Dumbed Down and Full of Misplaced Rage

Don Wassall

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The viciousness directed toward Tommy Maddox during and since last Sunday's game by Pittsburgh Steelers "fans" is sickening. Prior to the game, Maddox was a popular backup, a feel-good story who went from being a first round NFL draft pick to selling insurance to coming back to the NFL and having success. Now, he is finished in Pittsburgh, all because of one early regular season loss.


As I mentioned in another post, the fans began booing him vociferously immediately.Playing for the injured starter Ben Roethlisberger, Maddoxhadn't played in well over a year, it was a very windy day, and Hines Ward was out with an injury leaving Maddox to throw to the immortal starting WR duo of Cedric Wilson and Antwaan Randel-El. The only NFL caliber receiver in the lineup was rookie TE Heath Miller, who had another very nice game.


Maddox played a poor game, fumbling once and throwing three picks, includingan interceptionin overtime that was returned by Jacksonville for the winning score. Here were his stats: 11 of 28 for 154 yards, 1 TD and 3 Ints.


Here's Byron Leftwich's stat line from the same game: 19 of 35 for 177 yards with 1 TD and 1 Int.


Yes, Maddox's fumble of a snap in OTfollowed bya pick in the next series were decisive. RB Willie Parker fumbled two plays before Maddox did, knocking the team out of field goal territory in OT, but that was completely forgotten as soon as it happened.


The hatred directed toward Maddox is disturbing. After his bad performance, he was ripped because he didn't show enough contrition in his post-game comments. Since then his home has been vandalized and he has practically gone into hiding.


The vitriol directed toward Bill Cowher is almost as bad, based on the unforgiveable sins of not pulling Maddox from the game, and not playing Jerome Bettis in the second half.Benching Maddoxwould have meant playing third stringer Charlie Batch, who was far rustier than Maddox and who would have been throwing to the same lousy wideouts in the same windy conditions. Cowher led the team to a 15-1 record last year and the Steelers are still 3-2 this year but the abuse being heaped on him is merciless.


The vast majority ofwhite football fansare another great illustration of Dumbed Down America -- ignorant but mad as hell and taking their rage out on convenient white targets. When the Steelers lose a game, their world is turned upside down. The black players on the almost all-black team they live and die for are never the recipients oftheir anger. Their anger is irrational, but focused enough not to be directed at black targets, because that would be "racism" and thus their rage is directed at their own kind.


Big Ben Roethlisberger has again become their knight in shining armor. When Ben was throwing the ball over receivers' heads in the playoffs last year and again in exhibition games this summer, the fans were primed to turn on him with a vengeance -- which of course would have entaileddemanding he be replaced with none other thanTommy Maddox. But Ben got off to a terrific start and is safe from the irrational madness of hundreds of thousands of white people living lives of quiet desperation -- until this Sunday's game anyway.


Edited by: Don Wassall
 

JoeV

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Hey any game Pittspuke loses is fine by me! Although I would prefer them to beat the Bungles this weekend to give my Brownies a better shot at the division title.
 

Colonel_Reb

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I hope Big Ben does well this week, as I am starting him again for my fantasy team. I hope Bettis has a big game for that same reason. I also hope Brian Finneran has a big game Monday night, you guessed it, he's one of my starters too. I want him and Big Ben to have great games every week though.
 

White Shogun

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Maddox did indeed play a poor game. I do think his fumble and INT ultimately cost the team the game though, in this particular case anyway (everybody say, Neil O'Donnell!)

But you're right about the level of vitriole; you'd think Maddox tanked the season and lost to the Patriots in a playoff game or sumthin'. I also agree that Batch would have faired as poorly as did Maddox.

Nothing wrong with Big Ben being considered a savior though. Better than Willie Parker continuing to get all the accolades.

