There are some days when a high moral tone works. Other times, it is more appropriate to get down and dirty. Sometimes William F. Buckley should be your model, other times George Orwell. The aim is to be precise in your writing. Use the term that best fits whatever subject it is that you are talking about.
Terrell Suggs was spot on when he told Skip Bayless in January to "Stop that. I know what you're doing. Be an analyst. Don't be a douchebag."
Bayless managed to insult the Washington D.C. metropolitan areas, all Redskins fans everywhere, Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, everyone associated with the Washington Redskins, and common sense at large with the following statements:
"Some foolish Redskins fans — fans, foolish, doesn't that go together, right? — they're gonna sit back and say, 'God, RGIII was struggling. He fumbled, he threw a couple of bad passes. Maybe Kirk Cousins is better right now. Maybe we should go with Kirk.' NO! I don't want to see that. I don't want to set up that dynamic.
"I'm going to throw it out there," Bayless continued. "You also have the black/white dynamic and the majority of Redskins fans are white and it's just human nature if you're white to root for the white guy. It just happens in sports. Just like the black community will root for the black quarterback.
"I'm for the black guy. I'm just saying I don't like the dynamic for RGIII. It could stunt his growth in the NFL."
He also insinuated that subtle racism existed in the original selections of a black and a white quarterback in the same draft.
Full disclosure. I am not a Redskins fan. I follow the Steelers first and anyone with a prominent former West Virginia Mountaineer second. I do keep track of the Redskins because I like what I hear about Griffin III and want him to succeed (I refuse to call him RGIII because, sensibly, he finds the nickname annoying.) Kirk Cousins seems like he has great potential to follow the model of Frank Reich, Jason Garrett, and Gary Kubiak, great second string quarterbacks who do well when they get in and pick up conference and Super Bowl championship rings for their faithful service. And that is not small potatoes. Reich and Garrett had some very memorable moments playing for great teams. But they were never starter potential, their magic coming in short bursts, not long stretches.
But the main point of this rant is that fans love winners. Period. If the Redskins drafted one of Kentucky's blue people and he won at quarterback, they'd love him, To say that racial considerations override that is preposterous.
I remember when West Virginia University had two quarterbacks, one a white senior named Mike Timko, the other a freshman named Major Harris. Fans appreciated and loved Harris from the beginning and have never stopped. When Pat White showed himself to have a stronger skill set than Adam Bednarik, fans had no problem supporting White getting more and more snaps. Conversely, fans also preferred Jake Kelchner to Darren Studstill because Kelchner gave the team a better chance to win football games. Color never mattered to the WVU fan base. Marshall fans, same story. They loved Chad Pennington; they loved Byron Leftwich. The only quasi-racial statement I ever heard concerning Leftwich came from Mel Kiper, who projected that the molasses footed quarterback was like the fast and strong Daunte Culpepper. Leftwich's style and career actually tracked more like Bernie Kosar, who is still good company, but I digress.
The NFL and its fans have moved beyond the racist mindset that black guys can't play quarterback and white guys cannot play receiver or defensive back. In fact, the only people still mining the old prejudices and stereotypes are the media figures themselves (let us NOT call them journalists) who stir the pot for self-promotion.
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