First, I’m a former member (let my dues lapse over time). I’ve done contract work with the NAACP, and I have friends in the national leadership of the organization. I’ve met Julian Bond and other NAACP officials. As a general rule, I feel I am in agreement with the NAACP on most social issues affecting African Americans.
I say all of this to make it clear that I am NOT pitting the NAACP, but rather this J. Whyatt Mondesire character who roasted Donovan McNabb in a recent column. (In fairness he apparently wrote that he was speaking not as the Philly NAACP president, but as a journalist.) I can’t find the original article online, but here are the highlights:
[ul]Accused McNabb of “playing the race card” and termed him “mediocre at best.”[/ul]
[ul]Claimed that McNabb is transforming himself as a pocket passer rather than a scrambler because he suspects he will gain respect from coaches as a more capable field general.
[/ul]
If anyone can find the column in the mess that is the Philadelphia Sunday Sun web page I’d be grateful.
I’m a Washington fan and I hate the Eagles with a passion. However, I feel McNabb has endured a lot this year from injuries and T.O. Maybe he isn’t the most dynamic leader in the locker room, but I suspect that’s for his teammates to discuss. McNabb is a big boy and it’s fair game to critique his play, but where does this Mondesire character get off blasting McNabb and accusing him of playing the race card (what the hell does that mean)?
McNabb had a pretty good response. Poor guy. Getting hated on by Rush Limbaugh and someone from the NAACP. Obviously this guy Mondasire is trying to sell papers and get attention, but how tacky is this?
What, no accusations from anyone about Mondesire’s addiction to pain pills? No outcry of proven racism for saying he’s overrated? Huh. Who’d have guessed.
You were expecting him to call a black guy racist for criticizing another black guy? That’d take some doing. If only all criticisms of McNabb were created equal, eh?
Its been obliquely implied before that McNabb is somehow deficient as a black man because he’s a hardworking, listen-to-the-coach, work-within-the-system type of player, because he’s a middle-class suburban kid whose parents are still married, and/or because he’s an articulate wholesome telegenic type that sponsors love. In the eyes of some, Terrell Owens and Allen Iverson are more “real.” That’s pretty sad.
As for on-the-field performance… he lost the reciever that the offense was geared toward, Reid’s playcalling sucked ass this year, and he didn’t run because he was hurt all season.
I regret to say that the head of the Philadelphia NAACP is a moron.
ESPN’s Mark Kreidler has some pretty good comments on the article. Aside from the fact that Mondesire got a bunch of facts wrong, Kreidler’s basic point is that Mondesire isn’t a sports journalist at all - he’s a pissed off Eagles fan looking for someone to blame.
T.O. called Mcnabb a ‘company man’ over the summer, which (as I understand) is like calling him an Unlce Tom.
Philly boxing legend Bernard Hopkins has trashed McNabb and explained the whole ‘company man’ thing in more detail (as Hopkins LOVES Owens and Owens’ approach to fighting the man…the big Eagles Office).
Hopkins has explained that Mcnabb is not “Gangsta” enough, and never can be. Team mates of Owens who could never fight the Eagle Front Office secretly loved T.O. for battling them (Hopkins words).
You have to read between the lines, but then someone has to step up and say that there are two distinct factions amongst blacks: those who respect Mcnabb for his professionalism, his QB ability and maturity, and then there are those who are critical of him because they want him to act more like T.O.: fight the man.
I really can’t see how the discussion about the NAACP leader can continue without this as part of the discussion.
Personally, I think it is sad…very sad that Mcnabb can’t win by being a professional, adult QB.
Has the writer made any statement about this yet? Like, what the hell he thought he was going to accomplish with the article?
This is rich. Why wouldn’t a pocket passer be more reliable than a scrambler? If a scrambler is what is best for an NFL team, I’d sure like to see any Atlanta fans chime in with the same opinion.
Pocket passer = normaly reliable and capable QB.
Scrambler = injured McNabb.
Can anyone hazzard a guess what it means other than a shot at DM for selling out to The Man? The idea makes even less sense than my first post.
agreed, furt, I read the Kreidler article and I wasn’t impressed.
I think the best responses have come from Mike Wilbon on Pardon The Interruption and the national president of the NAACP, Bruce Gordon. This J. Whyatt character has embarrassed himself and the organization he works for. I heard today on NFL Live that he asked that ESPN mention that his comments had no affiliation with the NAACP. A bit late for that now, ain’t it?
Now every jackass with an ax to grind about the NAACP will use this as evidence of the organization’s corruption. I wish Gordon would boot his ass out of his leadership position, but I imagine that’s not possible. Word is that he has a long-standing feud with another politician, Chaka Fattah , and built this website to smear him.
Yup, this guy’s doing a great imitation of an asshole.