The Great American Blackout: Why it doesn’t PAY for the Black Athlete to be BLACK

BE ADVISED, SOME LANGUAGE AND IDEAS MAYBE VIEWED AS OFFENSIVE

I’ve always thought that sports are the world’s greatest reality TV-show. It’s unscripted and unpredictable. Sports are equal and fair. (Save for some funky refereeing every now and again.) You roll a ball onto a field, or a court, you throw away your differences, all the talking ends, the game is played and the better men, or women, win. It’s simple. You’re completely at the mercy of your and your teammates’ ability to overcome the other team’s desire to win. Sports has always been the place where it’s about the team you’re on, the color of your jersey and NOT the color of your skin. They (Sports) provide an easy way for White America to accept a black man as “one of their own”. People have a vested interest in their team, so why wouldn’t they have a vested interest in the players, even if some of those players were Black. That’s why sports stars of color had an easier time being accepted than they would at any other job. 

Earlier this year, I had the honor of speaking with a retired Black police officer from Jackson, Mississippi. He was an older gentleman that served as one of the first Black police officers in Jackson’s history. We talked about the struggles he and his fellow Black officers had to endure. When the Black officers tried to arrest White suspects, they were sometimes “vetoed” by White officers. If they did arrest White suspects, the Black officers had to speak to them (the White Suspects) like they would any other law abiding White citizen; like a child speaking to an elder. “I always found it humiliating to have to watch my words when speaking to a criminal" the gentleman said. "With the White officers around, we were always on eggshells. It’d always be “Boy what da hell you just say to him” or “Boy he’s a White man and you’re still just a nigger. That badge only gets you so far”. What we got from the community was bad, but the treatment from our fellow White officers was far worse.”

Sports are nothing like that. Teams were usually isolated from that level of hatred. When your livelihood depends on someone else’s actions, or non-actions, you tend to bond with them regardless of who they are. (When I was in the US Army, a White superior once told me about an old Army saying. "When the bullets are flying, I've never seen a nigger, or spik, or a kike in a foxhole. Just someone in the same uniform that I got on, who could save my ass.")That “us against the world” mentality always helps a team grow closer together. Teams are like families and what's the best thing about family? Family accepts you no matter what. In Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama, places where Blacks aren’t "too popular with the locals", there are plenty of White people in those same stands that cheer like crazy for Black athletes all day that wouldn’t stop for five minutes to help me fix a flat tire.

Somethings need not be said on TV. Even if you are on First Take. Rob Parker knows that now.

About a week or so, ESPN First Take contributor Rob Parker questioned if Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was a “real brother” or a "cornball brother". Whether or not he was “down with the cause”. (Parker was subsequently suspended for 30 days by ESPN and forced to issue a public apology.) I’m not going to lie, I’ve had conversations like that about some black athletes, not RG3, and none of those conversations took place on national TV, nor should they. Questioning something like THAT about a Black person shouldn’t be discussed outside of the barbershop. Your barbershop, with people you know and people who know you. It's like calling a Black person an “Uncle Tom”. (Put it this way, I’d rather be called a “nigger” by Rush Limbaugh than be called an “Uncle Tom” by a random Black person on the street. I’m going to go out on a limb and say a lot of black people feel that way.)

Does this make you uncomfortable America?

In sports nowadays, it’s almost career suicide to be too “Black”. It’s good to be a "little Black" because being Black/Urban is seen as being “cool” or “hip”, but it’s a very fine line to walk. Only a few Blacks have the same "pull" in the Black community as they do in the White community. (Only White person I can think of that does this, Eminem.) Hip-Hop provides the perfect example of this theory. Jay-Z can go into any "hood" in America and get just as much love as he would in any suburb in America. Nas is equally, if not more talented in some people’s eyes, as Jay-Z but he doesn’t have nearly the same level of overall appeal. Nas crosses the line of what makes White people "comfortable" and he doesn’t care. Jay-Z doesn’t touch on the same social issues plaguing the Black community that Nas willingly addresses.  (That clearly keeps Jay-Z “cool” in the eyes of White America. Jay-Z's Black but not Nas "free my people" Black or Kanye "Bush hates Black people" Black.) Black athletes are forced to walk that line. It’s why Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson didn’t want Cam Newton to get any tattoos. It’s why the NBA implemented a dress code. It's why Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade don't have any visible tattoos. Being too black hurts the bottom-line. The leagues know it, the owners know it and the players know it. (The tattoo thing doesn't hurt LeBron James because he's so freaking talented he could come out on the court wearing a blonde wig and he'd still be loved.)

