Over the years, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has become well know for yelling at teammates that play poorly. While the average person might simply view this as the actions of a dedicated athlete that cares about winning, Stephen A. Smith thinks that there is an element of racism involved in how the world reacts to Brady’s actions.
Brady had one of his infamous sideline tirades this past Sunday when Tampa Bay faced off against the Pittsburgh Steelers. His offensive line was playing poorly, so he promptly got in their faces in the trademark Brady way and told them to play better.
Tom Brady with some words to his offensive line. pic.twitter.com/qBqjD7vfKg
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 16, 2022
Now most people wouldn’t see anything wrong with this or interpret it as anything racist; after all, the seven-time Super Bowl champion holds himself to high standards and expects his team to do the same. Is his execution perfect? That’s up for debate, but there certainly isn’t anything racist about it.
Unless, of course, you’re Smith, who in large part is well-known because he makes everything about race.
To be fair, ESPN’s premier race-baiter had no problem with the fact that Brady was trying to get his teammates to play better, but he foolishly claimed that if a black quarterback did this, then the media would accuse said black quarterback of having a bad temper and characterize his actions as inexcusable.
“We need to be consistent,” Smith said. “Was Tom Brady passionate? Or was he the angry white guy? … Because if that was somebody else doing what he was doing with his offensive lineman, if that was a black man, we would have been talking about his temper.
Related: Todd Bowles Rejects Reporters Attempts To Make Steelers Matchup About Race
“I had no problem with it whatsoever,” he continued. “If brothers ain’t blocking for you, you 45 years old, you behind the center and getting smacked around, you damn right you should get in their face. I have no issue with what Tom Brady did with them whatsoever. All I’m trying to say is that when a black quarterback does that I don’t want to hear nothing about it. Since nobody is saying anything about Tom Brady doing it.”
I wouldn’t blame you if you were rolling your eyes after reading this.
Ironically, Shannon Sharpe of "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" said the same thing earlier this year. So it seems like Smith has a contemporary who views this situation in the same way.
But what was true in January is still true: its nonsense.
The media does not rip Brady apart because they want to cut a white guy slack. Brady is the greatest NFL player in history, so if he tells his teammates to snap out of it, then he will naturally get some leeway because he’s earned the right to hold his teammates to a higher standard.
Furthermore, elite black athletes get away with poor sportsmanship on the regular. Los Angeles Lakers forward and all-world complainer LeBron James consistently gets away with whining to officials because - like or not - he is the greatest and most famous player of his generation and one of the top-10 players ever, which is the exact same reason Brady doesn’t face much criticism when stuff like this happens.
But Smith doesn’t care about facts like this, no matter how obvious they may be. He gets paid to be an idiot, and he does a fantastic job.
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