Letters to the Editor
cincinnatus
Published Letters: 49 Editor's Choice: 5
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@Anonymous
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You may be right that we're missing the point. Perhaps it is that black quarterbacks don't get the same time to develop, but your examples do not prove the point.
We can ask Shaun King what he thinks (someone already has and he agrees with you and McNabb), but let's look at the facts:
1) King won the Tampa starting job in 2000 replacing Trent Dilfer and starting ahead of Eric Zeier, both white QBs. In his only full season, King proceeded to complete a whopping 54.4% of his passes. The following season he lost his starting job to Brad Johnson who outplayed King (Johnson regularly completed over 60% of his passes). The coach who made that decision? Tony Dungy.
King stuck around Tampa for three years as a backup, the last two under Jon Gruden, while Johnson led the team to a Super Bowl win. King then left for Arizona where he played behind Josh McCown (of all people, and more on him in a minute). Was racism the reason? Nah, Denny Green was his coach. (Others have pointed out, however, that perhaps it is other blacks who put more pressure on black QBs, so maybe.)
Did King get less of a chance than Eli Manning, who in his first full year only completed 52.8% of his passes? Yeah, I think so. Is race the reason? No. King was 6'; Manning is 6'4". King was a 2nd round choice; Manning was the number one overall pick. King had to compete against Brad Johnson; the alternative to Manning has been Tim Hasselback and Jared Lorenzen. Do we really need more reasons for the differences in their opportunities? And if there was some trace of racism present in those decisions, did it really make a significant difference to the decision? If the players swapped skin, would their stories be significantly different? (Maybe their perception of it would be.)
As for Culpepper, he had a disastrous 2005 season even before the catastrophic injury he suffered. He was rushed back last year and stunk because of it. There are still real concerns about whether he'll ever fully recover. He's sitting behind Josh McCown because McCown has been in camp longer and has a better grasp of the offense and gets rid of the ball quicker (though 5 times to the wrong team -- ouch). He was replaced in Miami because Green's concussion was less of an issue than Culpepper's knee. Green may have been injured more times than Culpepper, but prior to last year Green had put in five consecutive FULL seasons.
But has Culpepper been given less of a chance than his white counterparts? If you're inclined to think so, please recall that in 2002, despite nearly 4000 yards passing and 600 yards on the ground, he turned the ball over an astounding 40 times (23 INTs and 17 fumbles lost according to databasefootball.com). Did he lose his job? No. He came back to have two of the best seasons ever for which he was widely acclaimed.
I'm not sure what McNabb is really talking about. He won't be specific, and I'm not black. But I'm also not stupid or insensitive. I work and live in a diverse community. I pay attention to how people respond to one another. I watch football (if you ask my wife) constantly and read about it whenever I can. Marlin Briscoe, James Harris, Doug Williams -- these guys had to do more, and sometimes even that wasn't enough. Today's black quarterbacks, not so much.
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Keep an eye on Myanmar
[Read the article: Adam Smith and the village's amusement at war]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn Greenwald wrote:
"It is striking how little any of these candidates have been asked about issues of executive power and presidential lawbreaking, and none -- other than Chris Dodd and, to a lesser extent, Ron Paul -- has made those issues significant part of their campaign."
Yes, and if we don't start paying attention and holding our government responsible for defending the Constitution and the principles laid out there, it may not be long before we face a situation similar to that in Myanmar. The Founders knew only too well that the greatest threat to a free people comes from within its own borders and is almost always advanced by its own government.