Rush Limbaugh is a big fat racist!

I think my answer to this question would be a qualified yes, the primary qualification being that most reporters who feel that way do so in the context of history.

I know that in baseball there was a subtle double standard in the 3 decades after 1947 the resulted in the almost total absence of mediocre or journeyman black players. There was a famous example one year in the 60s when something like 10 of the top 15 hitters in the Major Leagues were black, but the rest of the every day players were 80% white. Unless black players really stood out, they weren't getting a chance, which is exactly what happens when there is a lot of unconscious prejudice. If a coach or GM has absorbed the unexamined assumptions of his peers, he will unwittingly tend to favor players who match his expectations. Black football players began to dominate positions like receiver and DB in part because the scouts, coaches and GMs expected them to be better in positions that required a lot of speed. The converse happened in with quarterbacks. The expectation wasn't there, and people tend to see what they expect to see.

Any reporter who has thought seriously about race issues in pro sports is likely to be very aware of this history and is likely to try to compensate for the bias. That being said, sports media people tend to be fans too, and they know that in the end, winning is all that really matters.

So, yes, I think that there media people who 'root' for black quarterbacks, but I think it happens consciously, and I don't think it has any lingering effect on the games or the reporting of them.

Keep in mind that if Limbaugh had simply said that the media plays favorites and that Donavon McNabb is overrated, nothing would have happened. The vast majority of football people, who already thought Limbaugh didn't know what he was talking about, wouldn't have changed their minds about anything, and the rest of the country wouldn't have noticed. He was the one who injected race into the discussion, and I can't see why unless it was because the thought of an overrated black quarterback bothered him a whole lot more than the thought of an overrated white quarterback.

 

You have to look at the situation. I think a lot of people were questioning McNabb because the Eagles had started out the season so poorly and McNabb was one of the lowest rated quarterbacks in the league at the time.

If the Eagles had been winning, and McNabb had been playing well, and Rush had made an out of nowhere comment that he believed McNabb was overrated because of his race, then I would agree with your point entirely.

I think the whole issue of black coaches recently has brought race back into the forefront of football so I'm hard pressed to see how commenting on it at the quarterback position is so off topic. Actually I believe that there is still a lot of sentiment among the general football watching populace that African American quarterbacks are only good runners and athletes and aren't really good quarterbacks. If anybody out there feels the need to defend and pump up African American quarterbacks, I would not really have a problem with that.

I have admitted myself that I would love to see more African American Soccer players succeed and I think there is a good chance it subconsciously bias my opinions.

I guess it was inevitable that Rush would say something controversial and end up resigning. I'm sure Rush probably had a feeling that that would end up happening also, but in the end it will probably only help his radio show so I don't feel sorry for him. OTOH I wish we could have an honest discussion abot race without automatically labeling people racist.

 

Ah, memories...

 

bumping old threads without adding new content, how very mod like of you.

 

Seems relevant to me.

 

******dammit, mod. Thanks for dusting this one off for us.