Michael Vick. Pacman Jones. The Cincinnati Bengals.
In the past, we have seen African-American players get scrutinized by the media, but here's an interesting question for you—what if those guys were white?
Before you shrug it off, consider this. Roger Clemens. Mark McGwire. Jason Giambi. They all took drugs and lied to the public. Their fans still embrace them, while they have turned their backs on Vick and Jones.
Here's another thought—what if the NFL had a black commissioner? The NFLPA has an African-American representative, why not the NFL?
If you still think that this is a load of garbage, two of America's icons, Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis were accused of steroids. However, they are still embraced by the public to this day.
But, every time Barry Bonds goes into Philadelphia, and Kobe Bryant goes into Denver, they're booed out of town for their problems both on and off the field.
The trials and tribulations of Dr. Martin Luther King are shown in the sports world to this day. The battle lines are drawn severely.
I honestly thought that we were past this.
If a white man participated in illegal dogfights, or shot up a strip club in Las Vegas, do you think we would hear about it? Highly doubtful.
Players are supposed to be classified by their skills, not their skin tone. In the mud, we're all the same. When we bleed, it's the same color. Have you ever heard of a UFC fighter not fighting because of the race of his opponent? Didn't think so.
That's the thing that bothers me the most about sports in this day and age. I felt that I was supporting an athlete, regardless of their race, sexual preference, or religion.
McGwire was a Cardinal when he broke Roger Maris's record. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and set the tone for something major to happen in baseball.
Tiger Woods became famous because he's a great golfer, not because he was half black. But that didn't stop Fuzzy Zoeller from making it about race. Arthur Ashe broke barriers in tennis because he was an excellent athlete. Now we fast forward to present day.
Just when we thought that things were getting better, they haven't. No matter the skin tone, athletes are athletes. They are human, and they are allowed to make mistakes. The issue is whether the media would blow it out of proportion if the person in question wasn't black.
I hope that we all can move past this, and I pray that we can get to remember that Dr. King, Malcolm X, JFK, and other civil-rights activists gave their lives so that all of us can live in harmony.
But, to answer the question, I think that Pacman would be 100 percent reinstated, not 50 percent. I think that if Bonds were white, he would be just as respected as Clemens and McGwire.
One last piece of evidence for you: The three most powerful men in sports (commissioners of MLB, NBA, and NBA) are all white. What if things were a little different?
comments (34) write a comment »
write a new comment
4 months ago
Thought-provoking, but with flaws. Just as people still support Bonds, some people also support Clemens. McGwire's legacy was tarnished, but by the time his issues came to light, he was out of baseball and essentially irrelevant. Who knows how he would have been treated? If Bonds weren't so miserable to the media and to many of the fans, he would likely have been treated better.
The fact is that more African-American athletes get in trouble than white ones. The main reason for it is that in the three major sports, there is a significant amount more black players than white players.
Landis isn't really viewed as a hero, but most people really don't care too much about cycling. Armstrong is a hero because he recovered from cancer and marketed himself beautifully. Plus, he hates the French, a lot of people love that.
I'd be naive to think race had absolutely nothing to do with it. But I really think in some cases, it has to do more with the man than the color of the man.
from 4 months ago
The NFL and NBA indeed have a majority of African-American players, but that definitely isn't the case in MLB, as the percentage has dropped to 8%. Even so, I don't know that more African-American athletes get in trouble than white players just because there are more of them. I do think the media and general public has a tendency to fixate more on the legal troubles of African-Americans in sports and in society at large, and that is reflective of the ingrained racism that still exists in America. As you say, it'd be naive to think race has nothing to do with it.
4 months ago
There is a big difference betweenwhat Pacman/Vick did and what McGwire and Clemens did, or should I say allegedly did. Jones and Vick were caught by law enforcement commiting their crimes. There is no opinion on whether or not they did it, they were caught. Whether or not McGwire and Clemens lied is yet to be proven.
That is almost like saying Mike Tyson was treated unfairly for biting Hollyfields ear because of his race. I Clemens would have been caught doing what Vick or Jones did, they would be in the same jail cell.
