The other day I was watching The Best...Period on Fox with Michael Irvin as the guest. Pretty dull actually until someone brought up a topic which probably pisses me off as much as any in sports. The subject was Kordell Stewart, and his benching in favor of Tommy Maddox. Rather than focus on Stewart's horrendous play or the fact that Maddox is nothing more than a XFL reject, the discussion degenerated to a racial debate. John Salley said that if the situation were reversed, where the starter was white and the backup was black, the starter would have been given another chance to prove himself. In short, he was insinuating that black quarterbacks don't get a fair shake in the NFL. This argument is an old one that will probably never go away, but I just cannot understand how anyone can possibly say that a coach/GM/owner would pick a quarterback to run his team based on the color of his skin. A few facts to back up my position: 1)nine black quarterbacks have already started an NFL game this year 2)in the past 3 years, 4 black QBs have been high first-round picks(McNabb, Smith, Culpepper, Vick). In addition, Aaron Brooks just signed a huge contract with New Orleans and Leftwitch could be the 1st overall pick next year. That's 6 black QBs who have been, or will be, entrusted with the most important position on their team and are being counted on to lead a franchise. 3)Q. Carter has been handed the reigns in Dallas, while Chad Hutchinson (who arguably has more potential) holds the clipboard 4)the ageless Rodney Peete has taken over for Chris Weinke to lead the resurgent Panthers. The last point about Peete is the most convincing evidence on this issue. The situation is almost exactly alike: late-30's journeyman replaces ineffective starter to give underachieving team a spark. In short, John Salley is an idiot, and anyone who shares his point of view on this topic should be removed from the gene pool. Kordell Stewart has been given plenty of chances (probably more than he deserves) to prove he can lead a very talented team. Including Tee Martin, the Steelers have two out of three quarterbacks on their roster who are black. The overwhelming trend in the NFL these days is a big, versatile, athletic QB, and as more come into the league, the future of the league is undoubtedly color blind, even if a few morons who comment about it on television are not.
You have to understand that the job of the guys on TV is to stir up controversy. If they didn't, the same old analysis will get repetitive and boring. They won't get any ratings that way. They want viewers...even if it's only ones who will scream at the TV that Salley is an idiot.
Amen, Refman. I am a broadcast journalism major at UT and volunteer at the student TV station, and you don't always say what you believe. Like look at the chemistry of the Gameday crew, Corso may be an a** but his Forget about it and Not so Fast my friend are the perfect yin to herbstreit's yang. Even if he feels the game will turn out opposite in his heart.
