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"The Column"
Sep. 26th, 2007 09:29 amFred Clark ran a couple of pieces about the "outrage" in the sports community about the comments of Donovan McNabb (American Football player).
His point is that the reaction of the press to black athletes who admit to getting/feeling singled out for higher scrutiny because they are black goes all pearl clutchy when it gets said (Fred points out that a host of writers will, out of the blue, all have a column condemning this benighted attitude of black athletes; it's as if they have it on tap, waiting for the event to just cut and paste it. They do, mostly. Anyone who write op-ed [and lots of sports writing is op-ed] has things which irk them, and only need a trigger to spark a rant; look at me on the subject of torture).
Somehow sports are a magnificent enclave where the questions of race in America don't exist.
So this morning Frank Deford does his weekly column on Morning Edition (which is Maia's wake-up talking, to go with the pair of alarms she, mostly, ignores).
And he does a version of "The Column" which is amazing in the breadth and depth of his cluelessness.
"Oh my, this summer has not only seen a return of the race card in sports. Unfortunately, it seems as if the whole race deck has been dealt.
"Most recently, of course, Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, declared that African-American quarterbacks suffer much more scrutiny than their white brethren...
"All this, though, comes on the heels of the following:
About three times as many black fans as white fans rooted for Barry Bonds to pass Henry Aaron's record. Of course, Aaron is African-American, too. But so many blacks believed that whites were singling out Bonds to demonize him alone as a steroid user that it became a race issue....
"As for McNabb, he has not found a lot of support for his contentions — including a couple of other African-American quarterbacks, who have said, essentially, 'Hey, Donovan, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the huddle....'
"And yes, it is very tricky for someone like me, a white man, to tell a black man that he could be wrong about what he feels where race is involved. No, I can't possibly know what it's like to be a minority. I'm so through-and-through majority, that the only minority in me is I'm a Huguenot, and, truth to be told, I haven't really suffered a whole lot of discrimination on that score.
"But, if, no, I haven't walked in Donovan McNabb's shoes, I think I'm capable of being a fair observer. I'm reminded of how Red Smith responded when he was told that he had no business writing about sports because he hadn't played the game. "If that were true," Red said, 'then only dead men could write obituaries.'
"I'm sorry, Donovan, I think black quarterbacks are nowadays treated altogether like white quarterbacks. If you win, we love you. If you don't, we love your backup."
It's amazing. He hits all the high notes, and has some grace notes besides.
In that (and I did some editing, I think it's less offensive as presented, than as written) piece he not only calls those who say they have been singled out whining liars, he says the black fans enable this "myth" to continue, and then hs the gall to use a version of the "race card" himself by trying to deflect criticism that he doesn't know what he's talking about as an issue of predjudice against him because he's a middle-aged white guy.
That's some internalisation of privilege; as well as some willful blindness.
His point is that the reaction of the press to black athletes who admit to getting/feeling singled out for higher scrutiny because they are black goes all pearl clutchy when it gets said (Fred points out that a host of writers will, out of the blue, all have a column condemning this benighted attitude of black athletes; it's as if they have it on tap, waiting for the event to just cut and paste it. They do, mostly. Anyone who write op-ed [and lots of sports writing is op-ed] has things which irk them, and only need a trigger to spark a rant; look at me on the subject of torture).
Somehow sports are a magnificent enclave where the questions of race in America don't exist.
So this morning Frank Deford does his weekly column on Morning Edition (which is Maia's wake-up talking, to go with the pair of alarms she, mostly, ignores).
And he does a version of "The Column" which is amazing in the breadth and depth of his cluelessness.
"Oh my, this summer has not only seen a return of the race card in sports. Unfortunately, it seems as if the whole race deck has been dealt.
"Most recently, of course, Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, declared that African-American quarterbacks suffer much more scrutiny than their white brethren...
"All this, though, comes on the heels of the following:
About three times as many black fans as white fans rooted for Barry Bonds to pass Henry Aaron's record. Of course, Aaron is African-American, too. But so many blacks believed that whites were singling out Bonds to demonize him alone as a steroid user that it became a race issue....
"As for McNabb, he has not found a lot of support for his contentions — including a couple of other African-American quarterbacks, who have said, essentially, 'Hey, Donovan, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the huddle....'
"And yes, it is very tricky for someone like me, a white man, to tell a black man that he could be wrong about what he feels where race is involved. No, I can't possibly know what it's like to be a minority. I'm so through-and-through majority, that the only minority in me is I'm a Huguenot, and, truth to be told, I haven't really suffered a whole lot of discrimination on that score.
"But, if, no, I haven't walked in Donovan McNabb's shoes, I think I'm capable of being a fair observer. I'm reminded of how Red Smith responded when he was told that he had no business writing about sports because he hadn't played the game. "If that were true," Red said, 'then only dead men could write obituaries.'
"I'm sorry, Donovan, I think black quarterbacks are nowadays treated altogether like white quarterbacks. If you win, we love you. If you don't, we love your backup."
It's amazing. He hits all the high notes, and has some grace notes besides.
In that (and I did some editing, I think it's less offensive as presented, than as written) piece he not only calls those who say they have been singled out whining liars, he says the black fans enable this "myth" to continue, and then hs the gall to use a version of the "race card" himself by trying to deflect criticism that he doesn't know what he's talking about as an issue of predjudice against him because he's a middle-aged white guy.
That's some internalisation of privilege; as well as some willful blindness.
