Wow. Just. Wow. This piece is gawd awful. The easiest way to invalidate an argument is to piece it together with out-of-context and incomplete information. I'm going to say something here, and it's going to piss you off. But organized athletics is one of the few places of near equality in our society.
I know what you are going to say- "Bullsh%t Mike. What about Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, or Maurice Clarett? Where's the equality there?" My response- put those individuals' actions outside of sport and into the reality of our own professional existences. Where would individuals who acted in such a manner find that kind of leeway for their actions, if not not in athletics? And since you don't follow sports admittedly, I give you one Ben Roethlisberger, pasty-white QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben is out for the first six games this season, and he was never charged with anything! He was just a flaming $sshole. That's it. White, green, purple, orange- the NFL doesn't care who you are, they just want to protect their image.
I am a HS coach. I coach in a very diverse HS with a predominantly black team. The notion that I, as a coach on the bottom rung of the organized athletic ladder, would start somebody over another because of the color of their skin is ridiculous. One, the girls would know it. Two, it would decrease our chances of winning. I like to win. So do the girls.
Facts are facts- there are not many valid options for an uneducated minority to make a living in America anymore. Organized athletics offer the promise of millions. Yes, they don't take care of their players. Yes, they don't believe in education. Yes, they most likely wouldn't want this minority to marry their daughter. But, you know what? They want to win even more. They want to flash their championship ring at all the other pasty-white rich people. And to do so, they pay very, very well. Yes, they don't teach how to use your money. But the money is there, and the opportunity is there. After that, individual responsibility kicks in.
I wish that we lived in a country that didn't jail such a high percentage of black young men. I wish that our economy still produced living wage jobs for those who pass through our apartheid education system. I do. We have many racial problems still to overcome.
But athletics is not one. And you only display ignorance when you characterize as racist an activity that offers so many benefits to young people, no matter the race.
On The Dementia Bonus: Football as Black Servitude
Wow. Just. Wow. This piece is gawd awful. The easiest way to invalidate an argument is to piece it together with out-of-context and incomplete information. I'm going to say something here, and it's going to piss you off. But organized athletics is one of the few places of near equality in our society.
I know what you are going to say- "Bullsh%t Mike. What about Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, or Maurice Clarett? Where's the equality there?" My response- put those individuals' actions outside of sport and into the reality of our own professional existences. Where would individuals who acted in such a manner find that kind of leeway for their actions, if not not in athletics? And since you don't follow sports admittedly, I give you one Ben Roethlisberger, pasty-white QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben is out for the first six games this season, and he was never charged with anything! He was just a flaming $sshole. That's it. White, green, purple, orange- the NFL doesn't care who you are, they just want to protect their image.
I am a HS coach. I coach in a very diverse HS with a predominantly black team. The notion that I, as a coach on the bottom rung of the organized athletic ladder, would start somebody over another because of the color of their skin is ridiculous. One, the girls would know it. Two, it would decrease our chances of winning. I like to win. So do the girls.
Facts are facts- there are not many valid options for an uneducated minority to make a living in America anymore. Organized athletics offer the promise of millions. Yes, they don't take care of their players. Yes, they don't believe in education. Yes, they most likely wouldn't want this minority to marry their daughter. But, you know what? They want to win even more. They want to flash their championship ring at all the other pasty-white rich people. And to do so, they pay very, very well. Yes, they don't teach how to use your money. But the money is there, and the opportunity is there. After that, individual responsibility kicks in.
I wish that we lived in a country that didn't jail such a high percentage of black young men. I wish that our economy still produced living wage jobs for those who pass through our apartheid education system. I do. We have many racial problems still to overcome.
But athletics is not one. And you only display ignorance when you characterize as racist an activity that offers so many benefits to young people, no matter the race.