Around the NFL Championship Weekend

[JoeRedskin]

Cheerleaders file suit against Oakland Raiders for wage theft, unfair employment practices - ESPN

I will be interested to see how this turns out. These women put in lots of hours, act as emissaries/saleswomen for the team and are held to all sorts of ridiculous requirements. At the same time, it is one of those - if you don't want to do all this stuff for the "honor" of being an NFL cheerleader, we got 500 women who will come in tomorrow to do what we ask of you.

I would imagine much relies on what is in the employment contract and how they are classified within it. Of course, if the suit is successful, a bunch of teams will probably just eliminate cheerleaders ... and that could be even more controversial than eliminating PAT's. lol

[ashvirtually]

Sherman's appearance at that particular moment - having just saved the game, adrenaline roaring through his system, dreadlocks lashing his shoulder pads - was not a comforting image for (white) football fans. What he said was ridiculously confrontational and a rejection of what we like to view as "sportsmanship." We don't like to see that. But as one sportswriter observed, just what do you expect when you grab these guys coming off the field - a field in which extreme and dangerous violence is commonplace, necessary, and admired? These guys are pretty amped up.

My personal experience with racism - as a black man observing it in white society - is that it usually isn't of the activist/advocacy, white-power type. Usually, it is instead a banal and thoughtless assumption, made a priori, fundamental to the worldview, but out of sight, a forgotten brick in the wall. It's mental furniture, and the people who think that way would be enormously offended if you suggested that this forgotten assumption is actively informing the way they think.

The bell is often being rung, but it's mostly not deliberate and they don't hear it. If they did, most would certainly adjust their language.

But trying to get them to hear it is very, very difficult.

Richie Incognito was often referred to as a "thug" from what I saw and heard. And worse. He deserved it. Probably still does. Sherman's comments weren't thuggish, IMO. Sherman is brash. He's outspoken. I don't find anything he said particularly objectionable, and knowing the history and how that game went between he and Crabtree it's even less so. But people generally don't wait to hear even most of the facts before leaping to conclusions, it seems (SEE: posters aplenty the last few pages). Sherman's mouth was running, and so he's wrong. For some of them, he's wrong because he's black. For others, he's just wrong for talking trash after a game.

I think we can all agree that the proper term for Richard Sherman is "asshole". This is a race neutral term. Or maybe not. As I said, and others have observed, it was a particularly intense moment.

I think his apology was more than sufficient.

[Monkeydad]

I just love how so many people think in terms of skin color first and in every situation.

A raving lunatic is a raving lunatic no matter what color his skin is. Incognito is a thug and Sherman behaves like one too, not because he looks like Busta Rhymes and "scares" white people when he yells, because he's always picking fights on and off the field. He's had on-field fights, fights on Twitter (how mature) and he's been popped for cheating (PEDs).

My favorite athletes of all time just happen to have the same tone of skin...Monk, Green, Portis, Sean Taylor, Barry Sanders, Magic Johnson, Muggsy Bogues. Michael Jordan, Frank Thomas, Bo Jackson, Jim Thome, Paul Konerko...OK, most of them.

My distaste for players like Sherman, Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, Tom Brady and others have nothing to do with race, it's how they behave, handle or present themselves.

I really believe the ones that cry racism around every corner are really the ones preoccupied with race. I won't go as far as calling you the name, but you see where I'm going...

This is why I'm also so sick of the media and politicians' fight over our "racist" team name. I've never seen it as racist because I know what it actually stands for and the history behind it. The ignorant of our society, no matter how educated or who they work for, seem to be the ones who be able to find racism in the name Redskins. Not even Native Americans, who are supposed to be offended, see the hate in the name. Only those with an agenda do.

[ashvirtually]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

I just love how so many people think in terms of skin color first and in every situation.

A raving lunatic is a raving lunatic no matter what color his skin is. Incognito is a thug and Sherman behaves like one too, not because he looks like Busta Rhymes and "scares" white people when he yells, because he's always picking fights on and off the field. He's had on-field fights, fights on Twitter (how mature) and he's been popped for cheating (PEDs).

My favorite athletes of all time just happen to have the same tone of skin...Monk, Green, Portis, Sean Taylor, Barry Sanders, Magic Johnson, Muggsy Bogues. Michael Jordan, Frank Thomas, Bo Jackson, Jim Thome, Paul Konerko...OK, most of them.

My distaste for players like Sherman, Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Cam Newton, Tom Brady and others have nothing to do with race, it's how they behave, handle or present themselves.

I really believe the ones that cry racism around every corner are really the ones preoccupied with race. I won't go as far as calling you the name, but you see where I'm going...

Yeah, because your view of what he said and the response to it in the media is the only viable one and race had nothing, nothing at all, to do with anything here.

Please.

I just love how so many people are willfully blind to what is instead of dealing with it frankly.

And I don't give two tin craps what you want to imply that I am, because I can see that if that's what you're reduced to, your argument is prima facie empty to begin with.

Doh, indeed.

[MTK]

Probably time to end this.