Kaepernick's style is as distinctive as his game

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Colin Kaepernick is learning that the world is a tough critic.

Take personal style, for instance. Fashion.

Kaepernick gets criticized for the way he dresses. His flat-brim ball cap and hip-hop wardrobe drive some people into a fury.

So Kaepernick strips naked for a magazine cover - no hipster hat, no red high-tops - and still the carpers carp.

Is Kaepernick bummed about the fixation on his attire? I have no idea. That's not the kind of thing he shares with the media.

The easy analysis is that criticism of Kaepernick's fashion sense and overall presentation can be attributed to fuddyduddyism or racism. Those elements surely exist, but it can't be that simple, can it? Allow me to put on my psychologist's hat (I prefer a curved brim) and take a deeper look into why the 49ers' quarterback dresses as he does.

-- Kaepernick is the NFL's first hip-hop quarterback, fashion-wise, although I don't know how deep his hip-hop-ness goes. For all I know, Kaepernick, through his ever-present headphones, is listening to Barry Manilow or Bach.

Ground-breakers stir stuff up just by being who they are. Ask the Beatles, Joan of Arc, Lenny Bruce or Barack Obama.

On the field, Kaepernick is a new breed of quarterback, expanding boundaries. Why must he dress like Bart Starr or Drew Brees?

Colin Kaepernick attends the gift lounge during the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 6, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Colin Kaepernick attends the gift lounge during the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 6, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Mike Windle/ACMA2013, Getty Images Photo: Mike Windle/ACMA2013, Getty Images Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Kaepernick's style is as distinctive as his game 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Sometimes how you dress is how you play. Willie Nelson didn't achieve widespread popularity or full artistic expression until he dumped his suits and ties and became the scruffy outlaw in the ponytail and bandanna.

-- There might be a little of Marlon Brando's "The Wild One" in play here.

Brando's character is asked by a young woman, "Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?"

Sneers Johnny, "Whattaya got?"

The system marginalized Kaepernick for years. College coaches coldly rejected him. It still burns him that he was drafted No. 36 in 2011 and Cam Newton went No. 1. That snub isn't all about money, but Newton earns $5.5 million per year on his four-year rookie deal; Kaepernick $1.28 mil.

Newton wears suits from his own fashion label. Kaepernick doesn't.

-- This is who Kaepernick is.

"To be honest with you, I think Colin is very comfortable in his own skin," said his dad, Rick Kaepernick.

Rick and Colin's mom, Teresa, have taken a low profile with the media, preferring to avoid the limelight. But Rick offered to share a few thoughts with me on his son's style.

"The one thing you don't want him to do, you don't want him to be who he's not," Rick Kaepernick said Wednesday. "I don't want him to pretend. If he pretended to be what some people want him to be, then he'd have naysayers saying he's fake."

Rick also said, "We've always said, 'Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do, you and you alone decide that.' He's kind of lived under that."

Colin reportedly gets a fair amount of pure hate mail, but he also gets a lot of positive stuff from people who appreciate him being true to himself. Some tell him, "I'm different, too, and you give me hope."

-- Look at Kaepernick's role models.

He is a fan of Jesus Christ, and probably of people like Gandhi and Buddha. Those guys didn't exactly rock the corporate raiment of their times.

Gandhi was a "half-naked fakir" in the view of the sharp-dressed India-oppressor Winston Churchill. Gandhi dropped in on King George VI at Buckingham Palace and later commented, "The King had enough on for both of us."

-- The 49ers are all over the map, fashion-wise.

Unlike some coaches, Jim (Captain Khaki) Harbaugh imposes no coat-and-tie rules for games or road trips. The players appreciate that. Jonathan Goodwin and Phil Dawson told me they feel more comfortable with the loose rules, especially on long trips.

Kaepernick isn't the only 49er whose style is noncorporate. This team could put on a be-yourself fashion show, from Anquan Boldin's Gucci-vest-over-T-shirt to Justin Smith's cowboy boots. This is not a team that shops at Gap for Gridders.

-- If you make the argument that the quarterback is the CEO of his team and should dress accordingly, you must then explain why the typical corporate CEO, who is the quarterback of his or her company, doesn't wear a helmet and shoulder pads.

-- Superficial judgment can be tricky. To the media, before TV cameras, Kaepernick often presents an aloof and unsmiling countenance. That doesn't mean he's really a me-against-the-world fellow.

On Christmas Eve, the Kaepernicks were driving to church in Turlock. Rick exited the freeway and pulled up at a stop sign, near a scruffy man holding a sign, "Merry Christmas, help the homeless."

Colin asked his dad to roll down the window, and handed the man a wad of bills.

"It could have been five dollars, it could have been 500, I didn't ask," Rick said. "Colin says, 'Merry Christmas to you,' and the guy says, 'Merry Christmas, son.' I roll the window up, drive, and ask him, 'How do you know he's homeless?' Colin looks at me and says, 'Dad, how do you know he isn't?'

"I got my first lesson before I even got to church that night."

Rock the lid, kid.