Mel Kiper’s Black and White Moment
October 2, 2009 by dwil
I have written about ESPN and racism from the outset of Sports On My Mind; so much that, after awhile it gets tedious, even for me; I know it must be tough on readers. However, I am constantly searching for examples that will elucidate my understanding of the WWL’s racist verbiage as it pertains to Black athletes and Black people.
Hopefully, this will serve as one of the best examples ever provided.
Mel Kiper appeared on the Mike and Mike radio-television simulcast this morning to talk college football. He was asked about the Cal-USC and Miami-Oklahoma games back-to-back. Here is how Kiper described Jeff Tedford-led Cal and Randy Shannon-led Miami. Remember that UC Berkeley has a reputation for hippie-liberal idealism and scholarship, while Miami has “renegade” football and a stellar music (jazz-oriented) program as its claim to fame. Last week Cal was blown out at Oregon, while Miami was blown out at Virginia Tech. Both games were in-conference contests.
It is racism in Black and White:
For Cal, if you’re going to get beat, get beat like that [42-3] – I mean it went from bad to worse at Oregon… They ran into a buzzsaw out there at Autzen Stdium. We know that. Ed Dixon, tight end had a career game, 11 catches. The quarterback Mazzoli, you could make a statement that he had a career day throwing the football, so that was the perfect storm against Cal last week. I would expect them to bounce back at Strawberry Canyon [at home] – homecoming – with a lot better effort… USC is so beat up, I don’t know if they can get it done.
Now, onto Miami:
Miami just didn’t get it done. It wasn’t just the rain, it was that Virginia Tech took it to ‘em and Virginia Tech dominated the football game. So, Miami – al lot of, a lot of appreciative things, a lot of great comments; everybody building Miami up, and they just didn’t get it done [losing 31-7]. I don’t know if they got too full of themselves down there or whatever, but Virginia Tech, that’s not the place to go to overconfident to Lane Stadium, and they paid the price. I think Miami – are they gonna be able to bounce back. Landry Jones [Oklahoma QB] has been red hot – plays for Sam Bradford. That defense of Oklahoma has some big-time players at every line of defense Oklahoma has a standout player. So for Miami, they better be in bounce-back mode Or Oklahoma, right now is in, ‘we can’t lose another game mode’. They want that Texas game October 17 to mean a lot.
Big diference, huh?
Poor Cal just “ran into a buzzsaw,” while overhyped Miami, “just didn’t get it done.”
Prior to the Oregon game Cal was talked about as the team in the Pac 10 with the best chance to go undefeated in conference. The Golden Bears were said to be a team that wouldn’t look ahead to playing USC because they knew that the Trojans had been upset by conference foe, Washington. So, if Cal just took care of business against Oregon, they could go into the one tough remaining game left on their conference schedule – USC – at home and on a high.
The talk surrounding Miami was of the resurgence of the football program under Randy Shannon. The Hurricane crushed in-state rivals, then #18 Florida State, in their opening game and followed that effort up with a drubbing of then #14 Georgia Tech. Virginia Tech is ranked #11, and Oklahoma is ranked #8. This four-game gauntlet is similar to that played by Texas last season. The Longhorns won the first three games against highly-ranked opponents, including a win over the Sooners, but fell just seconds short of defeating ranked Texas Tech in Lubbock.
What’s to say the the Hurricanes cannot bounce back at home against Bob Stoops’ Sooners?
I’ll tell you why, if they do defeat Oklahoma, a Miami win will one of the best of the early 21st century. It is because of the depiction of the team after the loss to the Hokies. As Kiper said, all these nice things were said about Miami the week of the Virginia Tech game, and the team came in grossly over-confident and not only humiliated themselves, but let down all those wonderful writers and talking heads who previously gave the team so much praise. Now, people like Kiper are kicking the Hurricanes to the curb and giving them no shot to beat Oklahoma.
If you are a young man between 18 and 22 years of age, this type of talk can destroy your confidence. Miami is the team that, at the beginning of the season, was though to be a year removed from challenging for college football supremacy, while Cal is a more experience team and this was thought to be their year to finally usurp USC as the Pac 10′s best team.
