Football In Black And White
By Doug Hagin (01/30/03)
Well, well, the football season is now history and your world champions are none other than my hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And what a way the Bucs finished the 2002 season last Sunday in San Diego. A 48-21 thrashing of the Oakland Raiders which left no doubt who the better team was.
Remember these Bucs used to be the laughing stock of not only the NFL but of all professional sports. They lost the first 26 games they ever played. They suffered through losing season on top of losing season. They endured 21 years of wearing uniforms, which looked like, well, like Ray Charles designed them frankly.
They and their fans, of which yours truly is one, went through enough lean years to make a scarecrow look fat. But those times are long gone now. Winning a Superbowl will do that for a team and it’s fans, no matter how miserable their history has been.
But the victory celebration in Tampa is surely not the only story of this recently ended season. No there were many eventful aspects to the 2002 NFL season. And although we fans must now endure seven months of football withdrawal there is still a chance to take a look back at some of the memories we will always recall.
First of course must be Emmit Smith, of your beloved cowboys, and formerly of my beloved Florida Gators breaking the all-time rushing record.
In October against the Seattle Seahawks, Emmit surpassed the legendary Walter Payton and became the most prolific rusher in NFL history. Smith now stands as the only back to run for more than 17,000 yards. Not bad for a guy labeled by the “experts” as too small, and too slow.
There was Tim Brown, of the Oakland Raiders becoming the third receiver in the game’s history to catch 1,000 passes. His teammate, Jerry Rice continued to catch passes at the age of 40! Remember when 30 was considered over-the-hill in sports?
Of course not all the NFL news was good. Johnny Unitas, a legend and possibly the greatest Quarterback of all time passed away, as did Mike Webster who was the Center for the Steelers in their glory years of the 1970’s.
The playoffs were marred by some bad calls by the referees. Ask the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers if officiating does not effect the outcome of games. Just be sure to do so from a safe distance.
Coaching changes naturally were center stage after the regular season. The 49ers, Jaguars, Cowboys, Bengals all fired their coaches and then the really sad story of this season began.
The NFL, bowing to the forces of race baiters and political correctness dictated that any team seeking a head coach MUST interview at least one minority candidate. Excuse me? Shouldn’t the owners decide whom to hire, fire, and interview?
Apparently not anymore my friends. The NFL has decided there are not enough Black head coaches in the league. So they have now taken the first step in implementing quotas, skin color quotas, that is, into football.
In even worse news a group of race pimps led by attorney Johnny Cochran, yes that Johnny Cochran, is threatening lawsuits if teams do not take what they deem appropriate steps to hire Black coaches. Oh goody! Just what we all need, more race exploitation by a bunch of greedy, left wing, publicity whores.
In our supposedly color-blind, skin color is only skin deep world; we are to be further inundated with divisiveness based on skin color. This latest hullabaloo makes one ponder when exactly those preaching against racism the loudest will quit practicing it themselves. And yes these people are indeed pushing a racist agenda as surely as if they were marching in hoods and robes.
They wish to have coaching hires made based on skin color instead of qualifications. And let us face this fact. You can not hire one person because of their color with out at the same time denying another person of a different color that opportunity.
When this happens my friends, it is racism plain and simple. And racism is wrong. Always has been and always will be wrong. Yes, in the past no doubt some qualified Black coaching candidates were denied a job because of skin color. There is no defense for that kind of stupidity.
Trying to fix it by reversing the bias is no better though. The only way to properly repair the problem is too stop even considering skin color in hiring decisions. If we are ever too escape the bonds of racism then skin color must truly be forgotten. And those pushing these threats on NFL owners are far from that place.
That is a sad way to remember such a magical season.
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