04/19/24
May 12, 2011
Bernard Hopkins: McNabb isn’t tough enough or black enough: Donovan McNabb probably didn't wake up thinking he'd get blindsided in the media Wednesday with possibly the most vicious comments he's ever heard.
32,873 passing yards. 216 touchdowns. Six Pro Bowls. Eight playoff trips. Seven seasons of 10 wins or more. 7 NFC East titles. Nine playoff wins. 1 Super Bowl trip.
Good luck finding another quarterback who can do that for a decade, ungrateful Philly fans.
posted by rcade at 08:48 AM on May 12, 2011
What really bugs me about the "black enough" argument is that it is a bigoted concept. What is basically being said is that if a black person did not grow up in the inner city "ghetto" dodging bullets, fighting dogs, and fathering children all over the universe, they are not black enough?????? How ignorant is that? Everytime I hear another black person spew this crap, it just riles me so!
posted by yzelda4045 at 09:04 AM on May 12, 2011
32,873 passing yards. 216 touchdowns. Six Pro Bowls. Eight playoff trips. Seven seasons of 10 wins or more. 7 NFC East titles. Nine playoff wins. 1 Super Bowl trip.
Good luck finding another quarterback who can do that for a decade, ungrateful Philly fans.
I agree with everything you said but the one thing missing for those 'ungrateful Philly fans' is: Super Bowl winner.
Also, consider that McNabb was booed when drafted by the Eagles and never truly appreciated by Philly fans, he never was embraced as 'their guy'.
posted by BornIcon at 09:39 AM on May 12, 2011
I'll never understand the black community's fascination with deciding who is "black enough" in this country
one of my college teammates (black) and I (white) were good friends and hung out quite a bit and I remember one time we were out in front of the dorm B.S.ing and one of our other teammates walked by and said "uncle tom!" Felt bad for the guy, because he was otherwise "black enough", he just happened to be friends with a white guy. You would think he would have gotten a pass because I at least listened to rap music :-)
posted by bdaddy at 09:55 AM on May 12, 2011
You would think he would have gotten a pass because I at least listened to rap music :-)
If it was NWA or Geto Boys then I can understand but if it was Digital Underground and you were doing the Humpty Dance, then that would be a problem.
posted by BornIcon at 10:04 AM on May 12, 2011
Next guy up on draft day who gets treated like McNabb did from the get go, step back, pull yourself out of the draft and do the Elway thing: "I refuse to play for those people".
Take a loan from your agent, go work out for a year and get a deal done with another franchise.
Then go rough up the league when you get on the field and hope that the boo birds end up with the next Rick Mirer.
McNabb tried like hell to make the best of it in Philly despite all the anti-love he got. No telling how much better he might have done somewhere else.
posted by beaverboard at 10:22 AM on May 12, 2011
Hopkins is from that faction that believes that, instead of becoming your own master, it is better to stay in the field.
posted by graymatters at 10:28 AM on May 12, 2011
I agree with everything you said but the one thing missing for those 'ungrateful Philly fans' is: Super Bowl winner.
McNabb's inability to win a Super Bowl in Philly should not obscure his accomplishments. The Eagles dominated the NFC East for a decade while he was there.
In time, as Philly slides and they struggle to find another franchise quarterback, they'll realize what they had.
posted by rcade at 10:30 AM on May 12, 2011
McNabb's inability to win a Super Bowl in Philly should not obscure his accomplishments.
You're absolutely right that it shouldn't but as you said and I whole-heartedly agree with, Philly fans are ungrateful so without a Super Bowl win those accolades go unnoticed.
I just wish Tony Romo's career is anywhere near as successful as McNabb's because I sure as hell would appreciate those types of accomplishments any day of the week.
posted by BornIcon at 10:49 AM on May 12, 2011
On the flip side, I know for years I have been complaining that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning just weren't white enough (tongue firmly in cheek)
posted by Demophon at 11:38 AM on May 12, 2011
What really bugs me about the "black enough" argument is that it is a bigoted concept. What is basically being said is that if a black person did not grow up in the inner city "ghetto" dodging bullets, fighting dogs, and fathering children all over the universe, they are not black enough?
I don't think that is exactly it. Black is not really just a skin color. It is also a culture. The Cosby family was wealthy and no one thought they weren't black enough. There are black people who really, truly want nothing to do with other black people or anything black. They carry around the same stereotypes that the most bigoted white person carries. So, while I certainly think "black enough" isn't the right thing and that McNabb seems to be in no way like this, the general idea isn't always wrong. It would be more correctly states that a particular person wants nothing to do with black culture.
Oh, and Hopkins is an ass for saying this. It's just hateful.
posted by bperk at 11:55 AM on May 12, 2011
Speaking as an outsider, I feel like the "black enough" thing is basically a form of black conservatism. Sometimes these traditionally held views happen to make sense, i.e. they are healthy for the community, sometimes they aren't, and sometimes they just intersect with highly-sensitive racial stereotypes that educated white city folk don't really want to talk about or hear other people talk about in the media. When these views are expressed by members of the black community publicly, outsiders tend to express confusion and frustration. After all, a white person in the media spotlight expressing these views over Twitter would probably lose their job.
These observations, after all, have historically been used as the tools of derision by outsiders to disenfranchise a community that apparently willingly continues to use these tools on themselves. But you know, up to a point, I consider this kind of normal. It's not just outright victimization. It's a conservative viewpoint.
I can relate to this coming from a conservative, immigrant family of European descent, where one's value and identity in the community can be the subject of discussion by others in said community, where the "family" tends to handle situations internally, and tends to evaluate others based on stereotypes. Non-conformists who display any signs of success or failure are generally treated with contempt.
Of course, this means even your stupid cousin has something to say at the dinner table. And as long as Hopkins has fights scheduled and the media has nothing better to do than pander to the sensationalist, lowest common denimonator, we'll continue to be consumed by these trivialities and unfortunately use them as a racial thermometer, and the basis for conversation in this country. By which I mean, I woke up this morning not giving a shit what Bernard Hopkins had to say about anything, and don't see why I should go to bed tonight thinking any differently.
posted by phaedon at 01:09 PM on May 12, 2011
As a person and competitor McNabb has shown himself to be better than the fans in Philly that were ruthless toward him from day one. While I always felt he was a little over rated as a top QB, his record speaks for itself, and considering some other pretty good QBs did not win Superbowls like, Marino, Kelly, Tarkenton, etc., it is hardly something that should tarnish his mark on the game. I have grown to really like him as a person who has handled himself professionally and I can't ever recall his being other than a good role model off the field.
Hopkins is an ass. McNabb is not.
posted by Atheist at 05:15 PM on May 12, 2011
Thanks for those links, BornIcon. Those were the days, my friends....
posted by outonleave at 08:09 PM on May 12, 2011
Sounds personal to me. Guy is grinding an axe.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:20 AM on May 13, 2011
Thanks for those links, BornIcon. Those were the days, my friends....
posted by BornIcon at 07:42 AM on May 13, 2011
"Some people believe this all stems from an incident where Hopkins showed up to an Eagles team function and McNabb snubbed him."
They say behind every great Irishman is another Irishman with a brick. I'll never understand the black community's fascination with deciding who is "black enough" in this country. And whatever you think of McNabb, I'd say he established his toughness bona fides a long time ago.