RIP Willie Mays

When I got into sports in the 80s I would hear so much about how some athletes (mostly minorities) were prima donnas or ungrateful or too flashy. I didn’t know the subtext and recent history behind those statements but the broadcasters delivering those verdicts certainly did.

 

Barry Bonds, of course, has a difficult rep. And he was uniquely difficult and unfriendly to everyone almost from the word go. But he is also a smart guy who saw what his Dad and Willie went thru.

 

"Thank you Reggie. FOX now returns to Sean Hannity and our usual race-baiting, dog-whistling rants about the border and illegal immigration."

 

In 2005, San Jose State dedicated statues to Tommy Smith and John Carlos (the same ones I have on my avatar). Smith, Carlos and Peter Norman were brought in for a ceremony along with many dignitaries from the 68 Olympic contingent that planned to make a Civil Rights statement. This included Dr. Harry Edwards. Edwards is a very imposing man. He's tall and he's filled out. I got the Irish-Scot skin from my mom. I got the Mexican height from my dad. As a student reporter at SJSU, I went around to cover the events and interview people. I introduced myself to Edwards and was naively starstruck interviewing him. He answered my questions, but the whole time, he glared at me through imposing dark sunglasses. And that glare was even more imposing considering he has a good foot on me. Everyone else was happy to talk and excited for the events. But it always stuck with me how much Edwards was so stern. As I reflected (because as I've taught the Civil Rights era in my classroom, I constantly reflect on how special that day was), I can't help but ponder how much was the result of his experience with White reporters and how obviously green I was. I've come to really wish I could do that interview over again and come at it with the knowledge I have now and to really give the experience more deference that it was due.

 

A round of applause, while I'm thinking of it, to Joe Rudi and his wife. They put their necks out at a time they could have gotten cut off.

 

One point I got out of Reggie's stories was that he wasn't saying all white people were bad, he survived because of whites such as Rudi, McNamara, Finley, etc. (I guess Finley was a totally bad dude, just cheap).

 

It says so much that older white men like John McNamara and Gil Hodges made things easier for their Black players. There are surely men of that generation who did not have the same compassion and kindness (including Joe Morgan, who, after succeeding McNamara as Red Sox manager, told Ellis Burks to stay away from white girls).

 

Apologies if this was posted before, but I didn’t see it. Some interesting clips from back in the day.

https://twitter.com/KNBR/status/1803930259198509193

 

In many states, you couldn’t play when Reggie said in schools because it would make some of the students feel bad.

 

We bleep out curses but gladly play the sound of gunfire, then wonder why our society is so fucked up.

 

My favourite Toronto Argonaut when he played here.

 

We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "f*ck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!--Col. Kurtz