It might not have been a dominant topic of conversation, but it is certainly a talking point. Just in the past 10 years or so there was talk about Donovan McNabb being a good pocket passer… for a black guy. If Vince Young was worth the hype which transitioned to if Jamarcus Russell was good enough to merit the #1 overall. Recently RG3 and his “athletic style” vs the classic Andrew Luck, and this off season I’m sure lots of Eagles fans will bag on Vick in favor of Nick Foles. I suppose the race discussion is transitioning from overtones to undertones but there are still traces of it, more or less, depending on the company you keep.
Yeah see? That Roger “the Dodger” Staubach is a bad egg see? If you’re going to run, get in the wishbone. If you’re going to attempt the forward pass, you sling it with your feet planted like Johnny U. And get a haircut like Johnny U. Awful lot of hair for an alleged “Navy” man.
I think that’s really died off over the last decade. 10 years ago, yes, really athletic QBs were something of a novelty or at least an outlier and it was harder for them to get a shot. You could find debates over whether or not you could win with a QB who was more of an “athlete” than a QB. “Running quarterback” seemed to be pretty much synonymous with “black guy at QB.” There were shades of the same white/black athletecism/intelligence talent/fundamental dichotomy you sometimes seem in basketball. But that was 10 years ago. NFL offenses have changed and people have adjusted their thinking. When people have questions about Robert Griffin and Cam Newton, they’re questions about those guys as individuals and not about a style of QB play. In Newton’s case people were too quick to write him off, and there’s reason to be concerned about Griffin even though people who wanted to ditch him for Kirk Cousins were being dumb.
The debates over Young and Russell weren’t about race. They were about whether or those guys were really that good, and they absolutely weren’t. None of which is to say that race doesn’t creep into discussions of sports all the time (Richard Sherman), but as far as QBs go it seems to have faded from the discussion.
I don’t recall Any attention being paid to Wilson’s race. I’m glad it doesn’t get presented as an issue much anymore- I used to get upset when some up-and-comer would display all the ability you could ask for (in whatever field) and the discussion would be, “Gee I dunno, he *is *black yanno…”
Sherman attracted maybe a little attention as a ‘racial minority’ after his Crabtree outburst. The media used the word ‘thug’ many times after the event, which was supposed to be a ‘dog whistle’ thing to say- outraged commentary pointed this out you see. Meh- kinda once-removed if you ask me. In regular interviews, Sherman seems like a guy you’d introduce to your mom. He has a Stanford education and a Super Bowl ring. What stereotype is that? It doesn’t add up; only the inattentive or stupid cling to racial stereotypes anymore.
But it goes wayyyy back, man’s brutality toward man. The Ancien Regime, the Romans… how far back do you want to go? Brutality goes all the way to Abel, so to speak. It does seem more severe in the past. For example, Sherman being carted off the field because of the Broncos’ brutality toward him is nothing compared to the unutterable history of race (or tribe) relations in America and elsewhere. The most watched television program of all time was a brutal beatdown by a team with black stars against a team with 1 white superstar and otherwise the usual NFL mix, and it was not about race. It wasn’t!
He was right about that. I’ve said the same thing a few times, but if I said it every time I heard the word used against a black guy I’d never have time to argue about anything else.