4 months ago
Interesting point Ron and a great, thought provoking article as usual. But I have to say that I'm not sure race plays into the equation that much, at least not always.
In baseball, maybe. There does seem to be more of a "you've let us down" than "you're a criminal" reaction with respect to white ball players who have been caught, at least when comparing Bonds treatment in the press to McGwire and Clemens. That said, I think if it's proven about Clemens, he'll be just as publicly ostracized as Bonds has been. If not, the league will certainly open itself up to rightful heaps of scorn and charges of racism.
As far as PacMan and the Bengals guys go, I'm less sure race plays a role. There has been lot of serial behavior from those guys, a lot of repeat violations of basically the same things. It has to have been hard being a Bengals fan of any race the last few years, picking up your local newspaper and reading again and again about the same behavior from the same guys. The league has a dual obligation here, to the fans who keep it support it as well as to all the players who provide the spectacle.
I think that your larger point is too important to lose sight of. These leagues operate as part of the public trust and must not get bogged down in even the whiff of racism when dealing with enforcement of their's as well as society's rules. No one can disagree with that.
But There's hope my friend. Who would have thought at this point last year we would have an African-American presidential nominee? Maybe we are finally starting to move beyond trivialities like color. Lets hope so.
4 months ago
I could not disagree with you more. I grew up a Clemens fan, And Vick. I found it odd that you make statements that Clemens "took drugs". It is typical of someone to make false statements, to push their own agenda, here you use false statement to push your agenda, which appears to accuse everyone involved with sports racist? As I have gotten older I watch athletes and hope to once again find one that sets a good example for our children, regardless of skin color. Barry Bonds is no role model, Pacman Jones is no role model, and Mike Vick could have been. Roger Clemens we have no idea what he has done, but he too is no role model. get passed the conspiracy of race, I am sure some can be attributed to racism, but your choice of athletes were not good comparisons at all.
from 4 months ago
Sorry, David. But not even you, Clemens himself, or that goofy looking baseball commish can convince me otherwise. Clemens lied about drugs. He lied about the affairs. Who knows what else he'll lie about to cover his own ass.
Bonds was a role model before the 'roids scandal. Pacman wasn't a role model, but he was still an African American athlete in the NFL. And everyone loved Michael Vick. Now all of a sudden, it's wrong to wear his jersey in public? You can be naive if you want to, David. But here in the real world, we all know what your beloved Roger Clemens did. We're just waiting for him to have his one on one with either Detective Logan, Detective Goren, or Detective Brenda Johnson.
4 months ago
Its about time for people to stop denying the truth. Black athletes are treated differently. There is a double standard which cannot be denied. To those who loudly proclaim this is not the case, I merely ask are you willing to step into the arena and assume the role of a black athlete? I thought the answer would be no. Those who pretend or ignore the double standard are merely lying to themselves or living a delusion. The bubble is bursting and the truth will be revealed fo r all to see both nationally a d internationally. Whites can no longer deny the truth regardless of their guilt.
While they will speak about injustices among themselves black athletes would not dare to publicize their dissatisfaction because of their fear of being censored. They have observed fellow team mates who have been censored, penalized or forced to recant. A review of recent history will validate the things I am saying. In 2007 a black quarterback who I will not name complained. He believed he was treated differently than other quarter backs. A baseball manager complained. I could continue but sports history speaks for itself. Blacks who openly questioned the system sufferred negative consequences. The truth is hidden and the myth that there is no double standard for black athletes remains. The system pertuates itself.
from 4 months ago
Again, I was talking about everyone else. Canseco is a huge douche and doesn't even qualify as a human being.
4 months ago
I have to say that you're a bit off base here. While race did seem to be a factor in the Clemens/Bonds steroid issue, that's where it ends.
