Coach's Corner

Part of the problem may be that "racist" is too strong a word, slithering off the tongue like maggots feasting on rotting garbage. It brings to mind hate-filled politicians pandering to the worst element within the human soul. George Wallace playing to a worldwide press, blocking the doors at the University of Alabama to its first black student; Mississippi cracker sheriffs, knowing they'd never be held responsible for terrorizing and killing kids trying to get blacks registered to vote, arrogantly mugging inside rural courtrooms for the cameras. Part of the problem is the word has morphed into a political buzzword. Jesse Jackson has had a lot to do with that. The Reverend is too loose with this word. An entire school board, indeed an entire city, is "racist" because three black kids get kicked out of school for igniting a riot at a high school football game. A white general manager is "racist" for firing a black football coach. If too many people get painted with the same broad stroke, the paint begins to lose its sheen. I'm really not sure any more exactly what a racist is.

The language needs to expand, allowing for some distinctions; making room for shades and textures. Are Packers GM Ron Wolf and the murdering sheriff in Mississippi one and the same? I think not. I doubt even Mr. Jackson would try to push that case. Having said that, I must agree with Jackson, and disagree with virtually everyone else I've heard or read, from the nation's biggest-name sportswriters to all the local talk show hosts. The firing of Ray Rhodes, after only one year in Green Bay, was -- covertly, probably subconsciously -- racially motivated.

My thinking has taken some time to evolve. Each time a dog-ass, failed head coach like Dave Wannstedt (who in five years virtually destroyed the Bears) is hired, it rips off another layer of thinking scab. When Bill Belichek, who mirrored Wannstedt's futility, is not only hired but even fought over by football giants in New York and New England, the scab starts to bleed. Then I consider Art Shell, a football legend, who took over a shitty Oakland Raider team, a group with whom genius-to-be Mike Shanahan couldn't do a thing, and soon has them playing in the AFC Championship game. A Hall of Famer with a career coaching record of 56-44. Then I consider that Shell's never been offered another chance to coach in the National Football League. Then I think, though "racist" is perhaps too strong, the quick firing of Rhodes does have some color attached.

If the suggestion "we are them" upsets or enrages you, calm down and look at some glaring facts. Yeah, sure Chan Gailey was also shown the door, as were a flock of other NFL head coaches. It's a tough business, you say. To which I say, no shit. Now list the NFL head coaches -- real ones, not the interim kind -- who were fired after one year. Gailey was at least given two. That bum Wannstedt had six miserable years in Chicago. Maybe there are a few -- I can't think of one -- but the number won't fill up the front row of a rural first-grade classroom.

Now, Rhodes did as bad a job in Philadelphia as Wannstedt did in Chicago. So whether or not he was a good choice in the first place is another subject. What he ever did to impress supposed management maven/genius Ron Wolf in Green Bay was totally beyond me when he was hired. But that, sportsfans, is completely beside the point.

Wolf, like Jerry Jones, is delusional. He apparently believes that today's Packer team is the same '97 group that went to the Super Bowl. Any six-year-old with a decent grasp of Cheesehead lore can see it's not. That team is old, broken down, broken up, or retired. But if you believe Rhodes' replacement Mike Sherman will be canned in one year if his team goes 8-8 or worse, which is likely, you need to put away the old water bong.

My point, finally, is this: had Belichek or Pete Carroll or Dick Vermeil, all white fellows by the way, been coaching the Packers last year and finished 8-8, they would not have been fired. I am maintaining it was easy for a white Wolf (in the totally white frat lodge that is the NFL) to can Rhodes. The man didn't get the same respect as any other bad white coach.

Where is Art Shell? Why doesn't the phone of a proven winner ring, instead of those of the retread white-guy coaching fraternity? More than half of the athletes in the league are black. Where are the coaches? Where are the GMs? The few who make it are held to a higher standard than their white counterparts. They are the last hired and clearly the first fired.

This may not be the overt racism of Bull Connor. It's more the quiet, insidious, WASP kind of race prejudice of the country club or the corporate boardroom. Call it whatever you like. An uncomplaining Ray Rhodes -- he knows better than to use the "R" word if he wants to work again -- was another victim.No