Opinion: Sports Media Goal Is the Destruction of the Black Quarterback

Unless you live under a rock you can't help but notice the racial bias in sports commentary, writing and reporting. Each weekend during the games, you hear how hard working certain athletes are while other athletes are labeled as "physically gifted." You will hear how smart and dedicated certain athletes are, while others are just "athletic." These categorizations are almost always along racial lines. But of course, unless you live under a rock, you already know this.

A recent trend within football media has been to totally devalue the contributions of black athletes. This is done through an over-evaluation of the quarterback. The NFL, once a league of great players, has been dumbed down to a sport where one player gets all of the credit and is regarded as the leader of the team (and not just the offense). Further, the rest of the team, you know, those "physically gifted" and "athletic ones," are basically characterized as mindless jocks who have no direction until their great quarterback comes along and shows them how to work hard and how to win.

In short, America has a history of racial problems and it is especially present where there is a convergence of the races—as in sports.

Football is predominantly populated by black players. This creates a problem for the media and its ownership, which is mostly white. The majority of viewers are white, as are advertisers. Our racial history dictates that they want to see white athletes as the stars, as the featured players.

Enter the quarterbacks, who, like the media, fans and advertisers, are mostly white. The media oversells the importance of the quarterback. This in turn ensures that most conversations are about the quarterback during the games. It ensures that the quarterback will win the MVP award, each year ensuring that the face of the NFL is always a white face.

The successful black quarterback creates a problem for the media, advertisers and the public. It is an interruption to the status quo. Currently there are six black starting quarterbacks in the NFL (Vick, Jackson, Newton, Freeman, McNabb, Campbell). Pay attention to how they are scrutinized versus the 20-plus white quarterbacks in the league. You will find the most uneven reporting and commentary aimed at black quarterbacks. Vince Young, David Garrard and Donovan McNabb had better winning percentages than most NFL active quarterbacks, but based on the media scrutiny of these players you would think they were at the bottom of the league.

Michael Vick is public enemy number one for the media. A fan favorite and a major TV draw whenever his team is on the airwaves, you would think the media would love to promote Vick. Far from it—they take cheap shots at the guy each day. Notice how we have to fear Brady and Manning each year, there is no stopping them. Vick on the other hand, if you believe the media, is easy to figure out and teams can do this by midseason.

If Vick, Cam Newton and Josh Freeman are successful, they will become the prototypes for quarterbacks in the future. Guys who can ensure the chains are always moving one way or another. For some reason this appears to be threatening to the status quo. Expect the black quarterback to brutalized by the media early and often.