An Extremely Daring Article

[fondybrewfan]

By Jason Whitlock found on Foxsports.com. He is going to get the Clarence Thomas treatment from Jackson and Sharpton for sure on this one. Please dont get this thing locked. This is a much more thought provoking than the usual drivel written by sports columnists

 

Jason Whitlock / FOXSports.com

You get one NFL Truth today. Watching Chad Johnson and Larry Johnson undermine their respective head coaches, Marvin Lewis and Herm Edwards, on Sunday gave me a singular focus, forced me to contemplate an uncomfortable truth.

African-American football players caught up in the rebellion and buffoonery of hip hop culture have given NFL owners and coaches a justifiable reason to whiten their rosters. That will be the legacy left by Chad, Larry and Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick and all the other football bojanglers.

In terms of opportunity for American-born black athletes, they're going to leave the game in far worse shape than they found it.

It's already starting to happen. A little-publicized fact is that the Colts and the Patriots - the league's model franchises - are two of the whitest teams in the NFL. If you count rookie receiver Anthony Gonzalez, the Colts opened the season with an NFL-high 24 white players on their 53-man roster. Toss in linebacker Naivote Taulawakeiaho "Freddie" Keiaho and 47 percent of Tony Dungy's defending Super Bowl-champion roster is non-African-American. Bill Belichick's Patriots are nearly as white, boasting a 23-man non-African-American roster, counting linebacker Tiaina "Junior" Seau and backup quarterback Matt Gutierrez.

For some reason, these facts are being ignored by the mainstream media. Could you imagine what would be written and discussed by the media if the Yankees and the Red Sox were chasing World Series titles with 11 African-Americans on their 25-man rosters (45 percent)?

We would be inundated with information and analysis on the social significance. Well, trust me, what is happening with the roster of the Patriots and the Colts and with Roger Goodell's disciplinary crackdown are all socially significant.

Hip hop athletes are being rejected because they're not good for business and, most important, because they don't contribute to a consistent winning environment. Herm Edwards said it best: You play to win the game.

I'm sure when we look up 10 years from now and 50 percent - rather than 70 percent - of NFL rosters are African-American, some Al Sharpton wannabe is going to blame the decline on a white-racist plot.

That bogus charge will ignore our role in our football demise. We are in the process of mishandling the opportunity and freedom earned for us by Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Doug Williams, Mike Singletary, Gale Sayers, Willie Lanier and countless others. And those of us in the media who have rationalized, minimized and racialized every misstep by Vick, Pacman and T.O. have played an equal role in blowing it.

By failing to confront and annihilate the abhorrent cultural norms we have allowed to grab our youth, we have in the grand American scheme sentenced many of them to hell on earth (incarceration), and in the sports/entertainment world we've left them to define us as unreliable, selfish and buffoonish.

I take you to Arrowhead Stadium this past Sunday when two competent and respected black head coaches led the Chiefs and the Bengals in battle, and their efforts were periodically sabotaged by Chad and Larry Johnson, the two players Lewis and Edwards have defended the most.

Football fans are aware of Lewis' love affair with Chad Johnson, the Flavor Flav of the gridiron. Johnson's insistence on conducting a minstrel show during games has long been reluctantly tolerated by Lewis. Johnson, I guess, is just too talented, productive and well-compensated for Lewis to discipline. So Lewis has chosen to enable, going as far as making excuses when Johnson's selfish behavior extended to an alleged locker-room shoving match with coaches (including a swing at Lewis) at halftime of the Bengals' Jan. 8, 2006 playoff loss to the Steelers.

Coming off an 11-5 regular season and having been crowned the toast of Cincinnati, Lewis responded to that Johnson meltdown by vowing to cut the player who leaked the fight information to the media.

Since then, the Bengals have been one of the league's biggest disappointments, finishing 8-8 last season and starting 1-4 this season. Injuries have played a significant role in Cincy's troubles, but so has a lack of on- and off-field discipline and focus. Lewis' coddling of Chad Johnson has destroyed the chemistry that made the Bengals a playoff team in 2005.

