Oh yeah, it’s that time again. I actually didn’t get that much mail. Most people were positive, but the people that weren’t…oh baby, that weren’t.
First, let me acknowledge a mistake I made–Vince did not wear a suit to the White House because his was lost in transit. That was largely immaterial to my thesis, but that was my mistake and I apologize.
(Here’s the original piece.)
I managed to pull of a rather amazing feat this go ’round. Not only have some black people called me an Uncle Tom, but some white person actually hit me all the way on hte other end.
I love my job.
Well, let’s start with my man Jo Jo. Jo Jo didn’t like the piece much at all.
you and all the black media are suckers. yall let the white media kill the black stars, but when it comes time to defend them you do nothing. do some covering up for them like the white media does for them white boys. i think yall are sell outs.
We’ll get to Jo Jo’s point later. For now, let’s see what Paul thought.
First of all, I want to say that wearing a suit to “Massa Bushs” house was GREAT! I would have worn traditional african gear myself. or a hoody and a baseball negro league cap. Kudos to Vince for not giving a YT that 10% or whatever it is that agents get. As for that test, typical White devil tricks! Well, my good brother, I am glad that I work for ME! I hire ONLY blacks and could care less if any crackers are left on the planet. I TRULY ROOT FOR VINCE AND HIS AGENT!
Black power!
Damn Paul, you won’t even get white folks to mop the floors? What kind of retribution are you really pulling off? If you’re so revolutionary, you should have a white dude or two shining your shoes and poppin’ your hair bumps, shouldn’t you?
But my favorite is Francene.
A stupid test? What an ignorant, ..no, what a nigger thing to say. Why else would anyone call a test stupid? No matter what your profession being somewhat “intelligent” is important. You are the idiot.
I told Francene to never talk to me like that again. That goes for many of you. No, that goes for all of you. Got me?
One of the best e-mails came from came from Dave.
How did he get thru school? How many classes or credits did he have/take? And, of course, did Texas cheat on academics?
In there is the can of worms.
To Dave and others who wonder about that question–I’ll have a piece on that either today or tomorrow on BSN.
***EDIT*** Here’s the link to that piece.
But now let’s get to Jo Jo and the folks that find criticism of black athletes in a public forum to be the behavior of a sellout. I have this argument with a lot of writers who seem to only want to write about black people when it’s time to celebrate them. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Sometimes, these cats need to be taken to the mat. Terrelll Owens needed to be taken to the mat, as have countless others.
Since I’m black, these cats seem to believe I’m supposed to just write them a pass. Hellllll no. I call things as I see them and that’s that. I do the same to white people, and there’s no one that’s quicker to point out racism when it’s in play. But just ignore things because the protagonist in a story’s a negro? Got me fucked up, pimp.
But I find people call me an Uncle Tom a lot because of that. People called me an Uncle Tom for having problems with Vince’s agent. So let me get this straight–I’m an Tom because I identified the primary reason that a kid was forced to endure the indignity of people openly questioning whether he is retarded? Is that what it is? That makes me a sellout?
The funny thing is those people seem to intimate that by saying Young should have gotten a more qualified agent that he should have gotten a white agent. Who’s the Tom now? There are experienced black agents, you know.
But all you cats that only wanna hear celebratory things about black folks, this ain’t the place for you and I ain’t the guy you wanna hang out with. I am nothing if not honest. I have no prior agenda. I see the world–albeit through a decidedly black prism–and I speak on it. But no one will be spared, not even if I have your picture up in my living room (like Vince).
Oh yeah, people think I’m just a UT hater. Yeah, that’s me. Check out Keith from LSU, who I think just wanted to dig at USC.
Vince Young carried a team on his back to the National Championships in California in front of a home-town crowd. Don’t try and rewrite history once again by getting on the bandwagon: as an LSU witness, we’ve gotten stomped by the media for the last two seasons fully unrecognized as the
true National Champions, recognized as the only National Champions for the 2003 season by the NCAA. Don’t perpetuate nepotism for your Southern Cal cohorts by glossing over the accomplishments of the 2005 Longhorns.
If you’re new to the site, just search the archives for mentions of UT and see what will come up. Then laugh as hard as you want to.
So yeah, that’s the mail for this piece. Gotta love it.
And before I go, let’s see revel in proof of another set of lies from our fair government. Not sure who cares, but I sure as hell do.
I’m okay with the Young piece. Though I’d have loved to see him show up in the White House with a dashiki and negro leagues baseball cap on. Anyone who’d advocate wearing a suit is clearly either a Morehouse Man or a Tom. (taste the sarcasm)
As for the Bush piece, well, considering that his approval ratings dropped to a record low of 34% in February…
And Dick “Trigger-Happy” Cheney’s dropped to 18% (yes, that’s right, 18%)…
Now, I may be stupid, but it seems to me that the vast majority of Americans aren’t happy with the way Bush & Co. are running the country. You know, doing the job they were elected to do. This new bit on Katrina isn’t going to help his cause any.
So, my question is this: When do we begin the impeachment proceedings? They tried to get Clinton for lying about getting head in the Oval Office…isn’t lying about a hurricane that devastated an entire region a bit more important?
Can we get rid of them now? Please? Pretty Please?
That’s really crazy man — how people can read something and get develop notions of it being racist to BOTH sides.
