The result of Colorado’s football team’s defeat by Oregon was predictable.
Many sports fans who have no emotional stake in the outcome seemed not only invested but overjoyed with the result.
That is not unusual during high profile games when heroes and villains are designated.
What was unfortunate about the emotional tenor of some of the responses.
There was one in particular I saw that seemed to say the quiet part out loud.
Joy Reid of MSNBC shared the post of one female fan:
“Oregon is taking a stand for all of us.”
My immediate questions when seeing this post is two-fold:
1. What stand is being taken?
2. Who is “all of us?”
I believe I can rather easily guess what stand is being taken and what “all of us” means.
Black people have known forever that some of our personalities will be alright with some White people, while others won’t be alright at all.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders is quite the polarizing figure, despite being responsible for greatly increased ticket sales and attention being paid to the Colorado football team.
That’s because he possesses a personality that is less than pleasing to some White people.
He is outspoken, brash, cocky, some would even venture to say arrogant.
In other words, he is the antithesis of an “acceptable” Black person.
To contrast, let’s talk about another Black football coach, one is definitely “acceptable” to White people.
Former NFL coach Tony Dungy is quite popular. His popularity has a lot to do with his demeanor being the opposite of Sanders.
He is self-effacing, modest, and circumspect.
Coaches Sanders and Dungy are merely two opposites of the human spectrum of personality.
While they have a number of things in common – both had superior athletic ability, both are family men, and both are outspoken Christians, they also possess marked differences.
Some people don’t seem to realize that like every other nationality, Black people are not all alike.
However, some White people prefer Black people to be self-effacing, modest, and circumspect.
The same duality of personalities was true of two Black professional boxers in the 1960s.
Floyd Patterson was a lot like Tony Dungy. He was modest, humble, a man of few words. He was a popular heavyweight champion with boxing fans.
Then came Cassius Clay.
Brash, arrogant, outspoken.
Then, he had the unmitigated gall of becoming a Black Muslim named Muhammad Ali, which further enraged White fans.
When the two men fought on November 22, 1965, the two had engaged in a war of words that laid bare their differences.
Ali called Patterson an “Uncle Tom” for not calling him by his Muslim name.
Patterson said:
“This fight is a crusade to reclaim the title from the Black Muslims. As a Catholic, I am fighting Clay as a patriotic duty. I am going to return the crown to America.”
Boxing fans know that Ali thoroughly humiliated Patterson until the referee stopped the fight in the twelfth and final round.
Some will try to argue that Ali was a beloved and adored figure, but the truth is that he became beloved and adored after he was no longer a fighter and after Parkinson’s disease had ravaged his mind and body.
It’s much easier to cheer for and laud a Black man who no longer appears to be a threat.
It is understood that White sports fans have the right to like whomever they choose.
What is interesting about who they choose to like regarding Black people is often different than the preferences they show within their own race.
Conor McGregor, despite being out of mixed martial arts for the majority of the past five years, is extremely popular.
He maintains his popularity despite having been arrested numerous times, engaged in several public physical assaults, and being accused of numerous sexual assaults on women.
There is no Black athlete on the face of the planet now and in the conceivable future who could have been accused of the same amount of hooliganism and still be as popular and relevant as McGregor.
Contrast McGregor with former college and professional football player Tim Tebow, who is beloved by many for his humble nature and his Christian lifestyle.
White people seem to understand within their own race that there is room for both Conor McGregor and Tim Below, the same is not true of Deion Sanders and Tony Dungy.
One is clearly acceptable.
The other is clearly not.