On Sunday, with the Bengals trying to rally out of a two-score deficit, Johnson failed to finish a pass route, which contributed to Carson Palmer throwing an interception.

Not to be outdone, Larry Johnson continued his season-long pattern of immature behavior, spiking the football in frustration with 4 minutes to play and the Chiefs attempting to run out the clock. The Bengals were out of timeouts and the spike stopped the clock, giving Cincy one last chance to make a comeback.

Johnson, despite receiving a new $45-million contract, has brooded, pouted and complained all season. He spent the off-season promising to be a leader and has spent the first six weeks of the season spreading locker-room cancer. Edwards-coached teams have traditionally been the least-penalized squads in the NFL. This year's Chiefs are one of the most-penalized squads. Nickel back Benny Sapp drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sunday, had to be dragged off the field by Donnie Edwards, and was spotted on the sideline arguing with players and coaches.

Race is not the determining factor when it comes to having a good or bad attitude. Culture is.

Hip hop is the dominant culture for black youth. In general, music, especially hip hop music, is rebellious for no good reason other than to make money. Rappers and rockers are not trying to fix problems. They create problems for attention.

That philosophy, attitude and behavior go against everything football coaches stand for. They're in a constant battle to squash rebellion, dissent and second opinions from their players.

You know why Muhammad Ali is/was an icon? Because he rebelled against something meaningful and because he excelled in an individual sport. His rebellion didn't interfere with winning. Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. rebelled with dignity and purpose.

What we're witnessing today are purposeless, selfish acts of buffoonery. Sensible people have grown tired of it. Football people are recognizing it doesn't contribute to a winning environment.

Whether calculated or not, the Patriots and the Colts have created settings in which Brady and Manning can lead and feel comfortable. I remember back in the 1980s when some black sports fans accused the Celtics of being racist for having a predominantly-white roster when Larry Bird was the star. No one remembered that Red Auerbach occasionally fielded an all-black starting lineup during Bill Russell's heyday.

My point is that it makes sense to cater to your stars. And it makes even more sense to fill your roster with players who don't mind being led, even if you sacrifice a little 40-yard dash speed.

If things don't change quickly, we're going to learn this lesson the hard way.

 

EDIT: For some reason couldnt get the whole article to cut and paste at once

[Patrick425]

Wow

[homer]

This isn't the first time Whitlock has written about this. He wrote extensively about 'hip hop culture' that was all over Las Vegas during the NBA All Star Game.

 

And in case people don't know it, Whitlock is black.

[owbc]

Certainly a perspective that I hadn't thought about before.

 

Although I agree with many of the negatives of hip-hop culture, I don't know if it is necessarily the culture that is to blame for the Chiefs and Bengals being bad teams.

 

The real point is that athletes that are "troublemakers" in the locker room need to learn to respect authority and stay out of trouble. Two of the notorious troublemakers in the NFL are T.O. and Randy Moss. Moss and the Patriots are undefeated and T.O. and the Cowboys have one loss. There have been no major off the field problems with either this year.

 

Are the Patriots and Cowboys winning because of a lack of off-field problems, or is the lack of off-field problems resulting in winning?

[patrickgpe]

i have heard him on the rome show discuss similar topics, its too bad there can't be more outspoken leaders in the African American community, ill leave it at that.

[homer]

There are outspoken leaders in the African American community. They just happen to have a different viewpoint than Whitlock.

 

Speaking of...I'd be curious to hear Gary Sheffield's take on this.

[patrickgpe]

that is true homer, i meant to say i wish there was leaders like Whitlock. I know whitlock is only a writer too. If people like jesse jackson condemmed some behavior from african american's it may have a affect on the level of crime in the inner cities.

[bjkrautk]

Race is not the determining factor when it comes to having a good or bad attitude. Culture is.