The black athletes committed crimes, punishable by US law. All of the white athletes mentioned, save for Clemens, did not violate anything more than a rule in their respective sports. Big difference.
from 4 months ago
Isn't drugs illegal? I thought so. Clemens, Canseco, and McGwire all broke the law because they did drugs. End of story.
from 4 months ago
Well, if you want to go there, then technically, no they didn't. There wasn't testing for most banned substances when they played and they simply took advantage of the flawed rules. Does that make them innocent? Certainly not. But to say that taking steroids is on the same level of conducting dog fights or shooting up a strip club is ridiculous.
from 4 months ago
Last time I checked Jose Canseco has had a few issues with Law Enforcement.
4 months ago
Your line about Kobe needs to get more attention—what he "did" was a perfect example of the media jumping on a powerful athlete because he's black. Was what he did right? No, but he's not the only one, and all of a sudden, he's a pariah. I like Kobe. He plays the game better than anybody in the NBA from this casual observer's eyes. When people bring up Vail, Colorado, though, that really gets me. I think Ron's right—if Kobe was white, he would have been quickly exonerated and it would have been the end of the story.
4 months ago
Your argument is flawed for several reasons:
1. Bonds' accusations are far more incriminating than McGwire's or Clemens' in that federal documents have proven that Bonds took steroids. An entire book was written detailing his use and he was indicted by a federal court for lying about taking steroids. McGwire's only crime is that he wouldn't say that he did NOT take steroids, and Clemens' mess is yet to be resolved.
2. In no way can you compare Michael Vick and Pacman Jones to the likes of Jason Giambi, McGwire, or Clemens. The latter all had played for 10+ years when the accusations came out and had established very loyal fanbases at the time. I'm not saying it's right for fans to still love them, but it's a lot harder for a fan to abandon someone they cherished for a decade or longer than to abandon a pampered primadona who took for granted all that was given to them (i.e. Vick, Jones).
3. Additionally, Clemens, McGwire, and Giambi all have yet to be convicted of any wrongdoings. The American Court Systems all live under the rule "innocent until proven guilty," and until I, or the general public hear otherwise, all three are innocent. Vick and Jones, however, both have been proven to do wrong.
4 months ago
Excellent article.
It takes a great deal of imagination, however, to draw a straight line of comparision from the behavior of Vick and Jones to the steroid accusations around McGwire, Giambi, and Bonds.
Steroid use, while illegal and idiotic, cannot compare to federal tax evasion (Vick), dogfighting (Vick) or the embrace of thug behavior (Jones), much of which tends to be violent and simplistic. Shootin' up the club and shootin' up 'roids are comparing apples and oranges.
4 months ago
Show me the man Mark McGwire's entourage put in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Show me the dogs Giambi tortured for sport.
Steroid use is a victimless crime and should not be compared to a strip club shooting or dogfighting.
from 4 months ago
Steroid is a crime that has plenty of victims. Why not ask the millions of fans who filled the ballparks every year to watch these guys play. If Steroid use is a victimless crime, why is Congress spending so much time and so much money to get the juicers? Even after the crimes of Vick and Jones are dealt with, and the two men are prosecuted, people are still bashing them. If McGwire and Giambi did the same things, do you think anyone would still be talking about it?
Once Pacman is reinstated, we'll see if everyone is truly past it. Once Vick is released, we'll see if anyone gives him more grief. But if you need more proof, how is it possible that people are still calling OJ Simpson a killer (whether he did it or not). I bet if John Elway killed his ex wife, we would hear about it for a few days and then nothing.
If we've always been told that cheating is wrong, and the public sees steroid use as cheating, shouldn't organizations (like DARE and Drug Free America) be doing what PETA does too much: Get involved with sports?
4 months ago
I think Pacmen might be President and would have named the Bengals to his cabinate. Thats just a guess though
4 months ago
"Steroid is a crime that has plenty of victims. Why not ask the millions of fans who filled the ballparks every year to watch these guys play. If Steroid use is a victimless crime, why is Congress spending so much time and so much money to get the juicers? Even after the crimes of Vick and Jones are dealt with, and the two men are prosecuted, people are still bashing them. If McGwire and Giambi did the same things, do you think anyone would still be talking about it?"
