Blacks at QB? No big deal (Warren Moon interview)

Seattle Times ^ | 1/22/05 | Greg Bishop

[randita]

What a surprise! I didn't know black quarterbacks were playing on Sunday.

[Mr. Mojo]

I thought (black QB) Doug Williams put all this nonsense to rest when he led the '87 Redskins to a Super Bowl title? Have we forgotten? Going even further back, (black QB) Jame Harris was highly successsful with the L.A. Rams in the mid 70s, and his problems with racism were extremely rare.

[mrfixit514]

This article is a bunch of BS. Although I don't doubt that some idiots would threaten a black QB, I doubt if it was as common and serious as this reporter is making it out to be.

The only people who make a big deal out of blacks playing QB are black racists themselves trying to make it look like there is big opposition to the black QB.

[Hardastarboard]

What do you want to bet that none of the gentlemen who have been threatened this way support concealed carry, as any sane person would do under the circumstances? Knowing that the object of your hatred was carrying a cocked and locked .45 might make you notice his skin color a little less.

[em2vn]

Go back further. Remember Marlin Brisco as the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos?

[Mr. Mojo]

Briscoe only played one year for Denver, and he never started. ....for them or any other team.

I was talking successsful black QBs.

[Condor51]

Enough with 'the 'Black Quaterback' stuff.
How about this for earth shatering NFL 'news'

Super Bowel XXX?
All Starting Cornerbacks are WHITE!
(Has Diversity Gone Too Far?)

/s

[Condor51]

oops, that should be Super 'Bowl' (LOL)

Wait, on 2nd thought.. Super "Bowel" works just fine

[slowhand520]

Wow Doug Williams. There's a blast from the past. He was on Disney World commercials, Super Bowl champ, etc.. The last time I saw him he cried on national TV because he was released by the Redskins

[whee0071]

This isn't an either/or issue, though it's tempting to take the other extreme opposite the media's proactive, "agenda first, facts later" platform. It's foolish to say that the racism isn't there--I need look no further than my own family to support that argument. Of course, in many cases the racism needs to be taken in its generational context. Also, ignorant racism is much different than overt racism - sort of like modern liberalism. The quiet moderates are larger in number, but the ones actually making all the noise are few and far between.

That being said, players are also prone to coming up with excuses, and racism has certainly been a favorite. Even when Moon was in Minnesota, he was going to bat for Charlie Ward, agreeing with Ward's view that the Heisman Trophy winner would not be made a first round pick as a matter of race rather than playing ability. (Where were the Italians when Gino Torretta slipped to Round 7?)

I think Moon was a great player, but he's always been a bit out in left field on this issue. Rush addressed the issue appropriately a couple years ago, and I think the media did tone down its racially-charged rhetoric for a bit in the wake of Limbaugh's multi-network crucifixion.

[lonestar]

I had Oiler season tickets before and after Warren Moon was QB in Houston. I never heard any racial slurs about him.

He was known to hang out at The Men's Club--with blonds-- and he had a problem with the law after beating up on and chasing his wife through their neighborhood at a high rate of speed. She filed charges against him but later dropped them.

[dix]

I paid my money to watch Moon for years down here in Houston. He was totally overrated. The vast majority of those yards were rolled up many times when there was no pressure on. He was also no leader, and it’s one of the reasons the Oilers chocked in big games. He panicked when the chips were down.

Houston is not much of a racist city. He was welcomed with open arms. Oh sure I’m sure a few idiots might have hurled slurs, but the heat he caught was because of his play. The media adored him. He had the skids greased. He just was not a winner.

If memory serves when he won all those five Grey Cups he was the starter in only a couple of seasons. The bloom finally fell all the way of when he was arrested for beating up his wife.

[Mr. Mojo]

He was also no leader, and it’s one of the reasons the Oilers chocked in big games.

The biggest Moon choke-job of all (and perhaps the biggest in the history of the NFL) was in the '93 AFC wildcard game against the Bills, when the Oilers blew a 35 - 3 halftime lead to wind up on the losing end of a 41 - 38 score.

[lawdude]

""Look at a guy like Daunte Culpepper," Moon said. "He was still getting hate mail up in Minnesota because they lost a couple games early this season."

Moon is a racist. This statement proves it! They are getting "hate mail" for making lousy plays, not because they are black! He is a race baiting SOB just like J. Jackson!

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Correction: "Wherever Warren Moon went, death threats and hate mail and racism resulting from his habit of padding his own stats at the expense of his team were never far behind."

[rcocean]

Wow, Black men are NFL quarterbacks? I never knew.

The next thing you know a Black man will be a Supreme Court Justice or Secretrary of State.

I even saw blacks people sitting in the front of the bus yesterday.

Boy, society sure is changing.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

About the only racists left are those who profit from it politically and financially. Without them racism would have ended a lot sooner.

[em2vn]

Mr. Briscoe became the first black starting quarterback in the NFL, at the time when it was believed that African-Americans couldn't lead a team on the field. Mr. Briscoe did what no one had done before. His performance on and off the field paved the way for future minority quarterbacks. As a rookie quarterback with the Denver Broncos, Mr. Briscoe set a NFL record by throwing 14 touchdown passes in 11 games. However, he never played quarterback again. After a visit to Canada, Marlin returned to the NFL where he was named All-Pro with the Buffalo Bills and won two Superbowl rings with the 1973-74 Miami Dolphins.
From the Marlin Briscoe football camp site.
Sounds successful to me.

[Mr. Mojo]

Not saying he wasn't a talented and successful football player. As you mentioned, he made all-pro. ....but at WR, not QB.

But I sit corrected about him not ever being a starting QB, which he was (for one year).