Things like this don't happen anymore.

 We’ll never see athletes like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Russell again. Mostly because we don’t need them anymore. In the 1960’s, for real change to happen, we needed the best and brightest Black stars to stand up and be heard. The biggest Black stars back then were the athletes. (For the reasons I mentioned above.) When things in America “changed”, White people stopped wanting to hear about “Black problems”.  They felt/feel like things are fixed. Like racism is dead because we all use the same bathrooms and water fountains. (Now that we have a Black President, that narrative has gotten a million times louder. RACISM ISN’T DEAD JUST BECAUSE “YOU GUYS” VOTED FOR AND ELECTED A BLACK PRESIDENT... AND I DON’T CARE IF “YOU” DID DO IT TWICE.) White People don’t like to talk about racism the same way your friend doesn’t want to talk about the fat chick he nailed when he was drunk. Like your friend, America didn’t “know any better” at the time and they’re totally ashamed of what they did. Your friend and America don’t want to be reminded of the horrible mistakes they made. The only real social issue left for athletes to tackle is gay rights. (I really doubt an active Black athlete will “champion” this one first, only because being gay still isn’t widely accepted in the Black community, AKA "Da Hood". Which is bull, because WE OF ALL PEOPLE KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE TREATED UNEQUAL.)

Who RG3 decides to marry doesn't say
anything more or less about him as a Black man.

So yeah, RG3 has a White girlfriend and he may very well be a Republican, but that’s not why Rob Parker and other Black people are questioning his “blackness”. RG3 just said he didn't want to be the best BLACK quarterback. He even said he didn't want to be labeled as a Black quarterback. Some Black people, like Parker, think HE SHOULD. (Want to be the best Black QB that is.) If he doesn't, that somehow makes him less "black"? He didn’t/doesn't want to limit himself. He just wants to be seen as the best at what he does, regardless of the color of his skin. Professional athletes are like that though. Ali wasn’t in the ring screaming, “I’m the greatest Black boxer in the world!”. Those guys aren’t wired that way. I’m a screenwriter. I have Black friends that are screenwriters and we often talk about wanting to be the best black screenwriter. The level of competition in screenwriting is nothing like it is in professional sports. (It's definitely competitive, but lets just say there's more testosterone at Girl Scout meetings than there is at screenwriter meetings.)

A lot of things come to mind before you get to
"Black man" when you're thinking about Michael Jordan.

One last story to leave you with. When I was younger, a White friend and I were trading basketball cards. I had an extra Kareem Abdul-Jabbar card and I wanted to trade for a John Stockton card. (Not a smart trade, but it was a rookie Stockton card and my extra Kareem card was a “final years, I shouldn’t be playing anymore” Kareem card.) He wouldn’t do it. I jokingly said, “It’s because he's Black huh?” I laughed but my friend stayed quiet. I asked “Really? I bet if this was a Michael Jordan card you’d do it.” "Yes" my friend said. “But Kareem was a better player than Stockton is. Besides, Michael Jordan is Black too” I said. “No he’s not”, he replied. “Whoa, you’re saying Michael Jordan isn’t black?” I said shocked. “No, he’s black but... I don’t know. Michael Jordan isn’t black, he’s just Michael Jordan, you know?” Right then and there, on that bus, I learned of the power sports can have. The power to transcend a person beyond their race. That there's a whole other level of famous a Black person could be. But you know who else use to be talked about like that... OJ.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!

