Two things pissing me off right now.

The theme pisses me off on a current, constant basis. Luckily there isn't a shortage of examples to cite.

Wondering what's got me all worked up?

Racism.

Not as someone might normally think about it though. What angers me is when someone cries equality out of one side of their mouth, and screams racism out of the other.

You see, the National Football League has a policy known as the "Rooney Rule" which says that when teams are seeking to fill coaching positions, they are required to interview minority candidates. On it's face it sounds like a good policy. The NFL is forcing teams to interview people in order to get more minorities into coaching positions.

But whatever happened to hiring the most qualified person? A couple of years ago my favorite team, the Detroit Lions, had a coaching vacancy. They knew immediately who they wanted to hire. They interviewed the proven (white) coach, and hired him right away. It was public knowledge that they wanted to hire the man, and that he wanted the job. In an effort to comply with the rules, the Lions offered interviews to minority candidates. All of them declined, because it was no secret that they weren't going to get the job. Since the Lions didn't actually interview a minority candidate, they were fined by the NFL. It sounds silly, but the NFL doesn't always want you to hire the most qualified, they want you to hire the most deversified.

Fast forward to this year. The Kansas City Chiefs have a coaching vacancy. They also have old business and coaching ties to the current coach of the New York Jets. As of right now a deal has been struck that will move the coach to Kansas City to take over the team. There won't be any fines in this situation because the man they want, Herm Edwards, is a black male. He is also probably the most qualified person available right now (subject to debate only because there are 7 coaching vacancies and numerous candidates out there).

So I guess I ask, will anyone cry racism this time? Probably not. This particular situation, just like the Lion's situation isn't a racist situation, but what's good for the goose is good for the gander, no?

This article by Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com is filled with a number of examples.

It's supposed to be article about "What Mattered Most in 2005". Scoop is a black man. The only thing that mattered to Scoop were "black issues" for the most part. He mentions the suicide of the son of Colt's Tony Dungy, the NBA dress code, and Stephen A. Smith's new talk show, Hurricane Katrina, and Notre Dame's hiring and contract extention of Charlie Weiss.

Tony Dungy seems to be a class act, and I don't want to sound disrespectful but I've always had a hard time feeling sorry for people who commit suicide. I've worked in a psychiatry clinic and I know that depression is a serious issue that requires serious intervention, no matter what Tom Cruise says, but it's ultimately selfish. All his son has done is create sadness within his family and friends. By all accounts he never tried to get help. That's sad regardless of what race you are.

The NBA has instituted a dress code requiring that players attending NBA functions (games, interviews, etc) are required to dress business casual. This has upset the hip-hop league of players to no end, some even calling for a little money on the side so they can purchase the clothes. The NBA is a multi-million dollar business, the players make multi-millions of dollars. They should act like it and throw on a collared shirt and some khakis. The NBA isn't requiring players to purchase Armani suits, just to clean up a bit and leave the dewrags at home. When I worked for Dell Computers, I was required to dress business casual and they didn't pay for my clothes. According to Scoop, this about holding the man down and nothing more.

Stephen A. Smith is a loud and obnoxious man. He is also the host of a show on ESPN called Quite Frankly where Stephen gives his opinions on various sports subjects. This is important to Scoop because it's the first time since Arsenio Hall that someone who is black hosts a show which also includes his name. I guess he never saw that show that's on late at night where that one guy interviews the latest Hollywood stars who are promoting their movies.. his name escapes me right now, but the point is that Scoop was wrong. That guy has his name in the title too. How come Stephen A. Smith's show can be an important part of 2005 simply because it's good? Why does it have to be about being black?

Hurricane Katrina effected people from all racial groups. It didn't pick on black people. Scoop was upset that the NFL didn't delay or rearrange the season to accomodate the New Orleans Saints. You can give pros and cons both ways, but the NFL's choice wasn't racist. It was a business choice, plain and simple.

A lot of people are upset that Notre Dame fired their previous coach Ty Willingham (who is black) after a few seasons. The dig on his teams was that they didn't close the big games. His teams played well, but the didn't bring Notre Dame back to the front pages of the sports section. He was fired and (white) (alumni) (3 Superbowl rings) Charlie Weiss was brought in to run the team. Just being there brought a spark to the team. He got more out of Ty's players than Ty ever did and was rewarded, almost certainly too early, with a 10 year contract extention. Weiss is a proven winner, the alumni like him, and the team likes him. Was it racist? Well only Notre Dame really knows the answer to this one.

The point of all of this is that racism wont go away until people- the majority and the minority quit looking through a pair or racist glasses. If you judge things by whether they are racist or not, the issue of racism won't go away. People like Martin Luther King Jr. were sucessful because they preached inclusion not special treatment or standards. Until people start looking at it that way, we'll never get ahead.