Posted on 01/25/2005 7:31:03 AM PST by Chi-townChief
Donovan McNabb, the Mount Carmel High School kid who has hit it big, will play in the Super Bowl a week from Sunday against the New England Patriots in a special moment for society. He will send a message to black kids everywhere that they can, in fact, grow up and play quarterback in the...
Wait a minute. We've already gotten that message, haven't we? There cannot be one minority kid out there who still thinks his quarterbacking dreams are blocked by the color of his skin. There cannot be one hillbilly coach who still thinks a black kid can't handle the job.
Well, I suppose you can find someone who thinks anything. But in the mainstream, people don't think that way anymore.
I'm pretty sure about that, but when you hear McNabb talk, you see that he still believes this is an issue, that he is a pioneer, and that it's part of his motivation. And after all, he's the one who has had to live through it.
It's not over yet
He brought it up on his own before the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, when he and the Philadelphia Eagles beat Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons. It was the first time black quarterbacks faced each other in a conference title game.
''It's a special weekend for myself, a special weekend for him, because this is an opportunity for an African-American quarterback to be represented in the Super Bowl,'' McNabb said. ''That hasn't happened since Steve McNair. So we're looking forward to this challenge and can't wait for it to happen.''
McNair was there in 1999. And this year, six black quarterbacks were NFL starters. Three of them, McNabb, Vick and the Minnesota Vikings' Daunte Culpepper, are regarded among the NFL's best. But McNabb always has felt it necessary to bristle at the idea that he's a running quarterback. Over the years, he has reduced his running and stayed in the pocket more.
It's not hard to figure out his motivation for that, or his passion about it. It always has been the stereotype of a black quarterback that he is a runner, not a thinker. But still?
No rush to recant
Somehow, this stays a hot issue, even though the victory already has been won. Last year, Rush Limbaugh left his job at ESPN in disgrace days after making comments about McNabb. Remember? The Eagles were struggling, and Limbaugh said, ''I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There's interest in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried the team.''
Over the next two weeks, you can look for media everywhere to call on Limbaugh to eat those words, to admit that McNabb really is good. In fact, listener Fran from Philadelphia called Limbaugh on his radio show Monday and asked whether his opinion has changed.
''You know, it has,'' Limbaugh said. ''There's been a demonstrable change in McNabb's performance, pure and simple. There's no question there has been. I think he was motivated, inspired, by a whole lot of things.''
One of those things was Limbaugh, though he denied that. But would Limbaugh admit that he was wrong last year?
No. He said that the media last year ''were giving McNabb credit because there's this social hope. I've never wavered from that.''
Read all about it
Think what you want about Limbaugh, but his rip on McNabb last year was only to say that he was overrated. Now, he says McNabb has improved, and frankly all the statistics agree. Limbaugh's harshest criticism was about the media, saying they were giving McNabb too much credit because they wanted to champion a cause.
I don't agree with either side of that. But we're going to find out in the next two weeks as we see the number of stories coming out about McNabb as a pioneer.
''You'd be crazy to say that it's not significant,'' former Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams told the Washington Post last week. Williams was the first black quarterback to start, and win, a Super Bowl. ''We're now at a time where these guys have the opportunity to be doing this.''
That's it, exactly. The time has changed. And maybe McNabb's appearance does serve as the reinforcement of that. And maybe that's needed because the issue is still only cooling now.
Williams was there 17 years ago. Back then, it was major, and Williams was a trailblazer. But at some point we have to see that it's time to relax on this.
Certainly, we still pigeonhole our kids. At the Olympics, I saw successful white sprinters and black fencers. And they stood out.
But McNabb won't. Not for that. It's safe to take the focus off McNabb the black quarterback and put it instead on McNabb, the big hit from Dolton.
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There should be similar articles out there about Jason Sehorn and how he inspires white kids everywhere that they really aren't too slow and too white to play cornerback in the NFL. Or about Steve Nash, and how he inspires white kids everywhere that they really aren't too slow and too white to play point guard in the NBA.
I'VE HEARD 40 PLUS WILL BE SCORED BY THE PATS.
LOL!
For a year I heard that Kerry was going to win in 04!!
LOL????
Pats in a ROMP.
31-10 LAST YEAR. t.o will not be a factor. Pats have a running game this time. Sorry Philly...Pats BIG!!
McNabb continued his "trailblazing" talk on his Sunday ESPN interview with the Dallas WE. Someone should tell Mcnabb that he isn't the first Black man to play sports.
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