come along when you have success as a team.”

In the podcast Cappa discusses teamwork, NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality, concussion research related to NFL players, why he’s not playing for a larger school, and his love for the HSU football program as there’s talk of ending it.

The interview begins at 12:33.

Also covered

Wild weed robberies, a Humboldt toddler is in critical condition after being rescued from a lake, Humboldt Pride, reactions on fundraising to save HSU sports, strong reactions after an HSU student convicted of child porn charges will be allowed all over campus, a former Eurekan scored an upcoming Stephen King adaptation, helping at-risk youth, too many STDs, you can win a pair of tickets to the hard cider festival in Fortuna October 6, crime updates, and much more.

Humboldt Last Week is a way to hear highlights from Humboldt’s last week a news. It’s available on iTunes, SoundCloud, and many other podcast platforms.

Images courtesy of HSU Athletics

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

46 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Gary M
Guest
Gary M
6 years ago

Go Alex! And go Jacks! NFL teams should realize he’s the best lineman in the draft period and take him in the first round. Then maybe HE can help $ave HSU football.

Flagfirst
Guest
Flagfirst
6 years ago

This hippie sounds like he should be surfin some waves instead of turfin at the redwood bowl. He’s okay with people disrespecting our flag, military, and country? What happened to my football.

J
Guest
J
6 years ago
Reply to  Flagfirst

Sorry to break it to you that people are free to think opposite of you and BIG shocker, it’s not YOUR football.

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
6 years ago
Reply to  Flagfirst

Conservatives love to tread on others’ rights. They make wonderful useful pawn idiots for the rich.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Sparklemahn

It is no wonder to me why our forests are burning, our air is full of hazardous smoke, our fish are dying, our war drums are sounding, our women are barren, our warriors are drunkards, our deer are plagued, and our birds are leaving.
Hearts and souls are full of hate as the mind stakes claim to blaming others.
It is our self responsibility to seek wisdom and love from the great Spirit for all living things. Even conservatives and progressives.

The first peace, which is the most important,
is that which comes within the souls of people
when they realize their relationship,
their oneness, with the universe and all its powers,
and when they realize that at the center
of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit),
and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this.
The second peace is that which is made between two individuals,
and the third is that which is made between two nations.
But above all you should understand that there can never
be peace between nations until there is known that true peace,
which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.

Black Elk, Oglala Sioux & Spiritual Leader (1863 – 1950)

thebigdeal
Guest
thebigdeal
6 years ago
Reply to  Sparklemahn

Typical remark from a extreme liberal. Its the liberals who are treading on others rights [edit]. Look at Berkely for a example.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Sparklemahn

No. Conservatives are generally opposed to using the government to force behavior. They generally advocate leaving people alone whether they are offensive jerks or not.

In the other hand liberals tend to want the government to enforce their ideas- well- liberally. That is one reason liberals get their shorts in such a twist when conservatives say thing they don’t like. They think conservatives are like they are and intend on using governmental force to get their way.

The difference is that a conservative might dislike you intensely but fight to the death to let you be as big a jerk as you want when it comes to government intervention. They’ll just tell you you’re a jerk. The liberal will agitate hysterically forever to get the government to not only force everyone to do what they want but shut up about it too.

Veterans friend
Guest
Veterans friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Flagfirst

No one in the NFL is protesting the flag, veterans or the military. They are protesting RACISM & POLICE BRUTALITY.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago

Courtesy of main stream media.
Look back through time and what do we see?
Alerts and warnings about tyrants in office pushing tickets and fees.
The people were rising to take a great stance,
But the tyrants in charge turned it into a distraction dance.
Out of the mist the headlines appeared,
racism is back, cloak yourselves in deep fear!
The poor little tyrants who almost were caught,
sat back in comfort as the nation destroyed.
Not everything flows, not everything rhymes,
But given a chance the truth will still shine.

J Dubbs
Guest
J Dubbs
6 years ago

When are you gonna realize police kill more white people than blacks?

