NFL buffoons leaving terrible legacy
Jason Whitlock / FOXSports.com

You get one NFL Truth today. Watching Chad Johnson and Larry Johnson
undermine their respective head coaches, Marvin Lewis and Herm
Edwards, on Sunday gave me a singular focus, forced me to contemplate
an uncomfortable truth.
African-American football players caught up in the rebellion and
buffoonery of hip hop culture have given NFL owners and coaches a
justifiable reason to whiten their rosters. That will be the legacy
left by Chad, Larry and Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens,
Michael Vick and all the other football bojanglers.

In terms of opportunity for American-born black athletes, they're
going to leave the game in far worse shape than they found it.

It's already starting to happen. A little-publicized fact is that the
Colts and the Patriots - the league's model franchises - are two of
the whitest teams in the NFL. If you count rookie receiver Anthony
Gonzalez, the Colts opened the season with an NFL-high 24 white
players on their 53-man roster. Toss in linebacker Naivote
Taulawakeiaho "Freddie" Keiaho and 47 percent of Tony Dungy's
defending Super Bowl-champion roster is non-African-American. Bill
Belichick's Patriots are nearly as white, boasting a 23-man non-
African-American roster, counting linebacker Tiaina "Junior" Seau and
backup quarterback Matt Gutierrez.


For some reason, these facts are being ignored by the mainstream
media. Could you imagine what would be written and discussed by the
media if the Yankees and the Red Sox were chasing World Series titles
with 11 African-Americans on their 25-man rosters (45 percent)?

We would be inundated with information and analysis on the social
significance. Well, trust me, what is happening with the roster of the
Patriots and the Colts and with Roger Goodell's disciplinary crackdown
are all socially significant.

Hip hop athletes are being rejected because they're not good for
business and, most important, because they don't contribute to a
consistent winning environment. Herm Edwards said it best: You play to
win the game.

I'm sure when we look up 10 years from now and 50 percent - rather
than 70 percent - of NFL rosters are African-American, some Al
Sharpton wannabe is going to blame the decline on a white-racist
plot.

That bogus charge will ignore our role in our football demise. We are
in the process of mishandling the opportunity and freedom earned for
us by Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Doug Williams, Mike Singletary, Gale
Sayers, Willie Lanier and countless others. And those of us in the
media who have rationalized, minimized and racialized every misstep by
Vick, Pacman and T.O. have played an equal role in blowing it.


By failing to confront and annihilate the abhorrent cultural norms we
have allowed to grab our youth, we have in the grand American scheme
sentenced many of them to hell on earth (incarceration), and in the
sports/entertainment world we've left them to define us as unreliable,
selfish and buffoonish.

I take you to Arrowhead Stadium this past Sunday when two competent
and respected black head coaches led the Chiefs and the Bengals in
battle, and their efforts were periodically sabotaged by Chad and
Larry Johnson, the two players Lewis and Edwards have defended the
most.

Football fans are aware of Lewis' love affair with Chad Johnson, the
Flavor Flav of the gridiron. Johnson's insistence on conducting a
minstrel show during games has long been reluctantly tolerated by
Lewis. Johnson, I guess, is just too talented, productive and well-
compensated for Lewis to discipline. So Lewis has chosen to enable,
going as far as making excuses when Johnson's selfish behavior
extended to an alleged locker-room shoving match with coaches
(including a swing at Lewis) at halftime of the Bengals' Jan. 8, 2006
playoff loss to the Steelers.

Coming off an 11-5 regular season and having been crowned the toast of
Cincinnati, Lewis responded to that Johnson meltdown by vowing to cut
the player who leaked the fight information to the media.

Since then, the Bengals have been one of the league's biggest
disappointments, finishing 8-8 last season and starting 1-4 this
season. Injuries have played a significant role in Cincy's troubles,
but so has a lack of on- and off-field discipline and focus. Lewis'
coddling of Chad Johnson has destroyed the chemistry that made the
Bengals a playoff team in 2005.

On Sunday, with the Bengals trying to rally out of a two-score
deficit, Johnson failed to finish a pass route, which contributed to
Carson Palmer throwing an interception.

Not to be outdone, Larry Johnson continued his season-long pattern of
immature behavior, spiking the football in frustration with 4 minutes
to play and the Chiefs attempting to run out the clock. The Bengals
were out of timeouts and the spike stopped the clock, giving Cincy one
last chance to make a comeback.


Johnson, despite receiving a new $45-million contract, has brooded,
pouted and complained all season. He spent the off-season promising to
be a leader and has spent the first six weeks of the season spreading
locker-room cancer. Edwards-coached teams have traditionally been the
least-penalized squads in the NFL. This year's Chiefs are one of the
most-penalized squads. Nickel back Benny Sapp drew an unsportsmanlike
conduct penalty on Sunday, had to be dragged off the field by Donnie
Edwards, and was spotted on the sideline arguing with players and
coaches.

Race is not the determining factor when it comes to having a good or
bad attitude. Culture is.

Hip hop is the dominant culture for black youth. In general, music,
especially hip hop music, is rebellious for no good reason other than
to make money. Rappers and rockers are not trying to fix problems.
They create problems for attention.

That philosophy, attitude and behavior go against everything football
coaches stand for. They're in a constant battle to squash rebellion,
dissent and second opinions from their players.

You know why Muhammad Ali is/was an icon? Because he rebelled against
something meaningful and because he excelled in an individual sport.
His rebellion didn't interfere with winning. Jim Brown, Bill Russell,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc. rebelled with dignity and purpose.

What we're witnessing today are purposeless, selfish acts of
buffoonery. Sensible people have grown tired of it. Football people
are recognizing it doesn't contribute to a winning environment.

Whether calculated or not, the Patriots and the Colts have created
settings in which Brady and Manning can lead and feel comfortable. I
remember back in the 1980s when some black sports fans accused the
Celtics of being racist for having a predominantly-white roster when
Larry Bird was the star. No one remembered that Red Auerbach
occasionally fielded an all-black starting lineup during Bill
Russell's heyday.

My point is that it makes sense to cater to your stars. And it makes
even more sense to fill your roster with players who don't mind being
led, even if you sacrifice a little 40-yard dash speed.

If things don't change quickly, we're going to learn this lesson the
hard way.

aslam
GO COLTS!!!

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