I do not believe most media are racists…what I do believe is a lot of the old mainstream media are prejudice, believe in ridiculous stereotypes, and are ignorant. I believe NFL general managers and coaches for a very long time were prejudice against African-American quarterbacks. They did not believe that they had the mental capabilities to handle the position. However, within the last 10 years or so, I believe that today the best player plays and we have seen scenarios where a black quarterback has often replaced the white quarterback.
While things have changed within the NFL in regard to equality (and frankly it shouldn’t matter what race you are, the best player should play), it has been replaced by something more subtle, but as ignorant. The perception of the “IDEAL QB” is still as strong as it was decades ago. Some in the media simply can’t let go of the perception that a quarterback is supposed to look, act, speak and play a certain way.
THE IDEAL QUARTERBACK IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA
1- WHITE
2- TALL
3- UNATHLETIC/SLOW
4- CAN’T GET OUTSIDE OF THE POCKET
5- DOESN’T PARTY
6- CLEAN CUT GOOD OLD BOY
7- FAMILY MAN
8- NO VISIBLE TATS
9- GOOD WITH MEDIA
10- NEVER WEARS HIS HAT TO BACK
Now, let’s look at the starting quarterbacks currently in the NFL and see how many fit into that bubble of the IDEAL QB.
TOM BRADY
JOE FLACCO
PEYTON MANNING
MATT SCHAUB
PHILIP RIVERS
ELI MANNING
MATT RYAN
CARSON PALMER
So, eight of the 32 starting QBs, by mainstream media, would be considered “traditional quarterbacks.” You maybe asking why someone like Drew Brees or Tony Romo aren’t in the “traditional” list. Brees is barely 6 feet tall, and if you’ve ever seen Romo do a reverse spin out of the pocket, he is anything but unathletic. That is another stereotype that needs to go away…just because you are white doesn’t mean you aren’t an athlete. Aaron Rodgers is as good of an athlete as any other athletic QB, so don’t let the media fool you. Simply put, the traditional QB is going out of style. They are like VHS or the macarena.
The prejudice, stereotypes, and ignorance comes from when the media tries to separate the non-traditional quarterbacks from each other.
This is when societal prejudices become apparently clear.
If Geno Smith escapes the pockets he is a “runner”.
If Ryan Tannehill escapes the pocket he is a “scrambler”.
One of these QBs use to play Wide Receiver in college and it wasn’t Geno Smith.
If Cam Newton gets emotional at a press conference he is “sensitive”.
If Philip Rivers gets emotional at a press conference he is “fiery”.
Sometimes it even happens with they are both black quarterbacks.
One thing I don’t think people truly understand about being black is the constant struggle of dealing with others trying to put you in a racial box. Either you are too black, not black enough, or a different type of black altogether. I call it the Michael Jordan syndrome. Everyone liked Michael Jordan…he was their “safe black” athlete, unlike Allen Iverson, who was seen as the “dangerous black” athlete. Life is like that, to the point where I don’t even think some people realize how offensive they are when they try to separate you from your own race.
Which brings us to Johnny Manziel.
You hear a lot that Johnny Manziel is “trying to be black.” Why do people say that? Because of the negative connotation that black athletes have within the media and fans. The stereotype of the black athlete is one who parties a lot, has groupies, throws money around, and maybe isn’t as dedicated to their craft as they should be.
The reality is that that’s something that shouldn’t just be on black athletes, but athletes as a whole. Simple mathematics shows why those perceptions are skewed in the US. Two of our biggest sports, football and basketball, are dominated by black athletes (around 67% in the NFL & 78% in the NBA), so those are the faces you see the most often. But there are more sports on the planet than the NFL and NBA, and worldwide athletes of all races and nationalities consist of mostly good guys and some bad apples.
Johnny Manziel isn’t trying be black or act black…Johnny Manziel is acting RICH, but because that doesn’t fit into their bubble of how a “WHITE IDEAL QB” should act they are trying to throw “BLACK QB” stereotypes on him.
The only difference is Manziel doesn’t get hit with the prejudicial terms. They aren’t going to call him a thug because he flipped the bird. They won’t say he can’t lead because he has an OVO tattoo…but they will profile him.
You may ask yourself why does the media do this?
That is a great question and I am going to let you in on a secret. You know the saying “SEX SELLS?” Well “RACE DEBATES SELLS.” Don’t think for a moment that the media is unaware of how irrational fans can be and won’t play things up to add fuel to that fire.
You know why they have a camera following Dez Bryant around all the time during the game? They are hoping for an explosion. They want him to do something crazy…in fact, they are praying for it. Big ratings, big views and more embrace the debate with subtle racial overtones.
Don’t be fooled that the media wants Johnny Manziel to change…they want him to keep partying, showing up with five blondes and hanging out with Drake. They have found their new money man, no pun intended, and they will use those black quarterback stereotypes against him, just with a twist. They don’t care if he is white, they care that you think he acts black. If it was just about railroading black quarterbacks, we would hear more about Teddy Bridgewater. But they don’t care about him because he is boring, he doesn’t FIT into their stereotypical idea of what makes an interesting debate about a black quarterback, so they leave him alone and use Manziel as their surrogate.
I laughed at every Manziel story I read today, and every bobblehead I heard screaming on TV about it. It is the Bizarro Tebow situation. Manziel is the villain. To have a truly viral story you have to have a great hero or a great villain, and frankly a villain has much more legs. You can ride a villain much longer than a hero. Look how Skip Bayless rode LeBron to a seven figure salary. They know how stupid these stories and debates are, but we know how stupid the Kardashians are and they are worth over $100 million, people not watching Love and Hip-Hop to be intellectually stimulated. People like stupid, and people love drama. Manziel is more Stevie J than Steve Young, and people can’t get enough of it. Social media, networks, bloggers and myself are just waiting for the next big thing. In the immortal words of Triple H, Manziel is good for business.
You will hear the following key phrases any time Manziel plays going forward, regardless if they are true or not (some maybe, some not).
1- He’s a runner.
2- He’s immature.
3- He has to stop partying.
4- He doesn’t understand the playbook.
5- He’s athletic.
6- He’s selfish.
7- He’s not a leader.
8- He’s not a traditional NFL quarterback.
9- He’s going to fail.
10- He’s a punk
So, we have gotten to the point where it isn’t much about your RACE as a quarterback as it is about are you portraying your RACE as the media wants you to.
This is about controlling and manipulating an audience, Manziel thought he had control of the situation, but he is learning the media can essentially brand you however they want. Just like most athletes, Manziel shares some of the blame, because when you decide you are going YOLO, you are essentially daring the media to brand you however they want and that normally doesn’t work out well for the athlete (ask Terrell Owens). They have taken the old model of typecasting the black QB and just updated it for the new white version of it.
Manziel is Vanilla Ice right now, and if he doesn’t play well, he can guarantee he will never become Eminem.
WORD TO YOUR MOTHER……