At the risk of indefinite suspension by my bosses here at Deadline Detroit, I'm going to go ahead and give my quick two cents on my man Rob Parker's controversial comments last week on ESPN about Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III:
I think that, to a certain degree, Parker was right. RGIII is corny.
Parker, a former Detroit Free Press sports columnist who was canned by the paper after an inappropriate question to then-Lions head coach Rod Marinelli, was suspended by the sports TV network a day after he suggested that the Skins' rookie phenom may be a "cornball brother," citing as evidence Griffin's style, white fiancee and alleged (but completely unproven) fealty to the Republican Party.
The message from ESPN was obvious: Parker, who compared Griffin to golf superstar Tiger Woods (another alleged self-hating black man), crossed the line by raising questions about how ardently Griffin embraces his "blackness." To some, his comments were construed as racist.
Now let me say up front that I'm big fan of RGIII and his game. His athletic ability is off the charts, as are his smarts. And I absolutely love that he is helping to hasten the demise of stereotypes of black quarterbacks as less cerebral than their white counterparts.
He's also obviously well-raised, and his intelligence and self-assuredness have already made him the unquestioned leader in DC. There is nothing shameful or dumb about the brother.
But none of that is what anyone who'd call Griffin "corny" is talking about. He's not less of a brother because he uses good grammar or because he hails from a solid home. Broken homes and bad speech aren't indicators of "authentic" blackness and never have been, and it's a red herring to suggest that's what even Parker was suggesting.
Personally, I think the dude's style says a lot. The brother wears braids that I haven't seen since Mystikal dominated rap in the 1990s. He sports Sponge Bob socks. And while the kid definitely has trademark pro QB confidence, it pulsates beneath a starchy sort of "aw-shucks" exterior. So to me, an eastsider raised on Run-DMC, "The Jeffersons" and blaxploitation flicks, RGIII comes off a little stiff.
Still, I don't think any of that means Griffin isn't ultimately "authentic" in his own right. Doesn't mean he's anything other than his own man. No crime in being "a cornball brother." But there's no crime in Parker wondering about it either. Stereotypes aren't the same thing as tradition. And you don't have to believe that Griffin should embrace crude, racist definitions in order to wonder how warmly he embraces black culture, history and sporting legacy.
That said, let's keep it 100: Parker wasn't suspended for questioning Griffin's bad hair moves or off-beat footwear or his public persona. He was suspended for wondering whether Griffin's purported politics and white fiancee were indicators that RGIII might not harbor much love or identification with black people. (I'll leave the Republican part alone since that seems to be so much speculation -- even though, with the possible exception of Colin Powell, I can't think of any modern black Republicans I wouldn't consider arrant cornballs.)
While that amorphous "down for the cause" flag Parker waves is as played as Griffin's braids, he nonetheless raises a question about race and culture that echoes in the minds of millions of blacks who follow sports. Like it or not, black people are always going to wonder about black millionaire ballplayers who marry white women, no matter whether it's someone (once) beloved like OJ Simpson or hated like ex-Skins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth.
Why? Because some black Americans really do harbor the same misperceptions and disregard for blacks as white racists do. Uncle Rukus is just barely an exaggeration.
Just so we're clear here, I'm all for people exercising the right to marry whomever they choose. But can we please stop fronting as if love is the only dynamic at work in the minds of all of these pro sports superstars? And can we please stop excoriating blacks who dare to posit otherwise? Sure, love abounds in many interracial relationships -- but there can also some scary-ass self-loathing at play on occasion, too.
Consider, for instance, how Haynesworth went out of his way to bellow that he "doesn't like black girls" when a black waitress accused him of harassing her.
Recall the Tweets from former U-M football recruit Yuri Wright, who vowed that he'd "marry me a bad ass white women someday." Wright, who now plays at the University of Colorado, didn't say he was hoping to marry a beautiful woman when he grew up. No, he made a point of saying he was looking for a white woman specifically.
And when Tiger Woods was suffering the humiliation of having all of his extramatrial affairs splashed across the major papers everyday, don't think that black folks didn't notice just how racially homogenous all of his side pieces were.
So again, let's stop fronting. Just as there are brothers who don't care about color in choosing their mates, there are also some black/Cablinasian athletes who make very clear that they want nothing to do with black women. That's their choice, yes. But that's also a sign of some very disturbed thinking. And if you're black, it's a reality worth addressing.
Of course, that says absolutely nothing about how RGIII views the world, race or relationships. Despite talk that Griffin eschews the "black quarterback" label and so dishonors his predecessors, RGIII has spoken to race with a fair amount of directness.
"I am an African-American in America. That will never change. But I don't have to be defined by that.''
The league's highest-rated passer, who has led the 7-6 Redskins into postseason contention with 10 of his 18 touchdowns thrown during a four-game win streak, said he is aware of why so many black Redskins fans take reflected pride in his success.
"I am aware how much race is relevant to them,'' RGIII said. "I don't ignore it. I try not to be defined by it. But I understand different persectives and how people view different things. I understand that they're excited that their quarterback is an African-American. I play with a lot of pride, a lot of character, a lot of heart. I understand that. I appreciate them for being fans and not just fans because they're African-Americans.''
I respect that.
But I also respect that, when black folks question political affiliations or even the women on some black athletes' arms, they aren't necessarily doing so out of some irrational race-related malice or unfounded concerns about culture and identity.
I know many Americans want to "move on" from the issue of race, but we can't. We won't. As a take on race, Parker's conversation wasn't hateful or unusual as much as it was poorly articulated and incomplete. Go to any barbershop around the city -- the same barbershops whose banter and milieu ESPN is constantly trying to co-opt and replicate -- and you'll hear black men raising the same questions, the same subjects in much the same way.
Not all will agree. Some will share Parker's perspective. Others would react more like Stephen A. Smith -- who had the career-mindedness to avoid the barbershop talk on national TV -- and be content not to question RGIII's personal choices. And then there would be those who'd fall somewhere in between.
There's a diversity of opinion there that, like progressive talk about race, needs to be voiced and heard, not simply swept away because it runs counter to the narrative of the new.
And it's a discussion that, like the black community as a whole, should be able to make room for brothers of all stripes, athlete or sports scribe, player or observer, cornball or not.
