Vince Young gets it
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by Kelsdad
When asked for his reaction to Donovan McNabb's recent comments about black quarterbacks, Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, himself African-American, replied, "Racism isn't about the color of your skin, it's about the thickness of your skin." Think about that statement for a minute.
Quarterback is one of the most, if not the most, high profile position in all of team sports. Denver Broncos fans crucified John Elway for most of his career. (For those who may not know, John Elway is white). Arguably the greatest quarterback of all time was criticized for the way he walked, his smile, for quitting baseball, for going to Stanford, for everything. And all John Elway did was take a number of Broncos teams to the Super Bowl, at least two of them which had no business even being in the playoffs.
I think, to an extent, McNabb is right in what he said. The criticism, the working harder than everyone else, comes with the territory of his position, not with the color of his skin. He works no harder than Tom Brady in New England or David Garrard in Jacksonville. Maybe Philadelphia fans are harder on their star players than other cities, but why not? It's not like the Eagles have a closet full of Vince Lombardi trophies, the fans pay big money to see their team play, and if they feel they are not performing to capabilities have a right to boo and criticize. Especially the quarterback.
This was McNabb's last year in Philadelphia even before he decided to chew on his Nike's, I just hope he finds himself in a better situation next season, one in which he can prove his critics wrong, and one in which his skin color shouldn't matter.
