ESPN's NFL Countdown crew buries Limbaugh

Oh okay so you really are on crack then. There is a certain hilarity about you calling me prejudiced while you agree with and defend Rush Limbaugh. You're ever so entertaining.

 

Did he really say that? OMG! I can't believe there are actually people like this walking around.

 

maybe things have changed in the nfl since last i followed it, but wasn't race a pretty big, oft-discussed issue back when black coaches first started getting prevalent? and it is true that black quarterbacks are underrepresented relative to other positions, isn't it?

frankly i didn't watch that limbaugh interview, and i don't agree with most of what he says in any case, but this smells like political correctness getting blown out of proportions.

i repost two articles discussing this very issue back in 2000.

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http://www.jonentine.com/reviews/newark_star.htm
January 23, 2000
Newark Star-Ledger

Sports Proves It¡¦s Not Just Black and White

by Mike Vaccaro, Staff Writer

By the time he was finished at Duke Ziebert¡¦s on that Martin Luther King Day, after the television cameras had been clicked off and he had gone off to his Washington, D.C. hotel to sleep it off, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder had dusted off the oldest stereotype of all, polished it, shoved it right into the national consciousness again. Out there, for all to see.

"The black," Snyder said that afternoon, 12 years ago this month, "is a better athlete because he¡¦s been bred to be that way. During slave trading, the slave owner would breed his big woman so that he would have a big black kid, see. That¡¦s where it all started."

This was before he went on to discuss "high thighs and big size."

Looking, for all the world, like everyone¡¦s drunk, bigoted uncle.

Snyder was in Washington that afternoon as part of the hype machine previewing Super Bowl XXII, whose core story line revolved around the new national fascination with Doug Williams, the quarterback of the Redskins, who would soon become the first African-American man to quarterback a team in the Super Bowl.

Later in the days before the big game, Williams¡¦ presence would inspire one of the gathered deep thinkers of the media to ask him, deadly serious, "How long have you been a black quarterback?"

Proving, for one, that everyone has just the wrong thing to say stored up, lurking just around the corner from your tongue. And also that even in 1988, by which time we¡¦d hoped to be past such foolishness, there was such a national curiosity spinning around the notion of a black quarterback good enough¡Xand, it follows, smart enough¡Xto lead his team to a conference championship and beyond.

"The way some people are conditioned," Richard Lapchick, founder of Northeastern University¡¦s Center for the Study of Sports and Society, has said, "the idea of a black quarterback is totally incongruous."

Which is the main reason Snyder¡¦s comments caused such a firestorm, the airing of a quiet, stubborn prejudice, that black athletes succeed because of natural gifts, that white athletes succeed because of savvy and smarts.

The previous spring, Dennis Rodman has lashed out in a similar vein, making his first national headlines by criticizing the respective perception of teammate Isiah Thomas, who is black, and Boston¡¦s Larry Bird, who is white.

Twelve years along, there are still issues that haunt the subject of sports and race, there are still Marge Schotts who litter the record with ignorant ramblings, and John Rockers who spout redneck rantings, without much remorse, it turns out.

There is still enough mistrust that Jesse Jackson feels compelled to take stands where he doesn¡¦t belong, arguing on behalf of a failed coach like Ray Rhodes and not enough on the side of more important, lower-profile social concerns.

Still, of you look closely enough, you can detect progress, subtle in some ways, all but imperceptible. By the close of NFL business this afternoon, for instance, it is entirely possible that the Tennessee Titans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have qualified for the Super Bowl. And if that happens, those teams will have been pushed toward football¡¦s Valhalla by the prodding hands of Steve McNair and Shaun King.

Two upstart teams, two upstart quarterbacks.

Both of them African-Americans.

"This isn¡¦t to say that everything has been solved, not by a long shot, not in everyone¡¦s mind," said Jon Entine, an author and former network news producer.

"Jimmy the Greek was wrong, there¡¦s no question he was wrong. But it¡¦s also true that we¡¦re in a climate now where we can take long, important looks at issues like the increasing numbers of black quarterbacks in the NFL, or black dominance in sports as a whole, and not automatically be viewed as people trying to back up his words and ways of thinking."

