If you follow ESPN’s First Take, you’ll know that anchor Skip Bayless enjoys being as controversial as possible. There’s no way he believes everything he says, whether it be about Tim Tebow or LeBron James.
But this morning, he crossed the line with his comments on First Take when he spoke about Washington Redskins quarterbacks Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins.
“Some foolish Redskins fans – fans, foolish, doesn’t that go together, right? – they’re gonna sit back and say, ‘God, RGIII was struggling. He fumbled, he threw a couple of bad passes. Maybe Kirk Cousins is better right now. Maybe we should go with Kirk.’ NO! I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to set up that dynamic.
“I’m going to throw it out there,” Bayless continued. “You also have the black/white dynamic and the majority of Redskins fans are white and it’s just human nature if you’re white to root for the white guy. It just happens in sports. Just like the black community will root for the black quarterback.
“I’m for the black guy. I’m just saying I don’t like the dynamic for RGIII. It could stunt his growth in the NFL.”
Bayless’s comments were obviously not intended to sound that way but to me, they’re borderline racist and I think most people would agree.
When it comes to talking about races in sports, you need to be extremely careful with what you say. Suggesting that white Redskins fans are rooting for Cousins to start for their team is absolutely not correct.
Redskins fans want Griffin III to be their starting quarterback because he is the better quarterback. It’s as simple as that.
End of story.
This article was written by Bryn Swartz, the top writer for the Philadelphia Eagles and a featured NFL columnist on Rant Sports. Bryn has written more than 1000 articles in less than two years as a member of Rant Sports. His blog, Eagles Central, was named the 2010 Ballhyped Sports Blog of the Year. To read a portfolio of Bryn’s best work, click here.