 

I think Mr. Whitlock invites confusion in the article by measuring the rosters of NFL teams by skin color. (The old statistic is that the largest consumer of rap albums are young white males.)

 

I wonder if he read Bill Cosby's new book...

[jazzytrav]

I finally just assumed he was black. It would take some mighty big cahones for a white guy to say stuff like that. Regardless of the writer's skin color, I think I have to disagree with him. I could go more into why...but my head is still spinning from the article itself.

As for his examples, I've been watching Chad Johnson for years, and I absolutely love him. He's probably one of my man-crushes that I didn't mention in the man-crush thread. He's extremely talented, extremely passionate, and extremely entertaining. I could care less about the entertainment part, because what really matters is how passionate he is. Can anyone here honestly say that you've never gotten into an argument with someone in public? The difference with Chad getting into an argument with Palmer on the sideline earlier this year is that everybody could see the tape of it and everybody could scrutinize it. As for the fight, I don't think Lewis was defending him because he's highly paid or anything like that. He defended him because he knew that swing came in the heat of passion, passion for a game that Chad loves to play.

LJ, on the other hand, has done nothing but whine for the past two years. Man it's getting sickening. The guy grew up in a middle class home and he talks about life as a black man like he grew up in the projects or something. Sure you could point to hip-hop culture for some of that, but it's not the be all, end all.

[fondybrewfan]

that is true homer, i meant to say i wish there was leaders like Whitlock. I know whitlock is only a writer too. If people like jesse jackson condemmed some behavior from african american's it may have a affect on the level of crime in the inner cities.

Yeah but then Jackson and Sharpton would be "betraying" their "brothers". I dont want to sound racist or anything but while these black leaders try to show that everyone is created equal they are fairly obviously trying to show themselves as different. I am fairly confident that if Jackson and Sharpton didn't exist the "desegregation" of the population would be going much more smoothly. You are not going to succeed at integrating society by making a circus out of every event sometimes when it has nothing to do with race at all. All to often the black leaders in this country are blindly local simply because of the person they are supporting is colored (I.E Vick) I am certainly not saying I am not at fault either, but the black community needs real leaders who seriously want to help society instead of grandstanding like Jackson, Sharpton, McGee Jr & Sr, and to a lesser extent Eugene Kane (remember how he attributed the Brewers being better because they have more black players)

[jwill535]

the "Hip Hop Culture" has not only infested the black community it has the white. I dont want to section things off but in this context it is the only way to compare. Kids now a days (i am only 30) are way overly disrespectful, just ask some of the teachers on this board. I dont blame the music that kids listen too, i think it has more to do with parenting and the "Pussification" of America, meaning to much PC garbage allowing for less discipline which allows these problems to grow.

 

Jason Whitlock is a good listen. He researches and has well thought out opinions instead of emotional drivel.

[patrickgpe]

but the black community needs real leaders who seriously want to help society instead of grandstanding like Jackson, Sharpton, McGee Jr & Sr, and to a lesser extent Eugene Kane

Thats the problem. Just look at Milwaukee alone. There is one prominent black leader who speaks out on crime, David Clark. I don't consider Kane a community leader, but he has written many articles over the years blaming everyone else for crimes except for the actual perpetrator, as well as column stating that an number of crimes will be a wake up call, only to have something similar happen in a few weeks. Milwaukee has leaders like the McGee's (don't even need to give examples here of why they shouldn't be one young blacks look to), Marvin Pratt who has been cited for many cases of election fraud, Gwen Moore, who could use her post to do really good for the central city but i can't name one thing she has done. The list goes on which is the sad part. As a white male, i can do nothing to fix the problems in the central city, only people like the ones i named can.

[Team Canada]

If people like jesse jackson condemmed some behavior from african american's it may have a affect on the level of crime in the inner cities.

 

 

I dunno, it hasn't worked that well for Bill Cosby.

