OK, I’m a bit behind the times.
On Thursday, I launched myself into the Titterverse via @aareid1. For the record, my inaugural Tweet went to Dan Le BaTard @LeBaTardShow. The show does not air here, but you can watch it on TV at 9 a.m. weekdays on ESPNU. He often has intelligent conversations on race and sports, including the week that was at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Back to Twitter. It took less than 24 hours for someone to Tweet that I “sounded like a Tom.” It came from Veronica O’Brien, State Farm insurance agent and former St. Louis Public Schools board member.
O’Brien was referring to comments I made last Thursday on Donnybrook. I hailed the bravery and social conscience of the black football players who refused to practice or play in support of student activist demands.
I also said that they should not have worn any Missouri-issued clothing or gear in a photo distributed through Twitter that announced their strike; that they should have not eaten with other players and athletes on the “training table”; and if the strike continued, they should have found other lodging away from the athletic apartments.
I added that if I were UM System President Timothy M. Wolfe, I would have not immediately resigned and tested their resolve. If I were fired on Monday, so be it. I praised coach Gary Pinkel for supporting his players and not threatening their scholarships or place on the team – but I would have taken my team to Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium to play BYU on Saturday night.
If that sounds Uncle Tom-ish to some of you, that’s tough.
The players deserve a nation’s praise not because they helped force Wolfe out of office, but because they had the guts to stand up and be counted as MU students. They risked their football and academic futures for a righteous cause. They didn’t have to win this social justice fight to be winners.
They would be no less heroic if they had been told “either practice and play or get off this campus.” That’s what is lost in many discussions. I think they would have forfeited their Missouri athletic careers – although most if not all would have been playing at another university next season.
I would have personally rented a bus and driven as many as wanted to go a few hours west to the University of Kansas.
Last Friday, Pinkel announced that he had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and would be resigning at season’s end. An emotional week was suddenly even more intense. With his team in unity, Pinkel and the Tigers won over BYU 20-16.
Pinkel hopped with his players – mostly black ones – at the game’s end and he danced a bit in the locker room, as well. It was a beautiful sight, and I’ve never really been a big Pinkel fan.
I doubt the players realized how many Missourians were rooting against them on Saturday night. This included people who support the football program, fellow students, parents and alumni. This story is not supposed to have a happy ending for Pinkel and those black radicals.
“Pinkel and the administration are cowards.” “They were weak.” “How dare they not play and cost that man his job as president?” “They should have been kicked off the team.” These are all words of people who claim to have attended Missouri.
Throughout the week, I kept hearing on radio shows that some black players joined the boycott because of peer pressure. Also, some white players were probably really upset but feared being called a racist, so they went along with Pinkel and supported their activist teammates.
If that is true, those are the “weak” people.
Linebacker Kentrell Brothers tweeted the original news that some players would boycott all football activities until Wolfe resigned or was removed from his post. Brothers, one of the nation’s leading tacklers, is destined to play in the NFL. He is certainly not “weak.”
You want to know who is “weak?” The white player who told ESPN anonymously the night of November 8, “As much as we want to say everyone is united, half the team and coaches – black and white – are pissed. If we were 9-0, this wouldn’t be happening.”
He said he wished to remain unknown because coaches told the team not to talk to the media and that the situation “would blow over eventually.” That’s not why he remained anonymous. The young man didn’t want to face some of his teammates after making the comment, not because of a media blackout.
He should have been man enough to put his name with his comment – just like the black players who stood before the world and risked much of what they have accomplished in life.
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on KETC channel 9’s most-popular show “Donnybrook” and is also a radio commentator and author.
