In June, I decided I wouldn’t watch any more NFL games until the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was signed to a new team. Two months earlier, Kaepernick had opted out of his contract with the 49ers, with an understanding that he’d be cut from the team anyway. By then he had become something of a pariah in the NFL for quietly refusing to stand for the national anthem during each game, an act meant to protest police brutality but widely condemned as unpatriotic. I had already felt conflicted for years about continuing to support an organization that grossly mishandles domestic-violence issues, downplays the life-threatening effects of brain trauma on its athletes, and cares less and less about the quality of the product on the field. But the Kaepernick situation was the last straw. It was clear to me that he’s qualified to play in the NFL, and even start for some teams—but his peaceful protest was seemingly the only factor keeping him out…

If I were having any second thoughts about continuing to not watch football, then the most recent Sports Illustrated cover would have silenced those doubts. The cover shows athletes from different sports locked arm-in-arm with people like the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who still hasn’t defended Kaepernick’s worthiness of a job, and the Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who is one of the NFL executives who donated to Trump’s inauguration. The image shows how easily a movement gets co-opted, and it’s a reminder of why I simply can’t pretend anything meaningful has changed in an institution I once loved.