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

Not the same proportion. If this was all about examing honestly for a cause for this, then hardly anyone would object.

When it is demanded that it be assumed that a disproportionate statistic is absolutely due to racism and no other interpretation is tolerated then it has become useless for anything at all.

Steve
Guest
Steve
6 years ago
Reply to  Flagfirst

Why not end football altogether, then there is no worries about head injuries, players beating girlfriends/wives,and the drug abuse?

Mary
Guest
Mary
6 years ago

99% of dead NFL players had CTE. He’d be much better off pursuing whatever it is he’s majoring in than masochistically destroying himself so fat drunk people can scream at him on their televisions Sundays.

Thebigdeal
Guest
Thebigdeal
6 years ago
Reply to  Mary

Bullshit. Dont make shit up. Show any proof of 99%

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Thebigdeal

Now don’t get fussy. Mary’s comment was to write an insult, not make a useful point. That was accomplished.

Mary
Guest
Mary
6 years ago
Reply to  Thebigdeal

I almost didn’t want to post this response in fear of someone writing FAKE NEWS in all caps.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/07/25/cte-diagnosed-99-percent-former-nfl-players-according-study/507634001/

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Mary

Has there been a study comparing CTE levels in the non football playing population? Not that I really disagree with the likelihood that it is more serious in contact sport players but, without having a control group, it is hard to evaluate scientifically. Especially since drug use is also high in professional sports, which also takes a physical toll.

Wouldn’t it be good for professional sports to pay for a large scale study of the general population? I’m sure there are enough autopsies to collect this as a side study.

Steve
Guest
Steve
6 years ago
Reply to  Thebigdeal

It’s real. I saw the article last week,but can’t remember where because of the chemotherapy.

FreshFish
Guest
FreshFish
6 years ago

Shave club pal, its time!
And keeo your opinions to yourself, they are like buttholes, stinky!
Do what your supposed to and be quiet.

UU
Guest
UU
6 years ago
Reply to  FreshFish

Supposed to do? To which topic would you prefer him to not exercise his first amendment rights as a US citizen?

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
6 years ago
Reply to  FreshFish

Never trust a beardless short hair. Especially if they drive an American made junk heap.

R Brown
Guest
R Brown
6 years ago

Support radiates through the county for hsu football huh? Too bad that same support and money doesn’t radiate for educational opportunities at the school

Annoyedvet
Guest
Annoyedvet
6 years ago

I have the right to walk down the street and flip off every person I come across. Yes it’s freedom of speech, but will that protect me from getting decked by someone? No it will not. Just because you legally can do something that doesn’t mean you should do it. They are disrespecting veterans, the flag, and our country.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago
Reply to  Annoyedvet

Just becaue3 it wasnt their intent , doesnt mean it isnt disrespectful. Take my grandmother for instance , was anti racist, donated to all sort of equal rights groups kind woman, never heard her say a bad thing about anyone. But when the movers came to help her out , she called me and told me that everything was great that ” those colored boys” sure work hard and were very kind to her. Now i know my grandmother, and i know she isnt racist, and her comment in her mind wasnt intented to disrespect or come from a bad place in her, but i am pretty sure they would have been offended and felt disrespected.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Annoyedvet

No. You have the right to have the government not come and get you for your ‘speech’ if done in a location and a way that is protected soeech.

There is no right guaranteeing you the freedom to say whatever you want to the wide world. In fact, inciting to violence will get you arrested.

If the football players actually incited a riot, they would not have a leg to stand on.

J Dubbs
Guest
J Dubbs
6 years ago

He should probably sit out the NFL, he may get a concussion

NorthofHumboldt
Guest
NorthofHumboldt
6 years ago

It’s sad that being a conservative is seen so horribly. I have a degree from hsu but as a conservative I was not able to even share any of my experiences or beliefs with out being literally screamed at and spit on. People’s hate and intolerance is blind and robs this country of our greatest assets. Truth is this conservative would pull you out of a burning car, feed your children, help your elderly family members, and give you a smile any time your eyes meet mine. You can say what you want but I do not believe you actually know and talk to conservatives or you wouldnt minimize them to non humans. The rhetoric of hate is the loudest voice right now. I challenge you to start doing something different work with your local police, get information from reliable unbiased sources. This country needs to unite soon because its falling apart. Spend time reading your call logs and arrest records, start working with the youth in your community, look at what the hate for police, lack of personal responsibility, and division is creating. Please stop spewing intolerant hate, I am an American, I vote, I pay taxes, and I thank God every day I live in this country on this coast.