Party Like it's 1983

Brandon Weeden

Andrew Luck

Robert Griffin III (RG3)

Ryan Tannenhill

Russell Wilson

The 2012 NFL season has been pretty great so far. As a Lions fan, it hasn’t been that great for me personally, but as a fan of the game, it’s been a really, really good season. There were so many juicy subplots to start the season. Manning getting let go by the Colts. Manning going to the Broncos. The Giants trying to repeat as champions. Luck or RG3. Tebow going to the Jets. Peterson coming back from an ACL tear. The Redskins moving up and going all-in to get RG3.  Five rookie quarterbacks starting on week one. The new coaches in new places. The old coaches on short leashes and so many more. After 15 weeks, some storylines have panned out and some not so much. Manning has been his old self, if not better than his last few years. Peterson HAS been better than his old self. Tebow has been a total non factor but the best subplot of the season has been by far the great play of the rookie quarterbacks. Hell, even a backup rookie QB joined in the fun this week. (Kirk Cousins in the place of RG3: 26 of 37, 329 Yards, 2 TDs one pick, a QBR of 104.4, but most importantly one win to put the Redskins in a 3-way tie atop the NFC East.)

This crop of rookie QBs has been all-world, all time good. I mean, I even voted for 3 rookies to make the Pro Bowl this year. (RG3, Andrew Luck, and Russell Wilson) The rookie’s teams have a combined 37 victories, which is a record this late into the season, all have at least 5 wins and each one has shown flashes of brilliance. If your team is the Colts, Seahawks or Redskins you’re over the moon. If you’re a Miami or Cleveland fan, you gotta feel like this season has gone much better than you thought and your guy looks like he really may be the guy for the future. And if you’re not happy, look at it like this, you could be the Chiefs or worst…gulp… you could be the Cardinals. It’s Week 15 and 3 rookies, which all started on week one, have their teams on the verge of making the playoffs how can I NOT talk about that.

Andrew Luck

Team Record (9-5)

Key Stats: 74.5 PR (Passer Rating), 3,978 PY (Passing Yards), 20 TDS, 18 INTs

The success of the Colt’s 2012 season can be due to some many different factors. Peyton Manning (If he doesn’t miss the whole season and I MEAN THE WHOLE SEASON, no way the Colts lose enough games to get the number one overall pick), the 2011 Colts, (for sucking so bad they got the number one overall pick) Peyton Manning’s neck, Peyton Manning’s first botched neck surgery (forced him to miss the whole season), Chuck Pagano’s cancer. (THAT’S A JOKE, THAT’S A JOKE, lighten up! All I’m saying is if he’s healthy, no way the players rally the way they have. Your  head coach having cancer is a surefire way to motivate them. Norv Turner is somewhere wishing he’d doctored the results of his yearly physical right now.) But I’m giving the lion’s share to the QB. It’s a quarterback league. They get all the blame for things go sideways, but they also gotta get the big piece of chicken when things go right.

Luck after one of the Colt's six comeback wins this year.

I know Luck has been a turnover machine this year, (18 INTs and 10 Fumbles, he leads the league in turnovers) but he’s asked to throw it a lot more than the other two guys I’m going to talk about. (Wilson has 353 PA, RG3 has 351 PA compared to Luck’s 564 PA) Although Wilson and RG3 have had the training wheels pulled off for a few weeks now, Luck got put on a ten-speed and pushed down a steep hill, with no helmet or kneepads and told “Good Luck” (no pun intended) from week one. He’s been asked to lead and be the best player on his team since he got to Indy. And let’s face it, he’s leading a team that won two games last year into the playoffs and you can’t say enough about that. He’s already won more games that any other number one pick has in their rookie year and he is among the league leaders in comeback victories with six. That tells you two very important things about him. One, he can turn the ball over a million times and come back from it and two, he isn’t afraid of the big moment. If the games within striking distance, Luck’s teammates trust him with the ball and his ability to make a big play when it counts and his opponents know he’s very capable of pulling the horseshoe on his helmet outta his butt and beating them over the head with it. (As I Lions fan, I know this all too well.)

One “red flag” if you can call it that, is his turnovers. Of the 36 qualifying QBs, he ranks 31. His name is flanked by the likes of such “legends” as Matt Cassel, John Skelton, Mark Sanchez, and Brandon Weeden. Ouch. But again, he’s a rookie. That’s what they do. They make mistakes and turn the ball over. Let’s not forget that the guy he replaced in Indy threw 28 in his rookie year and we all know he turned out to be just fine. Rookies nowadays are just victims of their own success. The timetable on when you can reasonably expect winning results with a rookie quarterback is now in year one, given their recent winning ways and the rule changes that make passing the ball about as hard as playing catch in your backyard. If I were given the choice between Luck and RG3, I would always take Luck. He’s bigger, has a better NFL QB pedigree (Mannings have proven it matters), he’s more athletic then he gets credit for (He’s athleticism will always be judged against RG3 which is totally not fair, because its like comparing a Dodge Charger to a Ferrari 458. Both are fast cars but one’s just a tiny bit faster) and he’s the classic, egghead, film room junkie, drop-back, pocket-passer. He’s just a safer bet to stay healthy and his style will ALWAYS work. If you’re smart and you can throw it you’ll do fine in the NFL. Two things Luck has in spades.

