[Peace-discuss] No Obamania for Brandon Marshall

[Neil Parthun]

 From Dave Zirin, a pretty good progressive sportswriter.

Smile and keep fighting,

      Neil

  We absolutely have to refuse to attribute any kind of permanency to  
that which is simply because it is.
[angela v. davis, 1944-]

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.  
Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as  
you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with  
too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
[ralph waldo emerson, 1803-1882]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dave Zirin" <edgeofsports at gmail.com>
Date: November 7, 2008 8:14:24 PM CST
To: "Neil Parthun" <lennybrucefan at gmail.com>
Subject: [E of S] No Obamania for Brandon Marshall

.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081124/zirin

No Obamamania for Brandon Marshall

By Dave Zirin

All Brandon Marshall wanted was the opportunity to be part of the  
moment. The Denver Broncos' wide receiver wanted to feel connected to  
the thousands who have flooded into the streets and the millions in a  
state of shock and awe around the world, celebrating the election of  
Barack Obama.

Marshall's plan was to score a touchdown on Thursday night and then  
take out a black-and-white glove and hold it up to the sky. "I wanted  
to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me, our multi- 
cultured society," he said after the game, choked with tears. "And I  
know at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, Tommie Smith and John Carlos  
raised that black glove in that fist as a silent gesture of black  
power and liberation. Forty years later, I wanted to make my own  
statement. I wanted to make my own statement and gesture to represent  
the progress we made."

Unfortunately, we will never know what would have happened, or how  
the crowd would have reacted. We will never have that image of a  
football player bringing politics to the field. Marshall did score a  
touchdown, but as he removed the glove from his pocket, his teammates  
stopped him.
The problem was that Marshall's touchdown came with only one minute  
and twenty-two seconds left to play, putting the Broncos ahead,  
34-30. His teammates--particularly fellow wideout Brandon Stokley and  
tight end Tony Scheffler--saw what he was about to do and stopped  
him, fearful of an automatic fifteen-yard penalty for  
"unsportsmanlike conduct."

One can be charitable toward Stokley and Scheffler, given the moment  
in the game-although the image of two white players surrounding a  
black player to block his political statement is the antithesis of  
the very ideas Marshall was attempting to communicate.

Yet the reaction from ESPN was even worse. The first talking head  
back at the SportsCenter headquarters took a shot at Marshall's  
emotional press conference saying, "Well the sentiment is exactly  
right, even if the speechwriting needs some work." His partner then  
said of Marshall, "It's not about you or what you think. It's about  
the team and what they need to do." Ex-player turned broadcaster (and  
sometime soap opera star) Mark Schlereth called it, "The best play of  
Stokley's career." The Sporting News' Chris Mottram called it  
"Marshall's Moronic Touchdown Tribute to President-Elect Obama."
Mottram then wrote of Marshall, "He's not bright, or flat out  
selfish, or a combustible mixture of the two."

There is no question that Marshall was taking a risk. There's no  
question he could have cost his team the game. He also could have  
paid a professional price.
His coach, the stone-faced Mike Shanahan, has a written rule about  
not bringing the politics into his all-business locker room.

Marshall could have risked the ire of the NFL, known as the No Fun  
League for cracking down on any hint, any whiff, of individuality on  
the part of players.

But maybe Marshall thought that the moment was more important than  
the game. Maybe he looked at basketball players like Kevin Garnett,  
who had the slogan "Embrace Change Vote '08" written on his sneakers,  
or Carmelo Anthony, who said that he would score forty-four points  
Wednesday in honor of the forty-fourth president. Marshall wanted to  
be part of the energy that has inspired more pro athletes to take  
part in this election cycle than ever before.

Instead of derision, Marshall merited our respect--sports fan or  
not-- which should actually be exponentially higher since he was  
willing to take this risk when the game was on the line. The image of  
a pro football player raising a black-and-white hand to the skies  
forty years after Smith and Carlos and two days after the election of  
a black president in a country built on slavery could have echoed  
through the ages. Someone should tell the suits and ESPN: some things  
are actually more important than sports.


[Dave Zirin is the author of "A People's History of Sports in the  
United States" (The New Press) Receive his column every week by  
emailing dave at edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports at gmail.com.]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20081107/4baf96c7/attachment.htm