Think you’re a big sports fan? Let me test your knowledge. True or false: Two Mondays ago, former Dallas Cowboy and current ESPN analyst Michael Irvin questioned whether current Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s athleticism could be traced to the presence of African blood in his family lineage.
I know what you’re thinking: This must be a trick question. After all, I wouldn’t be cruel enough to make this up, and the media never sleeps on this sort of racial rubbish, right? Wrong.
Explaining how Romo outplayed Peyton Manning the day before, Irvin, who is black, pointed toward the quarterback’s unassuming athleticism.
“I don’t know if there are some brothers in that line somewhere . if his great-great-great-grandmother ran over in the hood or something went down.”
Fellow ESPN employee Dan Patrick, on whose nationally syndicated radio show Irvin was appearing, gave the former all-pro a chance to realize the mistake he was making. He asked, “That’s the only way to be a great athlete?”
Laughing to himself, Irvin replied, “No, that’s not the only way, but it’s certainly one way.” Still laughing, Irvin went on: “[Maybe his] great-great-great-great-Grandma pulled one of them studs up outta the barn [and said], ‘Come here for a second.”
What, you missed it? Don’t worry, you weren’t the only one. In fact, if you follow the various major sports media outlets, anything past a brief mention of the story was nowhere to be found.
How can this be? Obviously, ESPN is in no hurry to place their dirty laundry on display, so it’s no surprise that Irvin’s actions were never cause for fodder with ESPN’s various afternoon anchors. But the boys from Connecticut weren’t the only ones to ignore Irvin.
An Internet search on the topic will lead you to a few blogs and message boards, but that’s it. Most newspapers, including The Saint Louis Post Dispatch, skipped the story entirely.
It’s hard to believe that society has suddenly loosened up on racially sensitive comments to the point that statements like Irvin’s are no longer newsworthy.
Heck, just three years ago Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign from his post at ESPN amid a storm of controversy after he suggested that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was given too much credit for his team’s victory on account of the national media’s eagerness to see the success of a black quarterback.
Long time sports commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder was fired by CBS after 12 years on the job after suggesting to a reporter in 1988 that African Americans were bred to be better athletes during the Civil War era.
He said, “During the slave period, the slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid-that’s where it all started.”
Sound a little familiar?
Yet Irvin wasn’t fired or even suspended by ESPN.
There is clearly a double standard at work. Imagine this obviously ridiculous scenario: John Elway appears on the same show and playfully suggests that Byron Leftwich’s improved decision-making skills on the field were a result of his great-grandmother’s choice to sleep with a white, plantation owner.
Suddenly we have a headline story, no doubt about it.
As for Irvin, he offered this explanation to Michael McCarthy of USA Today:
“It’s clear I was joking around. But I understand my comments were inappropriate. I apologize for those comments. I need to learn how to better draw the line between bringing people into the locker room and the boundaries I should not go past as a broadcaster.”
You got it, Michael. Just like wet towel snapping and Icy Hot in jock straps, racial stereotypes have no business leaving the locker room.
I’d like to imagine [that] eventually they’d be left out of locker room culture, too. The double standard that has allowed Irvin to keep his job is prejudice, cut and dry. Keeping Irvin around only makes the situation worse. For this to happen, ESPN must have the courage to fire Michael Irvin.