Robert Griffin III

Team Record (8-6)* (Kirk Cousins started and won one game…so far because RG3 still hasn’t been clear to play next Sunday)

Key Stats: 104.2 PR, 2,902 PY, 18 TDS, 4 INT, 748 RY (Rushing Yards) 6 RTD

Story time, say I’m at this sushi place and I’m not sure what to get. My friend is like get the California Roll. Not a bad choice, because it’s a safe bet at any sushi place. Not too exotic, it’s hard to screw up and you can’t go wrong with what’s tried and true. I look at the menu and there’s a picture of this spicy tuna tempura roll. It looks really good but I’m not too sure about getting it. My friend is like don’t do it. The waitress says it’s good, the picture looks good, so I say screw it and get the tuna roll.  The food gets to the table, I try the tuna roll and it’s amazing. My friend sees me grubbing out and asks to try one. He takes a bite and his eyes light up like he’s just bitten into the best thing he’s ever eaten, but he quickly hides it. He goes back to eating his California Roll and he’s like “Yeah it was pretty good I admit, but this California Roll is pretty damn good too.” That’s what the St. Louis Ram fans are like right now. They got a regular old California Roll when they could have had a spicy tuna tempura roll. Their jealous, they feel stupid and just like my friend is wishing I’m left with crippling diarrhea later, the Rams fans are hoping RG3 is only this good for right now and that he’ll fall on his face later. Thus proving that they were right to give up the number two pick and sticking with Bradford was the right choice, just like my friend hoped the California Roll was the right choice. (Both are the wrong choices by the way.)

RG3 has been the most exciting player to watch in the NFL by a country mile. I’ve watched more Redskins than any other team outside of my Lions and that’s only because of him. When the guy’s on the field, you can’t turn the channel. You know something amazing could happen every time the ball is in his hands. Be it with his arms or his legs, he’s a threat to score anywhere on the field. (RG3 and Cam Newton are the only guys like that because of their legs and arms. I would say Aaron Rogers, but he’s not that much of a threat with his legs from anywhere on the field compared to the two guys I just mentioned. He can get you a first down anytime scrambling however.  I say anywhere on the field with his arm and from the opponent’s 20 yard-line in, Rodgers is just as deadly with his wheels. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the only other “score anywhere on the field” arm guys.) RG3’s passer rating of 104.2 is tied for the league lead with TOM BRADY. A rookie, through Week 15 is tied with TOM BRADY IN PASSER RATING. That’s crazy to me.  (RG3 is leading now because of the annual stink bomb game Brady put up against the 49ers)

I give most of the credit for his success to the coaching staff in Washington however. I saw his first game and it was easy throw after easy throw. They really haven’t put the kid in too many situations to fail this year. The offense in Washington is really a hybrid NFL/college offense. The read option they run is devastating. The New York Giants defensive lineman couldn’t tell where to go, who had the ball or what type of play was going to happen next. (They played him twice, which should have been an advantage but looked even more lost the second time around.) Was RG3 going to keep it and run, keep it and throw it, or give it to the running back? I couldn’t tell from watching on TV, so just imagine what it was like watching it field level at full game speed. RG3 is the only player that could run it with that level of precision. He’s getting better at reading defenses although he’s not having to make 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, receiver reads like Rodgers, Manning or Brady but he’s getting there. He doesn’t make the big mistake or that bone headed throw that just kills your team and you gotta love that the most about the guy.

RG3 better learn to slide better than this if he wants to last.