I think I pointed out the same comparison between Leftwich and Maddox in the NFL forums, too, right after the game and all the BS started. But let's say what needs to be said - if Maddox is run out of football because of his performance in ONE game, when are we going to get see Daunte Culpepper selling insurance in St. Paul? His performance week in and week out has been far worse than Maddox, and Tommy wasn't last seen leaving the Love Boat with a prostitute on each arm and a trail of used condoms behind him!
smiley5.gif
 

GWTJ

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As a long time Steeler fan I know the local fans have no tolerance for lousy QB's. They have had their fill of pathetic names like Cliff Stoudt, Mark Malone, Bubby Brister, Mike Tomczak, Neil O'Donnell and Kordell Stewart. These are the same fans who cheered Bradshaw when he got injured during a game in 1973. The same fans who showed up in droves to a USFL game because Cliff Stoudt was playing and they could boo the hell out of him.

The Steeler fans should really be going after the swiss cheese defense of late. The Bengals might put a 40 spot on them this week the way they are playing.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Philly fans drive reliever Mitch Williams out of Philadelphia when he gave up the home run to Joe Carter. If memory serves a radio announcer gave out his address and fans started pelting his house with eggs.
 

Don Wassall

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Contrary to media myth, Steelers fans were far more tolerant toward Kordell Stewart than any of the others. Though he always had his detractors -- and for good reason -- for a few years it was a common sight to see white people of all ages sporting Kordell jerseys. It took years of poor play for them to turn on him like they do instantly when it comes to white QBs.
 

GWTJ

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You're right Don, they were well behaved PC fans with slash. I do not think they will let Cowher get away with that again though.
 

Don Wassall

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GWTJ said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Philly fans drive reliever Mitch Williams out of Philadelphia when he gave up the home run to Joe Carter. If memory serves a radio announcer gave out his address and fans started pelting his house with eggs.


One of my main memories of the '93 World Series is TV shots of Curt Schilling sitting in the Phillies' dugout with a towel over his face when Mitch Williams was pitching. Talk about a crappy way to act toward a teammate. I'm sure that didn't help the all-out piling on Williams took during and after the Series.
 

Bart

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Found this on a mesage board:


Maddox's wife, Jennifer, has been forced to drive the couple's two children to school in an effort to insulate them from criticism. The ordeal could lead to Maddox's departure after the season despite the fact his contract runs through 2007.

"Having your kids deal with it at school and on the bus is a very, very tough deal," said Vann McElroy, Maddox's agent. "People quickly forget that the Steelers were nowhere near going to the playoffs (in 2002), and Tommy stepped in and guided them there and to a win against Cleveland. They forget how he was (partially) paralyzed (during a game in 2002) and came back, and put his body on the line for the city and the Steelers."
 

Colonel_Reb

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White players always have a disadvantage when it comes to forgiveness. Blacks have all the excuses, and most whites believe them, so they cut them about 246,000 miles of slack when they screw up. Not so with whites. If the black athletic superiority myth, which so many believe, was actually true, it should be the opposite from the way it currently is. I will never forget the example of Josh Booty and Rohan (Fat Boy) Davey at LSU in 2000.
 

Don Wassall

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A drunk Steelers fan dumped a beer onStewart after a home game loss halfway through his career. That was the only thing the media could ever cite when theywrote aboutall the abuse that poor Kordell supposedly had to put up with -- "he even suffered the ignominy of having a beer thrown on him." And that was after years of poor performances, including big-time chokes in playoff games.


Kordell couldn't hit the side of a barn from 10 yards away during most games. He wasn't smart enough to read defenses. He never took the blame for his many terrible games. He was also widely believed, rightly or wrongly, to be homosexual. He cried on the sideline in Tampa after being pulledfrom a game by Bill Cowher. Cowher for many years would not bring in any legitimate competition at the quarterback position for fear of bruising Kordell'smost delicateego.


