Could Billick land with the Eagles?
Take this for what it is, which seems just to be a guess on the part of Domowich buried at the end of his interesting column about Kevin Curtis, but there's some logic to it.
I would recommend checking out the article either way. It has the thoughts of a few Eagles players and outside personell guys on Curtis and talks about the stereotypes he faces based on his race.
Update [2008-1-4 12:23:40 by BleedGreen]: Funny enough, as I was writing this Andrew posted a good diary on the Curtis portion of the article and even expands on it. Check it out.
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Comments
Stereotypes
The white wideout sterotypes are really pretty stupid.
White wideouts supposedly have "deceptive speed" (i.e. they are faster than a lot of black guys, and blacks are "supposed" to be the fastest sprinters), "good hands" (as opposed to having the dropsies like some prominent black wideouts like Owens or everyone in Seattle or simply an inability to catch the ball like Chris Chambers), "smart" (if I were black, I'd be angriest about this descriptor, as it is rarely applied to black players), "run good routes" (more smarts - black players are stereotyped as dumb guys who never run to the sticks or make their cuts right). White wideouts are also "fan-favorites" (black players are rarely described as "fan-favorites", though you'd never know it by looking at numbers for Jersey sales - apparently this means either white guys are more popular, or blacks are not fans of the NFL), with the breaking point on this one coming with Keyshawn Johnson describing teammate Wayne Chrebet as a Mascot.
Oh, and they are supposed to stay in the slot, because real wideouts split wide apparently "have" to be black, just like real cornerbacks are all black in the NFL despite the total lack of coverage skills on the part of many of them (how is it with 160 cornerback positions in the NFL, not a single white guy has what it takes to play the position?).
Between the Johnson comments, and the comments of Dawkins about Curtis needing to prove himself (apparently his record at St. Louis of success starting in place of Isaac Bruce and in the slot didn't speak for itself to Dawkins, while the realtive mediocrity of Stallworth with his bad hammy never required questioning because, of course, he's a fast black guy), and the locker room discontent last year when Lewis was benched for Considine ultimately leading to Dawkins giving up his Nickel Linebacker role to Lewis to get him back on the field, it makes me think a fair amount of these attitudes can be ascribed to coming from some of the players themselves.
Some also definitely comes from the coaches and front offices, especially when we continue to see these sort of comments in a very direct way coming out of the ranks of college coaches (remember the comments from the Air Force coach, I think, a few years back, complaining that he couldn't win because they other teams had more fast black guys?), as well as finding out that Philly lucked into McNabb because Cleveland ownership wanted to rebuild their franchise around a white QB to "better" appeal to fans (bad QB'ing and lots of losses is appealing?).
Go read articles about Joe Jurevicius, Wayne Chrebet, Wes Welker, Drew Bennett, Kevin Curtis, and you'll see all this stuff. Its really pretty nauseating once you realize what the sports writers are saying with their codewords.
And good for Kevin busting down the stereotypes. Maybe more guys like him will get a chance at these position, and we can have football teams built more on merit and less on racial stereotypes of white QB's, FB's, OL's, and K/P/LS's and black WR's, RB's, and defenses.
by Andrew on Jan 4, 2008 2:26 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
My fave
by JasonB on Jan 4, 2008 2:35 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Who can forget
I once used it to describe a basketball player who was rebounding and defensively minded and got shouted down because 'only white guys are scrappy' - that was in 1996.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
by The Don of DC on Jan 5, 2008 1:45 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Andrew
by JoeD on Jan 5, 2008 1:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
What white sprinter do we see?

by BrianS on Jan 5, 2008 2:59 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Well said Andrew,
But as Fat ass Roy Williams has prover being black isn't always synonymous with being fast and having good coverage skills.
I am also a 'gritty' boxer even though I am just as skilled as the rest of m sparring partners. Ohh well some things will never change.
by topcat6 on Jan 5, 2008 5:52 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

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