FanPost

Discussion Provoked... (he wants it, well he gets it)

In the past week we have seen something interesting on this blog.  Big Blue Shoe posted a hate filled ad hominem attack on Jerry Jones, calling him a racist and incorporating an offensive and imflammatory picture of a minstrel in black face and tried to pass it off as analysis.  Perhaps it was just a means of getting viewers in the slowest part of the year.  Perhaps it gives us insight inot how the author really views the world, who knows.

Since then, it appears that BBS has wisened up to the offensiveness of the piece and has tried to back away from it.  The picture in blackface is down, and the author now states that the virulent peice was more of an effort to get people thinking about the subconsciouus / unconscious racism (or at least the silent role of race) in the NFL hiring process.  The author states he "The point of the article is to provoke discussion on a very serious problem that is infecting the NFL" Unfortunately, when faced with thoughtful questions he ignores them.  Instead he wrestles around with the name callers and the emotional responses to his drivel.

It is becoming apparent that KNOWS his post was wrong and rather than try to defend himself he tries to wrap the turd in a bow and call an attemp to provoke thought.

Well, ok Big Blue Shoe.  If you want to discuss a serious issue, lets do it in a serious way.  

if you want to address the role of the the old boy network in hiring and provoke thought, you title an article "THE OLD BOY NETORK RIDES AGAIN" and discuss hoe in a year that two black coaches won their conferences and faced off in the Superbowl, we haven't seen more minority advancement in the coaching ranks.  Heck, you could even ponder the current interviewing rules and wonder aloud about the fairness of statutes prohibiting assistants whose teams are live to hit the interview trail with the aggression of their eliminated peers.  You could ask if somehow, the success of two of the more forward thinking franchises (from an equal opportunity perspective) worked AGAINST minority assitants.  There are a lot of league wide angles to pursue.  Titling an article, "JERRY JONES ONLY HIRES FAT WHITE DUDES" is not one of them.  Fillinng the article with personal attacks and innuendos such as this:

Why was this done? Is Jones, inherently, a racist? Maybe he is. Before you freak out and call me names, think about it for a second. I cannot recall a single black coach of any significance coming out of Dallas during the Jones era. The only coaches Jones seems to hire are white guys: Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey, Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, and now Phillips. Four of those six are white, southern dudes that seem to fit Jones and his mentality. Most of the top assistants in Cowboys land are white guys. Go back through their recent history: Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt, Ernie Zampese, and Mike Zimmer. All white dudes. Heck, even the new guy Jones is "grooming" for a head coaching job (former-Cowboys QB Jason Garrett) is as white as an albino soaking in bleach.

Maybe I am nuts, but that doesn't souund liek a broad based attempt to provoke thought about an important issue.  It sounds more like a cheap ad hominem attack.

We could also address the irony that the very guy you go after interviewed four minority coaches, while the Chargers interviewed 2.  You could wonder why the Chargers seem to be focussed on old boy network types like Rex Ryan.  You could ask why they would talk to a defensive coordinator whose defense was bad and whose own team let him leave and chose not to interview them for their own head coaching vacancy.  You could point out that Caldwell worked wonders with Peyton Manning and could help Rivers make real strides.  

Or you could just let it pass.  You  could prefer to take the easy shot, the cheap easy shot at the old oil guy with the southern accent and the face lift.  You could brand him a rascist, a "dumb-hillybilly hick" and then stand by your words.  

Instead you keep putting more money behind a weak hand and poor article.  if you want to engage in social discourse, great let's do.  If you want to provoke thought and talk about serious issues, I'm all for it. But where I am from, when you talk about serious issues you do it a responnsible way.  it's your blog and you can grandstand all you want.  But if you want to talk, respond to me, repoond to this, respond to the post I am reposting below because you chose to ignore it.

Or you can (and should) admit you were wrong.  You picked the easy target but perhaps the wrong target.  And you did it in a bad way...

Frankly, I am indifferent.  You can back down or I will calmly eat you alive on the facts.

MY ORIGNAL POST FOLLOWS:

I have counted to 100, cooled down and re-examined your article.   Having done that, I would like to outline the weaknesses in your essay:

1) YOUR LANGUAGE AND TONE ARE NOT REFLECTIVE OF YOUR STATED GOALS.

 You begin by stating:

The point of the article is to provoke discussion on a very serious problem that is infecting the NFL.

Yet you do so with an article using the terms "white trash," "dumb, hillbilly hick" and "a fat, white guy."  You put an exclamation mark on it by having a picture of someone in blackface.  It appears that you are backpedalling now and talking about intellectual discourse.  If that's really what you wanted, a more measured piece  would have been better.

Someone makes the case that "white-trash" isn't inflammatory b/c the poster is white.  I think that is a weak argument in general, but online its absurd.  On the internet all women are pretty, all men are tall and we are all colorblind.  If someone wrote a diary saying "that nigga won the superbowl" I doubt it would assumed to be an appropriate piece if the blogger was in fact black.  

And Yes bluegirl, I consider BBS article crude.