[GAME05]

this thread title is interesting. agree or disagree, i think this is what sports reporting really should be, a true blending of sports and society that makes people look beyond what's happening on the field, the societal forces that push athletes and vice versa.

 

what we have more of now is the easy celebrity-type articles or the innumerable top-ten/best of/power rankings lists that reporters churn out a couple hours before deadline.

[patrickgpe]

I dunno, it hasn't worked that well for Bill Cosby.

TC i think the problem is that the kids of today in the inner cities do not know much about Cosby. He was on a tv show in the late 80's early 90's when most of these kids were not born or were very young. If the stars that these kids actually looked up to spoke out instead of writing rap songs glorifying such behavior, it would go a long way.

[RayKingsForemanGrill]

I think it's a very well thought out and intelligent article. Sure, there are some gray areas here and there, but he does largely speak a truth - these players who consider themselves "thugs" do not contribute to a team atmosphere and and certainly are detrimental to a team sport like NFL football. And as others have stated, it's not just black players - plenty of white folk have taken up the banner of "rebellion against nothing" that the hip hop culture preaches.

 

He does well to point out athletes of yesteryear who actually rebelled against something, versus selfish young punks who rebel because they don't get the respect they think they deserve.

 

Having said that, I don't lump Chad Johnson into that group - his antics amuse me and are seemingly harmless (he nor anyone in his posse have shot anyone) - but he hits it on the head with players like PacMan Jones and Vick...

 

$.02

[Patrick425]

Kids now a days (i am only 30) are way overly disrespectful, just ask some of the teachers on this board

My Dad was a teacher in Milwaukee for 30+ years and retired in the early/mid 90's. He spent his last years teaching at a middle school. You could really see his enthusiasm towards his job tail off towards his latter years. It was a job that he loved for many years and has always said that he would have tought for much longer, but the student culture had changed. There was not respect anymore and the stress was really eating at him over his last 5-10 years of teaching. He said it was not so much teaching during that time period as it was babysitting.

 

A friend of mine's wife just quit her job as a teach at a Milwaukee school within the last month or so. Apperantly she would have to help breaking up fights several times a day. There were a couple of times when she came home with blood on her clothes.

 

There is just way too much misdirected pride among certain groups of younger people these days. Too many leaders are afraid of dealing with cold hard facts.

[rluzinski]

I dont blame the music that kids listen too, i think it has more to do with parenting and the "Pussification" of America, meaning to much PC garbage allowing for less discipline which allows these problems to grow.

 

The problem is slightly more complex than blaming those "damn liberals" for not beating their children into submission. Sounds more like talk radio material than anything else.

 

Really, at age 30, are you even allowed to talk about "the good ol' days", when the kids listened to their children? I'm 30 and went to an inner city high school and many of the children were just terrible. Are you talking about the 1950's or something?

[homer]

As a white male, i can do nothing to fix the problems in the central city, only people like the ones i named can.

I completely disagree. I think everyone can help out. Be a Big Brother, volunteer at a Boys and Girls Club, coach a little league team, donate money, tutor someone....there are hundreds of things you can do. I don't think anyone expects you to solve the whole problem by yourself but like the saying goes "Think globally, act locally".

[sbrylski]

Really, at age 30, are you even allowed to talk about "the good ol' days", when the kids listened to their children?

 

I can't seem to think of a funny line...someone, help me...

[DuWayne Steurer]

Really, at age 30, are you even allowed to talk about "the good ol' days", when the kids listened to their children? I'm 30 and went to an inner city high school and many of the children were just terrible. Are you talking about the 1950's or something?

 

I'm 33, and what I can say is that kids now talk to adults in a way that myself and my friends wouldn't have even thought of 15 years ago. This isn't a black/white issue, because I live in the same town I was born and raised in, and this place is predominantly white. There's so many factors that go into it that not one thing could be definatively pinpointed, I'm sure.

 

I think it's also true that every generation thinks they were more respectable than the kids that are growing up behind them. That doesn't make it right, however.