UpNAdam
Guest
UpNAdam
6 years ago

Um, random vague comment. You can go on and on about how you think you’re superior but it comes across pretentious. Ever consider there are valuable people on both sides of the political spectrum? In one second you’re making offbase generalizations about liberals and then in the next you’re calling for tolerance?

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  UpNAdam

Actually I saw no mention of liberal at all. Only an objection to ‘rhetoric of hate.’ If you think that his/her saying that paying taxes, pulling you out of a burning car, etc is the same as thinking that they are ‘superior’ and ‘pretentious’,’ then who would be so uncommonly selfish as to not be pretentious ? Not paying taxes, not pulling people out of burning cars, not feeding children,etc?

Yup- we should all immedicate call for the utmost action against every infuriating call for tolerance. Damn all tolerant people as the hypocrites they must be.

UpNAdam
Guest
UpNAdam
6 years ago

You’re the only infuriated one. Hope your anger issues get better. If that comment wasn’t directed at people that have different political beliefs, who was it directed at? Do you honestly think conservatives are the only ones pulling people out of burning cars? Yes — let’s be tolerant, without spewing garbage about us versus them. Deal?

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  UpNAdam

Too late you already spewed. The direction was aimed at haters. Unless you are identifying haters with liberals, than it was not liberals that’s the subject. Just haters.

The remarks indicate that that, to paraphrase Shylocks’s famous speech, conservatives are just like everyone else in their common humanity and do not deserve the mindless hate that some feel it’s fine to dump on them at the first whiff that they -oh, horrors- disagree with someone else’s opinion. To disagree is not hate, which is a confusion common on most all public comment forums.

Way too many non thinkers do go into attack mode way too easily in the name of liberality. I think there is a smaller group of what might becalled conservatives who do the same but even they usually spend more time attacking policies. Somehow those espousing liberal causes seem to go right to the emotional jugular without a discussion of issues. For example a non thinking conservative would say ‘That is liberal (nasty insult)’ while a non thinking liberal will say ‘You are a (nasty insult).

There is a difference and I think it comes from the emotional nature of liberals that makes them ling for everyone agree with them while conservatives tend to get angriest as the idea they are being forced to agree. The liberal ‘feel’ the wrongs directly and personally. Or at least find it ok to be incredibly mean if they can only accuse their opponents of meanness. With a liberal, apparently two meanesses make a right.

Oh,BTW, I’m not angry at all. It is a difficult concept but it is possible for someone to disagree respectfully and cerebrally. So don’t take my comments personally. And know, although this will increase anger, I don’t take your insults personally even though you clearly intend I should. I have come to believe that liberals, or rather who pass themselves off as liberals here, are constitutionally incapable of standing opposition, even of the mildest kind. No, my goal is to encourage conservatives to stand up for themselves. To feel free to post opposition, hopefully rationally, but at least not to get into the tit for tat insult contests that derails all political conversations these days. It is cruel and dangerous to let people continue to think that driving opposition into silence is the same as being proven right.

Kym Kemp
Admin
6 years ago

Dang, I’m kinda on the liberal side of liberal and I deal with all sorts of opposition including rape and death threats in (pardon the humble brag) a relatively calm way. Who knew that I was damned by my emotional nature to be unable to handle mild opposition.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

That is not what was meant. As you probably know. Not getting hysterical over every threat does not mean there is no emotional response. You have many times chastised someone here for a lack of sympathy because they said something unsympathetic. That is an emotional response. Your emotions are engaged on the side of someone you do not know, is not you, but identify with on an emotional level.