2) YOU IGNORE SIGNIFICANT AND RELEVANT FACTS.

i) Jerry Jones had the first team in the NFL to have no white QB on the roster.  

ii) Jerry Jones stated mid-season that the team was committed to running the 3-4 and that the next coach would have to share that commitment.  He was interested enough to meet with Rivera despite his commitment to the 4-3 but ended up making a decision that was inline with his stated goals.  You chose to decide those goals weren't legitimate.  If Rex Ryan were Asian and didn't get an interview, you might have a point, but he isn't and he didn't get interviewed.  In fact, it appears, Jone may have overlooked some white candidates (and yes they were old boy establishment types named Ryan, Mora and Schottenheimer).

iii) Jerry Jones just ran a process that included interviewing 4 minority coaches.  I challenge you to name another franchise that interviewed FOUR minority candidates for one head coaching vacancy.  That he could do this and then get called a racist is baffling.

iv) You write:

...Phillips (who inherited two strong teams in Buffalo and Denver and failed to do anything with them)...

Phillips' first HC gig was in Denver.

1993 9-7 Phillips
1994 7-9 Phillips
1995 8-8 Shanahan

His next HC job was Buffalo.

1997 6-10 Levy
1998 10-6 Phillips
1999 11-5 Phillips
2000 8-8 Phillips
2001 3-13 Williams

He coached similar squads to Hall of Fame coaches like Levy, Reeves and Shanahan and produced equivalent records.  It doesn't make him a Hall of Famer by any means but it's not like he inherited playoff teams and watched them fall apart.

3) YOUR STATEMENTS REVEAL A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE NFL RULES.

You write:

...neither Phillips or Garrett were better candidates than Caldwell or Rivera. Yet, Phillips and Garrett (two white men) got high profile jobs in Dallas over Jim Caldwell, Mike Singletary, and Ron Rivera (three minorities).

Well, Phillips was chosen as head coach and that has been debated enough, let's look at the others:

Garrett - Miami gave the team 3(?) days to interview him.  At the end of that period they could name him OC.  After that point they could only name him Head Coach, so Jerry acted quickly.

Caldwell - Under contract with Indy, he could only be HC.  Dallas could not hire him as OC.

Singletary - Under contract with San Fran, he could only be named HC. Dallas can not hire him as DC.

Rivera - Similar situation.  His contract is expiring, but my understanding is that he can only negotiate with Chicago for a week or two then can be a coordinator for another team.

So at the end of the day, Phillips was chosen (rightly or wrongly) as HC over Rivera, Singletary and Caldwell.  But you cannot double count this.  These guys are not available to JJ as assistants.

4) YOUR CONCLUSIONS ARE INCONSISTENT AND SHOW A LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR THE ROONEY RULE.

First, you give Jones a higher calling because Dallas is a high-profile franchise.  Then you refuse to give him credit for putting four minority coaches the very high profile position of  interviewing for the position.

In interviews about the Rooney Rule coaches frequently mention that one of the main benefits of the Rooney Rule is that they get league wide notice and attention and that they learn how to prepare for those 7 hour interviews in which they have to talk about philosophy, personnel, staff, and lay out detailed calendars, etc.

To demonstrate the extent to which you hold Jones to a higher standard (and this your inconsistency on this issue).  Let's examine the case of Mike Singeltary.

There was no outrage on your part when the 49er's (arguably another of the leagues premier franchises) hired Greg Manusky as Defensive Coordinator ignoring Mike Singeltary. Yes, the same Mike Singeltary who Jones is a racist for not  hiring.

I eagerly await your reaction to the Chargers process.

{2/15 addition: Do you think Singeltary is a legitmate candidate at San Diego or a charade mocking the Rooney Rule?  If he is legitmate do you think the 7 hours he spent with Jones made him more prepared for his interview today?  If he is hired does that mean Joens was a rascist or that perhaps the Dallas interview helped him get this job?)

5) YOUR HYPOCRISY SEEMS TO KNOW NO BOUNDS.

First, no unit in football has benefited from consistency of scheme as much as Indy's offense.  It's a thing of beauty to watch.  I find it amusing that you think Dallas should change schemes twice in four years for the greater benefit of society.

Second, and I will stop for a caveat:

Caveat: I like Peyton, I like Dungy, I even like Eli.

Having said that, up until this year few people were unfairly papered with the name "choker" more than the various members of the Colts.  Where you suggesting that they were incapable of winning the big game of that a small sampling set (say 3 games?) was not a fair way to judge a player or a coach and that some of those losses were the result of bizarre special teams mishaps?  Just wondering...

Say what you want about minority hiring.  Question Jerry Jones football acumen day and night, but don't say your article was much more than poorly informed and inflammatory.  You have yet to name a white coach you would approve of for the job.  You refuse to credit Jones for being the only owner who has interviewed some of these coaches.  You don't bat an eye when other teams refuse to promote these same coaches.

Minority hiring IS an issue.  But so is domestic violence and anti-Semitism.  If I write a poorly informed article calling you an anti Semite or a wife beater and include pictures of neo Nazis, I cannot claim that I was just drawing attention to the issue.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.