When quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens take the field against an NFL opponent, it has become must-see TV. Even if Jackson and his crew are blowing out the opponent, TV ratings don’t slide. All eyes remain on the dual threat quarterback.
Jackson is THE story of the season, and as he wryly said earlier this season after his first five-touchdown pass performance, “that’s pretty good for a running back.”
Jackson, with all his talent, was still regarded as a running back or wide receiver by most draft scouts and NFL pundits. That’s why he was around so late in the 2018 draft after winning the Heisman Trophy at Louisville – as a quarterback. The Ravens wanted him – and they wanted him to play quarterback even though they selected another player in the first round before moving up to select Jackson 32nd.
While he is still yet to win a Super Bowl, and getting there this year is not guaranteed, Jackson is by far the favorite of most NFL fans. His staggering number of votes for the Pro Bowl is proof and he is destined to be a runaway winner of the Most Valuable Player Award.
More importantly, national writers and TV analysts are using Jackson’s success to attack stereotypes and racism that hinder all black professionals – not just those in professional athletics.
Lonnae O’Neal, a writer for the ESPN website The Undefeated, said “For many black NFL fans who thrill to Jackson’s football smarts and physical gifts, the 22-year-old is more than just that dude who can lead the Ravens back to the Super Bowl.
“He’s part of a wave of 13 black starting quarterbacks who are not only changing the game on the field, but are expanding conceptions of leadership and affirming black excellence to themselves and the nation.”
O’Neal joined a group of black Ravens fans at the Baltimore residence of Antonio “Rod” Womack, a real estate developer and human resources director, during the Ravens win over Buffalo.
“It resonates way beyond football,” Womack said.
“(Jackson’s success) might change the way CEOs decide who’s going to sit on the board. The lesson here is really about giving us a true shot — without tying one arm behind us — and we can win at any level. At anything.”
While the negative assessment of black quarterbacks has been a topic of discussion since the days of Marlin Briscoe and Vince Evans, Jackson has brought it to center stage – or the 50-yard line.
“There’s the evolution of quarterback as an increasingly important position over time, conscious and subconscious racist beliefs about the intelligence of black players, rational and irrational fears over a mobile quarterback’s health, and the lack of margin for error in a season with so few games,” Ian Quillen, a Forbes contributor wrote this week.
“With Jackson’s arrival, we may be seeing the destruction of all of those arguments, and in their place the construction of a new paradigm, that football’s best athletes should be groomed for the sport’s most important position. It all sounds so simple. Exhilaratingly so.”
AP sports columnist Paul Newberry reminds us that “Joe Montana was a third-round pick who went on to capture four Super Bowl titles. Tom Brady lasted until the sixth round of the draft, and all he’s done is win a record six rings.”
“But there is one big difference between Jackson and those underrated quarterbacks who came before him. No one was calling on Montana or Brady to switch positions. They weren’t subjected to that most reliable of racist tropes: the black quarterback who is only successful because of his superior athletic skills, while white quarterbacks are lauded for their mental ability and work ethic.”
In December 2017, Luke Easterly of USA Today wrote that he would make Jackson the first quarterback selected in the 2018 NFL draft.
“We all know what the ‘prototypical NFL quarterback’ looks like… But if I were an NFL general manager, I’d rather swing for the fences on a rare talent who might require some creativity, rather than ‘playing it safe’ with another cookie-cutter pocket passer,” penned Easterly.
Man, was he right.
Easterly illuminates in a recent column that the NFL wanted to find fault with Jackson – not give him the chance he deserved.
“While the conversation leading up to the 2018 NFL draft centered around the likes of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and Josh Allen as potential No. 1 picks, the pre-draft talk about Jackson was far more critical,” he writes.
“Many questioned his choice of representation (his mother, who refused to bow to the forces that wanted to turn her son into anything other than a quarterback), and his unwillingness to run the 40-yard dash, among other things.”
He closes his work by saying, “For so long, the league failed to give legitimate opportunities to college quarterbacks who looked like Jackson. Even this time, the league was blinded by their biases to the point where they almost let the league’s most dynamic offensive weapon fall out of the first round.”
“The surprise shouldn’t be that Jackson is lighting the NFL on fire. It’s that the league gave him the chance in the first place.”
Jackson got his chance, and he’s making good on it. The same could be said for thousands of other black professionals who could be putting in All-Pro performances in corporate America and other professions.
MLS prices soar, not profits
St. Louis’ MLS expansion team ownership group, and the one in Sacramento, will pay considerably less for the respective franchises than owner David Tepper will in Charlotte.