And the fact of the matter is, both teams’ players might have been a shade overconfident going into their respective games last Saturday but both surely ran into proverbial “buzzsaws” for opponents that had already incurred one loss this season. A second loss for either meant their hopes to play in a BCS bowl game this season would be dashed. so Oregon and Virgina Tech played a a fever pitch and won.
But if you listen to Mel Kiper, for Jeff Tedford’s team, there was no avoiding being upset by Oregon; that quarterback Junior Kevin Riley was at the mercy of a defense full of marauders. But for Randy Shannon’s team, the implication is that Shannon did not do the job of grounding his players the week before the Hokies game and allowed a team and a football program with a tradition of feeding into the press’ hype, to do just that. And Shannon’s team paid the price for his lack of coaching acumen and the team’s – led by black quarterback, Jacory Harris (in just his fifth start) – own lack of internal leadership.
Whether Kiper meant to depict two teams suffering eerily similar losses after eerily similar build-ups in the lead up to those losses in a manner that is so starkly racist. And yet that, after all, is exactly what is most insidious with most racist verbiage and racist thought. Those doing the talking have such an deeply-bred, deeply-felt sense of White privilege they are unconscious of their actions as they pertain to race.
But it is that unconscious behavior that needs to be checked.
I don’t know that there has ever been an example of ESPN’s racist verbiage as chronicled by either me of MODI that is so immediate and so stark, as it was encompassed by one man and in a matter of a minute of speech.
But it is racism in Black and White. And it is about time someone or some group of people at ESPN entered their on-air and on website and magazine figures in some racial sensitivity training ————– unless, of course, it is the type of verbiage condoned at the WWL.
We’ll see though, won’t we.
It’s insidious how memes are created and disseminated. How you can look at similar situations and get two totally different responses. Really crazy.
Mel should probably stick to the draft. He hasn’t a clue about what it takes to analyze actual games. Of course, some might say he hasn’t a clue about the draft either.
I saw the Cal-Oregon game, and that was a real letdown by Cal. Cal has the best RB in the country, and didn’t hand him the rock to start the game. Their first 4 plays were passing, resulting in incompletes or sacks, disabling their golden opportunities early. Both teams turned the ball over plenty, but only Oregon was able to capitalize.
Diallo,
You may be right about the draft. Kiper always gave Matt Millen high marks for his drafts. Those picks, save Johnson, became busts, setting the stage for the only 0-16 season by a non-expansion team in NFL history.
Mel Kiper? To paraphrase Kellen Winslow Jr.:
It’s all about that U.
I love it. “The U invented Swagger!”
“It’s jus’ U Swag!” -Jacory Harris
If last week was “the perfect storm” at Oregon, what the fuck does Mel Kiper, Jr. call this USC 30-3 ass-kicking they just took at HOME!
Hurricane “Iron” Mike. Jesus, those cats got tore out the frame. it was all down hill after ol’ dude threw the interception in the endzone.
Guess Miami and Harris showed who they really were by overcoming a halftime deficit and scoring 21 unanswered points.
And so did Cal.
Great article D. I heard that shit on the radio as I was going to work and was as hot as you were.
The thing I felt was that it wasn’t just a shot at coach shannon but also on J. Harris. Cause Kiper was making clauson (sp?) and the Locker out to be some mythical type of players. While Jacory Harris was just some busta.
Yet and still when the White kat at QB (USC) went into Ohip state and won they hyped him up as the next best thing since sliced bread.
I guess he showed those fools at ESPN.
Even still they wanted to talk about Clauson’s and Locker’s games last night instead of Jacory’s game.
Oh and F Kiper…………..The U ran into a buzz saw last week with VT.
Is it me or is this maybe the most important games that a black coach has coached and won maybe ever in Div I (historically white schools).
I mean we have a black coach at a powerhouse Div I team. Who was not picked after some white boy got in trouble because of his reume’………cough cough TY and ND.
