I vividly remember after the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Giants (the 2nd time), GRONK who was playing on a bad ankle went out dancing (shirtless of course) after the game. He was KILLED by the media. Even though he had played hurt and was nowhere near 100% the media didn’t care. They said he should be in mourning, they asked would ever grow up and they wondered if his partying ways would lead to something bad happening to him down the road.
Several years later the Patriots win the Super Bowl with a fully healthy GRONK. He goes out dancing after the game, goes on a week long party spree, chugging beers and admitting he hasn’t read a book since 9th grade. Media laughs along with him, they find his act to just be frat boy harmless.
What is the difference?
Pretty easy to spot, the Patriots won the game and GRONK played at a very high level all season long. The Big Lead wrote an interesting post on if GRONK was black would some of his actions be as universally loved. Dan Le Batard questioned it as well on his radio show.
The short answer to that is NO. That is ingrained in our society and at the moment there is nothing you can do about besides hope society starts being more fair to all races. A black and white person can do the same thing and there is always going to be a portion of society that will brush off the white person’s actions while stereotyping and condemning the black person’s actions. That goes well beyond sports, that is life. So, if a Black GRONK said he hadn’t read a book since 9th grade or was chugging beers, some different adjectives would have been thrown at him. A Black Edelman would be seen a little different if some Tinder groupie was exposing their one night stand. The majority of media are white males, who probably either partied like GRONK or wish they could have in their younger days. It is easier to relate to GRONK because he is like someone they probably grew up with.
But, like most things in life, it isn’t as simple as black and white. When you are a winner and/or play well on the field you get cut a lot more slack than if you are a scrub. That has nothing to do with race, is has to do with performance.
Let me tell you a quick story from my high school days. I was in a history class with a lot of cute girls. So, I would talk a lot, half listened and sleep at times. I had a photographic memory though, so when it came time for the test I would always get an A. I could remember historical facts like I can remember sports statistics. When I got my report card I got an A in the class, but an F in behavior (it was Catholic HS so they had behavior grades). I asked my teacher a simple question.
“If I am able to get an A and still in your opinion be a problem in class, what is the motivation for me to not be a problem?”
He didn’t have answer. I think fans and at times media only care about the class grade, not the behavioral one. Marshawn Lynch can be Marshawn Lynch because he is very good. Brandon Marshall can have time to get over all his past problems because he is very good. Josh Gordon has had multiple chances to get his life together (and probably will have more) because he is very good. Jameis Winston will likely be drafted in the Top 5 because he is a very good prospect. If you are good, people are willing to overlook your issues to an extent, but when you are bad though………
Manziel is white and he will also be out of the league if he doesn’t show on the field he can play and do it quickly. All his partying and other assorted things were excused at Texas A&M because he played well. It was excused in the NFL offseason because he wasn’t playing. It was excused early in the NFL season because he wasn’t playing. As soon as he got the starting gig and was awful those supporters started to dwindle, because he was bad. Would it be worse if he was black? Absolutely, but it isn’t going to get any better for him unless he proves he can play on the field.
Tony Romo appears to be the nicest guy in the world and for the most part has played well throughout his career, but he is TORCHED any time he makes a mistake. Sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly, but white privilege doesn’t seem to apply to him. Why is that? It is because in Dallas they don’t care if you are white, black, yellow or Kaepernick, they want winners. Dez Bryant is black and was cut a lot of slack while he got things with his personal life in order.
So the reality is a black athletes actions off the field will always be treated more harshly than their white counterparts, but it is also the reality no matter if you are black or white if you suck you are going to be critiqued. If you want to be left alone, simply solution is to just be good at what you do.
