Manufactured Racist Controversy Over Tattoo Criticism of NFL Quarterback

From our “Now they’ve gone too far” department, a controversy over a column written by Sporting News writer David Whitley, who skewers San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick for breaking some kind of rule about NFL quarterbacks not getting all tatted up.

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NFL quarterback is the ultimate position of influence and responsibility. He is the CEO of a high-profile organization, and you don’t want your CEO to look like he just got paroled.

Now along comes Kaepernick. Since taking over for Alex Smith two games ago, he has convinced everybody in the Bay area that he’s the second coming of Steve Young.

Smith is coming back from a concussion, ushering in the attendant QB controversy. But he is looking like Wally Pipp and Kaepernick is Lou Gehrig. All I can do is look in the mirror and sigh.

Forgive me, but I suffer from tattoo-ism. I sport no ink, and I don’t want any. I know that attitude qualifies me for an AARP card, and I’ve tried to get with it.

I realize tattoos are ways to pay homage to your religion, children and motorcycle gang. I’m cool with LeBron James looking like an Etch A Sketch.

I still cringe when I go to the gym and see middle-aged women with barbed wire circling their biceps. They have bigger arms than I, so I never make fun. But I can’t shake the notion that a person’s body is a temple, and you don’t cover temples in graffiti.

For dinosaurs like me, NFL quarterbacks were our little Dutch boys. The original hero stuck his finger in the dyke to save Holland. Pro QBs were the last line of defense against the raging sea of ink. When our kids said they wanted a tattoo, we could always point to the Manning brothers.

My guess is Archie would have made Peyton throw an extra 1,000 passes before dinner if he’d come home with a tattoo. The old man knew QBs are different.

Did Sammy Baugh, Johnny Unitas, Doug Williams or Joe Montana have arms covered in ink? Do Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers? The world will end when Tim Tebow shows up a tattoo parlor.

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Well, Whitley violated some unwritten rule himself. Kaepernick is African American and apparently it is verboten to say anything about him that displeases lefty writers who don’t know much about sports, but know a helluva lot about playing the race card.

Here’s one off-the-wall blogger who has a serious case of race myopia:

Lots of times we’ve poked fun at sportswriters or announcers for praising overmuch a white athlete’s heart, grit, gumption or whatever other term they invoke when they see a bit of themselves in an undersized white slot receiver who shows he actually belongs on the field with his more physically skilled, darker skinned peers. While that praise is likely informed by some amount of racial bias, in most cases it’s not actively racist. It’s important to make that distinction because Sporting News/Fanhouse columnist David Whitley is a for-real racist.

One reason to read lefty blogs on a regular basis is because we learn a lot about race, class, and how the right are a bunch of poopey heads.

For instance, I didn’t know that sports announcers never praise black athletes for their “grit” or “guts.” Never. Never ever. When Michael Jordan played an NBA Finals game with a temp of 102 and a sour stomach, all that praise about his guts and fortitude was a mistake. The announcers thought he was white, obviously.

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Nor have I a subtle enough intellect to glean the difference between “racial bias” and “racism.”

Be that as it may, Whitley has two adopted daughters, who, “If they were old enough to read,” would “certainly be disappointed to find out I’m a racist.”

That doesn’t excuse Whitley for being an idiot, not a racist. He hates tattoos and he hates them on quarterbacks:

For dinosaurs like me,” continues Whitley, “NFL quarterbacks were our little Dutch boys. The original hero stuck his finger in the (dike) to save Holland. Pro QBs were the last line of defense against the raging sea of ink. When our kids said they wanted a tattoo, we could always point to the Manning brothers.

The funny thing is, Whitley’s witless criticism of Kaepernick echoes similar complaints against one Joe Willie Namath, whose long hair and Bohemian (and hedonistic) lifestyle rocked the staid NFL back in the day. Back then, it was a generational thing. Today, it’s a manufactured racial controversy — largely because we haven’t had one in a few days and the fires of racial division must be stoked regularly or the left loses its touch.

I hate Kaepernick because the first start of his NFL career was against my Beloved Bears, where he proceeded to pick apart and destroy the Beloveds as no rookie quarterback has ever done. But whether it’s growing your hair long or getting inked up to the max, people like Whitley should stop the hero worship and start treating these guys like the overpaid circus performers they are.

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Note: I’m a dinosaur and hate tattoos also.

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