Just b/c some people bitch and moan even after they had a good time at the ball park doesn't mean they were victims. Fuck them. And who knows why congress does things. Those millions could have been put alot better use (inner city developement, VA benifits, cancer research etc). I don't think seriods are good the but issue has been blown way out of proportion.
The idea of your article makes some sense but Kobe is the only example I see as relating well to your article. He was found not guilty and seemingly pretty convincingly. Unfortunately he is still living with the scare. I agree that the color of his skin might have something to do with that but the other guy is right in that McGriwe's issues are not comparable to Pacman's. They just aren't. Also what about Shawn Merriman he gets a free ride compared to all the baseball players you mentioned and he's black.
Roids is not comparable to shooting up a strip club or running a dog fighting ring. The only reason peope talk about riods and race is b/c of Barry and Barry gets the most flak b/c baseball people love records and he broke their favorite while juicing.
4 months ago
This is ludicrous thinking by a black man who is still caught up in this racist belief sysytem. If none of these pro atheletes would have done the things they had done they wouldn't be being scrutinized by the nation. Kobe was arrested for rape, and even though I don't agree with Vicks conviction, he was still convicted of animal abuse. Clemens is in big trouble for steriods, Mcguire,Bonds,Conseco are supposed to be our icons. In other words it doesn't matter if you're purple,pink or green, if you screw up you deserve to be punished. And this is coming from a reformed ex-con. These our the guys our youth looks up to, they are held in a higher regard so they should and will be scrutinized more. It isn't about race so grow up, you closet racist's out there.
from 4 months ago
If you think that there is no race thing going on in sports, David, then prove me wrong. Once Clemens gets caught, let's see how the sports fans react.
4 months ago
^^^^ Clemens hasn't been put the rigger?? How many scandels have come out about this guy since he was mentioned in the report and tried to deny his using? He considered an a-hole, a cheat, and a likely sexual abuser at this point.
4 months ago
And people are still defending him and supporting him.
from 4 months ago
some people defend Vick. So what? The media's gone after Clemens and he is generally thought of as a scumbag. He might be the greatest starting pitcher ever and he did it right in the public eye while winning WSs of course some people are going to defend him. People defend Charlie Mason. They are morons.
4 months ago
I admittedly haven't looked up a whole lot of information about the statistics and general feelings for athletes involved in criminal activity in relation to race, but I thought I would mention one white player who still pays for his crimes. Pete Rose. A player who bet on baseball and even against his own team. It's something that most fans, especially in Cincinnati, could not forgive. And 15 (+or-) years doesn't appear to have an impact on that feeling. For me personally I hold little respect for Pete Rose in light of what he did and finally admitted to. I still hold his baseball accomplishments with high respect and would even go so far as to say he should be admitted into the Hall of Fame based solely on those accomplishments. But I also could understand the argument saying because of him being a role model, we should not reward him at all by putting him on that pedestal. And I think the same holds true for any player who breaks the law or does something reprehensible to the public eye. I abhor the crime while still appreciating their accomplisments. And I do think less of athletes, black or white, who use or used steroids because those accomplishments were reached by unfair means.
With the example of Pete Rose, I wonder how much the type of crime affects our opinions about a player regardless of race. Would it have been worse if he was black? How much worse could it have been? I don't know those answers.
I don't know if my thoughts contributed much, but I thought I would share them anyway. Thought provoking article. Thank you.
from 4 months ago
Thanks Jen. Your comments put this entire piece into perspective. I thank you for providing that information. It contributes a lot to the argument. Good job.
4 months ago
Duke LaCrosse? Barrett Robbins? DeAnza Baseball?
"Roger Clemens. Mark McGwire. Jason Giambi." (and Barry Bonds - who is beloved in SF) - those guys broke the law in a different way than drunk driving, being involved in a shooting, or animal cruelty.
If you are black, you certainly have a much higher chance of ending up in jail (and that is not fair) but making the steriod comparison does not work because secretly using steriods is different than getting drunk and driving your car around in a smoke filled haze with a gat under the seat or threatening to kill someone and then being directly involved in a 3 AM night club shooting.
