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But who is Colin?
People who know him, especially Turlockers, say he is a bright and personable young man who is engaging and generous in conversation. But that's not the Kaepernick showing up in post-game interviews.
In those settings, his answers, while honest and sincere, are clipped in an obvious attempt to reveal as little about himself and his team as possible.
Following San Francisco's 42-13 loss at Seattle in a nationally televised game Dec. 23, Kaepernick climbed into a post-game press conference shell that did nothing to endear him with the media charged with covering his every move.
As one of those reporters pointed out, Kaepernick's Seattle output that night was 13 points … and 187 words in response to 16 post-game questions.
Scott Smith pointed out that Kaepernick's post-game persona is a very real and natural part of his personality and is very different from the Kaepernick people will see in a social, nonfootball setting.
"He's very specific about what he says and how he answers questions," Scott Smith said. "As a quarterback of a team, you don't want to reveal information or say something to give opponents' teams ammunition. The only thing that matters to him right now is football. That's it, and everything he does is aimed toward the one goal of winning the next game.
"We're completely happy with the way this is playing out in the media. The message right now is that he's 100 percent focused on bringing a Super Bowl championship to San Francisco, and we don't need another message out there."
Billion-dollar businesses
Shawn Smith was planning to be in New Orleans for Super Bowl week regardless of the 49ers' participation in the game. Super Bowl week is more than just the game, the concerts and the fan experience — it's the one time all year when the NFL gets together to wine and dine all its corporate partners.
It's reflected each year in the stadium, where fewer than 40 percent of the tickets are allocated to the two competing teams. The majority of the seats are filled by the high-rolling advertisers and corporations that make each of the 32 franchises billion-dollar businesses.
In the days preceding the game, Shawn Smith will be meeting face-to-face with many of those companies, doing what she can to weed out those just trying to turn a quick profit on one of the NFL's hottest properties.
"We're not going to see any quick relationships, no one-shot deals with Colin," she said. "We want long-term deals that we can grow together. Everything we do with Colin needs to be clean and appropriate and on the up and up. We will do nothing of questionable taste."
And once the Super Bowl ends, Colin Kaepernick Inc. will be open for business.
Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or (209) 578-2150.
