Skip Bayless tries stand up comedy
Subtle racism in sports media player descriptions has always been around, and it never gets any less irritating. Why are black players always “Dynamic” and “Athletic” but white players are “Intelligent” and “Scrappy”? Why can’t Cam Newton be Scrappy? Why can’t Aaron Rodgers be Athletic? And why do they always get compared to players of the same color?
Teddy Bridgewater is one of the top QB prospects in the draft, yet I’ve seen him get compared to Vick and Wilson and Cam, when he does not play like them. He’s a pocket passer. It happened with Geno too. Every black QB makes plays with his feet and can run! Don’t you get it? I mean, so can Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo, but when they do it it’s not athletic but scrappy.
It’s just kind of depressing.
Every black QB is Michael Vick, even Bridgewater like you said, who only ran a .02 faster 40 than Peyton, and every white QB is Peyton Manning, even Andrew Luck, who only ran .02 slower than Cam Newton. Every black receiver that doesn’t have elite speed is seen as a project guy that doesn’t have an immediate role, unless they have a “mean streak” for tough catches. Every white receiver is a “shifty, hard-nosed, blue-collar guy that lacks elite speed”, even Ryan Swope and his 4.34 40. I can get into linemen and TEs and defenders, but I think you get the idea.
The subtle racism in the media, especially when draft time approaches, is astounding in this day and age.
Totally agree with you, I’m not sure any black QBs in the NFL are actually considered “pocket passers” like Peyton and Brady and all those guys. Russell Wilson is a great pocket passer, but somehow people began to think of him as a dual-threat QB. He actually only takes the ball and runs as a last resort, and even though he’s good at it, he doesn’t like to do it often. Colin Kaep is the only exception to the rule, I think enough people consider him “athletic”. But no one considers Aaron Rodgers to be “athletic”, even though I’ve watched enough Packers-Giants games where he torched us over and over. Every time the pass rush got to him, he snuck under and ran for a 10-15 yard gain.
Part of the problem is related to a story I watched on TV (Outside the Lines I think?) a while back. The story covered the fact that most black QBs are taught to be dual threat QBs in high school or college, and most white QBs are taught to be pocket passers. Coaches will train the fast, athletic, intimidating black kids to run and attack the defense themselves, and other coaches will recruit the smart, though white kids to be sound pocket passers. I mean, in today’s NFL, can you name one “true” black pocket passer? Nope. Other than Kaep, can you name one “true” white dual-threat QB? Nope. It’s not so much an NFL problem than it is a problem at the high school and college levels.
White Dual Threat QBs – Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Alex Smith Andrew Luck, Brian Hoyer, Tim Tebow
Black Pocket Passing QBs – Geno Smith, EJ Manuel, Thad Lewis, Josh Freeman, Byron Leftwich
The idea of what a ‘true’ pocket passer or a ‘true’ dual threat QB is completely subjective, but the former list has plenty of examples of white QBs gaining yards on the ground while the latter list is full of guys who hardly ever run. I do agree with you on the fact that different color QBs are utilized differently.
Actually both Geno and EJ posted pretty good times in the 40, and Geno even had quite a few rushing TDs this season.
I agree with your assessments except for Tebow. Tebow is a running back who insists on playing at QB.
I wouldn’t call kaep white, he does have a black birth father. But I totally agree with you, there is a huge amount of racism on every level of football, and its silly. Like, people who don’t believe that racism still exist just need to see some recruitment journals, and I’m sure they’ll change their minds.
I don’t usually do this commenting thing. But when I saw this addition to your comics, I couldn’t resist. This is one of the greatest ones you’ve had by far. I really love your comics for entertainment purposes, but this one put you on another level. Great comic today man. Be blessed and keep up the great work.
Thank you! Bridgewater is less RG3/ Cam and more Byron Leftwich. And I can’t think of any team that ever said that guy would beat them with his feet.
I’m not defending Skip Bayless, but using “racism” to describe this doesn’t really capture what’s going on. When dealing with complex situations (i.e. evaluating human talent), the human mind is naturally drawn to stereotypes and predecessor examples. It’s not really subtle racism so much as how the mind actually works. We all subconsciously organize disparate pieces of information into strata and schema, and it was an evolutionary priority for our species to develop the ability to quickly identify stereotypes (such friend / foe, and healthy / sick). Again, I’m not defending him, but it’s worth noting that this behavior is hard-coded into our subconscious makeup at some level.
Wow! I don’t know any black QBs who are good in the pocket… Oh wait, what about Russell Wilson? Okay, what about white QBs who are good at running? Bet there aren’t any of those, right… Oh wait, Aaron Rogers.
Every white QB gets compared to the likes of Manning and Brady. What if they were black? And Brady certainly isn’t ‘athletic’ so what would they call him?