Entine has written a provocative new book, "Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sport and Why We Are Afraid To Talk About It," whose title at first glance seems to summarize Snyder¡¦s oral manifesto, but in truth illuminates¡Xand fearlessly analyzes¡Xhow African-Americans¡Xspecifically, those of West African descent¡Xhave come to dominate professional basketball (the NBA is 80 percent black), the WNBA (70 percent), football (65 percent), track (every world record at every major distance, from the 100 to the marathon, is held either by West Africans or their descendants) and so many other sports at a rate much higher than their population demographic.

Entine, who is white, began studying this subject soon after Snyder¡¦s remarks, and produced a much talked-about NBC documentary with Tom Brokaw, "Black Athletes: Fact or Fiction" that garnered critical praise and some critical backlash in 1989. While there are some who consider the very topic of his study to be racist in nature, he insists just the opposite is true.

Just because you say a population group has a natural affinity for a certain activity, you aren¡¦t saying they are incapable of doing anything else," he said.

"For instance, Asians have shown a clear proclivity for string instruments over many years. Cubans are wonderful Olympic boxers. That isn¡¦t to say Asians or Cubans are boxed into those professions, or that they can¡¦t succeed elsewhere. Similarly, by saying African-Americans have the ability to excel in sports doesn¡¦t automatically mean they can¡¦t do other things well, which is the typical knee-jerk reaction people have."

Entine¡¦s thesis was greeted with scorn in 1989, but with increasing acceptance in 2000. In the book¡¦s introduction, Dr. Earl Smith, chairman of Wake Forest¡¦s department of sociology, who is black, writes, "African-American athletes dominate in North American sports because they are able to run faster, jump higher and perform some incredible feats that athletes from other racial or ethnic groups can not.

"Is this the primary reason Michael Jordan became the best basketball player in the world? Or is Jordan the best because he has an insatiable work ethic? Hopefully, (the book) will contribute to finally putting to rest the torturous stereotype of the ¡¥dumb black jock.¡¦"

Maybe the relative non-story that has accompanied McNair¡¦s and King¡¦s potential collision course will do the same thing. Progress isn¡¦t always measured by the volume of the rhetoric. Sometimes, it sneaks up on you. Sometimes, it just happens.

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http://www.blackathlete.com/nfl128.htm
By John Posey

Black Quarterbacks in Vogue in the NFL

DALLAS, TEXAS -- As the NFL season moves towards its conclusion in Tampa Bay, there is an undercurrent -- a theme if you will -- for the 2000 season. While Commissioner Tagliube would hardly admit it, the press has nicknamed this season, "The Year of the Black Quarterback." These are revolutionary times for the conservative NFL as the number of Black quarterbacks on professional rosters is at a record level. Five of the twelve starting quarterbacks in the playoffs were African-American.

Eighteen Black quarterbacks were on NFL rosters during the 2000 season including: Dameyune Craig (Carolina); Randall Cunningham and Anthony Wright (Dallas); Jeff Blake and Aaron Brooks (New Orleans); Akili Smith (Cincinnati); Jarius Jackson (Denver); Charlie Batch (Detroit); Tony Banks (Baltimore); Warren Moon (Kansas City); Daunte Culpepper (Minnesota); Michael Bishop (New England); Rodney Peete (Oakland); Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia); Kordell Stewart (Pittsburgh); Shaun King (Tampa Bay); Ray Lucas (New York Jets) and Steve McNair (Tennessee).

Some in the NFL believe that Black quarterbacks are no longer a novelty after the 1999 draft when Daunte Culpepper, Donovan McNab and Akili Smith were all selected in the first round. Virginia Tech's Michael Vick is the odds-on favorite to be selected first overall in the 2001 draft. "One would think that this year will just about end the whole, 'Black quarterback issue' - that is, if it wasn't dead already," said Tennessee Titans General Manager Floyd Reese, who drafted Steve McNair at No. 3 in the first round in 1995. Until 1999, McNair was the highest drafted Black quarterback.

