Reggie White was a great football player, but not a great man. He used his position as a great football player to promote his hateful racist, homophobic viewpoint. If the Packers wanted to retire his number because he was great player fine. But there should have been balance to this. The Packers and the NFL commentators should have stated that they in no way support White’s racist, homophobic views. They should have stated that while he was a great football player as a man he left much to be desired. There was no need to whitewash his hateful views.
I get the feeling you don’t like this Reggie White guy.
Now, being a fairly big nerd, I really don’t know who he is…care to explain why he’s a racist homophobe?
Cite, please.
I don’t follow football either, but, do you have anything that isn’t seven years old for a cite?
Why does the age of the cite matter? White did say those things.
I think the reason Reggie is having his number retired is because of what he did on the football field and not what he did on the pulpit.
He had his number retired, he wasn’t canonized.
Lighten up, Francis
Well, the city of Green Bay also namedd a street after him…
I’ve stopped treating pro athletes like they are the smartest guys in the room, perhaps Go Blue should do the same.
Says a seven year old article. Has he continued to say these things today? Maybe he was hit by a fuckin’ lightning bolt and now sees the errors of his 7 year old comments.
…is all I was askin’.
That’s unlikely, since he’s dead.
Go Blue: I don’t agree with White’s comments, but I’d like to ask you a question: Is it possible for someone to hold the views he did and be a good man? A great man?
Aw, let White have his day for his football accomplishments. It’s possible to make sure the world knows about White’s flaws without making it a 24/7/365 issue.
No.
OK, you made me Google that.
Was he in a coma until December 19, 2004?
Did he say anything about his views published 7 years ago or, were his views known only by his past statements? No recanting?
Then, fuck 'em.
Reggie White was a homophobe, and probably a racist (see his comments on Asians sometime). But he was also the greatest pass-rusher of all-time, and that’s why his number was retired!
So, if a man spends his life helping children and the poor and organizing charities to help kids with no fathers and feed the hungry, yet holds beliefs that are due to ignorance, he cannot be a good man? He may not be an enlightened man, or he may be a man blinded by religous doctrine, but his actions count more than an idea that he held. Now, if he acted on those beliefs in a hateful way, I’d agree. Otherwise, I say let a man think what he wants, let’s judge him by his actions.
*The portrait of the man I painted above is hypothetical.
I’m pretty sure he didn’t. But I did check Wikipedia and it seems the NFL and the Packers didn’t appreciate his comments. They’re only retiring his number here, I don’t think they’re offering any other endorsement of his views. Some whitewashing of a person’s life after he dies is normal, not to say it’s a good thing.
Says the Vikings fan.
Shit, didn’t you guys get the memo that Bush kicked a puppy? This is the best there is for a Sunday rant?
Go Blue, go fuck yourself. Unless you come with a rant about Farrakhan, you’re drivel is pointless. Reverend White has done more good for people than you ever will. Shut the fuck up.
He wasn’t Albert Schweizer. he spent his life playing football and did some of the same charity work that many other NFL players do. He wasn’t an entirely evil man but he was far from a “great” one. It’s hard to get around the fact that he was a homophobe, a racist and a religious bigot.