When did the truth become racist? I love the mail call’s because it shows how truly retarded (i shouldn’t use that word, I apologize) some people are.
My biggest problem has been with how the whole story came about. With all the talk of Vince not throwing in the combine, and his awkward throwing motion, etc, etc…I just don’t remember any other time in sports history when an ALLEGED Wonderlic test-score was made public. Perhaps it was because of how low the ALLEGED score was, but it’s still a bit ridiculous that this became the sports story for most of this week. It just seems like everyone in the sports community is trying to lower his stock before the draft. I mean, Reggie Miller’s shot isn’t pretty, but he’s also going to the Hall of Fame. Why are we still doing the wrong thing by judging everyone by the same book? Didn’t Vince just dismantle the most heavily-glorified college football team since the mid-1990s Huskies? In front of the whole nation? Why are we doubting this kid? Isn’t this the same league in which Tom Brady (the supposed quarterback God) got drafted in the 6th round? I think the disgrace lies in the hands of the media. Vince is just trying to go through the motions before the draft just like any other quarterback in the past that has come fresh off of a National Championship. Leinhart isn’t throwing in the combine either, and what are his Wonderlic scores? No one seems to care and ultimately no one will because Vince is just more of a story I suppose. Bottom line, this story should have never become one. And now we’re talking about what he wore to the White House??? Let’s not define anyone unless we really know them, and let’s not pass judgment on a person that most of us have only seen through media coverage.
Well, a retard is someone who scores less than 70 on an IQ test or is otherwise diagnosed with a crippling mental disability. Beyond that, retardation is just an impediment to a process or evidence of a slowing of pace (this case being logical thought). I suppose these folks would qualify as retarted.
Wow, just …wow. I can’t say I’m surprised. This type of reaction is obviously not limited to the realm of sports. Those who call black folks who publicly criticize other (non-conservative) black folks “sell outs” or an “Uncle Toms” don’t think too highly of black people’s capacity for independent thought. The thing is, though, they’re not upset with you for merely criticizing a black celebrity; they’re upset with you for doing so in a mainstream outlet, where white folks will see it. I’ve said it here elsewhere, but the reality of the modern mass-media is that it is no longer possible for black folks to “keep our business in-house.” And I’m not so sure there is such a thing as “black business” anymore.
I don’t think the Wonderlic is the best predictor of NFL success either, but if that 6 was a legit score, I think people would have been right to question what was going on. It’s one thing to get a low score, it’s another to have your score indicate that you may not be able to even read the playbook. Besides, Jeff George scored a 10, and he really is a fool, so maybe it’s not such a bad test after all.
I think it’s clear that Vince Young isn’t a retard. If he was really a retard I don’t think he could be a starting quarterback for an Division 1 school. Plus, in the past they have been able to prove that IQ tests and similar tests including the Wonderlic are culturally biased. I’m not sure what they mean by that but I thought I would just put that out there as food for thought. I just hope all this turns out positively for Vince. I have complete faith in his character and his work ethic, after all, last year at this time he was throwing passes to his receivers by his request. I think he knows how to compete. I’d be very shocked if this kid didn’t succeed at the professional level. And now he has a chip on his shoulder which will just add fuel to the fire. I know he’s going to be a success. A HUGE success. I’m not discounting how legitimate the test is in general, I’m discounting how relevant the test is in terms of being a predictor of football ability. It’s not like we’re voting on a new Supreme Court Justice here.
I think it’s clear that Vince Young isn’t a retard. If he was really a retard I don’t think he could be a starting quarterback for an Division 1 school. Plus, in the past they have been able to prove that IQ tests and similar tests including the Wonderlic are culturally biased. I’m not sure what they mean by that but I thought I would just put that out there as food for thought. I just hope all this turns out positively for Vince. I have complete faith in his character and his work ethic, after all, last year at this time he was throwing passes to his receivers by his request. I think he knows how to compete. I’d be very shocked if this kid didn’t succeed at the professional level. And now he has a chip on his shoulder which will just add fuel to the fire. I know he’s going to be a success. A HUGE success. I’m not discounting how legitimate the test is in general, I’m discounting how relevant the test is in terms of being a predictor of football ability. It’s not like we’re voting on a new Supreme Court Justice here. I don’t think we need to scrutinize any of his pre-draft test scores vigorously. The game after all isn’t played on paper.
Bo,
Great article on VY. You always was good at stirring the pot. Now lets get to the meat of the matter.
You are an observer of sports and pop culture. We read you here and elsewhere because we are interested in your observations. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes we disagree. It is not your job to be a cheerleader for every black person who puts on sweat socks, nor is it your job to put a KKK mask on any white athlete (although I still hate Jeh-Jeh).
I don’t know, but I hope Vince read your column and took your advice to heart. He is on the big stage now. For you ‘horns fans I know this is difficult to hear, but the NFL is the zenith of football proving grounds. “We” are not allowed to make many mistakes. Akili Smith,another poor test taker, is currently out of the league after being the 3rd overall pick.
It is incumbent upon us to help our brother if we see him stumble. We should not tell him that he didn’t really stumble, its just dat mean ole white man trying to trip you.
VY there are several potholes in the road ahead. We just want you to avoid them and go on to greatness in the League.