Black people are not equal in the eyes of most law enforcement but your argument does not work.
4 months ago
What about John Rocker: his were just words. We all thought it was despicable, and they pretty much ruined his career.
I don't like Barry Bonds because he's always seemed like a prick, same reason I didn't like McGwire. And who doesn't look at Giambi with some deranged sense of pity, knowing that his career was basically the by-product of steroid use, look at him now - I don't see anybody showering him with the love. My opinion of Roger Clemens has went straight to the crapper after the last couple of years and allegations, and he has always been one of my favorite athletes (and please cite specifically who is defending and supporting him). And if it's all about race, where's the proverbial lynching of Marvin Harrison. And seriously, with Pacman's rap sheet you're going to defend him. That's weak. We won't even talk about Mike's dead dogs (or OJs dead wife), and gee, what did Jayson Williams do to get left off of the defended list. And has there been a more blatant miscarriage of justice lately than the Duke guys getting the bad privileged whitey v. the oppressed black stripper treatment.
Black folks are every bit as bad as some white folks about seeing everything through the prism of color. The black community reflexively defends one of their own when he gets in trouble, even when evidence largely points out that the guys a douche bag. And what does this behavior tell these guys (and the next generation): go ahead, act like a thug, we'll always have your back. There are always going to be some bad apples, but until the black community stops handing-out excuse and race cards there's really no incentive to stop acting the fool.
Who cares if using steroids is or isn't a victimless crime. Fans loved every minute of it as McGwire and Sosa battled it out with the long balls. And baseball kept it's mouth shut because they loved all that money that was coming in (which in turn didn't exactly hurt ballplayer salaries).
Seriously bro, I think you're letting your fixation on race get to you (and I always thought Elway was a b*tch, same with Eli, for pouting like little girls that they weren't going to play for the teams that wanted to draft them).
4 months ago
For what its worth, there is still a racial bias in the US. But an innocent man is in a wheelchair because of the actions of pacman Jones, and that transcends race.
4 months ago
I have to agree with Chris.
This sounds just like Donovan McNabb's argument about how black QBs receive more scrutiny than any other.
McNabb has been an average QB-at best- since he quite running. And he's playing the race card to try and detract from that fact.
It is also overstated about how fans have "turned" on Mike Vick. Remember when DeAngelo Hall revealed his "Free Mike Vick" t-shirt on Dec. 10? Fans erupted in support.
The sad thing is that absolute power corrupts, absolutely. And that goes to both sides of the argument.
Professional athletes think that they can get away with things like drunk driving or even illegal dog fighting, because they have gained so much. But all that can easily be taken away by poor judgment.
4 months ago
And what happened to Mr. Hall when it was all over? He was fined. And how about the NFL? They took Vick's jersey out of stock. To top it all off, in protest of Castro's decision, I still own a Michael Vick jersey, and I will wear that as much as possible. Why? Because in the NFL, the rules are almost like glass. You can see it, but if you break it, you'll be feeling it.
from 4 months ago
He was fined for the same reason Joe Horn was fined for bringing out a cell phone for a TD celebration.
He wasn't fined because he was supporting his friend.
The rules state that "no foreign object is to be used during a celebration" which includes home made t-shirts under your jersey that you plan on revealing during a celebration.
from 4 months ago
You summed it all up for everybody.
Anyone who would wear a Vick jersey "as much as possible" needs to have their head examined. That is like wearing an "Osama bin Laden is Great" t-shirt because you think muslims are discriminated against.
4 months ago
I wasn't going to dignify this article with a response,, but....
Perhaps you never heard of Denny McLain...
is Tim Donaghy gonna walk away? No f-in way...
what about Jim Leyritz? He's white. Guess what? he's going to jail, too.
Kobe walked, Ray Lewis walked. Bonds will walk......I don't understand your point
Pacman Jones is a one-man crime wave.....and he's not in jail, either
write a new comment