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Im not reading all of that.
NFL buffoons leaving terrible legacy
Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com, Updated 10 days ago
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 les 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 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, ing 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 e 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 at ude. 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, at ude 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.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7343980?MSNHPHMA
Im not reading all of that.
you should kill yourself for posting this bull ......
Hip hop culture is hurting the world, not just the NFL. Good thing its on the way out though.
chad johnson isn't undermining . i'm with kornheiser and wilbon on this - dude practices his ass off, is a good teammate, has never been in any sort of trouble off the field, but because he has some fun during a game the media has decided to gang up on him as a cancer for no reason whatsoever. cincy's problems have nothing to do with chad johnson.
Since apparently the writer is African-American, I'll go ahead and say I don't entirely disagree with the article.
I disagree. Taking a swing at coaches isn't a good thing, and we don't know what goes on behind the doors of the Bengal's facility. I agree that Johnson isn't the Bengals' only problem or their biggest, but I'd argue that he's a distraction. More than anything I'd put the blame at the feet of Marvin for not cracking down and getting some discipline with these guys.
I hate hip-hop culture. It has become nothing but a parody of it's former self, and has gone so far from the cultural significance of people like Public Enemy. Now it's money, ass, and boarish behavior, and if I was black I'd be pissed as that people perceive me as having a connection with that trash at first sight because of my youth and skin color. Luckily I don't have to worry about that, I have people worrying that I am going to shank them and scream " You Ese!!" because of my youth and skin color.
I have so much to say that I will say about it later this evening. Let's just say right now that the article is a bunch of bull and you will have people that knows NOTHING about the culture in general except what they see on television or hear on the in radio continue to talk about it. Whitlock is now going out of his way to in on the culture in every chance he gets. He needs to try something in else to piss of the Black American community. And yes, I am black and NO, I'm not in pissed off at the culture.
You know what. As a person that listens to hip hop. I hope it does go out in the mainstream. Therefore we can get quality music back like we did in the 80s and 90s and stop suckin up to these suburban ass kids.
"Race is not the determining factor when it comes to having a good or bad at ude. Culture is."
Bull . Their own ing personal desicions are what gives them a good or bad at ude. People can choose whether or not they want to act a fool or not. Listening to hip-hop has nothing to do with what they choose to do. Does a hip hop record load a gun and it for you? Does a hip hop record force your fist into someones face? Does a hip hop record stick the knife in someones face? I really don't see why hip hop gets so much blame for societies problems. IMO, people just want a scapegoat, so now its become hip hop, when in reality, there are far more poor influences in society than hip hop. What about movies these days? I think movies has a much more graphic depiction of piss-poor at udes, violence, killing, etc... than music does. I mean come on... we have movies showing people melting innocent peoples faces with blow-torches... At the same time, I do understand why movies show some of the things that they do, to maintain a realistic depiction of what goes on in life. At the same time, there is more than one side to hip hop. There is good hip hop, and then there is plenty of bad hip hop as well.
Now I'm not defending all hip hop. Only the good hip hop, and believe me, there is plenty of good hip hop out there. The problem is, the radio plays so much "money cash hoes" , or stupid ing songs like Soulja Boy "Crank That", when a lot of people dont even understand what the he means when he is saying "superman dat hoe." that is just ridiculous, and by no means will I ever defend that kind of crap. but there is plenty of very intelligent and intelecual hip hop out there. A lot of it is too deep for most simple minded people though, so since they don't understand it, and they hear a cuss word, or someone mentions a word about guns or drugs, they just assume its about how they want to kill people and smoke weed and like that, when many times, that is not the case at all.
For you hip-hop haters, throw a Lupe Fiasco or Talib Kweli CD in, and try to be open-minded and understand what these guys are really talking about. I guarantee if you do, you will have a completely different perspective on hip-hop, and understand there are multiple kinds of hip hop as well, not just the majority of the crap they play on the radio. 98% of the best, purest hip hop does not get radio play.
Agreed, 100%.
Blaming hip-hop is stupid and a cop-out. The biggest reason, IMO, why athletes get in trouble like they do is that they are basically told from 4 years old how great they are. People see talent in a kid and they want to use that to their advantage so they tell them "don't worry about anything else, as long as you can play football..we'll take care of everything". They are not held responsible for their actions so they think basically they can do what they want and if they make a mess, someone else will clean it up for them. What about the kids who go to school out in the rural areas of a state who hurt someone because they are drinking and driving? A lot of those kids listen to country music...should we blame Tim McGraw? A kid in a small town who has the chance to go far because he can play a sport will be just as protected and covered up for as a kid in the hood. It's not the music they listen to, or the neighborhood they live in, its not a inner city vs. suburbs thing. Is it about color? Absolutely...but it's not black, white or brown....it's green.
And there you have the truth!
The ironic thing is that Public Enemy wouldn't even crack the Top 100 today. They were "controversial" in a way that actually frightened people, instead of reinforcing negative stereotypes. PE was also critical of American black culture, which probably wouldn't endear them to a black audience either.
(Not to mention that the legal implications of sampling would now make Yo, Bum Rush the Show and It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back prohibitively expensive to produce.)
I keep hoping Chuck D will make a comeback, but I'm not holding my breath.
we can always wait for the next e lee soundtrack. i've been really into apocalypse 91 lately.
Yep. For example, I am convinced that Duncan and Ginobili may not have been the great players and men they are today if they had played basketball from an early age in the U.S. (I'm not saying it's the ONLY reason, but it sure didn't hurt them.)
That was my favorite PE CD for many years, and it was the "new" release the only time I saw them in concert. Lately, I have been finally appreciating Muse Sick "N' Hour Message, which I did not like when it was first released. It Takes a Nation of Millions... is probably my favorite.
EDIT: Anyone not familiar with Public Enemy should really give them a listen. PE is the only "protest" music worth a damn since Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam."
Good point.Yep. For example, I am convinced that Duncan and Ginobili may not have been the great players and men they are today if they had played basketball from an early age in the U.S. (I'm not saying it's the ONLY reason, but it sure didn't hurt them.)
I am not saying (and I am sure you are not either) that foreign born players as a group are in any way better than US born players but US born players have more distractions from an earlier age.
that's my fave as well. the bomb squad just doesn't sound dated at all, which is remarkable in and of itself.
I blame the Hip-Hop culture for everything bad that has happened in any aspect of the world. Including Nine Eleven.
interesting. you're totally discounting the macarena effect.
"They should have never given them s money! "
-Rick James
This article is pure bull , and the fact that it is coming from a Black man makes me all the more furious about this. It is articles such as these that feed the already existing bigotry and negative stereotypes towards Black people, especially Black men. The way Whitlock makes it sound it is as if this "culture" is an epidimic in the NFL. The players that he list as having these problems make up what, 0.5% of the Black athletes in the NFL? I swear Blacks have to be the only race that the actions of a few reflect badly on the race as a whole and it is a damn shame.
I blame the people too. Sure rap, movies, other friends can influence what you do but it's up to you to make the decisions you need to live in this world.
Now if there was no rap or violence in tv/movies, the world might be a little different in terms of either more peaceful or safe. Who the knows really?
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