Under This Theory, Donovan's Knee Must Be Racist Too

Not content with overthrowing every receiver in a tri-state area, Donovan McNabb gave an interview with Jim Brown on HBO's Real Sports in which he said that black quarterbacks are under more pressure than white quarterbacks. Yeah, Donners, that's the reason Philly fans booed you on Monday. Because of your skin color. Not because you played a game that Ryan Leaf would have been ashamed of.
Some thoughts about Donovan's curios statement:

* McNabb says that [white] guys like Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer don't get criticized as much as he does. Ignoring the fact that both Peyton and Carson are way better than Donovan could ever hope to be, McNabb is delusional if he actually believes this.
Up until last February, Peyton was dogged by the (deserved) question of whether he would ever lead his team to the Super Bowl. Had the Colts lost in the AFC Playoffs or to the Bears, the chorus would have been deafening. Peyton won, so those cries are quiet now. But imagine what we'd be saying about him this year if the Colts hadn't prevailed?
McNabb, on the other hand, had been closer to winning it all than Peyton (four NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl) and still gets criticized by nobody in the national media for coming up short in big games. Peyton, in all his Caucasian glory, played decently in past playoff losses yet got ripped. Donovan vomited in the huddle of the Super Bowl and gets a pass. Is it for racial reasons? Maybe. If so, Donovan would be getting the benefit of the doubt, not the other way around as he believes.

* Steve McNair kind of throws a wrench into Donovan's statement. McNair is a former NFL MVP, has made multiple Pro Bowls and is generally regarded as one of the toughest men to ever play quarterback. For a number of reasons (injuries, bad line, etc.), McNair's play has slipped considerably in recent years. Again, McNair is a 13-year vet with myriad injuries, so his decline is understandable. I'm just saying, you never really hear about it. He seem to get Favre-ian protection from the media, despite what Donovan says about black quarterbacks.

* Another important note: Jason Campbell, a black quarterback, is one good game away from becoming the most popular athlete in D.C. since John Riggins.

* Even though Donovan's assertion is completely wrong, I have no problem with it being made. It's not a racist comment, it's a racial comment. There's a big difference. So, while I disagree with Donovan's assertion, I'm glad he's able to say it without getting crucified for it unlike, say, Rush Limbaugh. More on that gasbag in a second.
In this country (and probably in most others) people tip-toe around the race issue because they fear an unwarranted backlash (hello, Don Imus). As a result, every time race gets mentioned by a member of a different race, everyone automatically assumes racism. It'd be great if there could be serious discourse on the issue, but with a trigger-happy media ready to crucify anyone who makes a statement that could possible be perceived by one person (probably Al Sharpton) as a racist, that day seems far away.
The Limbaugh/McNabb controversy from five years ago is a perfect example of this phenomenon. In his statements, Limbaugh gave an opinion that wasn't the least bit racist. For those whose memory of the incident was clouded by the mainstream media's overreaction, Limbaugh said of McNabb:

"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

That's not racist. Just because someone invokes race into a discussion doesn't make that statement racist. All Limbaugh said was that, for a number of reasons, the media wants to see black quarterbacks do well. You can agree or disagree with that statement, but it was clearly Limbaugh's opinion and a fairly tame one at that. (Remember, Chris Berman, who practically wept on NFL Countdown the following week when discussing the "horrific incident", didn't object to Limbaugh's comment when it was made.)
Nobody mentioned that Limbaugh's comment applies to white skill players like Mike Alstott, John Lynch and Adam Archuleta as well. Because they play positions dominated by black athletes, the media hypes them up too much also. Since quarterbacking was (and still is) predominantly a white man's world, the media likes to see black guys succeed there. It's different than the norm, which is what the media is always looking for. Unlike political reporters, I don't see sports writers having much of an agenda other than to get easy story ideas. My guess is that most beat writers want a black quarterback to succeed moreso because it's a story they can write, not because of any social considerations. I think this is why we still get the played-out "black quarterback" or "black coach" stories, even though the NFL has reached the point where a black man succeeding in either of these venues is the norm, not the exception.
My main gripe with the Donovan thing is, he said almost the exact same thing as Limbaugh. They both made gross generalizations about the perceptions of black quarterbacks. The only difference is, Limbaugh's comments created a national firestorm and got him fired from a job, while McNabb's was buried in the 4th segment of SportsCenter.
In a perfect world, neither comment would be a story. Think of it this way, if the roles were switched and Limbaugh had made McNabb's statement and McNabb Limbaugh's, would there have been any controversy?
It'd be great if McNabb's comment could lead to a discussion about what role race plays in the perception of NFL players. But because white people are gun-shy about talking about this, for fear of being labeled as a racist, it doesn't look like it will happen. The only way that will change is if the media stops applying a double-standard to what constitutes a racist statement. Oh well.
Oh well.