I saw Barry Bonds in drag on ESPN the other day, and yeah, I thought it was pretty damn gross. But this is a guy that has been vilified in the media his whole career, a guy that’s been blasted for being aloof and surly since his skinny days as a Pirates leadoff hitter. And now he’s showing a lighter side, joking with his teammates and not taking himself as seriously as he usually does. Yet instead of appreciating the fact that he is showing this side, ESPN kept mocking him. Which is partly understandable, due to the fact that he’s really fat now. I guess that since he can’t take steroids, he decided to keep the heft even if he had to lose the muscle.
But that’s another story. I’m more interested in why Bonds can only do wrong in the eyes of the media. And why guys like Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, and Maurice Clarett can only do wrong too. All of these guys have done questionable things and made some bad decisions, but my point is that they have been unfairly vilified in the media, especially compared to white athletes that have done equally bad or worse things.
Sports media is just like any other form of entertainment, they need good guys and bad guys. And due to the fact that it is a white corporate enterprise covering sports with mostly black athletes, the good guys and bad guys seem to break down along the lines of traditional stereotypes. Just because racism isn’t as overt as it once was doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Let’s break down T.O.’s case. It all started when he complained that he wasn’t being paid fairly relative to his value to the team, and that he wanted a new contract. Which was a valid point to make, he just went about it in the wrong way. It should have been handled through his agent and the team’s management, not in the public sphere. When minicamp started, he was a holdout, which isn’t that uncommon. But you all saw the swarms of media on his front lawn when he came out rocking the fatigues and doing crunches.
But where were the swarms of media when Larry Brown broke a perfectly reasonable contract with the Detroit Pistons, leaving them without a coach to bolt to New York for more money? Owens thought he wasn’t being paid enough and demanded a new contract. Larry Brown thought he could make more, and got up and left his team. So why is Brown seen as a great coach and inspirational leader while T.O. is seen as another greedy athlete?
More recently there was a huge controversy about Owens allegedly saying that the Eagles would have been better off with Brett Favre at quarterback instead of Donovan McNabb. McNabb understandably took offense to this and accused Owens of undermining the reputation of black quarterbacks. McNabb was right on this level, but on a deeper level the whole thing was taken out of context. If you look at the interview, Owens didn’t say that the Eagles would have been better off with Favre. A white reporter asked him if they would, and Owens agreed. That’s a big difference, and it shows how desperate the media is to instigate scandal and create beef between the so-called good guy (McNabb) and the bad guy (Owens). McNabb is straight edged and well behaved; Owens is a rebel.
Randy Moss is one of the few players that has addressed this issue explicitly. After a tumultuous final season in Minnesota in which he had to deal with constant media abuse, he signed with Oakland. This past season he refused to talk to the media at all. And were there any scandals to speak of? No. He didn’t change how he acted, he was still himself, and the only thing he changed was whether or not he would engage the media in instigating scandal. I thought it was hilarious when he pretended to moon the Green Bay fans when he played for Minnesota; it was a meaningless lighthearted gesture. Remember how disgusted John Buck was? Wasn’t that a little strange? That game, Moss and many of his teammates put their hair in Afros, a traditional black power image, to show their solidarity against the hate that was coming at them from all directions. They realized that something wasn’t right in how the media portrayed them, and did something about it symbolically.
If you value someone’s worth relative to the amount of profit made because of them, Division I men’s football and basketball players are the most exploited workers in America. They bring in millions of dollars to their schools from television, ticket sales, merchandise, and publicity, but there are incredibly strict rules set up to make sure they don’t see a cent of this money. Many of these players are black and come from poor backgrounds, and while they’re eating Top Ramen in their dorms, athletic directors are sitting in million dollar mansions because of them.
Before Maurice Clarett was indicted on robbery charges, before his awful scouting combine and disaster season with Denver, and before the attempt to enter the NFL early blew up in his face, he was a 19-year-old kid from the inner city playing on the national stage. During his freshman season in 2002, he led Ohio State to a national championship. At one point during the season a good friend of his back home was shot and killed. The NCAA wouldn’t let him go to the funeral because of a media day event before a big game that would bring in a lot of money. Clarett had no incentive to go to the media day; he wasn’t allowed to see any of that money, but the NCAA basically owns these guys. In this face of this unjustness, Clarett tried to leave college early to go to the NFL, where he could actually be paid. He was vilified in the media, writers blasting him for selling out for the money, and the NFL didn’t allow him in the draft. He was out of football for two years before being drafted by Denver in the third round. Growing up in the inner city, seeing friends get killed and wondering where dinner is going to come from every night, do you really wonder why he wanted to leave Ohio State early?
In August of 2003 Bill Romanowski went nuts on teammate Marcus Williams at a Raiders practice. Apparently, Williams had blocked the linebacker Romanowski during a drill. Romanowski ripped of Williams’ helmet and shattered his left eye socket, causing brain damage. This effectively ended Williams’ career, but Romanowski got off without a fine or suspension from the team and with little media pressure. Williams sued him for $11 million and was awarded only about $300,000.
After hearing Barry Bonds tell USA today that he was retiring after the season, ESPN.com writer Gene Wojciechowski said, “The sooner the better works for me. This is like the Wicked Witch of the West throwing a bucket of water on herself.” I don’t know about all that. Bonds has never been in trouble with the law, never hurt anyone, and despite steroid issues is one of the hardest workers in baseball. Besides, Bonds is way too fat to fit into the wicked witch’s dress.
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