I am a girl who watches football.  I’ve watched the sport since I was a toddler, sitting on the knee of my father who tried to explain to me what a quarterback sneak was.  Even back then I was a mini coach because I asked dad, why they didn’t just give the ball to the guy behind the quarterback.

I am an Alabama fan #ROLLTIDE

I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Mostly though I love to watch the game.  I appreciate the strategy, the gladiators, and the rivalries.  What I do not appreciate is:  the young, Black & gifted men of the NFL having to live up to unreasonable expectations.

Like millions of others I watched the NFC Championship game Sunday night.  I rooted for San Fransisco… I kind of have a thing for Kapernick.  I respect the team of Seattle though.  This team this year is likely to go all of the way, and because they are not in my division I don’t have the hate for them that I do the cowgirls or the midgets or the deadskins.

Even though my Birds were not in the game, I watched because football rules!

Football only rules though as long as the boys in the uniforms know their place.

We don’t talk about it in mixed company, but gather a group of us – Black folks – together and you will hear what you won’t from Moose & Goose…. there is racism in the sport.  It is in the locker room, it is on the field, it is in the stands, and from the announcers.  This multi billion dollar cash machine known as the NFL is not terribly fond of the fact that Black men are their face and “encourage” them to “behave.

It is clear when you look at the coverage of RGIII vs the coverage of Andrew Luck.  It is also clear when Richard Sherman makes a White woman uncomfortable on national television.

Oh you thought I was going to post that video?  Naw, you can go to YouTube for that one.  This is a Beats by Dre commercial.  The Dre would be Dr. Dre the hip hop producer, co-founder of Death Row Records, and former artist in the group Niggas with Attitudes N.W.A.

Kind of ironic when you think about it really.  Dr. Dre came from Compton like Sherman, is a millionaire like Sherman, and gives zero fucks about what you think about how he behaves like Sherman.

It works for me but it doesn’t really work for non Black America.

Black men especially must always be aware of how they behave in front of non Black America.  You can be smart.  You can be aggressive.  You can be good at what you do, even if that means you are better than anyone else.  You simply can not be all of those at the same time, if you are a Black man.  Nope.

When you try to do it, you get the backlash that Sherman got Sunday, and still has him trending on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

Sherman was smart enough to get into Stanford, Ivy League and single digit acceptance rates for applicants.  Sherman is good enough to be statistically the best corner in the NFL right now.  He is on his way to the Superbowl while 30 other teams are sitting at home watching……him.

He has the right to boast and brag because his play backs up his mouth.  If you think I am wrong take a look at how many times SF threw at him Sunday.  The man is dangerous on the field.  Who he is though is dangerous off the field. He is a big Black man, with a high IQ, money in his pocket, and long hair. If he were Mike Brown who worked for the post office he would not be threatening.  He is Richard Sherman though, in the spotlight and that makes him dangerous.

I get this because I’ve always gotten it, my skin is brown like Sherman’s.  As long as you fit into the perception of a Black that people are comfortable seeing you are a “good one”.  If you deviate even once….you are not a “good one”.

Sherman deviated by trash talking Crabtree, daring to scream in the presence of a Blonde woman, and boasting about his prowess.  Vizionz of Birth of a Nation flashed in front of America and those with valid NRA cards held their shotguns a little bit tighter that night.  Sherman’s offense?  He scared White people.

Now mind you… other athletes talk shit all of the time.  Tom Brady chased down a ref once dropping f-bombs and questioning the ref’s intelligence.  That isn’t scary.  Peyton Manning can steal $20 million from the Colts by signing a contract he knew he was physically unable to meet.  That isn’t scary though.  Riley Cooper can go to a concert and talk about fighting every nigger in the arena but that isn’t scary.  Sherman saying I beat you, and keep my name out your mouth?  Every White woman in America clutched her purse tighter and brought all of the kids inside.

The backlash about Sherman’s outburst is just a reminder boys and girls… you can be Young, Black & Gifted… but you have to be mute while you are doing it.

Sorry folks, I have to warn you.  Sherman isn’t done being who he is nor doing what he does.  He’s going to keep talking shit, and making plays. He is going to keep cashing checks for a week’s worth of work that most of us won’t see in a W-2 at the end of January.  And there is not one damned thing you can do about it.  Except perhaps put Pam Oliver and her weave of gopher pelt in his presence instead of the pretty White woman who gets scared when a Black man yells.

 

Aphrodite Brown