Some excerpts from what I wrote at
FanHouse that I believe are germaine to what has been said so far:
I think anyone who does a job that has been traditionally not performed by people of their race or gender do feel like they have to perform better at their job in order to overcome people's traditional biases. Most of my career choices have been in traditionally male professions, and I know I've felt that way. And for some reason, it is grim to even admit that.
McNabb came into the league in 1999, a time where there still weren't many examples of successful black quarterbacks. He came into a very hostile situation where most fans didn't want him picked. Yeah, Philly had a history with Randall Cunningham, but when sports talk cretins make their arguments why they like this guy over that guy, often people's conscious or unconscious biases come to play. Stuff gets thought and stuff gets said.
And McNabb went through all that racial discussion brought up by Rush Limbaugh, certainly something that made him very aware of how at least some people perceive him.
I don't think you can live that without it affecting your world view. If you know there has been a history of not wanting black quarterbacks, and there isn't a long history of role models, I don't see why it is out of line to believe you have to work harder than your peers to overcome that bias.
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Does Donovan McNabb get more criticism than his white counterparts? The quarterback position is the most scrutinized position in the NFL and is one of the few positions that even casual fans can say anything about. They get more credit and more criticism. Hard to measure relative criticism in different circumstances, but I could see how McNabb feels the way he does.
In 2006, I heard and read plenty of sports talk cretinism as it related to race and Vince Young. Right after the draft, on my former blog, any time I mentioned Vince Young, there would always be a few really nasty racial blasts that I'd have to delete. I am guessing that the stuff a black quarterback hears during the course of his life would probably be worse than that.
McNabb doesn't say everybody is racist, but I am sure he hears enough filth to make him feel he gets criticized more and has to work harder than his peers.
Some of the ugly racial stuff I read when I did the Chronic FanBlog stuff relating to Vince Young and his potential as QB, was so repugnant, I almost felt like I needed to wash my hands after I deleted that stuff.
And the thought experiment of thinking of black David Carr is an interesting one. Until Schaub was showing what he could do with the Texans offense, there were still tons of defenders of David Carr as QB, Schaub will get killed behind the putrid offensive line.
Black David Carr, mature with a family, coming outta Fresno State as the athletic first pick. Photogenic and a good Christian. Doesn't hang out with his teammates and not much of a leader. Strange throwing motion, and demonstrates difficulties reading defenses and moving around in the pocket and panicking. Hampered by poor coaching, system and talent around him.
I don't know the answer to that. As much as DC got criticized, I wonder if black DC would have been booted sooner.
This reminds me of Dave Chappelle's Black Bush sketch, where he makes the argument that there is no way that the American public would have followed a black president into war with the information that was available.
Anyway, I never like to talk about this stuff because if you do, you are labelled a libber or whiner or whatever. I know what kinda crap I've lived through working in traditionally male fields, so I am guessing that is times 100 in a high profile, high performance position like NFL QB.
And it is a hard subject to deal with. If you don't talk about what you go through, are you making it harder for those similarly situated? Or are you ducking the truth when you are asked a question of your opinion? If you stay quiet, you are a liar, and if you speak up, you are a whiner.
I had a boss who was eventually fired for being a racist/sexist bastidge of the worst variety. His tendencies were first pretty subtle. I got interviewed about him a year after I left that job and since then I've always wonder whether I would have been better off reporting him. You feel bad talking about it and you feel bad being quiet about it.
Personally, in McNabb's situation, I would have tried to beg out of the questions. Mostly because an NFL QB just has to suck it up for the good of others, can't spend time talking about controversial social issues and racial stuff always turns into a cluster. Just check out this thread.