What about if Vick liked to stay in the pocket? What if Vick were white?
QBs are individuals, black or white. Like someone else said, the racism is astonishing in this day and age. Come on guys, it’s 2014, not 1964. Move with the times. QBs are QBs and are valuable to their teams… Mostly. Mostly.
HE’S WHITE, HE MUST HAVE A HIGH MOTOR!
HE’S WHITE, HE MUST BE THE SMARTEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE AND HAVE THE ATHLETISISM OF MATT SCHAUB AND ANDY REID COMBINED!
There are numerous Asian quarterbacks and some have been very talented. One even held the NCAA record for all time passing yards until surpassed by that overrated Texans bench warmer Case Keenum.
This comic shows a lot of hustle, a real scrappy, gymrat type of comic. Really shows a lot of effort to make up for its lack of athleticism.
It doesn’t have top-end speed you like to see, but it’s a tough, physical comic that can get open in the middle of the field and make the tough catch. Really think this comic’s a perfect fit as a slot guy.
I honestly don’t know what sites or programs you’re getting stuff from, but I think the single most common descriptor of Aaron Rodgers I hear is “Athletic”. And Russel Wilson is compared to Drew Brees more than anyone else, and Kap is compared to Young. While I don’t deny that there’s problems, it’s no where near as absolute, universal, or frankly prevalent as it’s being made out to be… it’s just that every potential, possible example is latched onto and remembered. Or perhaps I just enjoy less racist football than the rest of you.
Hey, indeed there are asian QB, in the world cup of american football, Japan is a very good team http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFAF_World_Championship
I’ve heard Aaron Rodgers be called athletic by sportscasters multiple times. Until I see some documented study that actually tracks this sort of thing, I don’t take it very seriously. Remember before this last season, when RG3 was basically the face of the league? And rightfully so. The guy shits positivity and was playing amazingly well. Lucrative endorsements, giant fanbase…who the hell’s looking down on pre-injury him?
I would be interested in the study. As far as I can tell, this whole observation has been extremely unscientific and just a “Well EVERYONE knows it.” It sounds like a Moonism– something started by someone looking for there to be a problem, and because it’s someone irreproachable for the comment, it is accepted as fact. Yes, there is racism in the media, and there is CERTAINLY racism in football, particularly at the high school and collegiate levels, though not absent in the NFL. But this “X race is always called Y while B race is always called A” is ridiculous.
So was Neon Deion Primetime Sanders right or wrong a couple weeks ago when he said “Johnny Football has ghetto tendencies”? He did go back and say he never said that when he clearly did.
Oh. And John Elway? Billed as one of the most athletic QBs in draft history. As was Steve Young. Not “scrappy”. Elway certainly wasn’t billed as “intelligent”– though “dynamic play-maker” was tossed about on him often. Sorry to keep coming back to the topic, but it really bugs the hell out of me, because it’s such an easily disassembled strawman that distracts from actual problems of racism in football and the media, as well as the much larger issues of culturalism (which have some degree of racist undertones, but are also a separate issue).
You make good points all around but pointing to Elway as proof is kind of disingenuous because he was drafted well before Black QBs were regular sights. He wasn’t being compared to any Black QBs in his age because there just weren’t many. Warren Moon and…uh…no one else really. It was a different era. Back then, if you scrambled around, you got compared to Tarkenton. These days, you get compared to Vick. Only the white guys like Rodgers never get compared to Vick, yet Wilson, Cam and Kaep get it all the time. In Wilson’s case especially, its a terrible comparison. Wilson also gets compared to Brees mostly due to his height. Brees doesn’t scramble like Wilson does. The best Wilson comparison remains Tarkenton.
I blame Vick for most of this. He changed a lot of people’s perceptions on what a QB could be and since then all black QBs get compared to him. Freak athletes who can “throw on the run and be a running threat, with iffy mechanics, etc”. I’ve seen Bridgewater get compared to Vick by stupid people despite the fact that Manziel is the mover in this class and Teddy is pure pocket passer. Wilson got it when he was a prospect. Then Geno. There is something to it, even if it is small.
Ultimately though, as the QB position is changing the problem will eventually fix itself as analysts are forced to deal with it. It’s not a big issue and you are right, there are far, far bigger racial problems worth addressing. But it still exists and I that’s why I find it depressing instead of outrageous.
Just yesterday, I saw two people on twitter compare Bridgewater to JaMarcus Russell and Terrelle Pryor, and they weren’t even joking. Naturally, they were both saying what a massive bust he was be, and why Manziel was going to be so much better as a preface to this, but that comparison was so ridiculous, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Johnny Football is going to break this age-old stereotype now he got the start in Cleveland. We will need a new word other than ‘scrappy’ to describe athletic white proper duel-threat QB’s.
This comic reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L104LViQeIw