What Maddox is going through after one poor early season game is worse than the abuse Stewart ever took. I wouldn't blame Tommy if he got out of Pittsburghand eventhe NFL altogether. The behavior towards him by the "fans" here is beyond despicable, there's no other way to describe it.
 

bigunreal

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I have been surprised by the intense reaction towards Maddox's poor
performance last week. You'd think that no QB had ever played poorly
before. While there are some white QBs that are inexplicably given a
very long leash (Gus Frerotte comes immediately to mind), the racial
double standard here is obvious. Almost from the moment he was drafted
by Denver, Tommy Maddox evoked the kind of across-the-board fury
amongst the jock-sniifers in the media that only white players ever
evoke. His name quickly became a joke in the world of sports
"journalism." Other players who have elicited this kind of curious
reaction are Joe Theismann, Brian Bosworth, Vinny Testeverde, Heath
Shuler, Cade McNown and Joey Harrington. In the cases of Theismann and
Bosworth, the hatred that sports "journalists" felt for them was due
primarily to the fact they didn't seem to "know their place."
Theismann, like Pete Rose in baseball, was always referred to as a "hot
dog." Despite the fact that every black athlete who has ever played a
sport was more in-your-face and louder than Theismann ever thought of
being, no black athlete has ever been called a "hot dog." Theismann
commited the cardinal sin of showing emotion and flair on the playing
field. If you're white, the only way to make it is to be like Mike
Alstott or John Lynch. Keep quiet, let any black teammate do the
dancing and celebrating for you, and you may be rewarded with a few
trips to the Pro Bowl. Theismann was even criticized for changing the
pronunciation of his name during his senior year at Notre Dame so
that it rhymed with "Heisman." Funny, but no one criticized Tony
Dorsett when he suddenly demanded that people pronounce his name a new
way during his senior college season. Ironically, Theismann has become
one of the world's most annoying announcers, and perhaps the media's
most passionate advocate of the Caste System. We all know about
Bosworth. He had the audacity to try and be as brash and arrogant as
your average black backup in the NFL. Vinny T. has been disparaged for
years as some kind of a joke by the lame, wanna-be comedians at ESPN,
but his lifetime stats are impressive. Compare them to what Doug
Williams produced, for instance. Right now, the NFL is allowing a
complete joke of a QB, Aaron Brooks, to continue starting for the
Saints when he has regressed every year and has clearly become a
"bust," as the media likes to label white QBs like Shuler or McNown.
Byron Leftwich is a young QB with lots of "poise" (a favorite media
code word to describe some mysterious quality a black QB possesses,
when his numbers don't warrant their praise). If he were white, there
would be plenty there to crticize, but that won't happen to "Lord
Byron." We won't even discuss Mike/Michael Vick; we all know how much
he'd be playing if he suffered from the same pigmentation disorder that
Eric Crouch and others suffer from. This is all so sad. I just continue
to hope that somehow, someday, someone in a position of power summons
up the courage to contront this issue in public.
 
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Compare the treatment of Tommy Maddox, after one bad game, to the kids glove treatment that Donovan McNabb got when a few years ago the Eagles started the season 0-3.

The Double Standard is indeed STARK.

This is almost as sickening, and dare I say demented, as the beastly savage reaction to Mike Vanderjagt when he actually dared to have an opinion about his team winning a game!
 

IceSpeed2

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Tommy Maddox, I saw him in the XFL first, is one tough son of a bitch. He hangs tough in the pocket, finds the open man, and is reasonably "athletic".
We all have slumps.Edited by: IceSpeed2
 

GWTJ

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Well, the dumping on Tommy Maddox has already begun. On Around the Horn yesterday one of the topics was Maddox. The loser sports writers each took their turn trashing Maddox. They couldn't say enough bad things about him. The moderator(Tony Riali) finally stopped them when they suggested Hines Ward play QB.

I believe they are going to eat their words. Maddox will play well and get some relief from his purgatory. Thank God the game is in Baltimore and not Pittsburgh. The crazies in Pittsburgh will have to foam at the mouth in their living rooms or local bar.
 

Don Wassall

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I was relieved too that the game is in Baltimore and not Pittsburgh. Most fans have already forgotten that Maddox was the man who finally replaced the wretched Kordell Stewart and had several fine seasons and was the starter as recently as the beginning of the '04 season until he was injured. One bad game and it's open season on Tommy in Pittsburgh and by Caste System "journalists" nationwide.


I'll be rooting for Maddox and Mike McMahon to do well on Sunday. Also Kyle Boller, because if he struggles against the Steelers defense the Ravens fans most likely will take out all their mounting frustrations (both rational and irrational) on Kyle.
 
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