ColorBlind in Philly...

For the past week, Color has been the hot topic of debate in Philadelphia. Responding to a reporter's question, Donovan McNabb again played his race card and once again brought the issue of Racism in Sports to the forefront.

For those of you who missed it, here is the brief rundown of McNabb's comments. Donovan McNabb stated that the public has a different set of standards for black and white quarterbacks. He claims that black quarterbacks are asked to achieve more than their white counterparts, and are under much more pressure to win. McNabb went on to say that the public and media typically attribute the success of a white quarterback to his intelligence, while any success of a black quarterback is attributed to his athletic ability.

As a rule, I try to disagree with anything McNabb says. I have just heard too much of his rhetoric over the years. He always seems to have an excuse for his failures, and rarely shares credit for his successes. But in this instance, I think just might have a point.

I watched many games this weekend... college and NFL.. and not once did I hear a black QB refered to as a 'smart' player. Many times I heard sports commentators mention the great athletic ability of a black QB. And I rarely heard anyone describe a white QB as a great athlete, but I heard many descriptions of thier 'smart' or 'intelligent' plays on the field.

Maybe its just a coincidence. Maybe not. Perhaps there really is a racially based misperception engrained into the cultural sports subconcious. Its certainly something to think about. There are definately many highly intelligent black quarterbacks in football today. Maybe McNabb's comments will cause someone to actually change thier own habits when it comes to providing stereotypical lables to athletes.

Whatever the truth of the matter may be, McNabb had a chip on his shoulder all week long. Thats when he plays best, it seems. McNabb had an amazing day, despite his knee injury. For those of you who missed it, he had 4 touchdown passes and over 300 yards passing. McNabb seems to thrive on pressure. He certainly felt a bit of pressure to turn around the terrible start to his team's season.

The Eagles did their part to end the debate about Color in the NFL. They proved that color does not matter. The entire team joined in unity to show just how ugly the issue of Color can be. They showed us that its not what's on the outside that counts...

.... at least, I hope thats what they were trying to do. There is just no other excuse for the uniforms they wore today.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR MONITOR. THE COLORS YOU ARE SEEING IN THE IMAGE ARE CORRECT.

Perhaps the most offensive thing to happen in the past week is not what anybody said, but what they wore.