Oh, heck. I can’t help adding. Don’t you think that the words ‘damned by emotional nature’ are a bit of an emotional exaggeration, even for the sake of humor? Liberals are not damned. They just need firm direction to be able to be useful.

Kym Kemp
Admin
6 years ago

Call it my overly emotional nature but I think when you paint all of one gender, one race, one political side with the same brush, you’ve lost the nuances that make us human and interesting. But most importantly, you’ve lost the truth.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago

But there you go being all liberal again. Like I never said anything about DAMNING anyone, I never said anything that could be interpreted as “paint all of one gender, one race, one political side with the same brush” either. That was an assignment of meaning that meant my words were not read at all. It took the fact I said something generally negative, filtered it through personal emotions and out popped something way exaggerated and actually incorrect so it could be put down. It’s as if you took my words, changed them to what you wanted to oppose then condemned what you think I meant when I never said it.

What I said (and only part of what I said) that allowing emotions to decide in advance the meaning in any issue is certain to be an echo chamber of misintrepretation. Which is what this is too.

This is a fairly common habit but liberals seem to be far and away most prone to it. Instead of assuming that something is going to be wrong just because of who is saying it, wouldn’t it be better for finding truth to disgest what is said first? Make sure of the actual words without a sort of mental block. Just so you are not arguing an internal stereotype and missing the reality?

And, although I also never called anyone including you ‘overly’ emotional, I’m beginning to think that is the truth. Since I seem to find that a discussion of what I said is continuously changed into a discussion of things I never said.

Just saying.

Proud Deplorable Grandma
Guest
Proud Deplorable Grandma
6 years ago

Very well said. I completely agree. I don’t ask what people believe politically before helping them out. In fact my husband just took leftover roast next door to the young couple who live there with their two children, and I don’t even know who they voted for or supported in the last presidential election. We have never actually discussed politics, though we have discussed issues in our neighborhood.

R-DOG
Guest
R-DOG
6 years ago

The problem is this world is full of spoiled, lazy not Haveing to Do a dame thing growing up in a way thinking things that they need are all ways going to be thar not Haveing to suffer yha are ansesters set us up real nice to bad they cant see how peaple are now it’s a good thing they acted the way peaple do today hell this place would all ready be gone into hell like it’s going to be soon all peaple have to do is keep doing what thar doing now and it over R-DOG

UpNAdam
Guest
UpNAdam
6 years ago
Reply to  R-DOG

Try out spell-check and making sense. It’s pretty nice.

FreshFish
Guest
FreshFish
6 years ago

Looks like you could use a shower stinky!

Poppins
Guest
Poppins
6 years ago

Upchuck alert.

“Conservatives love to tread on others’ rights. They make wonderful useful pawn idiots for the rich.”

Liberals love to tread on the rights of those who do not commit to the mind meld of the left. They make useful pawn idiots for the rich leftists.”

Nah….we don’t want anyone to have to retreat to a “safe space”.

Wow…wish the libertarians would chime in.

GoodGrateful
Guest
GoodGrateful
6 years ago

You have a serious talent you’re sharing with us here and I’m sure I’m one of many locals feeling really grateful to have such a convenient way of catching up on the highlights of the last week of news. Work and home keep me too busy to seek out all the news myself and you’ve found a way to perfectly sum it up for us in a tasteful, humorous, passionate, factual, and unbiased way. I look forward to this every Saturday evening on my drive home from work.
I don’t know how much time it takes to gather all the stories, or the effort it takes to score interviews with the great people you have, but seriously, great job and thank you!

HumLuv
Guest
HumLuv
6 years ago

Congratulations, Alex Cappa! The interview was candid and interesting; it’s fantastic to hear about someone who appreciates his teammates and Humboldt County so much that he is willing to stay at HSU despite other options as his talent became widely recognized. I wish him all the best in the NFL. Every week I enjoy listening to Humboldt Last Week. It’s compelling, informative, and entertaining. Keep up the great work!