The black coach ahs been able to get some of the best recruits in all of Florida. He has a black QB and has played one of the toughest if not the toughest 4 game span to start a season ever in Div I.
My hats off to The U and coach Shannon.
Last………. to hell with Bobby Bowden and Florida St. If you are a black QB you are a fool to go play for Bobby Bowden. You will rot on the bench while the golden boy gets chance after chance.
I saw it with Chris Ricks……..I saw it with Weatherford…………….now I see it with Ponder.
EJ manuel or whatever his name is needs to transfer ASAP.
And that neck Skip Bayless had the nerve to say that Ponder was better then J. Harris……….LOL!!!!
OSU won (Terrelle). Va Tech won (Tyrod). The “U” won (Jacoby). Ga Tech won (Josh)……and UGA lost.
Oh happy day!!!! Oh happy day!!! I cant WAIT to get to work tomorrow!
HAHA you are a trip sista.
Yeah its a happy day…………would have been better if ND lost.
And wow Tressel actually ran a pro offense for a few plays and let Terrel throw the ball.
Amazing!!!!
Tressel is a straight buster. Lucky for him all he has to do is beat Michighan every year.
Don’t just get on Mel Kiper you folks ever listen to Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Kirk Herbstreit? Now those are some of the biggest haters you can find. No brother playing QB is smart or a leader and no White quarterback isn’t.
I agree Origin about Black guys going to certain schools. FSU, USC, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Notre Dame and Oklahoma ARE NOT going to start a Black BQ. The only reason FSU even recruits a brothers is so they can keep them away from other schools.
True mac and FSU just drafts them to be WR and USC is a west coast version of FSU.
Brothas aren’t allowed to play QB.
Those schools you listed are trash the only way a black QB plays at any of these schools is if he is the number 1 QB in all of high school football……..(I.E. Vince Young).
Plus you see what ND did to that brotha who was starting before clauson (sp?). They gave that brotha one start and benched his ass.
And Fuck Charlie Weis Fat Bastard ass.
Well, this is awkward. My first two comments are Notre Dame defending. I swear I have other sports interests, and I swear I am not trying to make people angry. I can understand any ND-bashing, but I’d like to put some facts out there to clear up the misconception that ND doesn’t let black QB’s play. From wikipedia, ND has started the following qb’s since 1998:
Jimmy Clausen, Evan Sharpley, Demetrius Jones*, Brady Quinn, Carlyle Holliday*, Pat Dillingham*, Matt LoVecchio, Gary Godsey, Arnaz Battle*, Jarius Jackson*, and Eric Chapell*. * = black quarterback.
So, 6 out of the last 11 ND qb’s were black. Again, I understand the hatred of ND, I just wanted to point this out since I read that “Notre Dame [and others] ARE NOT going to start a black qb.”
I am totally impressed by Jacory Harris because this young man is cooler than Obama on the field because nothing shakes him. Once he grows into his size he’s going to make some noise on the next level because he won’t be a quote unquote raw talent that NFL O-coordinators will say they don’t know how to coach because he’s already an acccomplished passer. Terelle Pryor, Bradford, and McCoy are solid but I think if things go right that Harris will be the next great NFL qb.
The upside for Coach Shannon and Da U is that this renaissance is going to lead better rated recruiting classes and just maybe more Black coaches at the D-1 level. I’m not a diehard Canes fan but I’ve been pulling for them ever since Shannon was named coach. As long as Harris, Shannon, and the team writes their own narrative and not let ESPN lay it out there then they’re going to be just fine.
Cosign on everything that you said Harvey.
@mactown
Being from TN, I had to go through the massive love thrown at Peyton Manning during his tenure…that bad!
I will say, though, that TN’s 1998 title run was helmed by a black QB (Tee Martin). Then again, he’s about the 2nd black QB that I can recall ever starting for UT!
There are examples of racism and racists in this world, but Bobby Bowden is not among them. Please save the vitriol for those who deserve it.
As for Ponder, I’d like to know what’s wrong with a 67-percent completion figure, one interception and 284 yards a game through four games.