![]() ![]() ![]() However, when Brig was drafted into the NFL, he was told that he could not play quarterback because he was Black instead, he would be moved to safety because of his speed. My friend, the late Brig Owens, a Washington football Ring-of-Fame player with whom I wrote the book Over the Hill to the Super Bowl-his diary of Washington’s 1972 Super Bowl season-had been an outstanding quarterback for the University of Cincinnati in the early 1960s. And when I covered the Washington football team for various publications in the 1970s, it was evident that the same racial animus extended into every area of the sport. While working on Never Ask “Why”, I remembered that I always knew that those “Whites Only” signs I saw in the South on everything from restrooms and water fountains to hotels and restaurants reflected discrimination that was prevalent throughout society. Today approximately 60% of the NFL players are Black, yet it is a sport in which owners often treated Black players-and too often all players-with disdain. The book serves as a reminder of the struggle of race, wealth, labor, and equality in this sport, and in America. But it was editing Never Ask “Why”: Football Players’ Fight for Freedom in the NFL, by the late Ed Garvey (head of the National Football League Players Association from 1971-1983), that has increased my awareness of the importance of football’s ongoing need to adapt. I have followed it closely since my boyhood days in Brooklyn through my adult life in the DC area. And to continue to grow and adapt, NFL leaders must consistently remember the roots of the game. Most of us will agree that Super Bowl LVII was a great game! Naturally, my many dear friends who are Eagles fans will think differently ( Ed Note: We do!) Nonetheless, the game provided many memorable individual athletic performances (Hurts and Mahomes in particular) and societal impact signs (first Super Bowl ever featuring two Black starting quarterbacks many players wearing notations on their helmets about social causes clear attempts to draw attention to minorities in attendance references to Black History Month).īut fans of this sport that attracts more attention than any other sport in America, this single game that drew approximately 113 million viewers, this unique league that grosses approximately $18 billion per year…fans of this deeply-rooted American phenomenon need to acknowledge that in order to survive, the game must evolve. This week in North Philly Notes, Chuck Cascio, editor of Never Ask “Why“, about the National Football League Players’ Association, reflects on Super Bowl LVII. An error has occurred the feed is probably down.activism african american african american studies american studies animals Anthropology art Asian American asian american studies baseball basketball Book books brazil business civil rights COVID crime criminology cultural studies culture Democracy disability economics economy Education elections environment ethics ethnicity football gender gender studies government health history immigration inequality labor Labor Studies law LGBT literature media migration music open access philadelphia philosophy photography political science politics poverty publishing race race and ethnicity racism refugee religion science sex sexuality slavery social justice sociology sports Temple University Press transnational politics Trump University Press University Press Week urban studies violence war women.Searching for missing Temple University Press books.Why I revisited painful memories to write A Refugee’s American Dream.Looking at Religion, Politics, and COVID-19.
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