When a player signs a contract worth potentially $100 million, the media and fans place an unbearable amount of pressure on them and expect them to perform every game. If not, they’re crucified as Michael Vick has been after a couple of rough outings in which he was hit multiple times by the opposing team’s defense.
We’ve seen Vick depicted this season as a white man and now the latest: a baby. Michael Vick complained after Sunday’s loss at the hands of the New York Giants about being hit late multiple times throughout the game. Naturally, the New York Post thought it would be clever (as they always do) to depict the superstar athlete in a negative light. Let’s not forget the New York Post’s history of providing controversial cartoons and depictions of Black people in the limelight. This was the newspaper that depicted President Obama as a monkey in a cartoon.
There has to be a point when someone says enough is enough. This is probably the most obvious case of a Black athlete being depicted unfairly and the media placing an insurmountable amount of pressure on one person. Yes, it is a racial issue. Michael Vick makes a splash in the pool by having a couple subpar games, but Tom Brady throws four interceptions and barely makes a wave. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory. Does that make it fair? Not at all.
Skip Bayless made it obvious Monday on ESPN\’s First Take when he said it was a mistake for Philadelphia to give Vick a $100 million contract but said he wouldn’t be saying the same about Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. How much sense does that make? As far as I knew, the equation was: star player + performing well in a contract season = Big Money. Does it really make a difference if they’re prone to get hurt after multiple big hits? Hell, any quarterback who’s hit as many times as Vick is would be banged up at some point in the season; Brady and Manning included. The amount spent on the quarterback should equal the amount spent on an offensive line to protect him.
I’ll step off the soapbox for now, but this needs to stop. Hopefully the media will begin to cover Black athletes in the same fashion that other races are covered.