Despite the influx of Black quarterbacks, very few dotted NFL rosters in the early 1990's. When New Orleans' Jeff Blake entered the NFL in 1992, he was one of only five Black quarterbacks, along with Moon, Cunningham, Rodney Peete and Vince Evans. Even with the number of Black quarterbacks at an all-time high, they only represent 20% of the 90 players at football's most glamorous position. Black players are more than 70% of all the players on NFL rosters.

Why are Black quarterbacks still underrepresented at Quarterback?

One of the racial practices, which has limited Blacks' access to the quarterback positions, is the phenomenon known as "stacking." Quarterback is considered a cerebral position, which requires leadership skills. The Bengals' Akili Smith was recruited by UCLA to play.

A second factor is simple racism by fans and boosters at the college and high school level." Alabama fans couldn't stand having a Black quarterback, even though he personally led the team back to respectability. They'll deny it on talk radio, but I've heard too many remarks in private," said Tom Horne of the Sports Ticket.

Dallas veteran Randall Cunningham put the Black quarterback dilemma in perspective in an interview earlier this season. He was a second round draft choice in 1985. Cunningham ranks 17th among the league's highest rated passers of all time with an 81.4 rating. He is the NFL's all-time leading rusher at quarterback with 4,799 yards, and he owns two league MVPs (1990, 1998) to add to his impressive credentials. "Well, back in the past, guys were just getting the opportunity with Doug Williams and Joe Gilliam. I grew up watching James Harris, so I knew all along being in California (that) I had the opportunity to play in the NFL," Cunningham said. "At the same time, there was word out that we (Blacks) weren't prepared to play in the NFL. But all that's really gone away now when you see guys getting drafted like they are now."

The days of not drafting Black quarterbacks appears to be a thing of the past as teams need mobile, fast, improvisational players to elude complex blitzes and speedy linebackers. Grambling coach and former NFL star Doug Williams think all the media fascination will soon die down. "What you want is the day when it's no longer a question. If we're not there, we're fast approaching that time. I think it becomes a topic for a story now. Within five years, half the quarterbacks in the league could be Black, and then you won't hear much about it."

1.18.01

 

Why do people complain about "political correctness" like it's some boogie man that stole their bill of rights?

Seriously, freedom goes both ways. You have the right to say something stupid, and you also have the right to get scorned for it.

Our society is letting people know that we're not going to tolerate these racial barbs anymore, so adapt, or suffer being ostracized.

 

wait, i just did a search on this news.

yeah rush was pretty dumb to make that comment. mcnair is a terrific player. and his success warrants all the hype he gets. it's almost like jesse jackson defending ray rhodes. people blabbering about race when it's really just good or bad football.

nonetheless, i don't get how mcnair can claim that he never saw anything special being a black quarterback? it apparently WAS a very big, celebrated, issue back when he was drafted.

 

that's precisely why PC gets a bad rap. when "correctness" becomes a restraint on free thought and a justification for intolerance, it IS a boogie man that steals our rights.

race is an issue in america. if you're an arab looking for a job or even a visa. if you're a black or hispanic or native american applying to college. if you're asian and trying to get into magnet schools. or even if you're just trying to be a white professional basketball player. when you're trying to be a black coach or quarterback. there are stereotypes and racist policies and beliefs we all have to face, whether helping or hindering you.

when political correctness prevents us from making even simple observations (however misinformed), how can these issues ever be properly addressed, not to mention resolved?

 

How does Pat Robertson get away with this stuff?

 

Cause he can pull the "religion card"

 

You're not black, though.

 

My question is why did ESPN hire rush as a football analyst anyways. I dont think that guy knows anything about football. He did exactly what he does take a simple issue of a quarterback having a few bad games and spin it into a race issue. People like Rush should not be on national Tv let alone a football show.

 

I hope everyone saw the amazing piece that Ralph Wiley wrote on this topic.

Wiley

 

He's black too, so that makes his opinion count more...right? Oh wait, that's only when a black person speaks out in defense of Rush.

 

I'll pick your tendency for the dramatic.

 

So, if you say only Donovan McNabb is overrated by the media because he is black it is not racially insensitive? Come on now....the great arrogant liberal cabal did not put Rush on the sidelines. It was oxycontin....