I see Jesse Jackson has been rather successful at attacking my favorite past-time- and now the NFL is fining people for their hiring choices:
The NFL served notice Friday that it is taking its commitment to diversity seriously, fining Detroit Lions president Matt Millen $200,000 for not interviewing any minority candidates before hiring coach Steve Mariucci.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a letter to Millen informing him of the fine, the first under the league’s diversity program.
After coach Marty Mornhinweg was fired by the Lions in January, Mariucci was the only person interviewed for the job. The team said five minority candidates turned down interviews because it appeared inevitable Mariucci would be hired.
Team spokesman Bill Keenist said the Lions “respectfully disagree” with the ruling but support initiatives to promote diversity on coaching staffs and in front offices.
I doubt Jesse Jackson will be working to increase the number of slow white people in the Defensive backfield. At any rate, this bullshit (sorry for the language, but that is what this is, pure bullshit) is now proving to be a serious distraction as my BELOVED STEELERS head to training camp:
The Lions’ position, as stated by vice chairman William Clay Ford Jr. and Millen in a March 4 session with Tagliabue and Rooney’s diversity committee, was that the Lions have a long-standing record of minority hiring and had made an honest effort to comply with the initiative.
“If you look at the Lions’ organization vis-a-vis the Pittsburgh Steelers — and it was Dan Rooney’s committee that made the recommendation to Paul — and look at the personnel in the league office. … I mean, talk about pointing fingers,” Ford said.
“I think we’ve got an excellent record. We’ve got a record not because we’re trying to satisfy anything [but] because we pick good people. And the Steelers and the league office have a terrible record. They’re great ones to be picking us out.”
Under Millen, the Lions have 12 black employees in positions of authority, including senior vice president Martin Mayhew, offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis, director of pro personnel Sheldon White and head athletic trainer Al Bellamy.
The exact number of black executives in the NFL administration could not be immediately determined, according to Greg Aiello, league vice president of public relations, but at least six have the rank of director.
The Steelers have a total of nine black employees on their coaching, personnel or training staff staffs.
One of my former students is an intern for the Steelers (he is black), and I am going to training camp sometime this week. I am thoroughly excited and can not wait. At any rate, let me make one thing clear:
You race-baiters and race-pimps can do what you want to the DNC and the GOP- the DNC gets what they deserve for stoking these fires, the GOP gets what they deserve for not standing up to you clowns. Big business gets the shakedown because they probably don’t hire enough minorities, and if they do, they deserve to get screwed because they don’t have the nerve to hire a bunch of lawyers to beat down Jesse and his crew.
I can handle you messing with all of those groups. But when you start pissing around with the Steelers and the NFL, you are now pushing into sacred territory. There is a reason I call February through July the ‘dark months.’ I do not need you clowns ruining football for me. Period. Take your little race games somewhere else. Demon, be gone!
S-Train
My Detroit Lions will still suck this year. Black coach or not!
DANEgerus
http://frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9085
Maybe Jesse would layoff for a diamond from Liberia???
Andrew Lazarus
I’d be more sympathetic if it weren’t for the long tradition of deliberate, conscious anti-black racism in the NFL.
Ricky
Michael Vick, baby!
Barney Gumble
What are you going to do at the camp?
Steve Malynn
AL, give me an example of NFL/AFL racism (from sometime post-1960).
platosearwax
You might not read this since it’s kind of an older thread, and you probably don’t care since you don’t know me from anyone, but my brother is the biggest Steelers fan I know. He got the helmet logo tattooed in color on his back (small, on his shoulder). His fervor has made the Steelers my second favorite team (sorry!) next to my beloved, similarly-also-ran-lately-though-awesome-in-the-past Dolphins.
Andrew Lazarus
Steve, don’t you find it remarkable how long (into the late 70s) it took to have black QBs? Could it only be now that there are so many good ones?
If you want to make the cut the 1960s, in 1960 I believe the Washington Redskins were carrying one black player. (I also believe they were the last team to integrate.)
Given how slow the NFL was to have (1) blacks in general and (2) blacks as QBs, does it beggar belief that they have also been slow getting black coaches?
Steve Malynn
AL, the NFL is into money, and always has been. It is a franchise business with fractous owners who are nontheless smarter than the baseball owners as a group. By-in-large the pool of NFL players has come from major colleges for two reasons: that’s where the players were and that’s who the public knew (college stars brought their fans into the NFL – for well into the 1960’s college games outdrew the Pro’s, and it was not until the Super Bowl that the NFL outdrew the College Bowl games). Your complaint seems to be that the NFL did not have an affirmative action plan to make black players/qb’s/coaches, despite the fact that until recently there were few black players/qb’s/coaches in college. Unless you have more evidence, the “statistics” you argue would not get you into a court on a discrimination charge.
Andrew Lazarus
Hey, Steve:
1. Ever heard of Grambling? Once NFL owners decided to get the best players for their teams, including black players, they found plenty of theretofore overlooked sources.
2. “It’s not surprising that Major League Baseball didn’t have any black players, since there weren’t any black players in the Minor Leagues.” Ah, why not? Is this really strong reasoning?
Youth, or another amnesiac?
Steve Malynn
AL, the NFL never controlled the NCAA, which did not run college football as an NFL farm league until well into the 1980’s. As soon as great black players got into mainstrean college programs they got into the NFL, see Rosie Grier and Jim Brown in the 50’s to the dominance of Black stars today. The issue of no black qb’s was always a way of blaming the NFL instead of the NCAA Colleges, only the traditionally black schools had them, and these schools did not have the national exposure to draw scouts/fans. AL, how many Division 1 NCAA teams are there, and how many Southerns and Gramblings.
What a comparison of the NFL relationship to the NCAA with the MLB/minor leagues and the history with the Negro Leagues shows is that the NCAA started with the upper hand over the NFL, and the NFL took what the NCAA produced; whereas MLB controlled its minor leagues and chose to ignore the Negro Leagues and players for purely race reasons, despite the proven national audience and that the Negro Leagues had some of the best talent, talent that beat ML teams and players head on head.
Hey, AL, I’m not even talking about the changing society of the times. As a pure function of legal analysis, the evidence does not support charges of systemic racism in the NFL. I litigate employment cases for a living, the NFL is rife with cronyism, but that’s not a crime. The evidence does not come close to making a statistical case that would stand up in court, while it might make an appealing case to try before the press. Black Coaches have a better argument, but more against the NCAA than the NFL.
Steve Malynn
John, the WSJ follows your point.
Sorry this is a week late.