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Wow burger boy Whitlock actually writes a great article
except for the part about Doug Williams being in the HOF
well actually ... he claims racism, then backs off of that claim towards the end and says he is "uncomfortable" by it as an African American.
Don't confuse criticism for racism
Here we go. The crippling of Cam has begun. As I feared before he was drafted, we’re going to bathe Cam Newton in the same racial pool of denial that drowned Vince Young, incarcerated Michael Vick and might one day undermine RG3.
Three weeks into his sop re season and at the first sight of mild criticism, a well-intentioned voice sounded the racial alarms for the reigning NFL rookie of the year. A clever, appropriate and harmless cartoon in the Charlotte Observer is being characterized as the first step toward angry white southerners burning jerseys in Cam Newton’s front yard.
In what I suspect will be an occasional ploy to distance himself from the stench of working alongside Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, the ESPN yapper, a man I consider a respected peer and friend, played the race card in defense of Cam Newton. Well, to be fair, Smith played the “uncomfortable card” on Thursday’s version of “First Fake,” the TV show he co-hosts with Bayless.
“It reeks of something a little bit extra than football,” Smith said of the cartoon that depicts Newton revealing a o Kitty cat rather than a Superman S on his chest. “I’m not saying racism. It makes me uncomfortable.”
Oh, Smith said racism, and he relied on geography to do it. He referenced the newspaper’s southern location in making his point. Smith went to college in North Carolina. In the interest of transparency, I should mention that the fine folks at the Charlotte Observer gave me my first full-time job in newspapers, and a bunch of southern white journalists groomed a football meathead (me) into a promising young journalist in the early 1990s. I LOVE the Charlotte Observer. That is not written to suggest the Observer is some utopian place free of biases. It is not. It’s written to give you additional background to judge this column.
Smith opened his comments by saying only African-Americans can determine what is racist toward African-Americans the same as only Jews can define what is anti-Semitic.
That logic sounds good but doesn’t pass the common sense test. It’s the kind of logic that fuels unfairness. It’s the kind of logic that baits people to live inside a delusional bubble of their own making.
The truth is, fair-minded, informed people with a touch of backbone -- regardless of color -- can easily identify racism and act against it. The world’s history is filled with examples of people -- of all colors -- doing just that. To be fair, the world’s history is also filled with trillions of examples of mindless, cowardly sheep staring directly at unfairness and pretending it’s not there.
I’m not a sheep. I have no problem identifying and speaking against unfairness. I enjoy it. It’s my passion.
There isn’t one thing remotely unfair about the editorial cartoon the Charlotte Observer ran that lampooned Cam Newton. Not one thing. It’s certainly not racist. Cam Newton is a multi-millionaire with one of the three highest-profile jobs in North Carolina. Coach K and Roy Williams hold the other two. High-profile millionaires get lampooned. High-profile millionaires who showboat and label themselves Superman definitely get lampooned and mocked.
What’s troubling about Smith’s comments is that an enthusiastic choir heard them as gospel. There’s a significant segment of the black sports community that loves to dismiss all criticism of black athletes as racism. Before Cam Newton was drafted in 2011, Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly wrote a scathing scouting report that questioned Newton’s demeanor, personality, leadership and at ude. Warren Moon, Newton’s mentor, called the scouting report racist. Smith connected Nawrocki’s scouting report to the Observer’s cartoon. Smith read excerpts of Nawrocki’s report on Thursday.
I’m black. As a child, I fell in love with the Los Angeles Rams because James Harris was the team’s quarterback. I believe Doug Williams belongs in the Hall of Fame. I loved Donovan McNabb when he was with the Eagles. I’ve had a lifelong love affair with black quarterbacks.
When I pointed out the obvious flaws in Vince Young’s approach to his NFL career, I was called an Uncle Tom and a sellout by black sports fans. During Michael Vick’s time as an Atlanta QB, I wrote several columns blasting him for spending more time playing video games than preparing for actual games. I was called an Uncle Tom and a sellout by black sports fans for pointing out the obvious flaws in Vick’s approach to his NFL career.
There are obvious flaws in Cam Newton’s approach. Smith, who is black, pointed out one. Nawrocki pointed out a few. The Charlotte Observer cartoon basically told Newton to scrap the Superman routine if he’s going to drape a towel over his head and sulk when things go poorly. Superman checks into a phone booth, puts on a cape and saves the world when things go poorly.
Whining about racism when there clearly is none would make Superman very uncomfortable. Cam Newton has all the tools necessary to be a QB Superman. The race card is his kryptonite.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/c...-on-cue-092812
Wow burger boy Whitlock actually writes a great article
except for the part about Doug Williams being in the HOF
Whitlock went in on Smith, tbh..
Jamele Hill isn't going to enjoy this article, tbh..
I agree with Whitlock
Cam Newton's piss-poor play got his GM fired today. I'm guessing his bus-driving press conference had something to do with that as well.
people are so damn sensitive.
The national media badly want a black QB. They are making an already difficult job even more difficult by hyping them and creating unrealistic expectations. Alex Smith was allowed to grow. Andy Dalton and Tannehill are being allowed to grow. RG3 is the next black QB saviour, and if he hits a rough patch, people are going to sell his black stock faster than they did with Vince Young's ESPN hype-wagon.
The one time in his life that Rush was right
The one time in his life that Rush was right
You've obviously never lived in Northern California
But, I get your point. Thing is, what the has he grown into other than a slightly less awful Quarterback that finally has some consistency from the OC position and a badass head coach?
Worthless in' honkey
Its true. In the offseason, the black media was all over Cam's nuts. They were proclaiming him as the next great QB even though they refused to discuss how miserable he was in the 2nd half of the year. Now they're blaming others for his failures when its obvious he has little skills to play QB outside of his instincts.
And Stephen's A complaint about the cartoon was pathetic. That cartoon was appropriate and spot on.
Wait...why is that cartoon racist?
it was drawn in white.
and speaking of black qbs what ever happened to mcnabb? he was the one black qb who played the position like a qb and not like a monkey rb. he was the least niggrish black qb around so to speak.
Oh i see... but i suppose that any other color face(other than white) wouldn't have been a problem with Stephen A,,,,or any other "members" of Black America? Howabout Carolina blue-face? That would have been ok i'm sure.
Or Hulk green-face?(sticking with Cam's superhero theme). Ehhh...i'm thinking green would have been ok too.
White-face? Awww no....not WHITE.
Silly sensitive African Americans in the 21st century.
I'd say Warren Moon played like a "white QB" as well.... so did McNair.....
When a black QB wins it's because he is black, when he loses and gets criticized it's only because he is "black." You can never win with these "people."
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