In his column in the Miami New Times, Luther Campbell, the former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew and former Miami-Dade mayoral candidate, lambasted the sports media for having the audacity to say that Cam Newton struggled in his first NFL preseason game (even though he did). Campbell said the big reason why black athletes like Newton, Tiger Woods and LeBron James get heavily criticized, while Eli Manning, John Daly and Brett Favre supposedly get free passes, is because “sports news outlets are dominated by white faces.”
Campbell’s column is short enough that we could have pasted it here in full. But this outtake below is a good indication of his general tone and attitude:
Earlier this month, blow hards like Bill Plaschke reveled in Tiger losing the PGA Championship in Atlanta. In his Los Angeles Times column Plaschke bragged how Tiger’s fall is the best thing to happen to golf since Woods was taking the green by storm. The same thing happened to Lebron James, who will be vilified for the rest of his career because he left Cleveland for Miami. That young man has been unfairly torn apart by sports writers and talking heads.
AdvertisementYet these are the same sports writers who gave Eli Manning a pass when he acted like a primadonna before he was drafted. Manning was hardly criticized when he made a big stink about going to the New York Giants instead of the San Diego Chargers. These are the same reporters who praise John Daly even though he embarrassed the game of golf by playing drunk on the green. These are the same white dudes who put pill popping sexual harrasser Brett Favre on a pedestal.
The racism has been taking place for more than a century. Babe Ruth was a known womanizing raging alcoholic, but he was always revered. Yet a guy like Gary Sheffield gets crucified for being honest about Barry Bonds’ steroid use.
Yes, Eli Manning totally got a free pass. And no one has ever printed a negative word about John Daly or Brett Favre.
Campbell would have been better served using the examples of Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell, since we all know Leaf got a free pass from the media during his playing days, while Russell was unfairly criticized.