Considering all the examples we regularly cite here of white players willingly taking a lesser role "for the team," or simply keeping quiet in the face of the powerful discrimination against them, look at this tidbit from Rotoworld.com:
Chargers special teamer Kassim Osgood plans to skip pre-training camp workouts to protest his minimal use as a receiver.
"I'm not happy," he said. "Another year of special teams is going to kick my (butt)." The two-time Pro Bowler has requested a trade. "I'm getting typecast into being a special-teams guy," Osgood said. "That's not what I am."
Now THAT is the way for Kevin Kasper, John Standeford, Mike Hass, Jereme Urban, etc. to handle their situations.
Of course, I realize that the same newspaper and/or web site would not simply report their "protest," but would undoubtedly insert a sarcastic, "who cares" type of comment in there, but still it's illuminating to see how a black player handles having a lesser role. No rah-rah, "for the team" nonsense. No quiet humility. No kudos for the players in front of him, who are keeping him on the bench. Yes, they would be scoffed at and face ridicule, from the jock-sniffers in the media and the drunk white fans, but if enough of them started doing it....maybe eventually it would have an impact.
I honestly think that the black players, at least, would have more respect for white players if they at least tried to stand up for themselves. I doubt if they have much respect for Joe Jurevicious, for example, who recently REQUESTED that the Browns take him out of the starting lineup. I'm sure all his black teammates got a huge laugh out of that. Just picture any black player, at any level of competition, asking to be benched.
Chargers special teamer Kassim Osgood plans to skip pre-training camp workouts to protest his minimal use as a receiver.
"I'm not happy," he said. "Another year of special teams is going to kick my (butt)." The two-time Pro Bowler has requested a trade. "I'm getting typecast into being a special-teams guy," Osgood said. "That's not what I am."
Now THAT is the way for Kevin Kasper, John Standeford, Mike Hass, Jereme Urban, etc. to handle their situations.
Of course, I realize that the same newspaper and/or web site would not simply report their "protest," but would undoubtedly insert a sarcastic, "who cares" type of comment in there, but still it's illuminating to see how a black player handles having a lesser role. No rah-rah, "for the team" nonsense. No quiet humility. No kudos for the players in front of him, who are keeping him on the bench. Yes, they would be scoffed at and face ridicule, from the jock-sniffers in the media and the drunk white fans, but if enough of them started doing it....maybe eventually it would have an impact.
I honestly think that the black players, at least, would have more respect for white players if they at least tried to stand up for themselves. I doubt if they have much respect for Joe Jurevicious, for example, who recently REQUESTED that the Browns take him out of the starting lineup. I'm sure all his black teammates got a huge laugh out of that. Just picture any black player, at any level of competition, asking to be benched.