Here comes the “but” with RG3. For all the excitement he gives you, you’re left watching him on pins and needles. He runs a lot. And he runs a lot of designed QB run plays. When Michael Vick rush for 1,039 Yards (the first and only QB to rush for over 1,000 yards so far) in 2006, he did it off 123 rushing attempts and a lot of those were broken plays and scrambles. We have two games left, he missed this week’s game and RG3 has carried the ball 112 times. That’s not good at all. Two things are going to happen over time and they’re the two reasons I’d take Luck over Griffin everyday. One, and this one will happen regardless if he ever rushes the ball again or not, he’s going to get slower. RG3’s legs are one of, if not the biggest, attraction about him. For someone so dependent on his athletic ability, he really shouldn’t be leaning on it so much, because it will fade over time. Two, if he keeps getting hit like he did versus Baltimore he’s going to break down from all the punishment. (Mike Vick is somewhere nodding his head in pain) When you’re a running QB you make yourself a target. That’s why Vick takes so much punishment and never gets flags from the refs. Vick’s always been looked at almost like a running back and those guys have a shelf life of like two-and-a-half years. Running QB’s have never really had success on that championship level. Steve Young was the best “running QB” but he didn’t become great until teams started being more concerned about his arm than his legs. Young was great on the move but he was nowhere near the athlete RG3 is. The key (and NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW THIS OR SAY IT AT LEAST) to being a successful running QB is making the defense “forget” you can run. The best runs for QB’s come on the plays when the defense as no clue it was about to happen. The legs are the first thing defense’s worry about with RG3, but if he can flip that to his arm being the number one priority to gameplan for, oh boy! Now when you’re someone with RG3’s speed, that’s going to be hard to do, but if he does it and just enough to where passing becomes the first thing you worry about with him, he’ll be unstoppable. Like literally can’t do anything against him, 300 yards passing, 100 yard rushing, 4 total TDs a game, video game stats, unstoppable.

Russell Wilson

Team Record (9-5)

Key Stats: 95.5 PR, 2,697 PY, 21 TDs, 9 INTs, 403 RY, 3 RTD’s

This guy is the biggest surprise in the NFL this year outside of Peyton and Peterson returning to form. If Russell Wilson is 6’4”, he’s drafted 3^rd overall in the 2012 NFL draft. By all accounts, he’s a hard worker and a great leader. He’s a smart kid. I didn’t say, “by all accounts he’s a smart kid” because even I know that. How do I know you say? Simple really. He learned and mastered three different offenses, with three different coaches, in three different places, with three different personnel groups, at three different levels of competition, in three years. Wilson went from NC State, to Wisconsin, to Seattle in three years and played at an elite level with each team. Folks I got news for you, no dummy’s pulling that one off. Now he’s got the leadership, the brains, and he doesn’t have the size but he’s got the one other tool you HAVE TO HAVE. He can throw it. (Tebow is missing the arm and that’s why he’s not playing right now. He can’t throw. Cut and Dry. You can be missing one, hell any if not ALL of those other things, and STILL play in this league. See John Skelton, Brady Quinn, and Matt Cassel.) Drew Brees proved that if you have the proper arm talent, with the brains and leadership, your size means nothing. And like Brees, Wilson’s a smart natural-born leader with the arm strength to make any throw on the field. Teams are going to be kicking themselves for years for passing on Wilson.

Unlike, RG3 or Luck, Wilson’s team is ready to win now. Like win a Super Bowl this year win now. (Bill Simmons called this one first) The defense is top tier, they play great special teams, they can run the ball, they rush the passer, I mean they do it all. Plus, their offense’s finally clicking and at a whole other level no less. Wilson has been on fire during his last six games to the tune of 11 TDs (plus 3 rushing TDs) and 1 INT. So he’s red-hot when you want him to be and he’s not turning the ball over like he was in the beginning of the season. They’ve put up 50 plus points in back-to-back games, something that’s happened only two times in NFL history. (Important Note: Seattle did this against the Cardinals and the Bills, who aren’t worth a hill of beans, and their defense added a few of those TDs but still 50 points is 50 points and your offense has to be playing well for you to even get close to 50)

Because of the team around him, Wilson's ceiling seems a lot higher this season.

In the end, I like Russell Wilson a lot but I’d still take Luck or RG3 over him, as I’m sure most people would, but I’ll leave you with this thought. Luck and RG3 can have all the regular season glory, they can be listed ahead of him in this post, they can fight over who’s the rookie of the year, but Wilson very well could be above them both in the category that means the most: Super Bowl victories.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!