ESPN reported this week that MLS is billing Charlotte $325 million to join the league – while St. Louis and Sacramento have been asked to pony up $200 million.
Tepper, who paid more than $2.2 billion to purchase the Carolina Panthers last year, must also upgrade Bank of America Stadium to better fit soccer games.
Voters of the region will also be asked to approve a $110 million bond issue for what the Charlotte City Council calls “hospitality funds to help ensure a successful venture over the next many years.”
Reportedly, Tepper’s bid for a franchise recently “surged” and was far higher than Miami and Nashville’s $150 million respective offers.
This doesn’t explain why he would pay (or be extorted by MLS Commissioner Dan Garber) 62.5 percent more than St. Louis and Sacramento to join MSL.
State of confusion
Meanwhile in St. Louis on Tuesday, the Missouri Development Finance Board let taxpayers know that it considers $30 million in tax credits requested by the city for a construction phase of a soccer stadium too big of an ask.
It’s willing to part with about $6 million, 80 percent less that what was requested.
“While we support the project, we do not believe that increasing program caps to authorize $30 million in tax credits for a stadium is the right decision for Missouri,” the Missouri Department of Economic Development said in a release
“We understand (ownership group members) are disappointed with this decision.”
Like all parties involved as of Tuesday night, city Mayor Lyda Krewson didn’t call a press conference and released a written statement.
“We don’t believe the state’s decision will interfere with our support of the MLS4TheLou ownership group and their commitment to this project,” she said.
That so-called statement says absolutely, positively nothing.
Approval of a request of more than $10 million cannot be granted without the consent of the departments of economic development and revenue and the Office of Administration.
In yet another written statement, we learned that this is not a surprise to the ownership group.
“Last week, the project applicants were informed that cabinet officials would not authorize the tax credit cap increase,” said the administration statement.
“They were invited to return to MDFB in January where the board could hear and consider approving a smaller request for credits within its existing cap.”
Otis Williams, executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, told the P-D on Monday, “We’re trying to sort things out.”
More haunting was his additional quote of, “We’re looking at other options.”
The $24 million difference should not halt progress on the stadium. But it’s easy to spend other people’s money – especially if they are worth billions of dollars.
Gambling on future
St. Louis’ franchise will enter an MLS which sees only a few of its franchises making a profit.
According to Forbes, just seven of 23 MLS franchises made a profit during the 2018 season.
The teams, with positive income included in parenthesis, were Atlanta United ($7 million), L.A. Galaxy ($5 million), Portland Timbers ($4 million), Real Salt Lake ($2 million), Seattle Sounders, DC United and Sporting Kansas City ($1 million).
Forbes says MLS and its owners are investing in future revenues, not immediate ones.
“Although revenues are broadly on the rise, the league and most of its teams continue to operate at a significant loss,” writes Chris Smith in his Forbes SportsMoney column.
“But MLS investors are still spending big to secure a share of the U.S. soccer market because their eyes are set on potential goldmines down the road: a new national TV deal in 2023, a stateside World Cup in 2026.”
He adds that “if everything goes just right” there could be “a future American sports landscape wherein domestic soccer can hold its own against the likes of the NFL and the NBA.”
For the record, I don’t see that happening in St. Louis or any other MLS city.
The Reid Roundup
Jay Maclin, a three-star receiver from Kirkwood, made his official visit to Missouri last weekend. He was joined by Chaminade quarterback Brady Cook. Both are expected to sign letters of intent this week… The St. Louis Cardinals have reportedly contacted the Boston Red Sex in regard to a trade for pitcher David Price. Price made 30 starts and was instrumental in the Red Sox run to the 2018 World Series title. I’d be overjoyed if he came to St. Louis – even though he went just 7-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 22 starts last year. He also is owed about $30 million a year for three years… With his team at 5-9 and in last place in the AFC West, Anthony Lynn’s days are dwindling as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers… Lynn could be replaced by Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, another African-American… Carl Scheer, the man who built the Denver Nuggets from the ground as its general manager and conceived the Slam Dunk Contest in 1976, died this week at age 82. Scheer became the Charlotte Hornets first GM and crafted the expansion franchise into an on-court and financial success… Citing NFL sources, Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman reports that 20 teams remain interested in signing troubled receiver Antonio Brown… Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw the football better in a driving snow storm than most NFL quarterbacks can on a sunny day. His Chiefs pummeled Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos 23-3… Adam Jones, a five-time All-Star in the outfield and a four-time Gold Glove Award winner, has signed a two-year $16 million contract to play for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan.
Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest and is a New York Times contributor. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and appears monthly on “The Dave Glover Show” on 97.1 Talk.” His Twitter handle is @aareid1.
